ABSTRACT
Background: Oleuropein is a form of phenoliccompound which can be majorly found in the oliveleaves. Previous studies have shown several biologicalfunctions of oleuropein against different cancer cells.Aim and Objectives: This research was designed tostudy the pre-initiation effect of oleuropein on the earlyskin tumour development using a mouse model.Material and Methods: Female Institute of CancerResearch (ICR) mice (n=6 per group) were divided into2 groups (group 1 as a carcinogen control and group 2 asa vehicle control) and 1 treatment group (group 3: 10mg/kg of oleuropein). Results:After 10 weeks, Group 3showed delay in epidermal hyperplasia formation and asignificant reduction (p<0.05) in the epidermalthickness as compared to Group 1. Data were alsodisplayed a significant increase (p<0.05) in theapoptotic rate in Group 3 as compared to Group 1 and 2.For biochemical assays, the level of Malondialdehyde(MDA) was significantly (p<0.05) decreased whilst thelevels of Glutathione (GSH) and Superoxide Dismutase(SOD) were significantly (p<0.05) increased in Group 3as compared to Group 1. Conclusion: Our resultsindicate that pre-initiation treatment of oleuropein mayprevent skin tumour development through itsantioxidant and apoptotic activities.