Essential Oil of Tridax procumbens L Induces Apoptosis and Suppresses Angiogenesis and Lung Metastasis of the B16F-10 Cell Line in C57BL/6 Mice

Background: To determine the effect of essential oil obtained from a traditionally used medicinal plantTridax procumbens L, on lung metastasis developed by B16F-10 melanoma cells in C57BL/6 mice. Materialsand
Methods: Parameters studied were toxicity, lung tumor nodule count, histopathological features, tumordirected capillary vessel formation, apoptosis and expression levels of P53 and caspase-3 proteins.
Results: In vitrothe MTT assay showed cytotoxicity was found to be high as 70.2% of cancer cell death within 24hrs for 50μg.In vivo oil treatment significantly inhibited tumor nodule formation by 71.7% when compared with untreatedmice. Formation of tumor directed new blood vessels was also found to be inhibited to about 39.5%. TUNELassays also demonstrated a significant increase in the number of apoptotic positive cells after the treatment. P53and caspase-3 expression was also found to be greater in the essential oil treated group than the normal andcancer group.
Conclusions: The present investigation showed significant effects of the essential oil of Tridaxprocumbens L in preventing lung metastasis by B16F-10 cell line in C57BL/6 mice. Its specific preventive effecton tumor directed angiogenesis and inducing effect on apoptosis warrant further studies at the molecular levelto validate the significance of Tridax procumbens L for anticancer therapy.