Tannic acid-stabilized gold nano-particles are superior to native tannic acid in inducing ROS-dependent mitochondrial apoptosis in colorectal carcinoma cells via the p53/AKT axis

Recent progress in tannic acid based approaches as a natural polyphenolic biomaterial for cancer therapy: A review

Significant advancements have been noticed in cancer therapy for decades. Despite this, there are still many critical challenges ahead, including multidrug resistance, drug instability, and side effects. To overcome obstacles of these problems, various types of materials in biomedical research have been explored. Chief among them, the applications of natural compounds have grown rapidly due to their superb biological activities. Natural compounds, especially polyphenolic compounds, play a positive and great role in cancer therapy. Tannic acid (TA), one of the most famous polyphenols, has attracted widespread attention in the field of cancer treatment with unique structural, physicochemical, pharmaceutical, anticancer, antiviral, antioxidant and other strong biological features. This review concentrated on the basic structure along with the important role of TA in tuning oncological signal pathways firstly, and then focused on the use of TA in chemotherapy and preparation of delivery systems including nanoparticles and hydrogels for cancer therapy. Besides, the application of TA/Fe3+ complex coating in photothermal therapy, chemodynamic therapy, combined therapy and theranostics is discussed.

Tannins in cancer prevention and therapy

Tannins are a heterogenous class of polyphenolic natural products with promising cancer chemopreventive and therapeutic potential. Studies undertaken over the last 30 years have demonstrated their capacity to target many cellular pathways and molecules important in the development of cancer. Recently, new mechanisms that might be important in anti-carcinogenic activity, such as inhibition of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, reduction of cancer stem cell creation, and modulation of cancer cells metabolism have been described. Along with the mechanisms underlying the anti-cancer activity of tannins, this review focuses on their possible application as chemosensitizers in adjuvant therapy and countering multidrug resistance. Furthermore, characteristic physicochemical properties of some tannins, particularly tannic acid, are useful in the formation of nanovehicles for anticancer drugs or the isolation of circulating cancer cells. These new potential applications of tannins deserve further studies. Well-designed clinical trials, which are scarce, are needed to assess the therapeutic effects of tannins themselves or as adjuvants in cancer treatment.

The Mechanism of Interaction Between Gold Nanoparticles and Human Dermal Fibroblasts Based on Integrative Analysis of Transcriptomics and Metabolomics Data

The aim of this paper was to combine transcriptomics and metabolomics to analyze the mechanism of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) on human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs). First, 20-nm GNPs were prepared, and the differentially expressed genes in HDFs were subsequently screened by transcriptome sequencing technology after 4, 8, and 24 h of treatment with GNPs. By comparing the metabolic pathways in which the metabolites obtained in a previous study were involved, the pathways involving both genes and metabolites were filtered, and the differentially expressed genes and metabolites with upstream and downstream relationships were screened out. The gene–metabolite–metabolic pathway network was further constructed, and the functions of metabolic pathways, genes and metabolites in the important network were analyzed and experimentally verified. The results of transcriptome sequencing experiments showed that 1904, 1216 and 489 genes were differentially expressed in HDFs after 4, 8 and 24 h of treatment with GNPs, and these genes were involved in 270, 235 and 163 biological pathways, respectively. Through the comparison and analysis of the metabolic pathways affected by the metabolites, 7, 3 and 2 metabolic pathways with genes and metabolites exhibiting upstream and downstream relationships were identified. Through analysis of the gene–metabolite–metabolic pathway network, 4 important metabolic pathways, 9 genes and 7 metabolites were identified. Combined with the results of verification experiments on oxidative stress, apoptosis, the cell cycle, the cytoskeleton and cell adhesion, it was found that GNPs regulated the synthesis of downstream metabolites through upstream genes in important metabolic pathways. GNPs inhibited oxidative stress and thus did not induce significant apoptosis, but they exerted effects on several cellular functions, including arresting the cell cycle and affecting the cytoskeleton and cell adhesion.

Transcriptomic profile of human erythroleukemia cells in response to Sargassum fusiforme polysaccharide and its structure analysis

Sargassum fusiforme (S. fusiforme) has been used as an ingredient in Chinese herbal medicine for thousands of years. However, there are a limited number of studies concerning its therapeutic mechanism. High performance gel permeation chromatography (HPGPC) analysis showed that the average molecular weight of the S. fusiforme polysaccharide, SFPS 191212, is 43 kDa. SFPS 191212 is composed of mannose, rhamnose, galactose, xylose, glucose, and fucose (at a molar ratio: 2.1 : 2.9 : 1.8 : 15.5 : 4.6 : 62.5) with α- and β-configurations. The present research evaluated the anti-tumor potential of the S. fusiforme polysaccharide in human erythroleukemia (HEL) cells in vitro. To explore the SFPS 191212's apoptosis mechanism in HEL cells, transcriptome analysis was performed on HEL cells that were incubated with SFPS 191212. The inhibitory effect of SFPS 191212 on HEL cell growth was also analyzed. It was found that SFPS 191212 inhibited HEL cell proliferation, reduced cell viability in a concentration-dependent manner, and induced an insignificant toxic effect on normal human embryonic lung (MRC-5) cells. Compared with the control group, transcriptome analysis identified a total of 598 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including 243 up-regulated genes and 355 down-regulated genes. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses were performed on all DEGs, and 900 GO terms and 52 pathways were found to be significantly enriched. Finally, 23 DEGs were randomly selected and confirmed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Moreover, SFPS 191212 down-regulated the PI3K/Akt signal transduction pathway. Our results provide a framework for understanding the effect of SFPS 191212 on cancer cells and can serve as a resource for delineating the anti-tumor mechanisms of S. fusiforme.

Elkasabgy N, Shao P, A. Farag M. Recent Advances in Tannic Acid (Gallotannin) Anticancer Activities and Drug Delivery Systems for Efficacy Improvement; A Comprehensive Review

Tannic acid is a chief gallo-tannin belonging to the hydrolysable tannins extracted from gall nuts and other plant sources. A myriad of pharmaceutical and biological applications in the medical field has been well recognized to tannic acid. Among these effects, potential anticancer activities against several solid malignancies such as liver, breast, lung, pancreatic, colorectal and ovarian cancers have been reported. Tannic acid was found to play a maestro-role in tuning several oncological signaling pathways including JAK/STAT, RAS/RAF/mTOR, TGF-β1/TGF-β1R axis, VEGF/VEGFR and CXCL12/CXCR4 axes. The combinational beneficial effects of tannic acid with other conventional chemotherapeutic drugs have been clearly demonstrated in literature such as a synergistic anticancer effect and enhancement of the chemo-sensitivity in several resistant cases. Yet, clinical applications of tannic acid have been limited owing to its poor lipid solubility, low bioavailability, off-taste, and short half-life. To overcome such obstacles, novel drug delivery systems have been employed to deliver tannic acid with the aim of improving its applications and/or efficacy against cancer cells. Among these drug delivery systems are several types of organic and metallic nanoparticles. In this review, the authors focus on the molecular mechanisms of tannic acid in tuning several neoplastic diseases as well as novel drug delivery systems that can be used for its clinical applications with an attempt to provide a systemic reference to promote the development of tannic acid as a cheap drug and/or drug delivery system in cancer management.

Targeting the "Sweet Side" of Tumor with Glycan-Binding Molecules Conjugated-Nanoparticles: Implications in Cancer Therapy and Diagnosis

Nanotechnology is in the spotlight of therapeutic innovation, with numerous advantages for tumor visualization and eradication. The end goal of the therapeutic use of nanoparticles, however, remains distant due to the limitations of nanoparticles to target cancer tissue. The functionalization of nanosystem surfaces with biological ligands is a major strategy for directing the actions of nanomaterials specifically to tumor cells. Cancer formation and metastasis are accompanied by profound alterations in protein glycosylation. Hence, the detection and targeting of aberrant glycans are of great value in cancer diagnosis and therapy. In this review, we provide a brief update on recent progress targeting aberrant glycosylation by functionalizing nanoparticles with glycan-binding molecules (with a special focus on lectins and anti-glycan antibodies) to improve the efficacy of nanoparticles in cancer targeting, diagnosis, and therapy and outline the challenges and limitations in implementing this approach. We envision that the combination of nanotechnological strategies and cancer-associated glycan targeting could remodel the field of cancer diagnosis and therapy, including immunotherapy.

Effect of Sargassum fusiforme polysaccharide on apoptosis and its possible mechanism in human erythroleukemia cells

This study aimed to investigate the effects of Sargassum fusiforme polysaccharide (SFPS I, II, and III) on the apoptosis and regulation of human erythroleukemia (HEL) cells. The effect of different doses of SFPS on HEL cell growth was detected using the Cell Counting Kit-8 method, and apoptosis was detected by Hoechst staining. Cell cycle distribution and apoptosis were detected using flow cytometry. Expression of the cell cycle gene, p53, antiapoptotic genes, Bcl-xL and Bcl-2, and pro-apoptotic genes, Bax, Bad, and Caspase-3, as well as the expression of the corresponding proteins, were detected using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and Western blot. The results showed that SFPS II and III decreased HEL cell viability and induced HEL cell apoptosis. Different concentrations of SFPS (I, II, and III) were detected that induced much less toxic effect in normal human embryonic lung (MRC-5) cells, and SFPS I increased cell proliferation, indicating its favorable selectivity towards cancer cells. The mechanism by which SFPS induced apoptosis was also found to be related to the induction of cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase and the increased expression of apoptosis-related genes and proteins. We concluded that SFPS induces HEL cell apoptosis, possibly via activation of the Caspase pathway, providing the theoretical basis for the development of SFPS-based anti-tumor drug products.