Background: Oral cancer (OC) is one of the most common cancers around the world. Despite the progress in treatment, the prognosis of OC remains poor, especially for patients with advanced diseases. It urges the development of novel therapeutic options against OC. Lycopene (LYC) is an antioxidant with chemoprotective properties against cancer. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying the protective role of LYC in OC tumorigenesis.
Methods: In this study, we investigated the anti-cancer effect of LYC on the progression of OC in vitro and in vivo and explored the underlying mechanisms involved in this process.
Results: LYC inhibited OC cell proliferation, migration, invasion, apoptosis, and xenograft tumor growth in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, we found that LYC might inhibit epithelial–mesenchymal transition and induce apoptosis in OC cells by deactivating the PI3K/AKT/m-TOR signaling through increasing the levels of E-cadherin and Bax and downregulating N-cadherin, p-PI3K, p-AKT, p-m-TOR, and bcl-2.
Conclusion: We reported for the first time that LYC exhibited anti-cancer effects on OC development both in vitro and in vivo via regulating EMT process and apoptosis. These findings provide support for the potential clinical use of LYC in OC treatment.



中文翻译：

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番茄红素通过 PI3K/AKT/m-TOR 信号通路抑制口腔癌上皮-间质转化并促进细胞凋亡。

背景：口腔癌（OC）是世界上最常见的癌症之一。尽管治疗取得了进展，但 OC 的预后仍然很差，尤其是对于晚期疾病患者。它敦促开发针对 OC 的新治疗方案。番茄红素 (LYC) 是一种具有抗癌化学保护特性的抗氧化剂。然而，关于LYC在OC肿瘤发生中的保护作用的机制知之甚少。
方法：在本研究中，我们研究了 LYC 在体外和体内对 OC 进展的抗癌作用，并探讨了该过程所涉及的潜在机制。
结果：LYC 以剂量依赖性方式抑制 OC 细胞增殖、迁移、侵袭、凋亡和异种移植肿瘤生长。此外，我们发现 LYC 可能通过增加 E-cadherin 和 Bax 的水平并下调 N-cadherin、p-PI3K、p 来使 PI3K/AKT/m-TOR 信号失活，从而抑制上皮间质转化并诱导 OC 细胞凋亡-AKT、pm-TOR 和 bcl-2。
结论：我们首次报道了LYC通过调节EMT过程和细胞凋亡在体外和体内对OC发育具有抗癌作用。这些发现为 LYC 在 OC 治疗中的潜在临床应用提供了支持。