Terpinolene, a component of herbal sage, downregulates AKT1 expression in K562 cells.

Protein kinase AKT mediates cell proliferation and survival signals, and also contributes to cancer progression. Increased expression and/or activation of AKT is involved in a variety of human cancers. In cells treated with sage or rosemary extract, mRNA and protein expression levels of AKT1 were reduced compared with those of the control cells 48 h after the herbal treatments. We found that terpinolene, a common component of sage and rosemary, markedly reduced the protein expression of AKT1 in K562 cells and inhibited cell proliferation.