Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. May 24, 2025; 16(5): 105341
Published online May 24, 2025. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v16.i5.105341
Natural compound rosmarinic acid displays anti-tumor activity in colorectal cancer cells by suppressing nuclear factor-kappa B signaling
Wen-Yue Liu, Han Wang, Xin Xu, Xuan Wang, Kun-Kun Han, Wen-Dao You, Yili Yang, Tao Zhang
Wen-Yue Liu, Han Wang, Tao Zhang, Key Laboratory of Microecology-Immunomodulatory Network and Related Diseases, School of Basic Medicine, Jiamusi University, Jiamusi 154007, Heilongjiang Province, China
Wen-Yue Liu, Han Wang, Xin Xu, Xuan Wang, Kun-Kun Han, Yili Yang, China Regional Research Center, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Taizhou 225300, Jiangsu Province, China
Xin Xu, Kun-Kun Han, Yili Yang, Center for Self-Propelled Nanotechnologies, College of Biotechnology, Suzhou Industrial Park Institute of Services Outsourcing, Suzhou 215125, Jiangsu Province, China
Wen-Dao You, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, Jiangsu Province, China
Co-first authors: Wen-Yue Liu and Han Wang.
Co-corresponding authors: Yili Yang and Tao Zhang.
Author contributions: Yang Y and Zhang T conceived and designed the study, and reviewed and edited the manuscript; Liu WY, Wang H, Xu X, Wang X, Han KK, and You WD performed the experiments, and acquired and analyzed the data; Xu X and Han KK wrote the manuscript; Liu WY, Wang H, Xu X, Yang Y, and Zhang T revised and corrected the draft. Liu WY and Wang H are listed as co-first authors, who made equal contributions to this work. Yang Y and Zhang T are listed as co-corresponding authors, who contributed equally to this work. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Supported by Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province of China Under Grant, No. PL2024H020; and High-Quality Innovation Platform of Science and Education Innovation Zone in Suzhou Industrial Park-Key Platform Project, No. YZCXPT2023104.
Institutional review board statement: The study did not involve human or animal subjects.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yili Yang, Professor, China Regional Research Center, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, No. 8 Taohongjing Road, Taizhou 225300, Jiangsu Province, China. nathanyang@icgeb.cn
Received: January 20, 2025
Revised: February 27, 2025
Accepted: March 24, 2025
Published online: May 24, 2025
Processing time: 120 Days and 13.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Given the widespread use of rosmarinic acid (RA) as a food additive, this study aimed to investigate whether RA affected colorectal cancer (CRC) development. We verified that RA exerted its anti-tumor activity through effectively suppressing nuclear factor-kappa B signaling, and enhanced the cytotoxic actions of 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin in CRC cells, which indicated that RA might help to improve the chemotherapy of CRC.