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.

Marine Cyanobacteria and Microalgae Metabolites-A Rich Source of Potential Anticancer Drugs.

Cancer is at present one of the utmost deadly diseases worldwide. Past efforts in cancer research have focused on natural medicinal products. Over the past decades, a great deal of initiatives was invested towards isolating and identifying new marine metabolites via pharmaceutical companies, and research institutions in general. Secondary marine metabolites are looked at as a favorable source of potentially new pharmaceutically active compounds, having a vast structural diversity and diverse biological activities; therefore, this is an astonishing source of potentially new anticancer therapy. This review contains an extensive critical discussion on the potential of marine microbial compounds and marine microalgae metabolites as anticancer drugs, highlighting their chemical structure and exploring the underlying mechanisms of action. Current limitation, challenges, and future research pathways were also presented.

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.

Evaluation of hepatoprotective activity of vasicinone in mice.

Justicia adhatoda (vasaka) leaves have long been used in Indian Ayurvedic system of medicine as antitussive. Its crude extract has been previously reported to have hepatoprotective activity. Vasicinone was isolated from leaves of J. adhatoda, column purified and characterized using, TLC UV, FT-IR and 1H NMR. The isolated vasicinone was evaluated for hepatoprotective activity using (CCl4)-induced acute hepatotoxicity model in mice. CCl4 treatments lead to significant increase in SGOT, SGPT, ALP levels. Pre-treatment with vasicinone and silymarin (25 mg/kg/day for 7 days) significantly decreased these enzyme levels. Histopathology of the livers from vasicinone and silymarin pre-treated animals showed normal hepatic cords and absence of necrotic changes suggesting pronounced recovery from CCl4 induced liver damage. Both vasicinone and silymarin significantly decrease the CCl4 mediated increase in pentobarbital indiced sleeping time in experimental animals, thus indicating recovery of liver function. Based on the above results it can be concluded that vasicinone may act as hepatoprotective in mice and warrants further investigation on human volunteers.

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.

Role of γ-Secretase Inhibitors for the Treatment of Diverse Disease Conditions through Inhibition of Notch Signaling Pathway.

γ-secretase is an intramembrane protease sub-assembly that sunders transmembrane proteins. It is involved in intramembrane proteolysis and also contributes to the regeneration of transmembrane protein. The amyloid precursor proteins (APPs) are typical γ-secretase substrates. These proteins are cleaved to produce 36-43 amyloid-beta (Aß) amino acid peptides. Abnormal folding of these proteins fragments leads to amyloid plaques, which are frequently encountered in Alzheimer's disease. Some Type I class of integral membrane proteins is processed under the influence of γ-secretase, such as receptor tyrosine-protein kinase erbB4 and CD44 glycoprotein. γ-Secretase is being explored in several diseases as a clinical goal. Both γ-secretase inhibitors (GSIs) and γ-secretase modulators (GSMs) are being evaluated for this purpose. A large amount of γ-secretase inhibitors (GSIs) from peptide to non-peptide have been disclosed, offering several lead compounds for the design and optimization of γ-secretase targets, but most GSIs lack sufficient potency, exhibit low penetration in the brain, and manifest low selectiveness. γ-secretase inhibitors are obliquely a regulator of a γ-secretase substrate Notch, and valuable in the development of ß-amyloid peptide (Aß). These γ-secretase inhibitors block the Notch signaling pathway in autoimmune and lymphoproliferative disorders, like autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and perhaps even in cancerous cell proliferation, angiogenesis, and cellular differentiation of human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC). The current review portrays the mechanism, regulation, and inhibition of γ-secretase in the management of a wide assortment of diseases.

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.

Targeting the JAK/STAT Signaling Pathway Using Phytocompounds for Cancer Prevention and Therapy.

Cancer is a prevalent cause of mortality around the world. Aberrated activation of Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) signaling pathway promotes tumorigenesis. Natural agents, including phytochemicals, exhibit potent anticancer activities via various mechanisms. However, the therapeutic potency of phytoconstituents as inhibitors of JAK/STAT signaling against cancer has only come into focus in recent days. The current review highlights phytochemicals that can suppress the JAK/STAT pathway in order to impede cancer cell growth. Various databases, such as PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, SpringerLink, Scopus, and Google Scholar, were searched using relevant keywords. Once the authors were in agreement regarding the suitability of a study, a full-length form of the relevant article was obtained, and the information was gathered and cited. All the complete articles that were incorporated after the literature collection rejection criteria were applied were perused in-depth and material was extracted based on the importance, relevance, and advancement of the apprehending of the JAK/STAT pathway and their relation to phytochemicals. Based on the critical and comprehensive analysis of literature presented in this review, phytochemicals from diverse plant origins exert therapeutic and cancer preventive effects, at least in part, through regulation of the JAK/STAT pathway. Nevertheless, more preclinical and clinical research is necessary to completely comprehend the capability of modulating JAK/STAT signaling to achieve efficient cancer control and treatment.

Quantification of allicin by high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet analysis with effect of post-ultrasonic sound and microwave radiation on fresh garlic cloves.

BACKGROUND: Garlic (Allium sativum L.) has been accepted universally to be applied in food, spice and traditional medicine. The medicinal and other beneficial properties of garlic are attributed to organosulfur compounds. OBJECTIVE: As of today no simultaneous analysis has been performed; hence the transformation of allicin to its degraded products during cultivation and storage is open into doubt. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In our present work, we have tried to develop a sensitive and reproducible analytical method to measure allicin by high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet analysis with effect of post-acoustic waves and microwave radiation on fresh garlic cloves. RESULTS: The process revealed the effect of different radiation techniques on fresh garlic retains the principle component, allicin in its pure form and generated higher yield than the conventional way of extraction. CONCLUSION: Therefore, materializing these techniques in the pharmaceutical industry will definitely be proved beneficial in term of time as well as money. Most interestingly, the methods ruled out possibilities of degradation of organosulfur compounds as well.