Essential Oil of Artemisia Capillaris Induces Apoptosis in KB Cells via Mitochondrial Stress and Caspase Activation Mediated by MAPK‐Stimulated Signaling Pathway

Abstract

Artemisia capillaris has been used in traditional Korean medicine for its variety of pharmacological activities. Previous studies have suggested that the essential oil of A. capillaris has chemopreventive potential, even though the mechanism of its action is unclear. This study examined whether or not the essential oil isolated from A. capillaris induces apoptosis in the human oral epidermoid carcinoma cells along with the possible mechanism(s) of the essential oil-mediated cytotoxicity. The essential oil induced cell death of KB cells through apoptosis, as evidenced by the increased cell population in the sub-G1 phase, the appearance of condensed and/or fragmented nuclei, and the generation of a cleaved PARP product. Treating the cells with the oil also caused changes in the mitochondrial level of the Bcl-2 family proteins such as Bcl-2 and Bax, thereby inducing the release of cytochrome c into the cytosol. Additional experiments using caspase or mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitors suggested the involvement of the p38/NF-kappaB and JNK/Bcl-2-mediated pathways as well as caspase activation in the oil-mediated apoptosis. Collectively, we believe that the essential oil of A. capillaris induces apoptosis in human oral cancer cells and that it might be a good resource for searching new drugs, especially anticancer drugs.

In vitro cytotoxicity of Artemisia vulgaris L. essential oil is mediated by a mitochondria-dependent apoptosis in HL-60 leukemic cell line

“…In addition, it has been recently shown that the toxicity of Artemisia annul L. on cultured hepatocarcinoma cells SMMC-7721 is mainly mediated by apoptosis [48]. Essential oils of Artemisia capillaris and Artemisia iwayomogi have been reported to induce apoptosis in KB human oral epidermoid carcinoma cells via mitochondrial stress and caspase activation mediated by MAPK-stimulated signaling pathway [15]. …”

Cytotoxic and Apoptotic Effects of Extracts of Artemisia ciniformis Krasch. & Popov ex Poljakov on K562 and HL-60 Cell Lines

“…Essential oils of A. absinthium which contained higher amounts of trans-sabinyl acetate and cis/trans-thujones exhibited more toxicity on brine shrimp (Judzentiene et al, 2012). Moreover, the essential oils of A. capillaris and A. herbaalba are regarded as good candidates for further study, because they showed significant anti-proliferative activity against the human oral cancer and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (CEM) cell lines respectively (Cha et al, 2009;Tilaoui et al, 2011). Dichloromethane extracts of A. annua exhibited higher cytotoxicity in comparison with methanol extracts against HeLa cancer cells (Efferth et al, 2011).…”

Essential Oils and Their Constituents as Anticancer Agents: A Mechanistic View

“…EO-induced apoptosis has been also suggested to be involving mitochondrial and MAPKs pathways [23]. Antiapoptotic Bcl-2 protein is downregulated by the action of EOs on the cancer cells [47]. In mouth cancer KB cells, Artemisia lavandulaefolia EO has been shown to decrease Bcl-2 protein level in dose dependent manner [23], which leads to apoptosis in cancer cells that is an important strategy to control cancer development and progression.…”

“…Human leukaemia cell line (HL-60) treated with EO of Cymbopogon flexuosus and its major constituent isointermedeol has been reported to lower NF- κ B which is one of the contributing multiple pathways resulting in apoptosis [58]. EO of Artemisia capillaries leads to NF- κ B-DNA binding activation at the concentration above 0.5  μ L/mL, leading to apoptosis in the mouth cancer KB cells [47]. …”