It is a potent tumor promoter often employed in biomedical research to activate the signal transduction enzyme protein kinase C (PKC).

In ROS biology, superoxide was identified as the major reactive oxygen species induced by TPA/PMA but not by ionomycin in mouse macrophages.

[5] TPA is also being studied as a drug in the treatment of hematologic cancer [citation needed] TPA has a specific use in cancer diagnostics as a B-cell specific mitogen in cytogenetic testing.

Cells must be divided in a cytogenic test to view the chromosomes.

[7] TPA induces KSHV reactivation in PEL cell cultures via stimulation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway.