精油的主要成分萜烯可抑制肝癌细胞生长

精油的主要成分萜烯类化合物可以抑制不同癌细胞的生长。研究人员Hanns Hatt 教授详细地分析了肝癌细胞中的这一过程。他们阐明了导致肿瘤细胞停止生长的分子机制，在使用过阴性香茅醛后,他们证明了嗅觉受体OR1A2就是导致肿瘤细胞停止生长的关键分子。未来，嗅觉受体可以作为诊断和治疗肝癌的目标。研究人员将有关内容发表在《生物化学和生物物理学杂志》上。

精油保护免受细菌、病毒和真菌的侵扰

精油存在于许多植物中,精油的抗菌、抗病毒和抑菌性能能保护植物免受感染。最近发现萜烯（油的主要成分）也可以抑制不同癌细胞的生长，包括肝癌细胞。在这之前它们的功能没有完全被了解。

嗅觉受体不仅存在于鼻子中

萜烯可以通过激活嗅觉受体激发细胞信号过程。这些受体主要位于鼻子中，但它们已经被证明在人体所有类型组织中都有存在，包括皮肤、前列腺和精子。萜烯同样可显著影响致癌作用和癌症的增长，尽管目前萜烯的功能还没有完全被掌握。

萜烯触发细胞内信号通路

为了发现这一点，研究人员研究了一个常见的肝脏肿瘤细胞的细胞模型。他们将肝癌细胞暴露到两种不同浓度萜烯中，并观察它们的反应。结果发现有关萜烯的两个测试导致细胞钙浓度的显著增加。在后续分析中，研究人员集中研究了(-)香茅醛，并且扫描了受体进入萜烯这一过程就像一把钥匙插入一把锁一样。他们证明了决定性的嗅觉受体OR1A2出现在肝细胞中，OR1A2作用是检测柑橘香味和细胞反应。如果受体已从细胞中移除那么它就不会对萜烯起作用。此外，研究人员成功地追踪到用来增加细胞内钙浓度萜烯的信号通路，因而细胞的生长会减少。（转化医学网360zhyx.com）

本文系转化医学网原创编译整理，如需转载，请联系info@360zhyx.com。

附原文：As main component of essential oils, terpenes can inhibit the growth of different cancer cells. Researchers from the Ruhr-University Bochum headed by Prof Dr Dr Dr Hanns Hatt have analysed this process in liver cancer cells in detail. They shed light upon the molecular mechanisms that resulted in cancer cells stop growing, following the application of (-)-citronellal, and they proved that the olfactory receptor OR1A2 is the crucial molecule for that purpose. In future, the olfactory receptor could serve as target for liver cancer diagnosis and therapy. The researchers report their findings in the journal Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics.

Essential oils protect not only from bacteria, viruses and fungi
Essential oils occur in many plants, protecting them through their antibacterial, antiviral and fungicidal properties. It has been recently discovered that terpenes, the oils' main components, can also inhibit the growth of different cancer cells, including liver cancer. Their function had not previously been fully understood.
Olfactory receptors not just in the nose
Terpenes can trigger signalling processes in cells by activating olfactory receptors. Those receptors are mainly located in the nose, but they have been proved to occur in all types of human tissue, including skin, prostate and spermatozoa. Carcinogenesis and cancer growth are likewise significantly affected by terpenes, even though it has not been understood which function exactly they fulfil.
Terpene triggers signalling pathway in the cell
In order to find this out, the researchers from Bochum utilised a cellular model of hepatocellular carcinoma, a common liver tumour. They exposed the cells to a subset of terpenes with different concentrations, and monitored their reactions. It emerged that two of the terpenes tested resulted in a significant increase in calcium concentration in the cells. During a follow-up analysis, the researchers focused on (-)-citronellal and scanned for a receptor into which the terpene has to fit like a key into a lock. They demonstrated that the decisive olfactory receptor OR1A2 occurs in liver cells and is responsible for detection of the citrus scent and cellular reaction. If the option for producing that receptor had been removed from the cells, they did no longer react to the terpene. The researchers, moreover, succeeded in tracking the signalling pathway which the terpene uses for increasing calcium concentration inside the cells, thus reducing cell growth.