Foeniculum vulgare as a Novel Therapeutic Agent in the Treatment of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: An In vitro Cell Line Pilot Study

Background: The low therapeutic efficiency and high toxicity index with adverse side effects of currently available treatment options in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), have raised the need to introduce novel pristine treatment modalities applying natural plant-based products and bioactive biological molecules. Objective: To assess the anticancer effect of Foeniculum vulgare extract on KB and CAL 27 OSCC cell lines. Methods: KB and CAL 27 OSCC cell lines were cultured in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s medium. Ethanolic extracts of F. vulgare in various concentrations were tested for cytotoxicity using methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay. The data was subjected to statistical analysis. Results: Cytotoxicity of F. vulgare extract increased significantly with concentration, peaking at 400 µg/ml ( P < 0.05). The mean cytotoxicity for KB and CAL 27 cells was 86.69 ± 1.05 and 91.37 ± 1.08, respectively. IC 50 of F. vulgare extract for KB and CAL 27 cell lines was found to be 129.14 μM and 120.50 µM, respectively. Conclusion: F. vulgare proved to have high cytotoxic effect by inducing apoptosis in human oral cancer cell lines. F. vulgare can be considered as a natural novel therapeutic agent in OSCC cell lines.