Citrus lemon essential oil nanoemulsion (CLEO-NE), a safe cell-depended apoptosis inducer in human A549 lung cancer cells with anti-angiogenic activity

Empowering lung cancer treatment: Harnessing the potential of natural phytoconstituent-loaded nanoparticles

Lung cancer, the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths, accounts for a substantial portion, representing 18.4% of all cancer fatalities. Despite advances in treatment modalities such as chemotherapy, surgery, and immunotherapy, significant challenges persist, including chemoresistance, non-specific targeting, and adverse effects. Consequently, there is an urgent need for innovative therapeutic approaches to overcome these limitations. Natural compounds, particularly phytoconstituents, have emerged as promising candidates due to their potent anticancer properties and relatively low incidence of adverse effects compared to conventional treatments. However, inherent challenges such as poor solubility, rapid metabolism, and enzymatic degradation hinder their clinical utility. To address these obstacles, researchers have increasingly turned to nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems (DDS). Nanocarriers offer several advantages, including enhanced drug stability, prolonged circulation time, and targeted delivery to tumor sites, thereby minimizing off-target effects. By encapsulating phytoconstituents within nanocarriers, researchers aim to optimize their bioavailability and therapeutic efficacy while reducing systemic toxicity. Moreover, the integration of nanotechnology with phytoconstituents allows for a nuanced understanding of the intricate molecular pathways involved in lung cancer pathogenesis. This integrated approach holds promise for modulating key cellular processes implicated in tumor growth and progression. Additionally, by leveraging the synergistic effects of phytoconstituents and nanocarriers, researchers seek to develop tailored therapeutic strategies that maximize efficacy while minimizing adverse effects. In conclusion, the integration of phytoconstituents with nanocarriers represents a promising avenue for advancing lung cancer treatment. This synergistic approach has the potential to revolutionize current therapeutic paradigms by offering targeted, efficient, and minimally toxic interventions. Continued research in this field holds the promise of improving patient outcomes and addressing unmet clinical needs in lung cancer management.

Lipid-based nanoparticles as a promising treatment for the skin cancer

The prevalence of skin disorders, especially cancer, is increasing worldwide. Several factors are involved in causing skin cancer, but ultraviolet (UV) light, including sunlight and tanning beds, are considered the leading cause. Different methods such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, cryotherapy, and photodynamic therapy are mostly used for the skin cancer treatment. However, drug resistance and toxicity against cancer cells are related to these treatments. Lipid-nanoparticles have attracted significant interest as delivery systems due to non-invasive and targeted delivery based on the type of active drug. However, the stratum corneum, the outer layer of the skin, is inherently impervious to drugs. Due to their ability to penetrate the deep layers of the skin, skin delivery systems are capable of delivering drugs to target cells in a protected manner. The aim of this review was to examine the properties and applications of nanoliposomes used in the treatment and prevention of numerous types of skin cancer.

Applications and advancements of nanoparticle-based drug delivery in alleviating lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Lung cancer (LC) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are among the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Cigarette smoking is among the main aetiologic factors for both ailments. These diseases share common pathogenetic mechanisms including inflammation, oxidative stress, and tissue remodelling. Current therapeutic approaches are limited by low efficacy and adverse effects. Consequentially, LC has a 5-year survival of < 20%, while COPD is incurable, underlining the necessity for innovative treatment strategies. Two promising emerging classes of therapy against these diseases include plant-derived molecules (phytoceuticals) and nucleic acid-based therapies. The clinical application of both is limited by issues including poor solubility, poor permeability, and, in the case of nucleic acids, susceptibility to enzymatic degradation, large size, and electrostatic charge density. Nanoparticle-based advanced drug delivery systems are currently being explored as flexible systems allowing to overcome these limitations. In this review, an updated summary of the most recent studies using nanoparticle-based advanced drug delivery systems to improve the delivery of nucleic acids and phytoceuticals for the treatment of LC and COPD is provided. This review highlights the enormous relevance of these delivery systems as tools that are set to facilitate the clinical application of novel categories of therapeutics with poor pharmacokinetic properties.

Plant-based essential oil encapsulated in nanoemulsions and their enhanced therapeutic applications: An overview

In recent years, studies on the formulation of nanoemulsions have been the focus of attention due to their potential applicability in food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and agricultural industries. Nanoemulsions can be formulated using ingredients approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which assures their safety profiles to a great extent. Bioactive compounds such as essential oils although have strong biological properties and antimicrobial compounds, their usage is restricted due to their high volatility, instability, and hydrophobic nature. Therefore, nanoemulsion as carrier vehicle can be used to encapsulate essential oils to obtain stable and enhanced physicochemical characteristics of the essential oils. This review details the structure, formulation, and characterization techniques used for nanoemulsions, with a focus on the essential oil-based nanoemulsions which have the potential to be used as antimicrobial and anticancer therapeutics.

Citrus essential oils - Based nano-emulsions: Functional properties and potential applications

Citrus essential oils are natural products with various bioactive properties (e.g., antimicrobial, antioxidant, and antimutagenic activities), that are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be used as flavorings and food additives. Nonetheless, due to their high volatility, low solubility in water, low thermal stability, susceptibility to oxidation, and strong flavor, their applications in the food industry are limited. Nanotechnology allows the incorporation of citrus essential oils into nano-emulsion systems, thus protecting them from the deterioration caused by external factors and maintaining or even improving their functional properties. This study aims to summarize the antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antimutagenic effects of the nano-emulsions based on essential oils from citrus peels with emphasis on their mechanisms of action and potential applications in, e.g., foods, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics.

Nanoemulsion: An Emerging Novel Technology for Improving the Bioavailability of Drugs

The pharmaceutical sector has made considerable strides recently, emphasizing improving drug delivery methods to increase the bioavailability of various drugs. When used as a medication delivery method, nanoemulsions have multiple benefits. Their small droplet size, which is generally between 20 and 200 nanometers, creates a significant interfacial area for drug dissolution, improving the solubility and bioavailability of drugs that are weakly water-soluble. Additionally, nanoemulsions are a flexible platform for drug administration across various therapeutic areas since they can encapsulate hydrophilic and hydrophobic medicines. Nanoemulsion can be formulated in multiple dosage forms, for example, gels, creams, foams, aerosols, and sprays by using low-cost standard operative processes and also be taken orally, topically, topically, intravenously, intrapulmonary, intranasally, and intraocularly. The article explores nanoemulsion formulation and production methods, emphasizing the role of surfactants and cosurfactants in creating stable formulations. In order to customize nanoemulsions to particular medication delivery requirements, the choice of components and production techniques is crucial in assuring the stability and efficacy of the finished product. Nanoemulsions are a cutting-edge technology with a lot of potential for improving medication bioavailability in a variety of therapeutic contexts. They are a useful tool in the creation of innovative pharmaceutical formulations due to their capacity to enhance drug solubility, stability, and delivery. Nanoemulsions are positioned to play a crucial role in boosting medication delivery and enhancing patient outcomes as this field of study continues to advance.

Elemi essential oil nanocapsulated drug ameliorates lung cancer via oxidative stress, apoptosis and inflammation pathway

Lung cancer is one of the most common causes of death in the world. Considering the severe side effects, toxicity and high costs of chemotherapeutics used in cancer treatment, there is a need for more economical and natural treatment methods such as essential oils. The purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of Canarium commune (Elemi) essential oil (EO) and nanoparticles. Elemi EO is analysed by GC-FID/MS. The antiproliferative effect of Elemi EO and prepared nanoparticles on human lung adenocarcinoma (A549) and their effect on normal fibroblast cells (CCD-19Lu) were determined by the MTT test. The levels of TAS, TOS, CYCS, CASP3, TNF-α and IL-6 parameters of the experimental groups were determined using specific ELISA. BAX and Bcl-2 genes were studied with qRT-PCR to investigate the different ways that cancer cells undergo apoptosis. Limonene (53.7%), a-phellandrene (14.5%) and elemol (10.1%) were the major components of Elemi EO. 24-Hour IC₅₀ values in the cells were measured for Elemi EO; A549: 1199 μg/mL, CCD-19Lu: 37.181 μg/mL. TAS and TOS values were found to be higher in cancer cells than in normal cells, and it was found that cancerous cells were dragged into stress and that cancer cells were directed to apoptosis. BAX genes stimulation supported the results. It was determined that Elemi EO and nanoparticles showed anticancer activity without damaging normal cells. Based on these promising results, potential drug candidate Elemi EO loaded nanoparticles may be cell-specific targeted, oral use possible, new generation nanoparticular drugs.

Citrus Essential Oils: A Rational View on its Chemical Profiles, Mode of Action of Anticancer Effects/Antiproliferative Activity on Various Human Cancer Cell Lines

Cancer is a complex genetic disorder due to uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body, causes damage to the immune system, and may lead to life-threatening situations. Common approaches to cancer treatment includes chemotherapy, hormone therapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy etc. Development of novel and natural chemotherapeutic agents is highly demanded because of the side effects of synthetic drugs. Essential oils from aromatic plants exhibited antioxidant, antimutagenic, antiproliferative and immunomodulating activities. Mechanism of multidrug resistance and synergistic action of these volatile constituents are responsible for their chemopreventive properties. These oils primarily comprising of terpenoid constituents and are characterized by volatility, aroma, low molecular weight etc. The chemical composition of these oils varies depending on the environmental condition, species, plant part and geographical region. Literature analysis revealed that plant essential oils play an important role in cancer prevention and treatment. Cancer patients exposed to essential oils via inhaler devices were found to have less anxiety, stress, and nausea and insomnia. Nowadays, there is an increasing demand for investigating the biological properties of aromatic plants due to their availability, chemical diversity, and low toxicity. In aromatherapy, Citrus essential oils repress cancer related pain and enhance immune system. Current review summarizes existing variability of the chemical composition of Citrus essential oils and its molecular level anticancer mechanism against various human cancer cell lines. Citrus essential oils enhance cytotoxicity, antiproliferative and apoptotic behavior of cancer cell lines. Since essential oils exhibiting significant anticancer potential is worthy of further investigation for cancer chemoprevention. The findings of various research activities can be exploited by cancer researchers world wide for the development of anticancer drugs which can relieve cancer symptoms.

Chemical Composition, Antioxidant, Anti-Bacterial, and Anti-Cancer Activities of Essential Oils Extracted from Citrus limetta Risso Peel Waste Remains after Commercial Use

Citrus plants are widely utilized for edible purposes and medicinal utility throughout the world. However, because of the higher abundance of the antimicrobial compound D-Limonene, the peel waste cannot be disposed of by biogas production. Therefore, after the extraction of D-Limonene from the peel wastes, it can be easily disposed of. The D-Limonene rich essential oil from the Citrus limetta risso (CLEO) was extracted and evaluated its radical quenching, bactericidal, and cytotoxic properties. The radical quenching properties were DPPH radical scavenging (11.35 ± 0.51 µg/mL) and ABTS scavenging (10.36 ± 0.55 µg/mL). There, we observed a dose-dependent antibacterial potential for the essential oil against pathogenic bacteria. Apart from that, the essential oil also inhibited the biofilm-forming properties of E. coli, P. aeruginosa, S. enterica, and S. aureus. Further, cytotoxicity was also exhibited against estrogen receptor-positive (MCF7) cells (IC₅₀: 47.31 ± 3.11 µg/mL) and a triple-negative (MDA-MB-237) cell (IC₅₀: 55.11 ± 4.62 µg/mL). Upon evaluation of the mechanism of action, the toxicity was mediated through an increased level of reactive radicals of oxygen and the subsequent release of cytochrome C, indicative of mitotoxicity. Hence, the D-Limonene rich essential oil of C. limetta is useful as a strong antibacterial and cytotoxic agent; the antioxidant properties exhibited also increase its utility value.

Nano-Encapsulation of Citrus Essential Oils: Methods and Applications of Interest for the Food Sector

Citrus essential oils possess many health-promoting benefits and properties of high interest in the food and agri-food sector. However, their large-scale application is limited by their sensitivity to environmental factors. Nanostructures containing citrus essential oils have been developed to overcome the high volatility and instability of essential oils with respect to temperature, pH, UV light, etc. Nanostructures could provide protection for essential oils and enhancement of their bioavailability and biocompatibility, as well as their biological properties. Nano-encapsulation is a promising method. The present review is mainly focused on methods developed so far for the nano-encapsulation of citrus essential oils, with emphasis on lipid-based (including liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, nanostructured lipid particles, and nano- and micro-emulsions) and polymer-based nanostructures. The physico-chemical characteristics of the obtained structures, as well as promising properties reported, with relevance for the food sector are also discussed.

Isolation, Characterization, and Toxicity Study of Stress Degradation Products of Pranlukast Hydrate

Pranlukast hydrate (PRN), a cysteinyl leukotriene receptor antagonist (CysLT₁), is used to treat bronchial asthma. The objective of this study is to perform the isolation, characterization, and toxicity analysis of stress degradation products of PRN. In high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), the separation was achieved using a Phenomenex Gemini C18 (250 × 4.6 mm, 5 μ) column; the ammonium format buffer (50 mM), pH 4, with formic acid: acetonitrile (50:50, v/v) was used as a mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.25 mL/min; and the photodiode array detector was used for detection at 230 nm. The drug was subjected to stress degradation as per ICH Q1A (R2) and ICH Q1B guidelines. The drug was found to be labile in alkaline (62.48% degradation) and photolytic (liquid state) (7.67% degradation) conditions, whereas the drug was found to be stable in acidic, peroxide, photolytic (solid state), and thermal conditions. The characterization of the drug and its degradation products was achieved using liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-quadrupole time of flight tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS), and the degradation mechanism was proposed. There were two degradation products observed in alkaline conditions (DP6 and DP9), whereas six novel degradation products were observed in photolytic degradation products (DP1, DP3, DP4, DP5, DP7, and DP10). The developed method was successfully validated as per the ICH Q2 (R1) guideline. The isolation of the alkaline degradation product DP9 was performed using preparative HPLC, and it was found to be 96.8% pure degradation product. The characterizations of the isolated degradation product (DP9) and procured impurity were performed using MS/MS, NMR, and FTIR. The mass of the procured impurity and DP9 were observed to be 404 and 500 Da, respectively. The in vitro cytotoxicity study of the procured impurity and DP9 was conducted using a 3-(4,5 dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay using an A549 cell line, and they were found to be cytotoxic at concentrations above 62.5 and 250 μg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, an in silico toxicity study was performed to predict the toxicity of all the major characterized degradation products of PRN using admetSAR software version 2.0. DP1, DP2, DP6, and DP10 were found to be hepatotoxic, mutagenic according to the micronucleus test, and aquatic toxic. We can conclude that the drug should be kept away from the direct exposure of light and the toxicity levels of DP1, DP2, DP6, and DP10 should be reduced below 0.1% to avoid their toxic effect.

Essential oils as anticancer agents: Potential role in malignancies, drug delivery mechanisms, and immune system enhancement

Cancer retains a central place in fatality rates among the wide variety of diseases known world over, and the conventional synthetic medicaments, albeit used until now, produce numerous side effects. As a result, newer, better, and safer alternatives such as natural plant products, are gravely required. Essential oils (EOs) offer a plethora of bioactivities including antibacterial, antiviral, antioxidant, and anticancer properties, therefore, the use of EOs in combination with synthetic drugs or aromatherapy continues to be popular in many settings. In view of the paramount importance of EOs and their potential bioactivities, this review summarizes the current knowledge on the interconnection between EOs and cancer treatment. In particular, the current review presents an updated summary of the chemical composition of EOs, their current applications in cancer treatments based on clinical studies, and the mechanism of action against the cancer cell lines. Similarly, an overview of using EOs in aromatherapy and enhancing immunity during cancer treatment is provided. Further, this review focuses on the recent technological advancements such as the loading of EOs using protein microspheres, ligands, or nanoemulsions/nanoencapsulation, which offer multiple benefits in cancer treatment via site-specific and target-oriented delivery of drugs. The continuing clinical studies of EOs implicate that their pharmacological applications are a rewarding research area.

Current Insight into the Therapeutic Potential of Phytocompounds and their Nanoparticle-based Systems for Effective Management of Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the second most common cancer and the primary cause of cancer-related death in both men and women worldwide. Due to diagnosis at an advanced stage, it is associated with high mortality in the majority of patients. At present, various treatment approaches are available such as chemotherapy, surgery, and radiotherapy. However, all these approaches usually cause serious side effects like degeneration of normal cells, bone marrow depression, alopecia, extensive vomiting, etc. To overcome the aforementioned problems, researchers have focused on the alternative therapeutic approach in which various natural compounds are reported, which possessed anti-lung cancer activity. Phytocompounds exhibit their anti-lung cancer activity via targeting various cell-signaling pathways, apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and regulating antioxidant status and detoxification. Apart from the excellent anti-cancer activity, clinical administration of phytocompounds is confined because of their high lipophilicity and low bioavailability. Therefore, researchers show their concern in the development of a stable, safe, and effective approach of treatment with minimal side effects by the development of nanoparticle-based delivery of these phytocompounds to the target site. Targeted delivery of phytocompound through nanoparticles overcomes the aforementioned problems. In this article, the molecular mechanism of phytocompounds, their emerging combination therapy, and their nanoparticles-based delivery systems in the treatment of lung cancer have been discussed.

Essential Oils and Their Main Chemical Components: The Past 20 Years of Preclinical Studies in Melanoma

Simple Summary

In the last years, targeted therapy and immunotherapy modified the landscape for metastatic melanoma treatment. These therapeutic approaches led to an impressive improvement in patients overall survival. Unfortunately, the emergence of drug resistance and side effects occurring during therapy strongly limit the long-term efficacy of such treatments. Several preclinical studies demonstrate the efficacy of essential oils as antitumoral agents, and clinical trials support their use to reduce side effects emerging during therapy. In this review we have summarized studies describing the molecular mechanism through which essential oils induce in vitro and in vivo cell death in melanoma models. We also pointed to clinical trials investigating the use of essential oils in reducing the side effects experienced by cancer patients or those undergoing anticancer therapy. From this review emerged that further studies are necessary to validate the effectiveness of essential oils for the management of melanoma.

Abstract

The last two decades have seen the development of effective therapies, which have saved the lives of a large number of melanoma patients. However, therapeutic options are still limited for patients without BRAF mutations or in relapse from current treatments, and severe side effects often occur during therapy. Thus, additional insights to improve treatment efficacy with the aim to decrease the likelihood of chemoresistance, as well as reducing side effects of current therapies, are required. Natural products offer great opportunities for the discovery of antineoplastic drugs, and still represent a useful source of novel molecules. Among them, essential oils, representing the volatile fraction of aromatic plants, are always being actively investigated by several research groups and show promising biological activities for their use as complementary or alternative medicine for several diseases, including cancer. In this review, we focused on studies reporting the mechanism through which essential oils exert antitumor action in preclinical wild type or mutant BRAF melanoma models. We also discussed the latest use of essential oils in improving cancer patients’ quality of life. As evidenced by the many studies listed in this review, through their effect on apoptosis and tumor progression-associated properties, essential oils can therefore be considered as potential natural pharmaceutical resources for cancer management.