Procyanidins can inhibit cell proliferation and tumorigenesis and induce apoptosis in human skin, breast and prostate carcinoma cell lines. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin is a common form of keratinocytic or non-melanoma skin cancer and is a deadly disease with a poor prognosis due to the ineffectiveness of therapy. The present study aimed to determine whether grape seed proanthocyanidin (GSP) may regulate different modes of cell death in the human SCC12 cell line. The present study found that the treatment of SCC12 cells with GSP inhibited proliferation in a dose-dependent manner and reduced the motility and invasiveness of SCC12 cells through suppression of matrix metalloproteinase-2/9 expression. GSP treatment also resulted in induction of apoptosis and autophagy via generation of reactive oxygen species. The inhibition of autophagy by 3-methyladenine decreased GSP-induced cell death, which suggested that GSP-induced autophagy can promote cell death. The results of the present study suggested that autophagy functions as a death mechanism in SCC and provided a rationale for the use of GSP in combination with autophagy activators for treating cancers such as SCC.
Keywords: anticancer activity; apoptosis; autophagy; procyanidins; squamous cell carcinoma.