New insights inside the interdigitating dendritic cell sarcoma-pooled analysis and review of literature.

Interdigitating dendritic cell sarcoma is a rare haematological neoplasm with high debatable management protocols. The data extracted from 127 case reports published between 1981 and 2018 were analysed. The median age at diagnosis was 58 years with a male to female ratio of 1.65:1. The median OS and PFS of IDCS were 12 and 6 months, respectively, with a disease-specific mortality rate of 36.4%. Two-thirds of patients had a localised disease, while 30% had a disseminated form with 1-year mortality rates of 21.1% and 78.9%, respectively. Twenty per cent of cases were associated with other malignancies. Histologically, the proliferation of large spindle-shaped cells with fascicular growth was described in 84.3% of cases. Based on Cox-regression model, surgical resection was the only treatment modality linked to survival improvement with no recorded survival benefits of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The 1-year mortality rates in resected and non-resected disease were 17.8% and 63.2%, respectively (P < 0.0001).

Anti-HIV-1 and cytotoxicity of the alkaloids of Erythrina abyssinica Lam. growing in Sudan.

Erythrina abyssinica Lam. is an important medicinal plant growing in Sudan; its seeds were investigated for the first time for their alkaloidal constituents and biological activity. The in vitro cytotoxicity of the crude alkaloidal fraction (CAF) against the cell lines HeLa, Hep-G2, HEP-2, HCT116, MCF-7 and HFB4 showed promising activity, with IC50 values of 13.8, 10.1, 8.16, 13.9, 11.4 and 12.2 µg mL⁻¹, respectively. Doxorubicin (positive control) showed in vitro cytotoxic activity with IC50 values 3.64, 4.57, 4.89, 3.74, 2.97 and 3.96 µg mL⁻¹, respectively. Bioassay-guided fractionation and isolation of the CAF led to the isolation of five Erythrina alkaloids, identified as erythraline, erysodine, erysotrine, 8-oxoerythraline and 11-methoxyerysodine. These were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxic activity against Hep-G2 which resulted in IC50 values 17.60, 11.80, 15.80, 3.89 and 11.40 µg mL⁻¹, respectively. Furthermore, in vitro cytotoxic activity against HEP-2 was evaluated, which resulted in IC50 values 15.90, 19.90, 21.60, 18.50 and 11.50 µg mL⁻¹, respectively. The CAF caused a reduction in the viability of mock-infected MT-4 cells with a CC50 of 53 µM and a 50% protection of MT-4 cells against HIV-1 induced cytopathogeneticy with a EC50 of >53 µM, compared with EFV as a positive control, which had a CC50 of 45 µM and an EC50 of 0.003 µM. We concluded that the isolated alkaloids were responsible for the anti-carcinogenic [corrected] actions of the plant extract previously reported in the literature.