American Research Journal of Dermatology

: Research on the biological activities of essential oilsin human skin cells is limited. This study first analyzed the effect of an essential oil blend (EOB) on 17 important protein biomarkers in cytokine-stimulated human dermal fibroblasts. The EOB was composed of essential oils of frankincense resin, sweet orange peel, litsea fruit, thyme plant, clove bud, summer savory plant, and niaouli leaf. The results showed that EOB had excellent antiproliferative activity. It significantly increased vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 levels and slightly increased the monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 and epidermal growth factor receptor production. We then studied the effect of the EOB on the expression levels of 21,224 genes in the same cells. We found that the EOB markedly affected genome-wide gene expression. Further analysis revealed that the EOB pleiotropically regulated multiple signaling pathways in human cells including hepatic fibrosis activation, antigen presentation, mitotic roles of the polo-like kinase, and cyclin and cell cycle regulation. Many pathways significantly affected by the EOB are closely related to inflammatory and immune responses. The results suggest that the EOB may affect biological processes and global gene expression in human skin cells. Further research into the underlying mechanism of action of the EOB is needed. Keywords: Essential oil; frankincense; sweet orange; litsea; thyme; inflammation; immune response; signaling pathway; tumor; genome-wide gene expression