many of them. Considering the phrases used to describe the impact of these drugs, it seems some of them have temporary and some have lasting effects. Most of remedies have been advised to use with honey or yolk for increasing their effects. More studies would be necessary for evaluation of safety and efficacy of these herbs.
References:
1. Khorasani, MH Aghili, 2001.
2. Khaki A, Azad FF, Nouri M, Khaki AA, 2011. J of
Medic Plants Res. 5(18):4601-4604.
3. Jahromi VH, Parivar K, Forozanfar M, 2011. Iranian Journal of Applied Animal Science, 1(2):99-103.
4. Abeer E, Amr AR, 2013. Pak. J. Nutr. 12:229-38.
5. Choi SY, Kang P, Lee HS, Seol GH, 2014. Evid Based Complement and Alternative Med. 2014:796518.
6. Sansalone S, Russo GI, Mondaini N et al, 2016. Arch Ital Urol Androl, 88(3):171-176.
7. Aldemir M, Okulu E, Ne§elioglu S et al, 2011. Int J of Impot Res. 23(1):32-8.
VIOLA SYRUP AS AN ANTITUMOR FORMULA IN PERSIAN TRADITIONAL MEDICINE: IN-VITRO STUDY
© Parvin Pasalar1, Narjes Gorji2, Reihaneh Moeini2, Maliheh Paknejad1,Javad Hashemi1, Hossein Rezaeizadeh1, Mohammad Kamalinejad3, Siamak Salami3, Esmail Nazem 1
1 Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;
2 Traditional Medicine and History of Medical Sciences Research Center, Babol University of Medical Sciences Babol, Iran;
3 Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), such as Persian medicine (PM) is a precious source of methods in the management of cancer. In this study one of the prescriptions of Persian Medicine was tested on a breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MDA- MB-468).
V. odorata L. was prepared as syrup and its anticancer properties was studied using flow-cytometry and MTT assay in compared to aqueous extract and sucrose alone. Two different cell lines were used in this study: breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-468) and normal fibroblast cell (AGO-1522).
MTT and flow-cytometry assays showed a dose-dependent cytotoxic activity of V. odorata L.on MDA-MB-468, regardless of the preparation method. In the MTT assay; crude extract of v. odorata L., with or without
sucrose, had potent cytotoxic effect (IC50:1.36 mg/ ml and 0.23 mg/ml respectively) and no efficacy on the normal cells in these concentrations (P > 0.05). In flow-cytometry assay 2 mg/ml of viola syrup was the lowest concentration that significantly increased the cell apoptosis compared with negative control. The percentage of cell apoptosis was higher when cells were treated with 4 mg/nl of viola syrup compared to the positive H2O2 control (57.1% vs. 51%).
This study revealed that the cytotoxic activity of V. odorata L. was lower in the presence of sucrose. To better understand the potential benefits of this PM recommendation, more studies on the different two forms are required in gastric absorption, side effects and patient compliance.
ANTI-TUMOR ACTIVITIES OF PANAX QUINQUEFOLIUS SAPONINS AND POTENTIAL DIAGNOSTIC MARKERS IN PROSTATE CANCER
© Shan He, Fangqiao Lyu, Lixia Lou, Lu Liu, Songlin Li, Tianchi Jiang, Johannes Jakowitsch, Yan Ma
Division of Comparative Immunology and Oncology, Department of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research, Vienna General Hospital, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
Prostate carcinoma is one of the most commonly diagnosed types of cancer and the second most common cause of cancer mortality among men in the USA and in Europe. We aimed to define and explore new therapeutic approaches and novel biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.
The Chinese medicinal herb Panax quinquefolius has been tested for its tumor selectivity and cytotoxic efficacy. P. quinquefolius saponins (PQS) have been shown to have anti-tumor effects in vivo and in vitro. In this study human prostate cancer cells DU145 and immortalized normal prostate epithelial cells PNT2 were
Obzory po kliniceskoj farmacologii i lekarstvennoj terapii [Reviews of clinical pharmacology and drug therapy]
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treated with PQS. Cell viability assays, flow cytometric analysis of the cell cycle and FACS based apoptosis assays were performed after treatment. Western blot and quantitative real-time PCR analyses were performed to demonstrate the expression level of multiple cancer-related genes such as p53, p21, STAT3, bcl2, DRD2 and FANCD2 as well as TMEM79. Microarray-based gene expression analysis was used to identify prostate specific gene expression patterns and to explore novel biomarkers for potential clinical use in prostate cancer diagnostics.
The inhibitory effects on the proliferation of DU145 showed that PQS (>150 ^g/ml) inhibited the
viability of human prostate cancer cells. Cell cycle arrest assay showed that PQS induced cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase. PQS treatment up-regulated the expression of p53, p21 and TMEM79, down-regulated the expression of DRD2, FANCD2, STAT3 and bcl2. The transmembrane protein TMEM79 was found to be highly expressed in normal prostate cells but lowly expressed in prostate cancer cells.
Our results indicated that TMEM79 could be a novel biomarker candidate for prostate cancer diagnosis. PQS might be an effective herbal remedy playing a complementary or alternative role for treating prostate cancer in the future.
ENZYME INHIBITORY ACTIVITIES OF PLANT EXTRACTS UNDER THE PHILIPPINE'S DRUG DISCOVERY PROGRAM
© Leomel Argulla, Jose Manuel Gutierrez, Mavis Colleen P. Fabian, Joseph Sasotona, Jasmin Tutor and Christine C. Hernandez
Institute of Chemistry, University of the Philippines, Diliman
The Philippines has more than 20,000 endemic species and it is one of the 17 countries that contain two-thirds of the entire biological diversity of the Earth. The country's rich collection of endemic and native plant species presents is a valuable source of plant-derived bioactive agents for human ailments like hypertension, uricosuria, asthma, and gastric ulcer.
The country has a high incidence of hypertension, asthma, and gout. According to the second National Nutrition and Health Survey, the prevalence of asthma in adult Filipinos is relatively high. Inhibition of lipoxygenase (LOX) may diminish leukotriene- mediated inflammatory response and other respiratory conditions particulary asthma [1]. Hypertension is still a growing health problem in the Philippines. If left untreated, it will lead to more serious health problems like cardiovascular diseases. One way of lowering blood pressure is the use of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors [2]. Gout, while not necessarily a cause of death, causes episodic and severe pain in the joints due to increase in uric acid. Around 1.6 million Filipinos are suffering from gout. Xanthine oxidase (XO) catalyzes the oxidation of hypoxanthine to xanthine and of xanthine to uric acid [3]. Overproduction of uric acid leads to condition of hyperuricemia which is linked to gout [4].
Plants were collected from the different regions of the Philippines. Plants used for this study are those with reported use as a traditional medicine or those plants that are endemic in a region. Plant extracts were collected and were screened to test their XO, ACE and LOX inhibitory activities. The activity of 15-lipoxygenase is observe as it catalyzed the reaction between oxygen and linoleic acid. The increase in absorbance at 234 nm is due to the formation of the product 13-hydroperoxyoctadecadienoic acid from the reaction
of oxygen and linoleic acid. The xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity was assessed spectrophotometrically using a 96-well plate reader under aerobic conditions. Absorption increments were monitored every 30 seconds for 10 minutes at 295 nm to monitor the rate of formation of uric acid. Allopurinol was used as positive control and xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity was expressed as percentage inhibition. A colorimetric method was optimized in a 96 well quartz microplate to determine the inhibitory action of the extracts on ACE. This assay was based on the amount of hippuric acid (HA) released by the action of ACE on histidine-histidyl-leucine (HHL) substrate. The released HA from the substrate is mixed with pyridine and BSC resulting to a yellow colored complex with A max at 410nm.
Plant extracts that showed > 50% inhibition in all trials were considered active. Among the 2,395 extracts tested, 420 (18%) were active for anti-gout activity, 910 (38%) were active for anti-hypertension activity, 358 (15%) were active for anti-inflammation activity. Tradescantia fluminensis inhibited LO at 87.2%. T. fluminensis was partitioned with ethyl acetate and hexane and their IC50 values were determined at 8.72^g/ml and 98.04 ^g/ml, respectively [5]. A pure compound isolated from Antigononleptopus inhibited XO at 77.45% with IC50 at 1.79 p.g/mL. For comparison purposes, the IC50 value of allopurinol under the same experimental conditions was 1.00 ^g/mL [6]. The ethyl acetate extract of Moringaoleifera inhibited ACE at 64.23% while the positive control captopril at 87.57%. A pure compound isolated from the ethyl acetate extracts inhibited ACE at 95.85% which is even higher than the positive control (unpublished data).
Acknowledgement: Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, Department of Science and Technology for funding.
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