Taxillus yadoriki (Siebold) Dancer is a parasitic plant that grows on camellia trees and is common on Jeju Island. The branches of T. yadoriki have long been used to treat various diseases, including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, viral infections, and arthritis. Although recent studies reported that T. yadoriki has anticancer effects in various human cancer cell lines, including lung cancer, the exact molecular mechanisms supporting its anticancer effects are not well understood. This study aims to assess the anticancer effect of the methanol extract of T. yadoriki branches (METY) on mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) cell lines (MC3 cells and YD15 cells) and explore its mechanism of action. Inhibitory activity of MEC cell proliferation was assessed using the CCK-8 assay. The mechanism of the anticancer effect on METY-treated MC3 cells and YD15 cells was evaluated with Hoechst 33342 stain and Western blot. After treating MC3 cells and YD15 cells with METY for 48 hours, the cytotoxicity of MC3 and YD15 cells increased, and nuclear fragmentation increased in both METY-treated MEC cells. Caspase-3 and cleaved PARP activation demonstrated apoptosis of METY-treated MEC cells. Cell proliferation inhibition with METY was alleviated in METY-treated MEC cells pretreated with zVAD-FMK, supporting the cell proliferation inhibition effect by apoptosis. METY-induced apoptosis in MEC cells occurs through MAP kinase pathways such as p38 and pAkt. MEC cell. METY-induced apoptosis of MEC cells occurs via the p38 and pAkt MAPK pathways. Therefore, METY may be a promising anticancer candidate for the MEC therapeutic strategy.

Ⅰ. INTRODUCTION
Ⅱ. MATERIALS AND METHODS
    1. Reagents and antibodies
    2. Cell cultures
    3. Treatment of methanol extract of T. yadoriki(Siebold) Dancer (METY)
    4. Cell viability assessment
    5. DAPI stain
    6. Western blot
    7. Statistical analysis
Ⅲ. RESULTS
    1. Effect of METY on MEC cell lines
    2. Assessment of apoptotic cells in METY-treatedMEC cells
    3. Evaluation of apoptosis-related proteins andBax/Bcl-2 ratio
    4. Study of the cellular mechanism of celldeath in METY-treated MEC cells
    5. Verification of the cell death mechanism ofMETY-treated MEC cells by Z-VAD, LY,and SB treatment
Ⅳ. DISCUSSION
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
REFERENCES

• 한혜연(진주보건대학교 치위생과) | Hye-Yeon Han (Department of Dental Hygeine, Jinju Health College)
• 장민아(부산대학교 치의학전문대학원 구강병리학교실, 치의생명과학연구소) | MinA Jang (Department of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry, Dental and Life Science Institute, Pusan National University)
• 유미현(부산대학교 치의학전문대학원 구강병리학교실, 부산대학교 치의생명과학 교육연구팀, 치의생명과학연구소) | Mi Heon Ryu (Department of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry, Education and Research Team for Life Science on Dentistry, Dental and Life Science Institute, Pusan National University) Corresponding author