Er Urganci B, Çakal S, Dogan C, Göçmen S, Şimşek S, Yılmaz S. Storax oil and boron compounds trigger apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in gastric and colorectal cancer. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2026; 18(6): 117252 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v18.i6.117252]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Buket Er Urganci, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Pamukkale University, Morphology Building, 3rd Floor, Denizli 20160, Türkiye. aber@pau.edu.tr
Research Domain of This Article
Cell Biology
Article-Type of This Article
research-article
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Buket Er Urganci, Sacide Çakal, Cihangir Dogan, Sibel Göçmen, Selda Şimşek, Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Pamukkale University, Denizli 20160, Türkiye
Sevda Yılmaz, Department of General Surgery, Pamukkale University, Denizli 20160, Türkiye
Author contributions: Er Urganci B, Şimşek S, and Yılmaz S contributed to study concept and design; Dogan C and Göçmen S performed experimental studies and data acquisition; Er Urganci B and Çakal S performed data analysis and interpretation and wrote the initial draft; all authors revised and approved the final version of the manuscript.
AI contribution statement: Gemini was used for structuring the initial draft and Paperpal was used for language polishing. Portions of the manuscript, specifically the Introduction and Discussion sections, were drafted with the assistance of Paperpal to ensure academic flow. However, all scientific data, results, and specific interpretations are original and based on our laboratory findings. AI tools were used for language polishing and writing assistance to improve readability. No AI tool was used for the primary data analysis; all statistical analyses were performed using RT2 Profiler PCR Array Data Analysis software. All figures and clustergrams were generated using scientific software based on our original experimental data.
Institutional review board statement: Ethical approval was not required for this study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: Not applicable.
Corresponding author: Buket Er Urganci, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Pamukkale University, Morphology Building, 3rd Floor, Denizli 20160, Türkiye. aber@pau.edu.tr
Received: December 3, 2025 Revised: December 19, 2025 Accepted: February 9, 2026 Published online: June 15, 2026 Processing time: 188 Days and 20.8 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Gastric and colorectal cancers are among the most prevalent malignancies, with high mortality rates. Natural compounds like storax oil and boron derivatives have shown potential anticancer properties through apoptosis induction and cell cycle regulation.
AIM
To evaluate the effects of storax oil, boric acid, and borax on apoptosis and cell cycle regulation in gastric (SNU-1) and colorectal (HCT-116) cancer cell lines and to investigate their molecular mechanisms.
METHODS
SNU-1 and HCT-116 cells were treated with storax oil, boric acid, borax alone or in combination. Apoptosis gene (p53, Bax, Bcl-2, CSP3, CSP9) and cell cycle regulator (p21, CyclinD1, CDK1) expression levels were analyzed using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Cluster analysis was performed to assess expression pattern correlations.
RESULTS
Storax oil and boron compounds induced apoptosis by upregulating p53, Bax, and CSP3 while suppressing anti-apoptotic Bcl-2. Boron treatments led to increased p21 expression and CyclinD1 downregulation, suggesting modulation of cell cycle-related gene expression. Combination treatments enhanced apoptotic and anti-proliferative effects, particularly through upregulating p53 and p21.
CONCLUSION
Storax oil, boric acid, and borax exhibit strong apoptotic and anti-proliferative effects in gastric and colorectal cancer cell lines. Their combination enhances efficacy, suggesting potential for cancer therapy. Further in vivo studies are needed to confirm their clinical relevance.
Core Tip: This study demonstrates that storax oil, boric acid, and borax exert strong anticancer activity in gastric and colorectal cancer cells. Treatments significantly induced apoptosis by upregulating p53, Bax, and caspase expression, while suppressing Bcl-2 expression. Boron compounds enhanced cell cycle arrest through increased p21 and decreased CyclinD1 expression. Notably, combination treatments showed synergistic effects, producing greater apoptotic and anti-proliferative responses than individual agents. These findings highlight the potential of storax oil and boron derivatives as complementary therapeutic strategies, offering new insights into apoptosis and cell cycle regulation in gastrointestinal cancers.
