Chemical Evaluation, In Vitro and In Vivo Anticancer Activity of Lavandula angustifolia Grown in Jordan.

Lavandula angustifolia is the most widely cultivated Lavandula species for medicinal use. In this study, chemical and biological evaluation of L. angustifolia aqueous, methanol (MeOH), ethanol (EtOH), ethyl acetate (EtOAc), and chloroform (CHCl3) extracts were conducted. Phytochemically, the extracts' total phenol and flavonoid contents and their antioxidant potential were evaluated. Ethanol extract was analyzed by LC-MS. All extracts were screened in vitro for their antitumor potential using human breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA-MB-23. For the first time, the antiproliferative potential of the EtOH extract was tested in vivo using mice with induced breast cancer. Ethanol extract exhibited the best cytotoxicity and safety profile of the tested extracts, with IC50 values of 104.1 µg/mL on MCF-7 and 214.5 µg/mL on MDA-MB-231 cell lines, respectively. In vivo, this extract revealed a reduction in tumor size by 43.29% in the treated group, compared to an increase in the tumor growth by 58.9% in the control group. Moreover, undetected tumor was found in 12.5% of the sample size. In conclusion, this study provides novel insight and evidence on the antiproliferative efficacy of L. angustifolia ethanol extract against breast cancer with potent anti-oxidant potential.

Quercetin-gold nanorods incorporated into nanofibers: development, optimization and cytotoxicity.

Herein, a polymeric nanofiber scaffold loaded with Quercetin (Quer)-gold nanorods (GNR) was developed and characterized. Several parameters related to loading Quer into GNR, incorporating the GNR-Quer into polymeric solutions, and fabricating the nanofibers by electrospinning were optimized. GNR-Quer loaded into a polymeric mixture of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) (21%) and poloxamer 407 (23%) has produced intact GNR-Quer-nanofibers with enhanced physical and mechanical properties. GNR-Quer-nanofibers demonstrated a slow pattern of Quer release over time compared to nanofibers free of GNR-Quer. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) revealed enhanced uniformity and homogeneity of the GNR-Quer-nanofibers. GNR-Quer-nanofibers demonstrated a high ability to retain water upon incubation in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) for 24 h compared to nanofibers free of GNR-Quer. A cellular toxicity study indicated that the average cellular viability of human dermal fibroblasts was 76% after 24 h of exposure to the nanofibers containing a low concentration of GNR-Quer.

Chemodiversity and Antiproliferative Activity of the Essential Oil of Schinus molle Growing in Jordan.

The leaves and unripe and fully-grown fruits of Schinus molle were collected from three geographical regions of Jordan: Amman (the Mediterranean), Madaba (Irano-Turanean), and Sahab (Saharo-Arabian). The hydrodistilled volatile oils of fresh and dried leaves and fruits were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The actual composition of the emitted volatiles was determined using Solid Phase Micro-Extraction (SPME). α- and ß-Phellandrenes were the major components in all the analyzed samples. Quantitative differences were observed in the obtained essential oils (0.62-5.25 %). Additionally, cluster analysis was performed. Biologically, the antiproliferative activity of the essential oil, ethanol, and water extracts of the fruits and leaves was screened on Caco2, HCT116, MCF7, and T47D cell lines. The essential oil and ethanol extracts exhibited a dose-dependent inhibition of cell growth with IC50 ranging between 21 and 65 µg/mL. The water extract did not exhibit any antiproliferative activity against the investigated cell lines.

Discovery of new selective cytotoxic agents against Bcl-2 expressing cancer cells using ligand-based modeling.

Bcl-2 is an anti-apoptotic protein involved in cancer resistance to cytotoxic therapies making it an interesting target for inhibitors design. Towards this end, we implemented an elaborated ligand-based computational workflow that combines exhaustive pharmacophore modeling and quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) analysis to explore the structural features required for potent Bcl-2 inhibitors employing 98 known Bcl-2 inhibitors. Genetic function algorithm (GFA) coupled with k nearest neighbor (kNN) or multiple linear regression (MLR) analyses were employed to generate predictive QSAR models based on optimal combinations of pharmacophores and physicochemical descriptors. The optimal QSAR-selected pharmacophore models were validated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and by comparison with crystallographic structures of known inhibitors co-crystallized within Bcl-2 binding pocket. Optimal QSAR models and their associated pharmacophore hypotheses were validated by identification and experimental evaluation of new selective cytotoxic compounds against Bcl-2 expressing cancer cells. The hits were retrieved from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) structural database. Several potent hits were captured. The most potent hits illustrated IC50 values of 4.2 and 2.60 µM against MDA-MB-231 cancer cell-line.