Apoptosis induced by Zizyphus jujuba seed essential oil in colorectal cancer cells line HT-29

In traditional medicine, Zizyphus jujuba (jujube) has been used due to its medicinal properties and various physiological functions such as antioxidant, anticancer and anti-inflammatory properties. This study was conducted to study anti-cancer and apoptotic effects of essential oil from Zizyphus jujuba seeds and to evaluate the effect of essential oils on p53, APC and KRAS genes expression in HT-29 colorectal cell line.

In this study, the essential oil of jujube seeds collected from orchards in Isfahan was prepared by Clevenger apparatus and then analyzed by GC-MS. The effects of toxicity and cell viability were determined using Trypan Blue, MTT and clonogenic methods. DNA fragmentation and apoptosis techniques were used to evaluate the mechanism of the effects of essential oil on cell death by flow cytometry. Finally, Real-time PCR was used to evaluate the expression of p53, APC and KRAS genes and their role in induction of apoptosis.

Essential oil of Zizyphus jujuba seeds reduced the viability of cells by concentration and time-dependent manner as compared to the control group. The essential oil also induced apoptosis by increasing gene expression p53 and suppressing gene expression KRAS.

The present results indicated that essential oil of Zizyphus jujuba seeds induces apoptosis by targeting genes involved in colon carcinogenesis. However, further investigations on signaling pathways are needed to fully confirm the results of this study.