Essential Oils and Their Main Chemical Components: The Past 20 Years of Preclinical Studies in Melanoma

Abstract

The last two decades have seen the development of effective therapies, which have saved the lives of a large number of melanoma patients. However, therapeutic options are still limited for patients without BRAF mutations or in relapse from current treatments, and severe side effects often occur during therapy. Thus, additional insights to improve treatment efficacy with the aim to decrease the likelihood of chemoresistance, as well as reducing side effects of current therapies, are required. Natural products offer great opportunities for the discovery of antineoplastic drugs, and still represent a useful source of novel molecules. Among them, essential oils, representing the volatile fraction of aromatic plants, are always being actively investigated by several research groups and show promising biological activities for their use as complementary or alternative medicine for several diseases, including cancer. In this review, we focused on studies reporting the mechanism through which essential oils exert antitumor action in preclinical wild type or mutant BRAF melanoma models. We also discussed the latest use of essential oils in improving cancer patients’ quality of life. As evidenced by the many studies listed in this review, through their effect on apoptosis and tumor progression-associated properties, essential oils can therefore be considered as potential natural pharmaceutical resources for cancer management.

Antitumor effect of Melaleuca alternifolia essential oil and its main component terpinen-4-ol in combination with target therapy in melanoma models

“…At present, EOs are used to ameliorate cancer patients’ quality of life and clinical trials are ongoing to evaluate their efficacy or the efficacy of their components in cancer patients (NCT02336087, NCT03449303, NCT04560114, NCT04449315, NCT00003219, NCT00003238, NCT01459172, NCT01046929, NCT04296266). From the hundreds of studies published in the last years, it is evident that, in addition to their chemopreventive effects, several EOs and their constituents show antioxidant, antiproliferative, proapoptotic, antiangiogenic, and antimetastatic activity in melanoma models 21 – 23 . Synergistic effect of EO components such as geraniol 24 , 25 , β-elemene 26 , 27 , β-caryophyllene 28 , limonene 29 , eugenol 30 , and thymoquinone 31 , 32 with cancer therapy has been also reported.…”

An Evaluation of the Anti-Carcinogenic Response of Major Isothiocyanates in Non-Metastatic and Metastatic Melanoma Cells

“…However, although the significant clinical progress due to these therapeutic approaches, MM is still incurable as it is associated with high rates of recurrence and poor prognosis. In addition, the observed side effects caused by systemic toxicity, along with drug resistance, can further contribute to the limited therapeutic efficacy against MM [ 6 , 11 , 15 ]. To this end, the development of new therapeutic approaches is of high importance in order to improve current existing protocols, thereby improving the quality of life in MM patients [ 6 , 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”

Chemical Composition of Magonia pubescens Essential Oils and Gamma‐Radiation Effects on Its Constituents and Cytotoxic Activity in Leukemia and Breast Cancer Model

“…In our study, some linalool derivatives were identified, as linalool oxides and lilac aldehydes, that could have improved cytotoxicity of the studied Eos against K562. Perillyl alcohol is a well‐known angiogenic compound and can enhance the cytotoxicity of other drugs through synergistic effects [52] . Yan and Dong showed that this alcohol enhanced the inhibitory effects of the designed 2‐phenylaminopyrimidine STI571 against the growth of K562 cancer cell lines [53] .…”