Cinnamic Acid (CINN) Induces Apoptosis and Proliferation in Human Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Cells

Abstract

Background/Aims: CINN is the main ingredient of the traditional Chinese medicine cinnamon. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of CINN on the proliferation and apoptosis of NPC cells and to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms. Materials and Methods: CNE2 human NPC cells were treated with various CINN concentrations. The effects of CINN on the proliferation and apoptosis of CNE2 NPC cells were examined using the MTT assay and flow cytometric analysis. Additionally, western blotting was performed to analyze the expression of a number of cell cycle- and apoptosis-related proteins. Results: The proliferation of CNE2 cells was significantly inhibited after treatment with different CINN concentrations for various lengths of time. The inhibitory effect of CINN was concentration-and time-dependent. Flow cytometric analysis showed that 2 mmol/L CINN displayed a significant apoptosis-inducing effect. The western blot analysis results showed that KLF6, Fas-L, Bax, P53 and caspase-3 protein expression was drastically increased in the CNE2 cells after treatment with 2 mmol/L CINN, whereas Bcl-2 and cyclin D1 protein expression was markedly reduced. Conclusion: CINN inhibits the proliferation and induces the apoptosis of CNE2 cells. Therefore, CINN possesses a potential anti-tumor effect.

Elevated Apoptosis in the Liver of Dairy Cows with Ketosis

“…In contrast, JNK and p38 MAPK are involved in apoptosis by increasing the cell death rate [10]. In human and mouse studies, the changes in MAPKs that are induced by many stimuli are influenced by the transcription or phosphorylation of the redox-sensitive transcription factors p53 and nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), contributing to the changes in the expression of downstream pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic genes [11, 12]. …”

Anticarcinogenic Effect of Spices Due to Phenolic and Flavonoid Compounds—In Vitro Evaluation on Prostate Cells

“…Further, it was described that biologically active substances in cinnamon also cause cell inhibition in prostate cancer cells [ 33 , 34 ]. Other studies describe the inhibitory effect of the selected compound or oil from cinnamon [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ], but our study evaluated the effect of cinnamon extract, not the selected components contained in cinnamon, which may explain the deviations from the available literature. The reason for the different effect of cinnamon on prostate cell lines may be that in the aforementioned literature, only the selected cinnamon content has been evaluated, whereas in our study we used a whole-spice extract containing a wide range of substances.…”

Cinnamic Acid Conjugates in the Rescuing and Repurposing of Classical Antimalarial Drugs

“…The widely reported anticancer potential of many natural or synthetic CAD [9,10,13,[33][34][35][36][37][38][39], and the antiproliferative properties of known antimalarial drugs, like chloroquine (2) [69] or quinacrine (4) [70,71], motivated the investigation of CA-antimalarial drug conjugates as anticancer leads. Hence, Pérez et al have investigated the antiproliferative activity of compounds 8 (Figure 2) on MKN-28 (gastric cancer), Caco-2 (colorectal adenocarcinoma), and MFC-7 (breast cancer) cell lines; all compounds were active in the micromolar range, while being non-toxic to the normal HFF-1 (human foreskin fibroblast) cell line.…”

“…Depending on their therapeutic targets, different modes of action seem to be exerted by CA and their derivatives or analogues. For instance, interactions with pathogens' membranes have been associated with the antimicrobial action of CA [30][31][32], whereas anticancer properties of different CA have been related to apoptosis [33][34][35][36][37][38][39], which encompasses various events including "S"-cycle arrest [34], cytoskeleton disruption [37], activation of caspases [38], generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) [35,36], and inhibition of histone deacetylases [33,39].…”