Nicotine promotes epithelial to mesenchymal transition and gemcitabine resistance via hENT1/RRM1 signalling in pancreatic cancer and chemosensitizing effects of Embelin-a naturally occurring benzoquinone.

Pancreatic cancer is lethal due to poor prognosis with 5-year survival rate lesser than 5 %. Gemcitabine is currently used to treat pancreatic cancer and development of chemoresistance is a major obstacle to overcome pancreatic cancer. Nicotine is a known inducer of drug resistance in pancreatic tumor micro-environment. Present study evaluates chemoresistance triggered by nicotine while treating with gemcitabine and chemosensitization using Embelin. Embelin is a naturally occurring benzoquinone from Embelia ribes possessing therapeutic potency. To develop nicotine-induced chemo-resistance, pancreatic cancer cells PANC-1 and MIA PaCa-2 were continuously treated with nicotine followed by exposure to gemcitabine. Gemcitabine sensitivity assay and immunoblotting was performed to assess the chemo-resistance. Antiproliferative assays such as migration assay, clonogenic assay, Mitochondrial Membrane Potential (MMP) assay, dual staining assay, comet assay, Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) assay, cell cycle analysis and immunoblotting assays were performed to witness the protein expression involved in chemoresistance and chemosensitization. Epithelial to mesenchymal transition was observed in nicotine induced chemoresistant cells. Gemcitabine sensitivity assay revealed that relative resistance was increased to 6.26 (p < 0.0001) and 6.45 (p < 0.0001) folds in resistant PANC-1 and MIA PaCa-2 compared to parental cells. Protein expression studies confirmed resistance markers like hENT1 and dCK were downregulated with subsequent increase in RRM1 expression in resistant cells. Embelin considerably decreased the cell viability with an IC50 value of 4.03 ± 0.08 µM in resistant PANC-1 and 2.11 ± 0.04 µM in resistant MIA PaCa-2. Cell cycle analysis showed Embelin treatment caused cell cycle arrest at S phase in resistant PANC-1 cells; in resistant MIA PaCa-2 cells there was an escalation in the Sub G1. Embelin upregulated Bax, γH2AX, p53, ERK1/2 and hENT1 expression with concomitant down regulation of Bcl-2 and RRM1. Bioactive molecule embelin, its combination with gemcitabine could provide new vistas to overcome chemo resistance in pancreatic cancer.

Molecular docking and dynamic simulation to identify potential phytocompound inhibitors for EGFR and HER2 as anti-breast cancer agents.

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women worldwide. To treat human breast cancer by inhibiting EGFR and HER2 targets is an important therapeutic option. Phytochemicals are found to have beneficial health effects in treating various diseases. An effort has been made to virtually screen phytochemical inhibitor by molecular docking and dynamic simulation in the current studies. The docking scores analysis resulted in a common hit Panaxadiol ligand with a low dock score for EGFR and HER2 targets. The inhibitory action of the phytocompounds was also validated by comparing it with the reference compounds Erlotinib for EGFR and Neratinib for HER2. Molecular dynamic simulation of EGFR and HER2 lead complexes ensure the ligand's appropriate refinement in the dynamic system. The target and ligand complex interaction motif established a high affinity of lead candidates in a dynamic system similar to molecular docking results. This study reveals that Panaxadiol hit molecule can be developed as a novel multi-target EGFR and HER2 target inhibitor with greater potential and low toxicity.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Potential role of embelin in the prevention of Freund's adjuvant induced inflammation and ROS.

Inflammation is a complex biological response involving immune cells to an infection creating injury to the normal tissues. The anti-inflammatory efficacy of embelin, a benzoquinone from the plant Embelia ribes, was screened for antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity in carrageenan and Freund's adjuvant-induced inflammation models. Embelin exhibited significant dose-dependent antioxidant potential. In carrageenan-induced inflammation, embelin (20 mg/kg) showed an inhibition of oedema by 71.01 ± 0.12% and 81.91 ± 0.67% in Freund's adjuvant-treated chronic inflammation model and resulted in a noticeable increase in adrenal size and restoration of the weight of spleen. Embelin also demonstrated cytoprotective effects on HEK-293 cells under induced oxidative stress. In silico analysis, embelin demonstrated binding energy of - 7.7 kcal/Mol and - 7.0 kcal/Mol with COX1 and COX2 with two hydrogen bonds. These results further prove that embelin could be a promising anti-inflammatory agent and supports the traditional use of Embelia ribes for rheumatism.

Biocompatible synthesis of reduced graphene oxide from Euphorbia heterophylla (L.) and their in-vitro cytotoxicity against human cancer cell lines.

Facile and biocompatible synthesis of reduced graphene oxide from graphene oxide as a precursor and aqueous leaves extract of Euphorbia heterophylla (L.), act as a reducing /capping /stabilizing agent by green chemistry approaches. The obtained product was analyzed by Ultraviolet-Visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy and Scanning electron Microscopy (SEM). In addition to this, the significant cytotoxicity of rGO studied against cancerous cell lines such as A549- Human Lung cancer cell line and HepG2-Human Hepatocarcinoma Cell lines in-vitro. These results indicate that the biocompatible synthesis of rGO is straightforward, inexpensive and environmentally friendly for promising large-scale production of industrial purpose and then finding further biomedical applications.

Leucas aspera mediated multifunctional CeO2 nanoparticles: Structural, photoluminescent, photocatalytic and antibacterial properties.

Spherical shaped cerium dioxide (CeO2) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized via bio mediated route using Leucas aspera (LA) leaf extract. The NPs were characterized by PXRD, SEM, UV-Visible techniques. Photoluminescence (PL), photocatalysis and antibacterial properties of NPs were studied. PXRD patterns and Rietveld analysis confirm cubic fluorite structure with space group Fm-3m. SEM results evident that morphology of the NPs was greatly influenced by the concentration of LA leaf extract in the reaction mixture. The band gap energy of the NPs was found to be in the range of 2.98-3.4 eV. The photocatalytic activity of NPs was evaluated by decolorization of Rhodamine-B (RhB) under UVA and Sun light irradiation. CeO2 NPs show intense blue emission with CIE coordinates (0.14, 0.22) and average color coordinated temperature value ∼148,953 K. Therefore the present NPs quite useful for cool LEDs. The superior photocatalytic activity was observed for CeO2 NPs with 20 ml LA under both UVA and Sunlight irradiation. The enhanced photocatalytic activity and photoluminescent properties were attributed to defect induced band gap engineered CeO2 NPs. Further, CeO2 with 20 ml LA exhibit significant antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (EC) and Staphylococcus aureus (SA). These findings show great promise of CeO2 NPs as multifunctional material for various applications.

Inhibition of hepatitis C virus replication by herbal extract: Phyllanthus amarus as potent natural source.

Hepatitis C virus infection is a major health problem worldwide. Developing effective antiviral therapy for HCV is the need of the hour. The viral enzymes NS3 protease and NS5B RNA dependent RNA polymerase are essential enzymes for polyprotein processing and viral RNA replication and thus can be potential targets for screening anti-HCV compounds. A large number of phytochemicals are present in plants, which are found to be promising antiviral agents. In this study, we have screened inhibitory effect of different plant extracts against the NS3 and NS5B enzymes of hepatitis C virus. Methanolic extracts were prepared from various plant materials and their inhibitory effects on the viral enzymes were determined by in vitro enzyme assays. Effect on viral RNA replication was investigated by using TaqMan Real time RT-PCR. Interestingly, Phyllanthus amarus root (PAR) extract showed significant inhibition of HCV-NS3 protease enzyme; whereas P. amarus leaf (PAL) extract showed considerable inhibition of NS5B in the in vitro assays. Further, the PAR and PAL extracts significantly inhibited replication of HCV monocistronic replicon RNA and HCV H77S viral RNA in HCV cell culture system. However, both PAR and PAL extracts did not show cytotoxicity in Huh7 cells in the MTT assay. Furthermore, addition of PAR together with IFN-α showed additive effect in the inhibition of HCV RNA replication. Results suggest the possible molecular basis of the inhibitory activity of PA extract against HCV which would help in optimization and subsequent development of specific antiviral agent using P. amarus as potent natural source.

Wound healing activity of embelin isolated from the ethanol extract of leaves of Embelia ribes Burm.

Ethanol extract of the leaves of Embelia ribes Burm. (Myrsinaceae) and its isolated quinone compound embelin were screened for wound healing activity by excision, incision and dead space wound models on Swiss Albino Rats. Significant wound healing activity was observed in both ethanol crude extract (30 mg/ml) and the constituent treated groups. In embelin treated groups (4 mg/ml of 0.2% sodium alginate gel), epithelialization of the incision wound was faster with a high rate of wound contraction. The tensile strength of the incision wound was significantly increased than the ethanol extract. In dead space wound model also the weight of the granulation was increased indicating increase in collagenation. The histological examination of the granulation tissue of embelin treated group showed increased cross-linking of collagen fibers and absence of monocytes. The wound healing effect was comparatively evaluated with the standard skin ointment Framycetin.