Geranium thunbergii extract-induced G1 phase cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in gastric cancer cells

Revolutionizing Gastric Cancer Prevention: Novel Insights on Gastric Mucosal Inflammation-Cancer Transformation and Chinese Medicine

The progression from gastric mucosal inflammation to cancer signifies a pivotal event in the trajectory of gastric cancer (GC) development. Chinese medicine (CM) exhibits unique advantages and holds significant promise in inhibiting carcinogenesis of the gastric mucosa. This review intricately examines the critical pathological events during the transition from gastric mucosal inflammation-cancer transformation (GMICT), with a particular focus on pathological evolution mechanisms of spasmolytic polypeptide-expressing metaplasia (SPEM). Moreover, it investigates the pioneering applications and advancements of CM in intervening within the medical research domain of precancerous transformations leading to GC. Furthermore, the analysis extends to major shortcomings and challenges confronted by current research in gastric precancerous lesions, and innovative studies related to CM are presented. We offer a highly succinct yet optimistic outlook on future developmental trends. This paper endeavors to foster a profound understanding of forefront dynamics in GMICT research and scientific implications of modernizing CM. It also introduces a novel perspective for establishing a collaborative secondary prevention system for GC that integrates both Western and Chinese medicines.

Drug discovery inspired by bioactive small molecules from nature

Natural products (NPs) have greatly contributed to the development of novel treatments for human diseases such as cancer, metabolic disorders, and infections. Compared to synthetic chemical compounds, primary and secondary metabolites from medicinal plants, fungi, microorganisms, and our bodies are promising resources with immense chemical diversity and favorable properties for drug development. In addition to the well-validated significance of secondary metabolites, endogenous small molecules derived from central metabolism and signaling events have shown great potential as drug candidates due to their unique metabolite-protein interactions. In this short review, we highlight the values of NPs, discuss recent scientific and technological advances including metabolomics tools, chemoproteomics approaches, and artificial intelligence-based computation platforms, and explore potential strategies to overcome the current challenges in NP-driven drug discovery.

A focused natural compound screen reveals senolytic and senostatic effects of Isatis tinctoria

Natural products and their derivatives historically represent alternatives to conventional synthetic molecules for pharmacotherapy, ranging from cancer chemotherapeutics to cosmetic ingredients that exert anti-aging activities. Cellular senescence is considered a main driver of skin aging, yet natural products that target skin senescence in a specific manner are not thoroughly explored. Here, we performed a focused compound screen to identify natural products that exert anti-senescence effects. We found that Isatis tinctoria, woad extracts, displayed a senolytic effect on senescent human skin fibroblasts. Furthermore, treatment with woad extracts attenuated the expression of pro-inflammatory senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), showing a senostatic activity. Intriguingly, woad extracts displayed only a marginal cytotoxic effect toward senescent human lung fibroblasts. Thus, our results reveal the potential activities of woad extracts for targeting skin senescence and suggest that woad extracts could be an attractive ingredient for cosmetics to prevent skin aging.

Deletion of IP6K1 in mice accelerates tumor growth by dysregulating the tumor-immune microenvironment

A family of inositol hexakisphosphate kinases (IP6Ks) catalyzes the production of inositol pyrophosphate IP₇ (5-diphosphoinositolpentakisphosphate) which is known to modulate various biological events such as cell growth. While targeting IP6K1 in various cancer cells has been well reported to control cancer cell motility and invasiveness, the role of host IP6K1 in tumor progression remains unknown. By using a syngeneic MC38 murine mouse colon carcinoma model, here we examined how host IP6K1 in the tumor microenvironment influences tumor growth. In IP6K1 knockout (KO) mice, the growth of MC38 tumor cells was markedly accelerated and host survival was significantly shortened compared with wild-type (WT). Our flow cytometric analysis revealed that tumors grown in IP6K1 KO mice had lower immune suppressive myeloid cells and M1 polarized macrophages. Notably, infiltration of both antigen-presenting dendritic cells and CD8⁺ cytotoxic T lymphocytes into the tumor tissues was remarkably abrogated in IP6K1 KO condition. These studies suggest that enhanced tumor growth in IP6K1 KO mice resulted from reduced anti-tumor immunity due to disturbed immune cell actions in the tumor microenvironment. In conclusion, we demonstrate that host IP6K1 acts as a tumor suppressor, most likely by fine-tuning diverse tumor-immune cell interactions, which might have implications for improving the host response against cancer progression.

18KHT01, a Potent Anti-Obesity Polyherbal Formulation

Obesity is a life-threatening metabolic disorder necessitating urgent development of safe and effective therapy. Currently, limited such therapeutic measures are available for obesity. The present study was designed to develop a novel, safe and effective herbal therapy for the management of obesity. A polyherbal formulation (18KHT01) was developed by homogeneously mixing a specific proportion of crude Quercus acutissima (acorn jelly powder), Camellia sinensis (dry leaf buds), and Geranium thunbergii (dry aerial part) along with Citrus limon (fruit juice). Synergistic antioxidant, antiadipogenic, and anti-obesity activities were evaluated by in vitro as well as in vivo studies. In vitro experiments revealed strong synergistic antioxidant and anti-adipogenic activities of 18KHT01. Molecular assessment of 18KHT01 showed significant down-regulation of vital adipogenic factors such as PPARγ, C/EBPα, aP2, SREBP-1c, FAS, and LPL. Based on the results of the preliminary toxicity study, 75 and 150 mg/kg, twice daily doses of 18KHT01 were administered to evaluate anti-obesity activity in diet-induced obese (DIO) C57BL/6J mice model. The major obesity-related parameters such as body weight, weight gain, food efficiency ratio, as well as serum lipid profile were significantly reduced by 18KHT01 with potential synergism. Also, the high-fat diet-induced insulin resistance was suggestively alleviated by the formulation, and thus ameliorated fasting blood glucose. Histological evaluation of liver and white adipose tissue revealed that the significant reduction of fat depositions and thus reduction of these tissue weights. Synergy evaluation experiments exhibited that the 18KHT01 offered strong synergism by improving efficacy and reducing the toxicity of its ingredients. Overall results evidenced the 18KHT01 as a safe and potent anti-obesity herbal therapy.

Myeloid IPMK promotes the resolution of serum transfer-induced arthritis in mice

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by widespread joint inflammation, which leads to joint damage, disability, and mortality. Among the several types of immune cells, myeloid cells such as macrophages are critical for controlling the pathogenesis of RA. Inositol phosphates are water-soluble signaling molecules, which are synthesized by a series of enzymes including inositol phosphate kinases. Previous studies revealed actions of inositol phosphates and their metabolic enzymes in the modulation of inflammation such as Toll-like receptor-triggered innate immunity. However, the physiological roles of inositol polyphosphate (IP) metabolism in the regulation of RA remain largely uncharacterized. Therefore, our study sought to determine the role of inositol polyphosphate multikinase (IPMK), a key enzyme for IP metabolism and various cellular signaling control mechanisms, in mediating RA. Using myeloid cell-specific IPMK knockout (KO) mice, arthritis was induced via intraperitoneal K/BxN serum injection, after which disease severity was evaluated. Both wild-type and IPMK KO mice developed similar RA phenotypes; however, conditional deletion of IPMK in myeloid cells led to elevated arthritis scores during the resolution phase, suggesting that IPMK deficiency in myeloid cells impairs the resolution of inflammation. Bone marrow-derived IPMK KO macrophages exhibited no apparent defects in immunoglobulin Fc receptor (FcR) activation, osteoclast differentiation, or resolvin signaling. Taken together, our findings suggest that myeloid IPMK is a key determinant of RA resolution.

Onosma bracteata Wall. induces G0/G1 arrest and apoptosis in MG-63 human osteosarcoma cells via ROS generation and AKT/GSK3β/cyclin E pathway

Onosma bracteata Wall. (Boraginaceae), commonly known as "gaozaban" is a highly valuable medicinal herb, useful in the treatment of body swellings, abdominal pain, eye-related problems, fever, and urinary calculi. The present study was performed to investigate the antioxidant properties of extract/fractions, viz. ethanol (Obeth) extract, hexane (Obhex) fraction, chloroform (Obcl) fraction, ethyl acetate (Obea) fraction, butanol (Obbu) fraction, and aqueous (Obaq) fraction isolated from O. bracteata. Obea fraction showed stronger free radical quenching ability in various antioxidant assays, as compared to the other fractions. Obea fraction with effective free radical-scavenging properties was further evaluated for the antiproliferative activity against human osteosarcoma MG-63, human neuroblastoma IMR-32, and human lung cancer A549 cell lines using MTT assay. Obea fraction showed strong cytotoxicity with GI₅₀ value of 88.56, 101.61, and 112.7 μg/ml towards MG-63, IMR-32, and A549 cells respectively. Mechanistic studies revealed that Obea fraction in osteosarcoma MG-63 cells increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) level and reduced mitochondrial membrane potential. In the presence of Obea, the cells were found to be arrested in the G₀/G₁ phase in a dose-dependent manner which is also confirmed by the enhancement in the early apoptotic cell population in flow cytometer analysis. Western blotting demonstrated the decrease in expression of p-NFκB, COX-2, p-Akt, and Bcl-xL, whereas upregulation was observed in the expression of GSK-3β, p53, caspase-3, and caspase-9 proteins. RT-qPCR studies revealed downregulation of Bcl-2, cyclin E, CDK2, and mortalin gene expression and upregulation in the expression of p53 genes. The antioxidant and cytotoxic potential of Obea was attributed to the presence of catechin, kaempferol, onosmin A, and epicatechin, as revealed by HPLC analysis. This is the first report regarding the antiproliferative potential of O. bracteata against osteosarcoma.

Chemopreventive Effect of Dietary Anthocyanins against Gastrointestinal Cancers: A Review of Recent Advances and Perspectives

Anthocyanins are a group of dietary polyphenols, abundant mainly in fruits and their products. Dietary interventions of anthocyanins are being studied extensively related to the prevention of gastrointestinal (GI) cancer, among many other chronic disorders. This review summarizes the hereditary and non-hereditary characteristics of GI cancers, chemistry, and bioavailability of anthocyanins, and the most recent findings of anthocyanin in GI cancer prevention through modulating cellular signaling pathways. GI cancer-preventive attributes of anthocyanins are primarily due to their antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-proliferative properties, and their ability to regulate gene expression and metabolic pathways, as well as induce the apoptosis of cancer cells.

Radix Sophorae Flavescentis induces apoptosis through by Caspase, MAPK Activation and ROS Signaling Pathways in 5637 Human Bladder Cancer Cells

The anti-cancer mechanisms of Radix Sophorae Flavescentis were investigated in 5637 bladder cancer cells. Radix Sophorae Flavescentis extract (RSF) (50‑400 µg/ml) inhibited the proliferation of 5637 cells and increased sub‑G1 phase ratios. RSF‑induced cell death was associated with the down-regulation of B‑cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl‑2) and the up-regulation of Bcl‑2 X‑associated protein (Bax). RSF also activated caspase‑3 and -9 and regulated the activations of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). In addition, RSF increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and depolarized the mitochondrial membrane potential. These findings suggest RSF induces apoptosis in 5637 bladder cancer cells and that it has potential use as a novel anti-cancer drug for bladder cancer.