Oleic Acid Induces Apoptosis And Autophagy In The Treatment Of Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinomas

Objective: Oleic acid(OA),a main ingredient of Brucea javanica oil(BJO),is widely known to have anti-cancer effect in many tumors.In this study,we investigated the anticancer effect and its mechanism of OA in Tongue squamous cell cancer(TSCC).Methods: Anticancer effect of OA in vitro and vivo was analyzed by CCK8 assay and Edu assay and TSCC xenografts model,and the cell cycle and apoptosis were assessed by flow cytometry and TUNEL assay.Autophagy was analyzed by Transmission electron microscopy(TEM).Mechanisms of OA cancer effect were probed by western blot analysis.Results: OA effectively inhibited TSCC cell proliferation in a dose-and time-dependent manner.In addition,The treatment of OA in TSCC significantly induced cell cycle G1 arrest and decreased the expression of CyclinD1,significantly increased the proportion of apoptosis,the expression of p53 and cleaved caspase 3,decreased the expression of Bcl-2.And OA also obvious induced the formation of autolysosome,then decreased the level of p62 and the ratio of LC3-I/LC3-II.The expression of p-Akt,p-ERK1/2 and p-mTOR were significantly decreased in TSCC after treated with OA.Moreover,tongue tumor burdens were reduced in a dose-dependent manner by OA administration in a xenografted mice model.Conclusion: These results suggest that OA has potent anticancer effect on TSCC cells inducing apoptosis and autophagy via blocking Akt/mTOR pathway.Thus OA is a potential TSCC cancer drug worthy of further research and development.