Alpha Terpineol: a Potential Anticancer Agent Which Acts Through Suppressing NF-kappaB Signalling

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-kappaB inhibitor, which was confirmed by the observed dose-dependent inhibition of NF-kappaB translocation and activity using two NF-kappaB assays, and by the down-regulation of the expression of several NF-kappaB-related genes such as IL-1 beta and IL1R1.

Conclusion: The results suggest that alpha terpineol inhibits the growth of tumour cells through a mechanism that involves inhibition of the NF-kappaB pathway.