Melissa officinalisExtract Induces Apoptosis and Inhibits Migration in Human Colorectal Cancer Cells

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers worldwide. Lifestyle-related factors, such as diet, are associated with the development of CRC. Cumulating evidence indicates noticeable chemopreventive effects of phytochemicals on CRC, suggesting that drinking herbal tea potentially reduces the risk of distal colon cancer via its antiproliferative and anti-angiogenic activities. We examine the antitumor effects of nine components frequently found in herbal tea and uncover the underlying molecular mechanism. Among them, the hot water extract of Melissa officinalis (MO) exhibited the highest anticancer activity on CRC cells. We revealed that MO reduced cell proliferation, induced cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase, triggered caspase-dependent apoptotic cell death, and inhibited cell migration ability by modulating the epithelial–mesenchymal transition in HCT116 CRC cells. To examine the metabolite composition in the MO hot water extract, we applied mass spectrometry-based analysis and identified 67 compounds. Among them, the phenolic compounds, including lignans, phenylpropanoids, and polyketides, are widely found in natural products and possess various bioactivities such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidation, and anticancer effects. The results indicate that herbal tea consumption benefits CRC prevention and management.

Quantitative Proteome Analysis Reveals Melissa officinalis Extract Targets Mitochondrial Respiration in Colon Cancer Cells

“…Depletion of MMP is one of the mitochondria-mediated apoptosis hallmarks [ 27 ]. Combing our previous finding of MO-triggered apoptosis [ 11 ] and decreased ETC proteins discovered by the proteomics analysis, we ought to explore whether MO-induced CRC apoptotic cell death is related to mitochondrial dysfunction. To this end, we treated HCT116 cells with 375 µg/mL MO for 48 h and measured MMP using JC-1 dye to assess mitochondria integrity.…”

“…Previously, we revealed that the hot water MO extract showed anticancer activity in HCT116 CRC cells [ 11 ]. Here, we applied proteomic analysis to comprehensively investigate the inhibitory molecular mechanism of MO on CRC cells.…”

“…Hydroethanolic MO extract inhibited cell proliferation and induced ROS-mediated apoptosis in HT-29 and T84 cells [ 10 ]. Our previous study also found that hot water extract of MO exhibited anticancer activity in HCT116 cells by inducing cell cycle arrest, triggering apoptosis, and migration inhibition [ 11 ]. However, there are currently no comprehensive studies at the omics scales investigating the mechanism of action of MO extracts on CRC antitumor effects.…”

Melissa officinalis L. Aqueous Extract Exerts Antioxidant and Antiangiogenic Effects and Improves Physiological Skin Parameters

“…Lemon balm aqueous extracts were reported to elicit antitumor effect in various cancer cell lines, namely breast adenocarcinoma [12], colon cancer [64], prostate cancer [65] and others. The existent scientific data do not offer sufficient information regarding the effect of aqueous lemon balm extracts on melanoma.…”

Comprehensive Analysis of Prognostic and Genetic Signatures for General Transcription Factor III (GTF3) in Clinical Colorectal Cancer Patients Using Bioinformatics Approaches

“…Furthermore, the number of cancer patients is increasing due to population growth and aging [5]. Recently, researchers demonstrated rapid advances in the field of cancer therapy, where genetic alterations and the dysfunction of signal transduction pathways play important roles in cancer development [6][7][8]. Although cancer development's underlying mechanisms have been extensively studied, CRC patients in particular are still coping with low survival rates.…”