Boswellic acid exerts potent anticancer effects in HCT-116 human colon cancer cells mediated via induction of apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, cell migration inhibition and inhibition of PI3K/AKT signalling pathway.

Purpose: Boswellic acid is an important plant-derived natural product with tremendous pharmacological potential and has been reported to inhibit the growth of several types of cancer cells. In this study we report the anticancer activity of boswellic acid against human colon cancer cells via induction of apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and inhibition of cell migration and PI3K/AKT signalling pathway.
Methods: The antiproliferative effects of boswellic acid were assessed by MTT assay using different doses of the drug. The apoptotic effects were studied by DAPI and annexin V/PI staining assays, and cell cycle distribution was studied by flow cytometry. The effects of the drug on PI3K/AKT protein expression were studied using western blot analysis.
Results: The results of this study showed that boswellic acid suppresses the growth of HCT-116 colon cancer cells. The anticancer effects were found to be dose-dependent and the IC50 value was 15 μM against the HCT-116 colon cancer cells. The inhibition of growth of these cancer cells was mainly due to apoptosis and G2/M cell cycle arrest. Besides, boswellic acid altered the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio in the HCT-116 cancer cells and inhibited their migration as indicated by the cell migration assay. It was observed that boswellic acid decreased the expression of p-PI3K and p-AKT in a concentration- dependent manner. However, the expression of PI3K and AKT remained almost unaltered.
Conclusion: In conclusion, these results clearly suggest that boswellic acid could be employed in the treatment of colon cancer provided further in vivo and other in depth experiments are done.