Synergistic Anticancer Activity of Cinnamon Bark Oil and Imatinib Mesylate Combination on Colorectal Cancer Cell Lines

Abstract

Cinnamon bark oil (CO) has anticancer activity in various type of cancer cells and could be used alternatively to support anticancer drugs. For the enhancement of cytotoxic effects, the combination of bioactive compounds with chemotherapeutics drug has been interested in the possibility of cancer treatment. This study aimed to determine whether there is a synergistic effect between the combination of CO and chemotherapeutic drug such as imatinib mesylate (IM) on HCT 116 and HT29 colorectal cancer cell lines. The cytotoxic activities of CO and IM were investigated individually and their combination in each cancer cell line using cell viability assay. The interaction between CO and IM was determined using the combination index (CI) method. Cinnamon bark oil exhibited the high cytotoxicity on HCT116 cell, while IM showed the high cytotoxic activity on HT 29 cell. The tested combination decreased notably viability of cell and allowed to reduce the dose of imatinib chemotherapy drug. The combination of CO with IM showed a strong synergistic effect (CI < 1) on HT29 cell. For HCT116 cell treated combination of CO (4μg/mL) and IM (10μg/mL) demonstrated a strong synergistic effect (CI = 0.52). Thus, the combined CO and IM might be applied for pharmaceutical drug delivery for colon cancer treatment.