Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, University Campus-Dragana, Alexandroupolis, 68100, Greece.
Department of Pathology, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, University Campus, Ioannina, 45110, Greece.
Sci Rep. 2017 Jun 19;7(1):3782. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-03971-8.
Plant-derived bioactive compounds attract considerable interest as potential chemopreventive anticancer agents. We analyzed the volatile dietary phytochemicals (terpenes) present in mastic oil extracted from the resin of Pistacia lentiscus var. chia and comparatively investigated their effects on colon carcinoma proliferation, a) in vitro against colon cancer cell lines and b) in vivo on tumor growth in mice following oral administration. Mastic oil inhibited - more effectively than its major constituents- proliferation of colon cancer cells in vitro, attenuated migration and downregulated transcriptional expression of survivin (BIRC5a). When administered orally, mastic oil inhibited the growth of colon carcinoma tumors in mice. A reduced expression of Ki-67 and survivin in tumor tissues accompanied the observed effects. Notably, only mastic oil -which is comprised of 67.7% α-pinene and 18.8% myrcene- induced a statistically significant anti-tumor effect in mice but not α-pinene, myrcene or a combination thereof. Thus, mastic oil, as a combination of terpenes, exerts growth inhibitory effects against colon carcinoma, suggesting a nutraceutical potential in the fight against colon cancer. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing that orally administered mastic oil induces tumor-suppressing effects against experimental colon cancer.
植物源生物活性化合物作为有潜力的化学预防抗癌药物引起了相当大的关注。我们分析了从乳香树脂（Pistacia lentiscus var. chia）中提取的乳香精油中的挥发性膳食植物化学物质（萜类化合物），并比较研究了它们对结肠癌细胞增殖的影响，a）在体外针对结肠癌细胞系，b）在体内通过口服给药对小鼠肿瘤生长的影响。乳香精油在体外比其主要成分更有效地抑制结肠癌细胞的增殖，减弱迁移并下调存活素（BIRC5a）的转录表达。当口服给予时，乳香精油抑制了小鼠结肠癌肿瘤的生长。观察到的效果伴随着肿瘤组织中 Ki-67 和存活素表达的减少。值得注意的是，只有乳香精油 - 由 67.7%α-蒎烯和 18.8%的月桂烯组成 - 在小鼠中引起了统计学上显著的抗肿瘤作用，而不是α-蒎烯、月桂烯或它们的组合。因此，乳香精油作为萜类化合物的组合，对结肠癌细胞具有生长抑制作用，提示在对抗结肠癌方面具有营养潜力。据我们所知，这是第一个表明口服乳香油对实验性结肠癌具有诱导肿瘤抑制作用的报告。
