Determination of the Antibacterial and Apoptotic Effects of Carvacrol and Anticancer Peptide

 Treating gastric cancer and antibacterial remains a major challenge. There have been many reports about the positive effects of carvacrol and anti-cancer peptides contributing to cancer inhibition and antibacterial activities.

 This study aimed to determine antibacterial and anti-cancer effects of modified carvacrol against AGS gastric cancer cell line by adopting the flow cytometry technique.

 The treatment of cells with modified carvacrol containing anti-cancer peptide was used to evaluate the apoptosis effect against the AGS cell line. The treatment of AGS cells was performed by adopting flow cytometry in order to evaluate the apoptosis. Disc diffusion and MIC methods were used to determine the antibacterial effects.

 The results showed that cells treated with carvacrol and anti-cancer peptide at a concentration of 0.125 µg/mL induced a 31-fold apoptotic effect. Phosphate buffered saline was used as the control group for the treatment that induced a 63% apoptotic effect on the AGS cell line. The results of antibacterial activity suggested that the modified carvacrol had antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus (MIC = 6 µg/mL, Growth inhibition zone with diameter of 20mm) and Escherichia coli (12 µg/mL, Growth inhibition zone with diameter 16). The results also revealed that the minimum inhibitory concentration of the compound was 6 µg/mL for Staphylococcus aureus, while this value was 12 µg/mL for Escherichia coli.

 Since the anti-cancer properties of modified carvacrol mixture with anti-cancer peptide induced 1.25 times more than phosphate-buffered saline, the above combination may have been used to treat and induce apoptotic activity against gastric cancer cell lines.