ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Head and Neck Cancer
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring Molecular Mechanisms in Cancer through Tumor Molecular PathologyView all 13 articles
CMSP Suppresses Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Progression by Targeting the JAK2/STAT3/c-Myc Axis
Provisionally accepted
YUETING LU1
Dixian Wang1Manman Yao1*Daisuke Higuchi2Hualin Lu1
Shang Shang1Bo Dong1Jiao Zhang1Ruizhe Jin3Tiejun Liu1*- 1河北医科大学第四医院, 石家庄, China
- 2Matsumoto Shika Daigaku, Shiojiri, Japan
- 3Children's Hospital of Hebei, Shijiazhuang, China
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Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a highly invasive head and neck malignancy with poor prognosis and limited treatment efficacy. This study systematically investigates the anti-tumor potential of p-hydroxycinnamaldehyde (CMSP), a bioactive compound from the traditional Chinese and Mongolian medicinal herb Momordica cochinchinensis. In vitro assays demonstrated that CMSP inhibited proliferation, migration, and invasion of CAL27 and SCC15 OSCC cells in a dose-dependent manner, induced S-phase arrest, and promoted apoptosis. Transcriptomic analysis and KEGG/GO enrichment identified the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway as a key regulatory target. Western blotting confirmed that CMSP significantly suppressed phosphorylation of JAK2 and STAT3 and downregulated downstream c-Myc expression. In vivo, CMSP markedly inhibited tumor growth in a CAL27 xenograft nude mouse model.Bioinformatics analysis and molecular docking suggested that MYC-related signaling may contribute to the antitumor activity of CMSP in OSCC. Overall, CMSP exerts anti-OSCC effects, at least in part, by regulating the JAK2/STAT3/c-Myc axis and thus holds promise as an adjunctive.
Keywords: oral squamous cell carcinoma, P-hydroxycinnamaldehyde, JAK2/STAT3/c-Myc Signaling Pathway, Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition, Apoptosis, Transcriptome sequencing, Tumor immune microenvironment
Received: 23 Jul 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 LU, Wang, Yao, Higuchi, Lu, Shang, Dong, Zhang, Jin and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Manman Yao, 49103567@hebmu.edu.cn
Tiejun Liu, liutiejun1973@sohu.com
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