Abstract
Oral squamous cell carcinoma is one of the most common oral cancers, traditional treatments of cancer (surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy) have shown to have many side effects and this led to shifting to natural alternatives. Phytochemicals are now showing more appealing future in cancer treatment. Objectives: to study the effect of Ethanolic Neem leaf extract (ENLE) on oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cell line cells. Material and methods: immunocytochemical staining of oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line treated with three different concentrations of ENEL for different durations was performed and the levels of caspase-3 and Ki67 were evaluated, followed by statistical analysis. Results: MTT Cytotoxicity Assay showed a progressive decrease in the mean viability percentage in ENLE treated SCC-15 cells as the ENLE concentration increased at both durations, a statistically significant increase to investigate the cytotoxic effect of different concentrations of ENEL at different durations. Caspase-3 results showed an increase in the number of apoptotic cells, with increasing the concentration and duration, when compared with control groups in both durations. Ki-67 results showed a decrease in the number of viable cells, with increasing the concentration and duration, when compared to control groups in both durations. Conclusion: the assessment of cytotoxicity of ENLE on SCC-15 cell line showed that the ENLE had a cytotoxic effect on the cells when compared to the control cells. This effect increased with increasing both the concentration and duration. Immunocytochemistry (ICC) is an effective sensitive marker for both apoptosis and proliferation.