Carvacrol suppresses proliferation and invasion in human oral squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

Carvacrol, a component of thyme oil, as a novel antitumor agent, has been implicated in several types of cancer cells. However, the mechanisms underlying the effect of carvacrol in human oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remain unclear. Here, we report that carvacrol significantly inhibits tumor cell proliferation, metastasis and invasion, and induces apoptosis in OSCC. Our results demonstrated that the molecular mechanisms of the effect of carvacrol in Tca-8113 induces G1/S cell cycle arrest through downregulation of CDK regulator CCND1 and CDK4, and upregulation of CDK inhibitor P21. Further analysis demonstrated that carvacrol also inhibited Tca-8113 cells’ clone formation in clonogenic cell survival assay. Student’s t-test (two-tailed) was used to compare differences between groups, and the significance level was P<0.01. Then, treatment of Tca-8113 cells with carvacrol resulted in downregulation of Bcl-2, Cox2, and upregulation of Bax. Carvacrol significantly inhibited the migration and invasion of human OSCC cells by blocking the phosphorylation of FAK and MMP-9 and MMP-2, transcription factor ZEB1, and β-catenin proteins’ expression. Taken together, these results provide novel insights into the mechanism of carvacrol and suggest potential therapeutic strategies for human OSCC.

Linalool induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in HepG2 cells through oxidative stress generation and modulation of Ras/MAPK and Akt/mTOR pathways

“…Several monoterpenes including linalool were reported to act as antiproliferative agents against cancer cells by inducing cell growth arrest, both at G0/G1 [21,29] or G2/M [22,30]. In our study, linalool promoted a time and dose-dependent inhibition of cell growth, as indicated by the WST-1 assay.…”

Effects of Carvacrol, Thymol and essential oils containing such monoterpenes on wound healing: a systematic review

“…[55,58] Similarly, high levels of MMP2 in venous leg ulcers and diabetic foot ulcers [58] also seem to hinder the wound healing. In this context, carvacrol and thymol are also able to downregulate MMP9 and MMP2 in several experimental conditions [41,[59][60][61][62] and these effects can be interesting to the management of chronic wounds.…”

Carvacrol suppresses inflammatory responses in rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast‐like synoviocytes

“…17 Carvacrol is a natural monoterpenic phenol, which has been reported to suppress cell proliferation and invasion in human oral squamous cell carcinoma. 18 Chen et al 19 demonstrated that carvacrol suppresses glioblastoma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Besides, carvacrol was revealed to inhibit cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of prostate and colon cancer cells.…”