Navel orange peel essential oil inhibits the growth and progression of triple negative breast cancer

TL;DR

Navel orange peel essential oil may help fight a deadly type of breast cancer by slowing its growth and spread.

Contribution

This study reveals how navel orange peel essential oil affects TNBC cells and identifies key signaling pathways involved.

Findings

NOPEO suppresses TNBC cell growth in a dose- and time-dependent manner.

NOPEO increases apoptosis and reduces cell migration in TNBC cells.

RNA-seq identified 2711 differentially expressed genes linked to MAPK and Jak/stat pathways.

Abstract

Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) is a particular type of breast cancer with the highest mortality rate. Essential oils are concerned more and more as potential anti-cancer drugs.

TNBC cells were treated with different concentrations of navel orange peel essential oil (NOPEO), and then a variety of  experiments were performed to investigate the changes in the growth and progression of TNBC cells. MTT assay was performed to detect the proliferation of TNBC cells. The changes of cell cycle and apoptosis were analyzed by FACS. In order to explored the migration of TNBC cells, scratch wound assay was carried out. Western blotting and qPCR were used to examine the expression of proteins and mRNA of related genes. Furthermore, RNA-seq was used to analyze the altered genes and explored the possible signal pathway.

NOPEO demonstrated dose- and time-dependent suppression of TNBC cell growth. TNBC cells showed an increased percentage of G2/M-phase cells and the protein levels of CyclinB1 and CyclinD1 were decreased after NOPEO treatment. The apoptotic cells were increased in the NOPEO treated TNBC cells. The migration mobility was significantly inhibited by NOPEO. In total, 1376 genes were found to be up-regulated and 1335 genes were down-regulated after NOPEO treatment. According to KEGG and GO pathways, the differentially expressed genes were related to MAPK, Jak/stat and FoxQ signaling pathways.

This investigation explored the bio-activity and molecular mechanisms of NOPEO against TNBC cells. These results indicated that NOPEO could suppress TNBC growth and migration perhaps via the MAPK and Jak/stat signaling pathways, which may provide theoretical reference for anticancer drug development. NOPEO may be a potential natural product for the chemotherapeutic of TNBC.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12906-024-04525-y.

Figures