Allium Sativum as a Novel Therapeutic Agent in the Treatment of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: An In-Vitro Cell Line Study

Introduction: No significant differences have been observed in the survival index of oral squamous cell carcinoma/oral cancer/OSCC over the past decades with the advent of conventional treatment strategies. Additionally, these treatment strategies are fraught with a lot of complications and detrimental side effects. To combat and overcome these, plant-based products with their bioactive phytochemical components offer new hope. With this rationale, we planned and executed the present study to study the cytotoxic effects of Allium sativum on OSCC cell lines, namely KB and CAL 27 cell lines. To assess the anticancer effect of Allium sativum extract on KB and CAL 27 cell lines (OSCC cell lines). Materials and methods: Ethanolic extracts of Allium sativum were prepared by mixing the plant powders with ethanol in a 1:5 ratio using the maceration method. KB and CAL 27 oral squamous cell carcinoma cell lines were cultured in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium supplemented with 10% FBS and 1% antibiotic–antimycotic solution that was maintained at 37°C and 5% conditions in a humidified atmosphere. After three consecutive passages, the cytotoxicity of the compound was evaluated using an MTT assay. The data were subjected to statistical analysis. Result: The obtained results revealed a high cytotoxic effect of Allium sativum extract on KB cell lines at 400 μg/ml with a mean of 92.64 ± 0.59 as depicted in the first figure and on CAL 27 cell lines at 400 μg/ml with a mean of 92.16±0.66 as depicted in the second figure. The result concluded that Allium sativum extract on both the cell lines showed significant cytotoxic effects on higher concentrations against OSCC ( P -value < 0.05). Our study reported the IC50 of about 99.70 μg/ml for Allium sativum on KB cell lines and 107.40 μg/ml CAL 27 cell lines, respectively. Conclusion: Allium sativum proved to have a high cytotoxic effect against human oral cancer cell lines, thereby inducing apoptosis and acting as a natural novel therapeutic agent in OSCC.