Identification of Lilium ledebourii antiproliferative compounds against skin, bone and oral cancer cells.

Objective: This study aimed at the evaluation of anti antiproliferative activity of Lonicera nummularifolia, Lilium ledebourii, Campsis radicans and Parthenocissus quinquefolia extracts. Materials and Methods: The extract was taken from the fresh leaves and bulbs of the plants by maceration method in the dark. After separating the solvent, the remaining dry matter was added to the culture medium containing G292, A431 and KB cancer and HGF-1 normal cells. Cytotoxicity tests, as well as cell cycle and apoptosis tests were performed on cells treated with dry substances and untreated cells. Finally, the most effective extract was separated into fractions by preparative HPLC and the effective fraction was characterized by Triple-Quad LC/MS connected to the UHPLC system. Results: All extracts significantly enhanced cell death rate in the three cancer cell lines more than the HGF-1 line. The Methanolic extract of L. ledebourii bulbs exhibited considerable efficacy on apoptosis induction in the cancer cell lines. It seems that the mode of action for L. ledebourii methanolic extract is mediated through increased BID/MAPK14 expression and decreased MDM2/BCL2/MYC expression, which led to activation of the p53 protein-induced apoptosis. It was also determined that the effective fraction of L. ledebourii methanolic extract consists of substances such as caffeic acid, ferulic acid, coumarin acid, catechin and apigenin. Conclusion: Overall, the findings suggest that L. ledebourii is a promising source of bioactive compounds with anticancer properties.

The Blepharis persica seed hydroalcoholic extract synergistically enhances the apoptotic effect of doxorubicin in human colon cancer and gastric cancer cells.

The goal of this survey is to evaluate the anti-proliferative effects of the hydroalcholic extract of Blepharis persica seeds and its synergic effect on doxorubicin (DOX) in human colon cancer (HT-29) and gastric cancer cell (AGS) lines. 70% Ethanol was used for extraction of B. persica seed. Aluminum-chloride colorimetric and Folin-Ciocalteu reagent methods were used to measure total flavonoid and total phenolic contents of the extract respectively. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of the B. persica extract was performed on GC-MS equipment after silylation. HT-29, AGS, and human fibroblast (SKM) cell lines were treated by different concentration of the B. persica extract, (DOX) and the combination of extraction and DOX. The cytotoxicity was measured using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay while the apoptosis induction was monitored using flowcytometry by annexin-V FITC/PI double-staining. The changes in expression levels of BAX and BCL-2 were determined using Real-Time RT-qPCR. GC-MS analysis of the hydroalcoholic extract from B. persica seeds revealed 24 major components. The MTT assay revealed the cytotoxicity against three cell lines and also it was shown that 125 ng/mL of DOX and 0.625 mg/mL of B. persica extract had synergistic behavior against HT29 cell line. These results showed B. persica extract induced apoptosis in AGS and HT29 cells and its extract caused dose-dependent increase in up-regulation of BAX level (p < 0.05) and down-regulation of BCL2 (p < 0.05). B. persica showed the synergistic effect in combination with DOX on HT29 cell line. These findings demonstrated a basis for further studies on the characterization and mechanistic evaluation of the bioactive compounds of B. persica extract which had antiproliferative effects on cancer cell lines.

Delivery of curcumin by a pH-responsive chitosan mesoporous silica nanoparticles for cancer treatment.

Mesoporous silica nanocarriers as accommodate drug molecule capsules were synthesized and capped by chitosan natural polymer. This nanocarrier acts as a pH-responsive shield to increase the solubility and improvement of anticancer properties of curcumin against U87MG glioblastoma cancer cell line. The encapsulation efficiency and drug-loading content were measured 88.1 ± 4.76% and 8.81 ± 0.47%, respectively. The curcumin release from the CS-MCM-41 was slow and sustained at low pH (42.72 ± 2.29%) compared to the environment pH (19.54 ± 1.36%) in 96 h. The MTT evaluations showed that IC50 after 72 h treatment with free curcumin and curcumin-loaded CS-MCM-41 were 15.20 and 5.21 µg/mL (p <0.05). respectively.

Biochemical, physiological and molecular evaluation of rice cultivars differing in salt tolerance at the seedling stage.

Changes in the antioxidant enzymes, lipid peroxidation, sodium and potassium, chlorophyll, H2O2 and proline content were monitored in the leaves of 42 rice varieties which were not yet well-documented for the salinity tolerance under different salinity levels. The tolerant varieties (FL478, Hassani, Shahpasand, Gharib and Nemat) showed signs of tolerance (lower Na+/K+ ratio, high proline accumulation, less membrane damage, lower H2O2 production, and higher superoxide dismutase and catalase activity) very well. The positive relationship between the level of salt tolerance and the amount of proline accumulation in the rice varieties support the important role of proline under the salt stress. The varieties were genotyped for 12 microsatellite markers that were closely linked to SalTol QTL. The results of association analysis indicated that RM1287, RM8094, RM3412 and AP3206 markers had the high value of R2 for the regression models of the studied traits. It shows the important role of SalTol in controlling physio-biochemical traits. The results can be used in the future marker assisted selection (MAS) directly, if the results are confirmed.

Mitochondrial D-loop variation in Persian multiple sclerosis patients: K and A haplogroups as a risk factor!!

: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a multifocal demyelinating central nervous system disorder in which interplay between genes and the environment are supposed to be involved. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has the only non-coding regions at the displacement loop (D-loop) region that contains two hypervariable segments (HVS-I and HVS-II) with high polymorphism. mtDNA has already been fully sequenced and many subsequent publications have showed polymorphic sites, haplogroups and haplotypes. Haplogroups could have important implications to understand association between mutability of the mitochondrial genome and disease. To assess relationship between mtDNA haplogroups and MS, we have sequenced the mtDNA HVS-I in 54 MS patients and 100 control subjects. We have found that haplogroups A and K are significantly more abundant in MS patients (P=0.042 for haplogroup A and P=0.0005 for haplogroup K). Thus, these two haplogroups might act synergistically to increase the penetrance of MS disease.