ArticleBMC complementary medicine and therapies2024
Citral in lemon myrtle, lemongrass, litsea, and melissa essential oils suppress the growth and invasion of breast cancer cells.
Article in BMC complementary medicine and therapies, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Antitumor effects of volatile components ofFrontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Essential oils expose diverse targets on non-enveloped ScV-L-A totivirus.Pharmaceutical biology · 2025Article
- Superior effect of selenium nanoparticles over sodium selenite on growth, yield, antioxidant activity, and essential oil production in Dracocephalum kotschyi Boiss.BMC plant biology · 2025Article
- The effects of citral on the intestinal health and growth performance of American bullfrogs (Aquarana catesbeiana).BMC veterinary research · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveAlthough cancer therapy suppresses recurrence and prolongs life, it may be accompanied by strong side effects; thus, there is a strong demand for the development effective treatments with fewer side effects. Cancer therapy using plant-derived essential oils is attracting attention as one promising method. This study investigated the antitumor effects of essential oil volatiles on breast cancer cells and identifies four essential oils that display antitumor activity.
methodsBreast cancer cells were cultured in a 96-well plate, then one of twenty essential oils was added dropwise to the central well. The plate was incubated at 37 °C for 48 h and the effect of the volatile components of each essential oil on the surrounding breast cancer cell growth ability was examined using an MTT assay. Gas chromatography was used to investigate the concentration of the transpiration components that may affect cancer cells.
resultsOf the 20 essential oils, Lemongrass, Lemon myrtle, Litsea, and Melissa displayed strong anti-tumor effects. These essential oils inhibited the growth of nearby breast cancer cells, even when diluted more than 500-fold. The transpiration component of lemon Myrtle showed the strongest antitumor effect, but was the least cytotoxic to mononuclear cells in normal peripheral blood (PBMC). Each of these essential oils contained a very large amount of citral. The IC
conclusionThe transpiration components of Lemongrass, Lemon myrtle, Litsea, and Melissa are thought to inhibit breast cancer cell proliferation due to their high levels of citral.
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