Induction of AP-1 activity by perillyl alcohol in breast cancer cells

Monoterpenes display chemopreventive and therapeutic activity in rat mammar y tumor models. Monoterpenes can also inhibit cell growth and induce apopto sis of cultured cells. In this study, the monoterpene perillyl alcohol (POH ) was found to induce transient expression of the c-jun and c-fos genes tra nscriptionally. POH also transiently induced phosphorylation of c-Jun prote in. These events were associated with transcriptional activation of an AP-l -dependent reporter gene. These results suggest that POH might affect c-Jun activity via the Jun N-terminal kinase/stress-activated protein kinase pat hway and modulate expression of AP-1 target genes.