Alpha terpineol: a potential anticancer agent which acts through suppressing NF-kappaB signalling.
Keywords
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Alpha terpineol is a bioactive component of Salvia libanotica essential oil extract and has shown antitumour activity.
METHODS
The cytotoxicity of alpha terpineol towards different tumour cell lines was evaluated in vitro. Mechanistic characterization was performed using analysis of drug activity in a cell line panel and drug-induced gene expression perturbation using the connectivity map approach.
RESULTS
The small cell lung carcinoma was the cell line most sensitive to alpha terpineol. The results proposed alpha terpineol as an NF-kappaB inhibitor, which was confirmed by the observed dose-dependent inhibition of NF-kappaB translocation and activity using two NF-kappaB assays, and by the down-regulation of the expression of several NF-kappaB-related genes such as IL-1 beta and IL1R1.
CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that alpha terpineol inhibits the growth of tumour cells through a mechanism that involves inhibition of the NF-kappaB pathway.
