Melissa officinalis Extract Induces Apoptosis and Inhibits Migration in Human Colorectal Cancer Cells

Tzu-Ting Kuo; Hsin-Yi Chang; Tai-Yuan Chen; Bai-Chia Liu; Hsin-Yi Chen; Yuan-Chin Hsiung; Shih-Min Hsia; Chun-Ju Chang; Tsui-Chin Huang

doi:10.1021/acsomega.0c04489

Melissa officinalis Extract Induces Apoptosis and Inhibits Migration in Human Colorectal Cancer Cells

ACS Omega. 2020 Dec 3;5(49):31792-31800. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.0c04489. eCollection 2020 Dec 15.

Authors

Tzu-Ting Kuo¹, Hsin-Yi Chang^{2

3}, Tai-Yuan Chen⁴, Bai-Chia Liu³, Hsin-Yi Chen^{1

3}, Yuan-Chin Hsiung⁵, Shih-Min Hsia⁶, Chun-Ju Chang⁴, Tsui-Chin Huang^{1

3

7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Ph.D. Program for Cancer Molecular Biology and Drug Discovery, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University and Academia Sinica, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
² Graduate Institute of Metabolism and Obesity Sciences, College of Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
³ Graduate Institute of Cancer Biology and Drug Discovery, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Food Science, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 20224, Taiwan.
⁵ TMU Core Facility Center, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
⁶ School of Nutrition and Health Sciences, College of Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
⁷ TMU Research Center of Cancer Translational Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
⁸ Cancer Center, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11696, Taiwan.

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers worldwide. Lifestyle-related factors, such as diet, are associated with the development of CRC. Cumulating evidence indicates noticeable chemopreventive effects of phytochemicals on CRC, suggesting that drinking herbal tea potentially reduces the risk of distal colon cancer via its antiproliferative and anti-angiogenic activities. We examine the antitumor effects of nine components frequently found in herbal tea and uncover the underlying molecular mechanism. Among them, the hot water extract of Melissa officinalis (MO) exhibited the highest anticancer activity on CRC cells. We revealed that MO reduced cell proliferation, induced cell cycle arrest at the G₂/M phase, triggered caspase-dependent apoptotic cell death, and inhibited cell migration ability by modulating the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in HCT116 CRC cells. To examine the metabolite composition in the MO hot water extract, we applied mass spectrometry-based analysis and identified 67 compounds. Among them, the phenolic compounds, including lignans, phenylpropanoids, and polyketides, are widely found in natural products and possess various bioactivities such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidation, and anticancer effects. The results indicate that herbal tea consumption benefits CRC prevention and management.