R409 – Apigenin and Kaempferol Effects on Oral Cancer FADU Cells

Abstract

ProblemDietary flavonoids are being investigated as chemopreventative agents for many cancers. The objective of this study was to determine whether the dietary flavonoids apigenin and kaempferol inhibit growth of malignant oral keratinocytes.MethodsFaDu cells were treated with increasing concentrations of apigenin and kaempferol. After 24 and 48 hours cell growth was determined using the WST‐1 assay. Three groups of nude mice (group 1‐kaempferol, group 2‐apigenin, group 3‐controls) were treated by gavage for one week prior to inoculation with FaDu cells (1 × 105 cells) Following inoculation, treatments were continued until sacrifice. Tumor volumes were calculated from three dimensional tumor measurements.ResultsIn vitro cell growth decreased with increasing concentrations of apigenin and kaempferol (p<0.001). In vivo tumor volume was significantly higher than controls for the apigenin group (p<0.03) but was marginally higher in kaempferol group (p=0.09) with an average volume of 3024mm3, 2610 mm3, and 1858 mm3 respectively.ConclusionApigenin and kaempferol inhibited tumor cell growth in culture. However, in vivo results show that these substances increased tumor burden. This is in contrast to previous in vivo and in vitro prostate cell line models showing apigenin inhibition of tumor growth. Further studies are needed to better evaluate the effect these dietary flavonoids exert on squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.SignificanceThe role of these agents as chemopreventative agents for oral carcinoma is not supported by our data.SupportUniversity of Kentucky Department of Surgery Research Grant and NIH R‐01 grant.