PO-419 Use of origanum majorana oil in lung cancer therapy

Abstract

IntroductionLung cancer is the most common form of cancer with the highest mortality rate in the world accounting for 1.69 million deaths in 2015 (WHO data). Despite the advances in targeted therapies, cure of lung cancer remains elusive and patients die due the development of distant metastasis, resistance to the treatment, and to the cytotoxicity of the drugs used.A large number of the chemotherapeutic drugs used in cancer treatment are either from plant origin or chemically-altered plant products and phytochemicals. It has been shown that extract of Origanum majorana reduced the side effects induced by cyclophosphamide and cisplatin, two established anticancer drug, without altering their cytotoxicity.Material and methodsThe question whether the pharmaceutically available Origanum Majorana ‘100% pure’ essential Oil will be a successful option in lung cancer therapy is a major challenge that we tried to address in this study using two major human lung cancer cells namely A549 and LNM35.Results and discussionsWe demonstrate that Origanum majorana causes a concentration- and time-dependent decrease in the viability of the lung cancer cells (A549 and LNM35) and their related colonies growth in vitro. Similarly, treatment with Origanum majorana significantly decreased the growth of LNM35 and A549 xenografts in chick embryo and in nude mice models in vivo without significant side effects.ConclusionThis study increases our understanding of the potential benefit of using the Origanum Majorana Oil in lung cancer therapy. Based on these results, our next step is the identification and characterisation of Origanum Majorana Oil major constituents that mediate its anti-cancer effects.