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

摘要

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-κB 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.