Department of Biomedicine, Neurosciences and Advanced Diagnostics, Institute of Biochemistry, University of Palermo, I‑90127 Palermo, Italy.
Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, Section of Chemistry, University of Palermo, I‑90128 Palermo, Italy.
Mol Med Rep. 2022 Jul;26(1). doi: 10.3892/mmr.2022.12759. Epub 2022 Jun 1.
At present, the growing spread of tumor cases worldwide renders the research of new promising and selective anticancer drugs urgent. The biological action of extracts of medicinal plants or their essential oils (EOs) is an emerging field of interest, since they could comprise a rich source of phytochemicals that can prove promising. In the present study, the biological activity and mechanism of action of the EO of subsp. fruits (FVPEO) were investigated using MTT assays, morphological analyses and western blotting in MDA‑MB231 cells, a triple‑negative breast cancer cell line. The findings revealed that FVPEO could exert strong anticancer effects, causing a dose‑dependent inhibition of breast cancer MDA‑MB231 cell growth, accompanied with DNA condensation and fragmentation. The cytotoxic effect of FVPEO was counteracted by the addition of the antioxidant N‑acetylcysteine and was associated with a marked increase in reactive oxygen species and stress‑related proteins; such as manganese superoxide dismutase, c‑Jun, phospho‑c‑Jun N‑terminal kinase and nuclear factor E2‑related factor 2, and the latter's transcriptional targets, Heme oxygenase‑1 and NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1). As evidenced by the activation of caspase‑3 and fragmentation of poly(ADP‑ribose) polymerase‑1, which are typical apoptosis markers, FVPEO promoted apoptotic cell death accompanied with an increase in phosphorylated H2A histone family member X and the activation of the NQO1/p53 axis. In combination, the present experiments provided evidence that FVPEO could represent a reservoir of biologically active compounds suitable for both cancer prevention and treatment.
目前，全球肿瘤病例的不断增加使得新的有前途和选择性抗癌药物的研究变得紧迫。药用植物或其精油（EO）的提取物的生物作用是一个新兴的研究领域，因为它们可能包含丰富的植物化学物质来源，可以证明是有前途的。在本研究中，使用 MTT 测定法、形态分析和 MDA-MB231 细胞（三阴性乳腺癌细胞系）中的 Western blot 研究了 subsp. 的果实精油（FVPEO）的生物活性和作用机制。结果表明，FVPEO 可以发挥强大的抗癌作用，导致乳腺癌 MDA-MB231 细胞生长呈剂量依赖性抑制，伴有 DNA 浓缩和片段化。抗氧化剂 N-乙酰半胱氨酸的添加可拮抗 FVPEO 的细胞毒性作用，并与活性氧和应激相关蛋白的显著增加相关；如锰超氧化物歧化酶、c-Jun、磷酸化 c-Jun N-末端激酶和核因子 E2 相关因子 2，以及后者的转录靶标血红素加氧酶-1 和 NAD(P)H 醌氧化还原酶 1（NQO1）。如 caspase-3 的激活和多聚（ADP-核糖）聚合酶-1 的片段化所证明的，这是典型的凋亡标志物，FVPEO 促进凋亡细胞死亡，同时增加磷酸化 H2A 组蛋白家族成员 X 和 NQO1/p53 轴的激活。综上所述，本实验提供的证据表明，FVPEO 可能代表了一种生物活性化合物的宝库，适合癌症的预防和治疗。
