Cancer Cells

Photography by Ajay Bommareddy, Ph.D., Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine

Actin filaments, cytoskeletal structures play an important role in cancer cell survival and migration. Human melanoma cells (SKMEL-2) were treated with a naturally occurring compound, alpha-santalol, derived from sandalwood oil to assess the effect on disruption of F-actin filaments. Representative confocal microscopic images (40x oil objective magnification) showing Rhodamine phalloidin-labeled F-actin filaments (red color) and nuclear staining with DAPI (blue color) in SK-MEL2 cells after 24 h treatment with DMSO or indicated concentrations of alpha-santalol. As shown in the image, the control-treated cells (DMSO, identified by green arrows) expressed healthy looking and elongated F-actin filaments while alpha-santalol treated cells (20 and 40 uM, identified by yellow arrows) expressed collapsed F-actin filaments. Disruption of F-actin network by alpha-santalol may be responsible for inhibition of melanoma cell migration.