Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. It has a very poor prognosis with over a 5-year survival rate of only 50%. Thus, it is important to identify effective therapeutic interventions against oral cancer. Apoptosis and autophagy have reported genetically regulated in physiology and diseases, which close relationship. Many natural compound study objects anticancer effect have been studied between apoptosis and autophagy relationship. The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of erianin on human oral cancer cell proliferation. Results of the study revealed that treatment with erianin significantly reduced the viability of different OSCC cell lines. Erianin exerted its cytotoxic effect by inducing cell cycle arrest and caspase-dependent apoptotic pathways. Both intrinsic and extrinsic pathways were found to be involved in erianin-mediated cell death. In addition, treatment with erianin also increased autophagy in OSCC cells. With further analysis, it was found that erianin induced both apoptosis and autophagy by regulating MAPK signaling pathways. Taken together, our study indicates that erianin plays an important role in reducing oral cancer cell viability, and thus, can be considered as a potential anticancer agent.
