Capsaicin: A chili pepper bioactive phytocompound with a potential role in suppressing cancer development and progression.

Cancer profoundly influences morbidity and fatality rates worldwide. Patients often have dismal prognoses despite recent improvements in cancer therapy regimens. However, potent biomolecules derived from natural sources, including medicinal and dietary plants, contain biological and pharmacological properties to prevent and treat various human malignancies. Capsaicin is a bioactive phytocompound present in red hot chili peppers. Capsaicin has demonstrated many biological effects, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anticarcinogenic capabilities. This review highlights the cellular and molecular pathways through which capsaicin exhibits antineoplastic activities. Our work also depicts the synergistic anticancer properties of capsaicin in conjunction with other natural bioactive components and approved anticancer drugs. Capsaicin inhibits proliferation in various cancerous cells, and its antineoplastic actions in numerous in vitro and in vivo carcinoma models impact oncogenesis, tumor-promoting and suppressor genes, and associated signaling pathways. Capsaicin alone or combined with other phytocompounds or approved antineoplastic drugs triggers cell cycle progression arrest, generating reactive oxygen species and disrupting mitochondrial membrane integrity, ultimately stimulating caspases and promoting death. Furthermore, capsaicin alone or in combination can promote apoptosis in carcinoma cells by enhancing the p53 and c-Myc gene expressions. In conclusion, capsaicin alone or in combination can have enormous potential for cancer prevention and intervention, but further high-quality studies are needed to firmly establish the clinical efficacy of this phytocompound.

Nutraceuticals, a Bridge Between Past and Future: Focus on Mushrooms Biological Activities and Myco-Chemistry.

BACKGROUND: Mushrooms are consumed worldwide due to their high nutritional and nutraceutical values. In addition to the presence of various vitamins, low-fat, and proteins, they are also an important source of trace elements, dietary fibers, and bioactive compounds. Their potential therapeutic properties are due to their multiple biological effects, such as antimicrobial, antiviral, antioxidant, anticancer, immune-modulating, cardioprotective, and antidiabetic properties. The global market of mushroom farming is anticipated to witness remarkable progress for its potential application in health products, profitable production and a rising demand for the healthy foods across the globe. The Asia Pacific marketplace seems to represent the major market of mushrooms, due to the higher per capita consumption of culinary and medical purposes. OBJECTIVE: Mushrooms have generally low calories, low levels of cholesterol, fats, gluten and sodium. Several biological effects of mushroom are due to the presence of phenolic components, polysaccharides, terpenoids, terphenyl-related compounds, and many other lower molecular weight molecules. This review aims at describing the chemical characterization of several mushrooms species and their biological effects. CONCLUSION: The current review describes different secondary metabolites found in several mushrooms and mushrooms extracts, and the molecular mechanisms underlying the biological activities. Also the antimicrobial activities of mushrooms, mushrooms extracts and isolated compounds from mushrooms were described. The description of these activities, related to the presence of specific classes of secondary metabolites and isolated compounds, may lead to the identification of mycomplexes and mushrooms compounds that may be further studied for their potential application in nutraceutical products.

Garlic constituents for cancer prevention and therapy: From phytochemistry to novel formulations.

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is one of the oldest plants cultivated for its dietary and medicinal values. This incredible plant is endowed with various pharmacological attributes, such as antimicrobial, antiarthritic, antithrombotic, antitumor, hypoglycemic, and hypolipidemic activities. Among the various beneficial pharmacological effects of garlic, the anticancer activity is presumably the most studied. The consumption of garlic provides strong protection against cancer risk. Taking into account the multi-targeted actions and absence of considerable toxicity, a few active metabolites of garlic are probably to play crucial roles in the killing of cancerous cells. Garlic contains several bioactive molecules with anticancer actions and these include diallyl trisulfide, allicin, diallyl disulfide, diallyl sulfide, and allyl mercaptan. The effects of various garlic-derived products, their phytoconstituents and nanoformulations have been evaluated against skin, prostate, ovarian, breast, gastric, colorectal, oral, liver, and pancreatic cancers. Garlic extract, its phytocompounds and their nanoformulations have been shown to inhibit the different stages of cancer, including initiation, promotion, and progression. Besides, these bioactive metabolites alter the peroxidation of lipid, activity of nitric oxide synthetase, nuclear factor-κB, epidermal growth factor receptor, and protein kinase C, cell cycle, and survival signaling. The current comprehensive review portrays the functions of garlic, its bioactive constituents and nanoformulations against several types of cancers and explores the possibility of developing these agents as anticancer pharmaceuticals.

Myco-nanotechnological approach to synthesize silver oxide nanocuboids using endophytic fungus isolated from Citrus pseudolimon plant.

The current study reports the isolation of Colletotrichum plurivorum, an endophytic fungus from a Citrus pseudolimon plant and its utilization in the green synthesis of silver oxide nanocuboids (Ag2O NCs) at room temperature. The synthesized nanocrystals were thoroughly characterized by UV-vis, FTIR spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. Electron microscopic images confirmed the formation of cuboid shaped particles having size 200-250 nm in length and 80-150 nm in width, whereas, XRD and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern confirms the formation of cubic Ag2O nanocrystals. Then these Ag2O NCs are applied in antibacterial activities against a pathogenic gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli and gram-positive bacteria Bacillus subtilis and found very good activities against them. Currently these types of nanocuboids have drawn great interest in the field of catalysis, photocatalysis to biomedical applications.

Cancer Preventive and Therapeutic Potential of Banana and Its Bioactive Constituents: A Systematic, Comprehensive, and Mechanistic Review.

BACKGROUND: The banana (Musa spp.) plant produces elongated and edible fruit. The two main parthenocarpic species of banana are Musa accuminata Colla and Musa balbisiana Colla. There are several health-promoting and disease-preventing effects of Musa accuminata Colla, which are attributed to its important bioactive compounds, including phenolics, carotenoids, biogenic amines, phytosterols, and volatile oils, found in the stem, fruit, pseudostem, leaf, flower, sap, inner trunk, root, and inner core. Banana possesses numerous pharmacological activities, such as antioxidant, immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, antiulcerogenic, hypolipidemic, hypoglycemic, leishmanicidal, anthelmintic, and anticancer properties. Various individual studies have reported anticancer effects of different components of the banana plant. However, according to our understanding, an up-to-date, systematic, and critical analysis of existing scientific results has not yet been carried out. OBJECTIVES: This review aims to include a thorough assessment of banana and its phytochemicals for cancer prevention and therapy with a focus on cellular and molecular mechanisms of action. METHODS: The available research studies on anticancer activities of banana extracts, fractions and pure compounds were collected using various scholarly databases, such as PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Scopus, based on predetermined selection criteria. RESULTS: Various banana extracts, fractions, and phytoconstituents, including ferulic acid, protocatechualdehyde, 2-pentanone, 4-epicyclomusalenone, cycloeucalenol acetate, and chlorogenic acid, have been shown to exhibit cancer preventative and anticancer activities in breast, cervical, colorectal, esophageal, hepatic, oral, prostate, and skin cancers. Bioactive components present in bananas have exhibited antiproliferative, cell cycle arrest-inducing, apoptotic, anti-adhesive, anti-invasive, and antiangiogenic effects through modulation of diverse, dysregulated oncogenic signaling pathways. CONCLUSION: Based on the critical analysis of available literature, banana products and phytoconstituents show enormous potential for future development of drugs for cancer prevention and therapy. However, more mechanistic studies and well-designed clinical trials should be performed to establish its efficacy.

Star anise (Illicium verum): Chemical compounds, antiviral properties, and clinical relevance.

Medicinal herbs are one of the imperative sources of drugs all over the world. Star anise (Illicium verum), an evergreen, medium-sized tree with star-shaped fruit, is an important herb with wide distribution throughout southwestern parts of the Asian continent. Besides its use as spice in culinary, star anise is one of the vital ingredients of the Chinese medicinal herbs and is widely known for its antiviral effects. It is also the source of the precursor molecule, shikimic acid, which is used in the manufacture of oseltamivir (Tamiflu®), an antiviral medication for influenza A and influenza B. Besides, several other molecules with numerous biological benefits including the antiviral effects have been reported from the same plant. Except the antiviral potential, star anise possesses a number of other potentials such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, antifungal, anthelmintic, insecticidal, secretolytic, antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, gastroprotective, sedative properties, expectorant and spasmolytic, and estrogenic effects. This review aimed to integrate the information on the customary attributes of the plant star anise with a specific prominence on its antiviral properties and the phytochemical constituents along with its clinical aptness.

Non-healing verrucous plaque over upper limb for 1 year in a tea garden worker.

A 55-year-old tea garden worker presented with a slowly growing verrucous plaque on the right arm. The diagnosis of chromomycosis was confirmed by the identification of brown sclerotic bodies in a skin biopsy.

Evening primrose oil is effective in atopic dermatitis: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, relapsing, itchy dermatosis of multifactorial origin, which commonly starts in childhood. Defective metabolism of essential fatty acids leading to relative dominance of pro-inflammatory prostaglandins (PGE2 and PGF2) has been reported as an important factor in the pathogenesis of AD. Evening primrose oil (EPO) as a source of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) has been of interest in the management of AD. AIM: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of EPO in atopic dermatitis in our patients. METHODS: Consecutive new out-patient department (OPD) patients of a referral hospital in Kolkata clinically diagnosed as having AD were randomly allocated to two groups. To the first group, evening primrose oil was supplied as 500-mg oval clear unmarked capsules, while placebo capsules identical in appearance and containing 300 mg of sunflower oil were given to the other group. Treatment continued for a period of 5 months. With pre-designed scoring system (based on four major parameters: extent, intensity, itching, and dryness), clinical evaluation was done at baseline and subsequent monthly visits. Data of the first 25 patients from each group who completed the 5 months of trial were compiled and analyzed. RESULTS: At the end of the fifth month, 24 (96%) patients of EPO group and 8 (32%) patients of placebo group showed improvement. There was significant difference in outcome of treatment between two groups (P<0.00001). No significant adverse effect was reported by any patient/guardian at any point of assessment. CONCLUSION: Evening primrose oil is a safe and effective medicine in management of AD. However, since not all researchers across the world have found the same good result, further large trials on Indian patients are needed.