Potential Anti-Cancer Activities of Furanodiene, A Sesquiterpene from Curcuma wenyujin

Furanodiene is a sesquiterpene extracted from the essential oil of the rhizome of Curcuma wenyujin Y.H. Chen et C. Ling (Wen Ezhu). Furanodiene is the primary component in Wen Ezhu's essential oil, accounting for more than 20% by weight. In vitro, MTT assay was used to compare the inhibitory effects of furanodiene and Wen Ezhu's essential oil on 11 human cancer cell lines. Compared to the essential oil, furanodiene showed stronger growth inhibitions on Hela, Hep-2, HL-60, PC3, SGC-7901 and HT-1080 cells with IC50 between 0.6-4.8 mu g/ml. In vivo, furanodiene was also found to exhibit inhibitory effects on the growth of uterine cervical (U14) and sarcoma 180 (S180) tumors in mice. Our data suggests that furanodiene, an active component from the essential oil of Wen Ezhu, possesses efficacy against uterine cervical cancer.