Page 28 - I. Chemical biology and drug discovery

[I. Chemical biology and drug discovery-15]

Non-aqueous extract of Citrus unshiu Markovich peel inhibits

growth, migration, and stemness in human cervical cancer cells

Ye Seul Choi¹, Hye Jin Jung¹˙*

¹Department of Pharmaceutical Engineering & Biotechnology, Sun Moon University, Asan 336-708, Republic of

Korea

Citrus unshiu Markovich peel has been used as a traditional medicine in China and Korea by exhibiting antioxidant,
anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activities. In previous reports, the bioactivities of the natural product

have been mainly identified from water or ethanol extract at concentrations of 200-1500 µg/mL. The present study

aimed to investigate the anticancer activity and molecular mechanism of the chloroform extract of C. unshiu
Markovich peel (CECU) in HeLa human cervical carcinoma cells. The results showed that CECU effectively inhibited
the growth and migration of HeLa cells at concentrations of 10-80 µg/mL. CECU led to cell cycle arrest at the G2/M

phase and activation of extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis pathways. Moreover, the growth inhibitory effect of CECU
was involved in the inactivation of AKT and ERK signaling and the upregulation of p53 and p21, but not reactive

oxygen species (ROS) generation. Furthermore, CECU inhibited the stem-like features of HeLa cells by
downregulating key cancer stemness biomarkers. Therefore, the non-aqueous extract of C. unshiu Markovich peel

may be an effective complementary and alternative medicine for the prevention and treatment of cervical cancer.