Anticancer Effect of Selected Flavonoids on Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC-25): In Vitro Study

Data from the World Health Organization show that cancer is a primary cause of death worldwide. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is one of the most common head and neck carcinomas (HNC). The rising incidence of cancer over the last few decades requires treatment with a lack of side effects. Among compounds of natural origin, a lot of attention has focused on flavonoids with high pharmacological potential. We used cytotoxic tests and a DNA biosynthesis assay to estimate the anticancer potential of 30 structurally diverse flavonoids in SCC-25 cells and fibroblasts. In both cytotoxicity assays (MTT and NRU tests) the most active flavonoids were apigenin (1), luteolin (5) and genistein (30). The DNA biosynthesis assay showed that a decrease in cancer cell viability may be associated with a reduced cell proliferation rate. Compounds 5 (IC50 = 35.7 ± 1.5 μM) and 1 (IC50 = 43.3 ± 2.0 μM) evoked DNA biosynthesis-inhibitory activity in an oral squamous carcinoma cell line after 48 h of incubation. Our results provide information about the importance of the flavonoid core substituted with free hydroxyl groups when searching for potential drugs to use in tongue squamous cell carcinoma treatment. However, further in vivo studies are needed to assess their anticancer activity.