Antitumor Mechanism of the Essential Oils from Two Succulent Plants in Multidrug Resistance Leukemia Cell

Abstract

Drug resistance remains a major challenge in the treatment of cancer. The multiplicity of the drug resistance determinants raises the question about the optimal strategies to deal with them. Essential oils showed to inhibit the growth of different tumor cell types. Essential oils contain several chemical classes of compounds whose heterogeneity of active moieties can help prevent the development of drug resistance. In the present paper, we analyzed, by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry the chemical composition of the essential oil of the leaves of Kalanchoe beharensis obtained by hydrodistillation and compared the chemical composition of its essential oil with that of Cyphostemma juttae. Our results demonstrated the anticancer and proapoptotic activities of both species against acute myeloid leukemia on an in vitro model and its multidrug resistant variant involving NF-κB pathway. The essential oils of both species produced a significant decrease in many targets of NF-κB both at mRNA and protein levels. The results corroborate the idea that essential oils may be a good alternative to traditional drugs in the treatment of cancer, especially in drug resistant cancer.

Can NF-κB Be Considered a Valid Drug Target in Neoplastic Diseases? Our Point of View

“…Analog results obtained on AML cell lines with C. juttae EO have been described for the essential oil extracted from Kalanchoe beharensis [110]. Additionally, in this case, we observed an inhibition of cell growth and an induction of cell death, depending on the inhibition of the NF-κB pathway.…”

“…Additionally, in this case, we observed an inhibition of cell growth and an induction of cell death, depending on the inhibition of the NF-κB pathway. This EO produced a significant decrease in many targets of NF-κB both at the mRNA and protein levels, like those of P-gp, IAPs, and Bcl-2, once again confirming the central role of NF-κB in the tumorigenesis process and, above all, in determining multi-drug resistance; all this makes it a potential pharmacological target for antitumor molecules [110].…”

“…Our results highlighted that these activities are related to essential oil availability and interfere with the NF-κB pathway, causing a substantial decrease of NF-κB activation and, consequently, a significant reduction of some NF-κB target genes [109]. The same EO produced anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects on HL-60 and its MDR variant HL-60R through the inhibition of NF-κB activation and the consequent reduction of expression, at the mRNA and protein levels, of some NF-κB targets [110].…”

Essential Oil from Pinus Koraiensis Pinecones Inhibits Gastric Cancer Cells via the HIPPO/YAP Signaling Pathway

“…This was closely related to the complex pathogenesis of tumors. However, the wide application of RNA sequencing technology facilitated the study of the mechanism of anti-tumor drugs [49]. RNA sequencing is currently the preferred technology for gene expression analysis, and it could quickly and accurately detect the differences of gene expression among different groups [50].…”

In Vitro Modulation of P-Glycoprotein Activity by Euphorbia intisy Essential Oil on Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cell Line HL-60R

“…Previous works demonstrated that essential oils (EOs), from succulent plants, have antitumor activities on different types of tumors such as triple negative breast cancer and acute myeloid leukemia all characterized by scarce responsiveness to chemotherapeutic drugs [ 5 , 6 , 7 ]. The biological effects showed that the EOs extracted by the hydrodistillation of leaves seem to be due to the presence of terpene compounds such as phytol.…”