Antiproliferative effects of essential oils and their major constituents in human renal adenocarcinoma and amelanotic melanoma cells

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate cytotoxic activity of Platycladus orientalis, Prangos asperula and Cupressus sempervirens ssp. pyramidalis essential oils and to identify active components involved in inhibition of population growth of human cancer cell lines. Materials and methods: Essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation and were analysed by gas chromatography and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Antiproliferative activity was tested on amelanotic melanoma C32 cells and on renal cell adenocarcinoma cells, using the sulphorhodamine B assay. Results: Cupressus sempervirens ssp. pyramidalis leaf oil exerted the highest cytotoxic activity with an IC50 value of 104.90 μg/mL against C32, followed by activity of P. orientalis and P. asperula on the renal adenocarcinoma cell line (IC50 of 121.93 and 139.17 μg/mL, respectively). P. orientalis essential oil was also active against amelanotic melanoma with an IC50 of 330.04 μg/mL. Three identified terpenes, linalool, β-caryophyllene and α-cedrol, were found to be active on both cell lines tested. Conclusions: Our findings provide novel insights into the field of cytotoxic propertiesof essential oils. This study provided evidence on how cytotoxic activity of the oils isnot always related to their major constituents, except for lower activity found in both celllines forα-cedrol. Interestingly,β-caryophyllene and linalool exhibited comparableIC50values to the commercial drug vinblastine on the ACHN cell line. This opens a newfield of investigation to discover mechanisms responsible for the observed activity.