Antiproliferative and cytotoxic activities of Mentha x piperita L. essential oil in non-small cell lung cancer cells

Abstract

Among 33 types of listed cancers worldwide, lung cancer with 2.2 million cases (12.2% of total cancer cases) ranks second next only to breast cancer. Globally, Turkey, with overall rate of 40.0 (41,264 cases), ranks 5^th among top 10 countries in lung cancer. Currently used therapeutic agents and approaches have considerable side effects, and hence, there is a need for alternative agents for effective management of lung cancer. In this study, we explored the in vitro cytotoxic, antiproliferative and proapoptotic activities of Mentha x piperita L. (peppermint) essential oil in human non-small cell lung cancer (A549) cells. Cell viability was determined by MTT assay, morphological changes were determined by confocal microscopy and apoptosis promoting action was determined by flow cytometry technique. Peppermint essential oil found to effectively decrease the viability of non-small cell lung cancer cells and IC₅₀ value was detected at low concentrations (2.12%) for 24 h. In addition, peppermint essential oil was found to alter the morphology of A549 cells, leading to changes that could describe programmed cell death. Apoptosis was the triggered cell death by Mentha x piperita essential oil. Results reveal that Mentha x piperita essential oil has antiproliferative and anticarcinogenic properties which could be attributed to the bioactive phytochemical contents and has the potential to be used as an anticancer agent and chemotherapeutic drug.