Amphiphilic hydroxyethyl starch-based nanoparticles carrying linoleic acid modified berberine inhibit the expression of krasv12 oncogene in zebrafish

Cancer is one of the most lethal diseases all over the world. Despite that many drugs have been developed for cancer therapy, they still suffer from various limitations including poor treating efficacy, toxicity to normal human cells, and the emergence of multidrug resistance. In this study, the amphiphilic LHES polymers were prepared using hydroxyethyl starch (HES) and linoleic acid as starting materials. The content and substitution degree of linoleic acid groups in LHES polymers were analyzed. The LHES polymers were used for fabricating LHES-B nanoparticles carrying a linoleic acid modified berberine derivative (L-BBR). The LHES-B nanoparticles showed high drug loading efficiency (29%) and could quickly release L-BBR under acidic pH condition (pH = 4.5). Biological investigations revealed that LHES-B nanoparticles significantly inhibited the proliferation of HepG2 cells and exhibited higher cytotoxicity than L-BBR. In a transgenic Tg(fabp10:rtTA2s-M2; TRE2:EGFP-krasv12) zebrafish model, LHES-B nanoparticles obviously inhibited the expression of krasv12 oncogene. These results indicated that LHES carriers could improve the anticancer activity of L-BBR, and the synthesized LHES-B nanoparticles showed great potential as anticancer drug.

Anti-Tumor Activity and Mechanism of Silibinin Based on Network Pharmacology and Experimental Verification

Silibinin is a flavonoid compound extracted from the seeds of Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn. It has the functions of liver protection, blood-lipid reduction and anti-tumor effects. However, the potential molecular mechanism of silibinin against tumors is still unknown. This study aimed to assess the anti-tumor effects of silibinin in adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC2) cells and Balb/c nude mice, and explore its potential mechanism based on network pharmacology prediction and experimental verification. A total of 347 targets interacting with silibinin were collected, and 75 targets related to the tumor growth process for silibinin were filtrated. Based on the PPI analysis, CASP3, SRC, ESR1, JAK2, PRKACA, HSPA8 and CAT showed stronger interactions with other factors and may be the key targets of silibinin for treating tumors. The predicted target proteins according to network pharmacology were verified using Western blot analysis in ACC2 cells and Balb/c nude mice. In the pharmacological experiment, silibinin was revealed to significantly inhibit viability, proliferation, migration and induce the apoptosis of ACC2 cells in vitro, as well as inhibit the growth and development of tumor tissue in vivo. Western blot analysis showed that silibinin affected the expression of proteins associated with cell proliferation, migration and apoptosis, such as MMP3, JNK, PPARα and JAK. The possible molecular mechanism involved in cancer pathways, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway and viral carcinogenesis pathway via the inhibition of CASP3, MMP3, SRC, MAPK10 and CDK6 and the activation of PPARα and JAK. Overall, our results provided insight into the pharmacological mechanisms of silibinin in the treatment of tumors. These results offer a support for the anti-tumor uses of silibinin.

Amino acid modified OCMC-g-Suc-β-CD nanohydrogels carrying lapatinib and ginsenoside Rg1 exhibit high anticancer activity in a zebrafish model

Nanohydrogels show great potential as efficient drug carriers due to their biocompatibility, low toxicity, and high water absorbability. In this paper, we prepared two O-carboxymethylated chitosan (OCMC)-based polymers functionalized with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and amino acid. The structures of the polymers were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy. Morphological study was carried out on a Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), and the results indicated that the two polymers had irregular spheroidal structure with some pores distributed on their surface. The average particle diameter was below 500 nm, and the zeta potential was above +30 mV. The two polymers were further used for preparing nanohydrogels loaded with anticancer drugs lapatinib and ginsenoside Rg1, and the resulting nanohydrogels showed high drug loading efficiency and pH-sensitive (pH = 4.5) drug release behavior. In vitro cytotoxicity investigation revealed that the nanohydrogels exhibited high cytotoxicity against lung cancer (A549) cells. In vivo anticancer investigation was performed in a transgenic Tg(fabp10:rtTA2s-M2; TRE2:EGFP-kras ^V12) zebrafish model. The results showed that the synthesized nanohydrogels significantly inhibited the expression of EGFP-kras ^v12 oncogene in zebrafish liver, and the L-arginine modified OCMC-g-Suc-β-CD nanohydrogels loading lapatinib and ginsenoside Rg1 showed the best results.

Novel amphiphilic hydroxyethyl starch-based nanoparticles loading camptothecin exhibit high anticancer activity in HepG2 cells and zebrafish

Camptothecin is a naturally occurred anticancer drug but exhibits limitations including poor aqueous solubility, low bioavailability, and high level of adverse drug reactions on normal organs. To overcome these problems, this paper developed a novel amphiphilic Lau-Leu-HES carrier using hydroxyethyl starch, lauric acid, and L-leucine as starting materials. The carrier was successfully applied to prepare Lau-Leu-HES nanoparticles loading camptothecin. The drug loading efficiency and encapsulation efficiency of the nanoparticles were calculated to be 29.04% and 81.85%, respectively. The nanoparticles exhibited high zeta potential (-15.51 mV) and small hydrodynamic diameter (105.4 nm). Camptothecin in nanoparticles could be rapidly released under acidic condition (pH = 4.5), thereby indicating the high sensitivity under cancer microenvironments. Anticancer investigation revealed that the nanoparticles could inhibit the proliferation of HepG2 cells in vitro. Compared with commercial available drug doxorubicin, the nanoparticles could significantly inhibit the expression of kras^v12 oncogene in transgenic Tg (EGFP-kras^V12) zebrafish. These results indicate that the camptothecin-loaded Lau-Leu-HES nanoparticles are expected to be a potential candidate for cancer therapy.

A Comparative Study of the Inhibitory Action of Berberine Derivatives on the Recombinant Protein FtsZ of E. coli

Medicinal plants belonging to the genus Berberis may be considered an interesting source of drugs to counteract the problem of antimicrobial multiresistance. The important properties associated with this genus are mainly due to the presence of berberine, an alkaloid with a benzyltetrahydroisoquinoline structure. Berberine is active against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, influencing DNA duplication, RNA transcription, protein synthesis, and the integrity of the cell surface structure. Countless studies have shown the enhancement of these beneficial effects following the synthesis of different berberine analogues. Recently, a possible interaction between berberine derivatives and the FtsZ protein was predicted through molecular docking simulations. FtsZ is a highly conserved protein essential for the first step of cell division in bacteria. The importance of FtsZ for the growth of numerous bacterial species and its high conservation make it a perfect candidate for the development of broad-spectrum inhibitors. In this work, we investigate the inhibition mechanisms of the recombinant FtsZ of Escherichia coli by different N-arylmethyl benzodioxolethylamines as berberine simplified analogues appropriately designed to evaluate the effect of structural changes on the interaction with the enzyme. All the compounds determine the inhibition of FtsZ GTPase activity by different mechanisms. The tertiary amine 1c proved to be the best competitive inhibitor, as it causes a remarkable increase in FtsZ Km (at 40 μM) and a drastic reduction in its assembly capabilities. Moreover, a fluorescence spectroscopic analysis carried out on 1c demonstrated its strong interaction with FtsZ (Kd = 26.6 nM). The in vitro results were in agreement with docking simulation studies.

Molecular Simplification of Natural Products: Synthesis, Antibacterial Activity, and Molecular Docking Studies of Berberine Open Models

Berberine, the main bioactive component of many medicinal plants belonging to various genera such as Berberis, Coptis, and Hydrastis is a multifunctional compound. Among the numerous interesting biological properties of berberine is broad antimicrobial activity including a range of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. With the aim of identifying berberine analogues possibly endowed with higher lead-likeness and easier synthetic access, the molecular simplification approach was applied to the secondary metabolite and a series of analogues were prepared and screened for their antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial test species. Rewardingly, the berberine simplified analogues displayed 2-20-fold higher potency with respect to berberine. Since our berberine simplified analogues may be easily synthesized and are characterized by lower molecular weight than the parent compound, they are further functionalizable and should be more suitable for oral administration. Molecular docking simulations suggested FtsZ, a well-known protein involved in bacterial cell division, as a possible target.

An insight into the medicinal attributes of berberine derivatives: A review

In the last few decades, traditional natural products have been the center of attention for the scientific community and exploration of their therapeutic abilities is proceeding perpetually. Berberine, with remarkable therapeutic diversity, is a plant derived isoquinoline alkaloid which is widely used as a traditional medicine in China. Berberine has been tackled as a fascinating pharmacophore to make great contributions to the discovery and development of new therapeutic agents against variegated diseases. Despite its tremendous therapeutic potential, clinical utility of this alkaloid was significantly compromised due to undesirable pharmacokinetic properties. To overcome this limitation, several structural modifications were performed on this scaffold to improve its therapeutic efficacy. The collective efforts of the community have achieved the tremendous advancements, bringing berberine to clinical use and discovering new therapeutic opportunities by structural modifications on the berberine scaffold. In this review, recent advancements in the medicinal chemistry of berberine and its derivatives in the last few years (2016-2020) have been compiled to represent inclusive data associated with various biological activities of this alkaloid. The comprehensive structure-activity relationship studies along with molecular modelling and mechanistic studies have also been summarized. This article would be highly helpful for the scientific community to get better insight into medicinal research of berberine and become a compelling guide for the rational design of berberine based compounds.