Combined Rosmarinic Acid-Blue Light Treatment Inhibits Oral Cancer Cell Progression

Objectives: OBJECTIVE: Despite advances in treatment options for patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), the morbidity and mortality of the disease continue to affect many patients around the world. Active components of natural foods and other noninvasive treatment modalities are increasingly receiving attention for their chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic potential in a wide variety of cancers. Rosmarinic acid (RA), a phenolic compound in various herbal plants, has also been shown to have growth-inhibitory and anti-invasive effects in colon, skin, breast and ovarian carcinomas. Blue light (400-500 nm) has been shown to have selective toxicity for tumor cells and recent studies in our laboratory have shown that blue light treatment of epidermoid carcinoma cells leads to decreased proliferation in vitro and reduced tumor growth in vivo. In this study, we hypothesized that combined RA and blue light treatment would work synergistically to decrease HNSCC cell proliferation and migration in vitro.
Methods: METHODS: Following combined RA-blue light treatment, cellular proliferation and migration were examined in HNSCC cell lines using established in vitro assays.
Results: RESULTS: Combined RA and blue light treatment significantly inhibited proliferation and migration in HNSCC compared to untreated controls or either treatment modality alone.
Conclusions: CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report describing both growth- and migration-inhibitory roles for RA-blue light treatment in HNSCC cells. The present data suggests that RA and blue light hold promise as therapeutic agents against HNSCC. Our long-range goal is to develop an effective and non-invasive therapy for the treatment of HNSCC.