Activities of Z-ajoene against tumour and viral spreading in vitro

Z‐ajoene is a garlic‐derived compound with known anti‐tumour properties. This report argues in favour of pro‐apoptotic and cell cycle blockage activities of Z‐ajoene on various cell lines involving activation of the p53‐family gene products, p53, p63 and p73, at indicated doses. According to its known anti‐proteasome activity, Z‐ajoene induced a downregulation of MHC‐class I expression at the surface of treated cells but did not impair their recognition by CD8+ T cells. We further demonstrated a new activity of Z‐ajoene against human cytomegalovirus spreading in vitro that was mediated by an increased number of apoptotic cells after infection. Altogether our data point at the ubiquitous efficiency of Z‐ajoene as a new compound to fight against cancers of various origins including those that put up viruses.