Authors:
O LeGendre, P A S Breslin, & D A Foster
Summary:
(-)-Oleocanthal (OC), a phenolic compound in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), has been implicated in the health benefits associated with diets rich in EVOO. We investigated the effect of OC on human cancer cell lines in culture. Amazingly, OC induced cell death in all cancer cells examined – as rapidly as 30 minutes after treatment in the absence of serum. OC treatment of non-transformed cells suppressed proliferation, but did not cause cell death. OC induced both primary necrotic and apoptotic cell death via induction of lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP). We provide evidence that OC promotes LMP by inhibiting acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) activity, which destabilizes the interaction between proteins necessary for lysosomal membrane stability. The data presented here indicates that cancer cells having fragile lysosomal membranes – as compared to non-cancerous cells – are susceptible to lysosomotropic agent-induced cell death. Therefore, targeting lysosomal membrane stabiltiy represents a novel approach to induce cancer-specific cell death.
Source:
Molecular & Cellular Oncology; (01/23/15)