Anethole induces anti-oral cancer activity by triggering apoptosis, autophagy and oxidative stress and by modulation of multiple signaling pathways

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 13087
• Main Authors: Contant, Camille, Rouabhia, Mahmoud, Loubaki, Lionel, Chandad, Fatiha, Semlali, Abdelhabib
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 22-06-2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/337; 631/449; 631/67; 692/308; Anethole; Apoptosis; Autophagy; Benzene; Caspase-3; Cell death; Cell growth; Cell migration; Cell proliferation; Cyclin D1; Cyclin-dependent kinase; Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21; Cyclin-dependent kinases; Cytotoxicity; Enzyme inhibitors; Flow cytometry; Glutathione; Health problems; Humanities and Social Sciences; Immunoblotting; Kinases; Mesenchyme; multidisciplinary; NF-κB protein; Oral cancer; Oxidative stress; p53 Protein; Phagocytosis; Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase; Public health; Reactive oxygen species; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Signal transduction; Tumor cells
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-92456-w

Oral cancer is one of the major public health problems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of anethole, 1-methoxy-4-[(E)-1-propenyl]-benzene, on growth and apoptosis of oral tumor cells, and to identify the signaling pathways involved in its interaction with these cancer cells. Cancer gingival cells (Ca9-22) were treated with different concentrations of anethole. Cell proliferation and cytotoxic effects were measured by MTT and LDH assays. Cell death, autophagy and oxidative stress markers were assessed by flow cytometry while cell migration was determined by a healing capacity assay. The effect of anethole on apoptotic and pro-carcinogenic signaling pathways proteins was assessed by immunoblotting. Our results showed that anethole selectively and in a dose-dependent manner decreases the cell proliferation rate, and conversely induces toxicity and apoptosis in oral cancer cells. This killing effect was mediated mainly through NF-κB, MAPKinases, Wnt, caspase 3, 9 and PARP1 pathways. Anethole showed an ability to induce autophagy, decrease reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and increased intracellular glutathione (GSH) activity. Finally, anethole treatment inhibits the expression of oncogenes (cyclin D1) and up-regulated cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (p21
WAF1
), increases the expression of
p53
gene, but inhibits the epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers. These results indicate that anethole could be a potential molecule for the therapy of oral cancer.