Chios mastic gum extracts as a potent antitumor agent that inhibits growth and induces apoptosis of oral cancer cells.

Objective: The purpose was to investigate Chios mastic gum (CMG) extract as an potential anti-tumor agent for oral squamous cell carcinoma in vitro.

Methods: We designed a study to examine the effects of CMG extracts on growth of oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line, YD-10B and to determine whether the extracts could induce apoptosis through the activation of caspase-3, using the common chemotherapeutic agent Paclitaxel (Taxol, Bristol-Myers Squibb) as a control.

Results: MTT assay suggested that both CMG and Taxol inhibited the proliferation of YD-10B cells in a time and dose dependent manner. Moreover, 10 μg/mL of CMG and 50 μg/mL of Taxol caused fragmentation of the genomic DNA at 24 hour. Finally, 10 μg/mL of CMG and 50 μg/mL of Taxol caused cleavage of procaspase-3 in western blot analysis.

Conclusions: These results suggest CMG's potential as an anti-tumor agent.