Alpha Terpineol: A Potential Anticancer Agent which Acts through Suppressing NF-κB Signalling

Abstract

Background: Alpha terpineol is a bioactive component of Salvia libanotica essential oil extract and has shown antitumour activity. Materials and Methods: The cytotoxicity of alpha terpineol towards different tumour cell lines was evaluated in vitro. Mechanistic characterization was performed using analysis of drug activity in a cell line panel and drug-induced gene expression perturbation using the connectivity map approach. Results: The small cell lung carcinoma was the cell line most sensitive to alpha terpineol. The results proposed alpha terpineol as an NF-κB inhibitor, which was confirmed by the observed dose-dependent inhibition of NF-κB translocation and activity using two NF-κB assays, and by the down-regulation of the expression of several NF-κB-related genes such as IL-1β and IL1R1. Conclusion: The results suggest that alpha terpineol inhibits the growth of tumour cells through a mechanism that involves inhibition of the NF-κB pathway.