Student Research Committee, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Health Institute, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
Sci Rep. 2024 Aug 24;14(1):19667. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-70582-5.
The current research was conducted to explore, for the first time, Tagetes erecta L. (family Asteraceae) fruits from northwest Iran in terms of the chemical composition of essential and fixed oils, their cytotoxic activities, and the inhibitory effect of essential oil on the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. The volatile oil was obtained through hydrodistillation (Clevenger apparatus). According to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis, the essential oil was rich in cyclic monoterpenoids, 2-isopropyl-5-methyl-3-cyclohexen-1-one (19.99%), D-limonene (12.75%), terpinolene (11.64%) and also the saturated fatty acid palmitic acid (19.09%). Furthermore, the seeds of T. erecta were extracted using hexane by the maceration method. The analysis of fatty acid profile of the fixed oil by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) demonstrated that the most predominant fatty acids in fixed oil were linoleic acid (59.53%), palmitic acid (13.70%), stearic acid (10.20%), and oleic acid (9.20%). The cytotoxic activity of essential oil, crude oil, and fraction A (obtained from fixed oil) were evaluated by using the MTT assay on MCF7 (human breast cancer cell line), PC3 (human prostate cancer cell line), and U87MG (human glioblastoma cell line). Finally, the effect of essential oil on inhibiting the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway was evaluated using real-time PCR. The essential oil exhibited vigorous cytotoxic activity on the U87MG cell line, with an IC value of 32.65 μg/mL. Interestingly, the essential oil significantly inhibited the PI3K/AKT/mTOR cascade compared to the non-treated group. Our results suggest that the essential oil holds promise as an anticancer agent for glioblastoma cell lines. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to report on the profile of the essential oil of T. erecta fruits and its implications for targeting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.
本研究首次对来自伊朗西北部的万寿菊（菊科）果实的精油化学成分、细胞毒性活性以及精油对 PI3K/AKT/mTOR 信号通路的抑制作用进行了研究。采用水蒸馏法（Clevenger 装置）提取挥发油。根据气相色谱-质谱分析，精油富含环状单萜类化合物，2-异丙基-5-甲基-3-环己烯-1-酮（19.99%）、柠檬烯（12.75%）、萜品烯（11.64%）和饱和脂肪酸棕榈酸（19.09%）。此外，采用索氏提取法用正己烷提取万寿菊种子的固定油。气相色谱-火焰离子化检测器（GC-FID）分析固定油的脂肪酸组成表明，固定油中含量最高的脂肪酸为亚油酸（59.53%）、棕榈酸（13.70%）、硬脂酸（10.20%）和油酸（9.20%）。采用 MTT 法测定了精油、粗油和固定油的 A 馏分（通过固定油获得）对 MCF7（人乳腺癌细胞系）、PC3（人前列腺癌细胞系）和 U87MG（人神经胶质瘤细胞系）的细胞毒性活性。最后，采用实时 PCR 法评价了精油对抑制 PI3K/Akt/mTOR 信号通路的作用。精油对 U87MG 细胞系表现出强烈的细胞毒性活性，IC 值为 32.65μg/mL。有趣的是，与未处理组相比，精油显著抑制了 PI3K/AKT/mTOR 级联反应。我们的研究结果表明，精油有望成为神经胶质瘤细胞系的抗癌药物。据我们所知，这是首次报道万寿菊果实精油的成分及其对靶向 PI3K/AKT/mTOR 信号通路的影响。
