Antitumor effects of Farnesol in optic nerve sheath meningioma cell line and its effects on cell cycle progression, autophagy, cell migration and invasion.

PURPOSE: Farnesol has been shown to exhibit important anticancer potential. However, its antiproliferative effects have not been examined against the optic nerve sheath meningioma cells. In this study the potential of Farnesol in the treatment of optic nerve meningioma was evaluated by examining its antiproliferative effects against the HBL-52 cells. METHODS: The MTT assay was used to determine cell viability of HBL-52 cells. Autophagy was detected by transfection assay. The cell migration and invasion of HBL-52 cells was determined by transwell assay. Protein expression was checked by western blot assay. RESULTS: The results showed that Farnesol decreased significantly the viability of HBL-52 cells and showed an IC50 of 25 µM. The antiproliferative effects were due to the activation of the autophagy in the HBL-52 cells. The autophagy was also accompanied by upsurge of LC3 II and Beclin 1 expression. Farnesol also triggered the cell cycle arrest of the HBL-52 at the G2/M phase of the cell cycle which was accompanied by suppression of cyclin B1. The cell migration and invasion of the HBL-52 cells was also suppressed by Farnesol via inhibition of MMP-2 and 9 expressions. CONCLUSIONS: To sum up, Farnesol may prove beneficial in the treatment of optic nerve sheath meningioma as it has shown significant antiproliferative effects against this rare form of tumor.