Cytotoxicity and viability Effect of Piper cubeba in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

• Grant number: 14/24664-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2015
• End date: August 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Morphology - Cytology and Cell Biology
• Principal Investigator: Flávia Cristina Rodrigues Lisoni
• Grantee: Thaís Bravo Picão
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FEIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Ilha Solteira. Ilha Solteira , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Head and neck Cancer includes neoplasms that arise in the oral cavity, pharynx and larynx, and most are of squamous cell histology. Worldwide, this is the fifth most common cancer, and accounts for about 6% of all cancers. More than 500,000 new cases and about 271,000 deaths from head and neck tumors are estimated annually. Treatment for this kind of cancer includes surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. When the disease is advanced, the treatment is usually with chemotherapy or radio-surgery followed by chemotherapy. Surgery is the oldest method used as cancer treatment, but it is a highly invasive, may cause unrecoverable aesthetic injuries, with significant functional impairment. As a result, some plants have been used in treatment cancer and one of them has aroused scientific interest, Piper cubeba, used in treatment herbal of the gonorrhea, dysentery, syphilis, abdominal pain, diarrhea, enteritis, asthma and tumors in general. Because of the importance of the antitumor activity of lignans extracted from Piper cubeba, including its chemical elements, was proposed the present project that has as main objective to evaluate the potential cytotoxic effect of lignans in cancer cells, observing how the herbal acts and how those changes may participate in the tumorigenic process. It will be used the larynx (Hep-2) and tongue (SCC-9) squamous cell carcinoma for the analysis of the morphology, cytotoxicity and viability after treatment with cubebin, hinokinin, dihidrocubebina, etilcubebin and metilcubebin all extracted from Piper cubeba seeds. So we can understand a little of the mechanisms and interactions of this herbal medicine on cytotoxicity of tumorigenic cells.