Investigation of the anticancer and apoptotic effect of Micromeria congesta ‎under in vitro conditions and detection of related genes by real-time PCR

At the present time cancer is one of the biggest health problems and because of the problems encountered in its treatment, alternative treatment methods of herbal origin are researched. In this study, the cytotoxic effects of the essential oil extracted from the Micromeria congesta plant on various cancer cells (A549, ECC-1, HCT-116, HELA, HGC-27, MDA-MB-231, SNU-423, U20S, DLD-1, PC-3) and normal cells (BEAS-2B, CRL-4010) have been examined. Anticancer mechanism of action has been particularly examined on gastric cancer (HGC-27; IC50: 15.84 µg mL-1), on which essential oil showed a high cytotoxic effect. In the study, the cytotoxic effect and the apoptotic effect have been applied by MTT and flow cytometric annexin-V methods, respectively. The apoptotic gene expression (caspase 3, caspase 9, MMP2, MMP9, ACTB) real-time PCR content analysis has been performed with gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). M. congesta essentials oil has the highest cytotoxic effect on gastric cancer (HGC-27) cells, decreases MMP2 and MMP9 expressions, and induces apoptosis with increasing the expression of caspase 3 and caspase 8 genes. In addition, it has been determined that piperitenone oxide (40.00 - 45.00%), pulegone (11.00%) and cyclohexanone (18.00 - 19.00%) are the major components of M. congesta essentials oil. In conclusion, it has been determined that the compounds found in high amounts in M. congesta plant induces apoptosis by affecting the expression of compound genes and thus can have the potential to be an alternative drug in the treatment of gastric cancer.