Growth inhibition of head and neck carcinomas by D-allose.
BACKGROUND
An inhibitory effect of D-allose, a rare sugar, on several cancer cell lines has been reported. This study aimed to investigate the growth inhibition of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cells by D-allose.


METHODS
We treated 3 head and neck carcinoma cell lines with D-allose, D-fructose, D-psicose, and D-glucose. Cell growth assays as well as analyses of messenger RNA (mRNA) expression, cell cycle, apoptosis, and uptake of 14C-glucose were performed.


RESULTS
D-allose had inhibitory effects on all 3 cell lines and tended to upregulate mRNA expression of glucose transporters, p21 and p53, and downregulate mRNA expression of cyclin A2, cyclin B1, and CDC2. We observed that D-allose tended to interfere with the intracellular uptake of D-glucose and induced apoptosis.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that D-allose inhibits the growth of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cells. D-allose has a considerable potential as a new anticancer agent in those patients.
Mitani
Tomoo
T
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan. mitanit@med.kagawa-u.ac.jp
Hoshikawa
Hiroshi
H
Mori
Terushige
T
Hosokawa
Tomohiro
T
Tsukamoto
Ikuko
I
Yamaguchi
Fuminori
F
Kamitori
Kazuyo
K
Tokuda
Masaaki
M
Mori
Nozomu
N