Latex derived from Ficus carica L. inhibited the growth of NSCLC by regulating the caspase/gasdermin/AKT signaling pathway.

Previous studies reported the latex from the fruit of Ficus carica L. (fig) has anti-tumor and antioxidant activities in animal models. However, its active constituents, mechanism of action, and safety remain unknown. The alcohol-precipitated fraction of fig fruit latex (AFFL) was purified and prepared for testing against non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). UPLC-TOF-MS/MS was used to examined the components of AFFL. We validated efficacy by researching antitumor phenotypes in vitro and constructing subcutaneous grafts of nude mice with NSCLC, as well as showing the underlying mechanism at the protein level. The results showed that 11 components of AFFL were screened. AFFL significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration, invasion, and clonogenesis of NSCLC cells, promoted cell apoptosis, inhibited tumor growth in A549 xenograft mice, but induced no obvious damage to normal mouse tissues (liver or kidney). Molecular mechanism studies revealed that AFFL could increase Caspase-1 expression in cancer cells by activating the cleavage of Caspase-3 and Caspase-9, inhibiting the activity of Bcl-2, and promoting tumor cell apoptosis. These processes cause gasdermin proteins (GSDMD and GSDME) to be cleaved, releasing N-terminal domain proteins to accumulate and perforate the cell membrane, and promoting tumor cell pyroptosis. In conclusion, our findings suggested that AFFL may promote tumor cell apoptosis and pyroptosis via the Caspase/Gasdermin/AKT signaling pathway and inhibit NSCLC growth in vitro and in vivo, demonstrating that fig latex can be developed as a functional food and drug with anti-NSCLC properties.

Establishment of UPLC fingerprint and study on anti-respiratory syncytial virus spectrum-effective relationship of ethanol extract from Callicarpa nudiflora / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE To establish the fingerprint of the ethanol extract from Callicarpa nudiflora， analyze its anti- respiratory syncytial virus （RSV） activity in vitro， and study the relationship between spectrum and effect. METHODS Using 10%， 30%， 50%， 70% and 90% ethanol as solvent， 20 batches of ethanol extracts from 4 batches of C. nudiflora were prepared. The fingerprints for 20 batches of ethanol extracts from C. nudiflora were mapped by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography （UPLC）， and the similarity evaluation was conducted by using the Similarity Evaluation System for Traditional Chinese Medicine Chromatographic Fingerprints （2012 edition）. The cytopathic effect method and MTT method were used to investigate the in vitro inhibitory activity of the ethanol extracts from C. nudiflora on RSV. Pearson correlation analysis， grey correlation degree and orthogonal partial least squares （OPLS） analysis were used to study the spectrum-effect relationship. RESULTS There were 25 common peaks in 20 batches of ethanol extracts from C. nudiflora， and the similarities ranged from 0.912 to 0.998， and the RSDs of common peak areas were 33.54%-162.28%. The average values of IC50 for RSV of 20 batches of ethanol extracts from C. nudiflora were 9.55-272.23 μg/mL. The results of Pearson correlation analysis， grey correlation analysis and OPLS analysis showed that the Pearson correlation coefficients （P＜0.05） of the common peaks 8， 10， 12， 16， 18-19， 22-24 with pharmacodynamic indicators and regression coefficients were all negative， the correlation coefficients were all greater than 0.6， and the values of variable importance in projection were all greater than 1. CONCLUSIONS Twenty batches of ethanol extracts from C. nudiflora have similar components but significant differences in content， and exhibit different degrees of anti-RSV activity in vitro. The corresponding components of common peaks 8， 10， 12， 16， 18-19， 22-24 may be the characteristic components of anti-RSV of C. nudiflora.

Advances in bioremediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated soil / 生物工程学报

With continuous improvement of people's living standards, great efforts have been paid to environmental protection. Among those environmental issues, soil contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons has received widespread concerns due to the persistence and the degradation difficulty of the pollutants. Among the various remediation technologies, in-situ microbial remediation enhancement technologies have become the current hotspot because of its low cost, environmental friendliness, and in-situ availability. This review summarizes several in-situ microbial remediation technologies such as bioaugmentation, biostimulation, and integrated remediation, as well as their engineering applications, providing references for the selection of in-situ bioremediation technologies in engineering applications. Moreover, this review discusses future research directions in this area.