Table 1.
Examples of terpene compounds in essential oils with potential anticancer effects.
| Classes | Compounds | Plant | Target cancers | Cancer effects | Type of assay | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monoterpene hydrocarbons | Myrcene | PC | Human lung adenocarcinoma (A549) | Increased apoptosis via caspase induction (IC50 0.5 μg/ml) | MTT | (Bai & Tang, 2020) |
| Cyclic monoterpene | Limonene | Navel orange (Essential oil) | Lung adenocarcinoma (A549) | Reduced cell proliferation (IC50 22.10 µg/ml) | MTT | (Yang et al., 2017) |
| Bicyclic monoterpene | α-Pinene | PC | Human liver cancer (HepG2) | Reduced cell growth (IR 39.3%) | MTT | (Xu et al., 2018) |
| Acyclic monoterpene | Linalool | PC | Human ovarian cancer (SKOV3ip1, A2780, HeyA8) | Increased apoptotis and cytotoxicity | MTT | (Han, Cho et al., 2016) |
| Oxygenated monoterpene | α-Thujone | Thuja occidentalis L. | Human glioblastoma multiforme (T98G), and human glioblastoma (U-87 MG) | Induction of cell death, reduced proliferation and invasive | TB exclusion | (Pudełek et al., 2019) |
| Terpineols Monoterpene | α-Terpineol | Navel orange (Essential oil) | Lung adenocarcinoma (A549) | Increased caspase-dependent cell death and reduced proliferation (IC50 51.37 µg/ml for 24 h) | MTT | (Yang et al., 2017) |
| Oxygenated monoterpene | 1,8-cineole | PC | Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) | Reduced proliferation, Wnt/β-catenin activity | MTT | (Roettger et al., 2017) |
| Cyclic monoterpene | α-Phellandrene | PC | Melanoma(B-16/F-10), and Murine (S-180) | Antinociceptive and tumor-reducing effect (CI50 436.0 and 217.9 μg/ml) | MTT | (Pinheiro-Neto et al., 2021) |
| Bicyclic Monoterpene | 3-carene | Gannan Navel (Essential oil) | Human lung cancer (A549) | Reduced proliferation (IC50 70.80 µg/ml) | MTT | (Yang et al., 2017) |
| Hydroxylated monoterpene | Perillyl alcohol | PC | Hepatoma cell | Suppress cell invasion and migration | Transwell | (Ma et al., 2016) |
| Terpenophenol | Bakuchiol | PC | Human gastric cancer (NUGC3) | Increased cell death and reduced cancer cell viability (IC50 120 µg/ml for 24 h) | MTT | (Lv & Liu, 2017) |
| Monoterpenoid phenol | Carvacrol | PC | Human Caucasian gastric adenocarcinoma (AGS) | Increased cell apoptosis, inhibited proliferation, GSH-reducing effects on cell (IC50 82.57 μmol/l) | CellTiter-Glo | (Günes-Bayir et al., 2017) |
| Citral isomers | Geranial, Neral, and Citral | PC | Colorectal cancer (HCT116 and HT29) | Increased mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis, inhibited cell growth (IC50 52.63 μM, and 91.5 μM for 72 h) | MTT | (Sheikh et al., 2017) |
| Tropolone monoterpene | Hinokitiol | Purity ≥ 90% | Human adenocarcinoma (A549) | Reduced cell migration and chemoprevention | MTT | (Jayakumar et al., 2018) |
| Bicyclic Monoterpene | Myrtenal | PC | Melanoma (B16F0, B16F10 and SkMel-5) | Decreased tumor cells migration and invasion | MTT | (Martins et al., 2019) |
| Oxygenated monoterpen | Carvone | PC | Breast ductal carcinoma (MCF-7) | Protective effect against tumor (IC50 14.22 μM) | MTT | (Abbas, Kandil, & Abbas, 2020) |
Note: PC = Pure Compound.