• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 2022

Glioblastoma is the most common primary malignant brain tumor and has an extremely poor prognosis. Glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) contribute to tumor initiation, recurrence, and resistance to therapy, and are thus a key therapeutic target. The peel of Citrus unshiu Markovich has been used in traditional medicine in East Asia to treat various diseases. In this study, we investigated the anticancer activity and molecular mechanism of the chloroform extract of this natural product (CECU) in U87MG GSCs. The results show that CECU inhibited the proliferation, tumorsphere formation, and migration of U87MG GSCs by causing cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase and apoptosis. In addition, CECU downregulated key cancer stemness regulators, including CD133, Oct4, Nanog, integrin α6, ALDH1A1, and STAT3 signaling in U87MG GSCs. Furthermore, CECU significantly suppressed in vivo tumor growth of U87MG GSCs in a chorioallantoic membrane model. Therefore, CECU can be utilized as a natural medicine for the prevention and treatment of glioblastoma.