This study investigated the cytotoxic activity of four plant derived compounds including perillic acid (PA), Perillyl alcohol (POH), cis jasmone (CJ) and methyl jasmonate (MJ) on a variety of human cancer cell lines: Breast (MDA-MB-435, MDA-MB-231, DC4, DB46, T47D, SKBR3 and ZR75-1), Prostate (PC-3 and DU-145) and Lung (A549, H520 and H2170). It was demonstrated that these compounds induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis by themselves or in combination with other agents. Specifically, MJ decreases membrane fluidity resulting in an activation of tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR1) which signals apoptosis via caspase 8 and 2. Combination studies demonstrated that POH, MJ and cisplatin decreased viability, induced cell cycle arrest and activated TNFR1. These results indicate that plant compounds show promise as an alternate treatment option and the combination of these compounds with chemotherapeutic drugs may decrease toxicity and improve efficacy over single agent therapy
