Abstract
The oral cancer incidence rate is slowly increasing and is now the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death due to its high metastasis and recurrence rate. Juniperus communis is used as a traditional Chinese medicine and has been proven to have anti-cancer activity against neuroblastomas. In the present study, we further investigated the anti-cancer mechanisms of J. communis extract (JCo) on oral cancer and evaluated the synergistic effects of JCo combined with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). We found that JCo inhibited oral cancer cell growth, and that JCo might be less cytotoxic to normal cells than to cancer cells. After JCo treatment, cell cycle arrest was observed at the G0/G1 phase through modulation of p53/p21 and Rb signaling. JCo also caused an increase in the sub-G1 phase and cell apoptosis via the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis pathways. JCo combined with 5-FU presented a synergistic effect to reduce cell viability. In conclusion, JCo inhibited oral cancer cell growth by inducing cell cycle arrest and activating cell apoptosis, and JCo significantly synergized with 5-FU. JCo might have the potential to be an adjuvant and a new therapeutic drug for oral cancer treatment.
Highlights
Oral cancer is part of a group commonly referred to as head and neck cancers
We found that J. communis extract (JCo) inhibited oral cancer cell growth, and that JCo might be less cytotoxic to normal cells than to cancer cells
These results indicated that the inhibitory effects of JCo had less impact on normal cells than on cancer cells
Summary
Oral cancer is part of a group commonly referred to as head and neck cancers. Oral cancer is common in Taiwan with a high incidence rate in males [1,2,3]. The 5-year survival rate of patients with advanced oral cancer is 32.8%, and recurrence rate in the 2 years after chemotherapy treatment results in a high death rate, in United States [4,5,6,7]. In the early stage of oral cancer, the main form of treatment is surgery, and patients with advanced cancer or who are unable to undergo surgery are usually treated with combination therapy. Despite the advances in cancer therapy, better solutions are needed to treat oral cancer
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