Case Report: Initial Treatment Adjustments and Complications in Ovarian Cancer Patient With Inborn Error of Immunity

Potential of green-synthesized ZnO NPs against human ovarian teratocarcinoma: an in vitro study

BACKGROUND

Ovarian cancer leads to devastating outcomes, and its treatment is highly challenging. At present, there is a lack of clinical symptoms, well-known sensitivity biomarkers, and patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage. Currently, available therapeutics against ovarian cancer are inefficient, costly, and associated with severe side effects. The present study evaluated the anticancer potential of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) that were successfully biosynthesized in an ecofriendly mode using pumpkin seed extracts.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The anticancer potential of the biosynthesized ZnO NPs was assessed using an in vitro human ovarian teratocarcinoma cell line (PA-1) by well-known assays such as MTT assay, morphological alterations, induction of apoptosis, measurement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and inhibition of cell adhesion/migration. The biogenic ZnO NPs exerted a high level of cytotoxicity against PA-1 cells. Furthermore, the ZnO NPs inhibited cellular adhesion and migration but induced ROS production and cell death through programmed cell death.

CONCLUSION

The aforementioned anticancer properties highlight the therapeutic utility of ZnO NPs in ovarian cancer treatment. However, further research is recommended to envisage their mechanism of action in different cancer models and validation in a suitable in vivo system.

Phenolic Acids-Mediated Regulation of Molecular Targets in Ovarian Cancer: Current Understanding and Future Perspectives

Cancer is a global health concern with a dynamic rise in occurrence and one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Among different types of cancer, ovarian cancer (OC) is the seventh most diagnosed malignant tumor, while among the gynecological malignancies, it ranks third after cervical and uterine cancer and sadly bears the highest mortality and worst prognosis. First-line treatments have included a variety of cytotoxic and synthetic chemotherapeutic medicines, but they have not been particularly effective in extending OC patients' lives and are associated with side effects, recurrence risk, and drug resistance. Hence, a shift from synthetic to phytochemical-based agents is gaining popularity, and researchers are looking into alternative, cost-effective, and safer chemotherapeutic strategies. Lately, studies on the effectiveness of phenolic acids in ovarian cancer have sparked the scientific community's interest because of their high bioavailability, safety profile, lesser side effects, and cost-effectiveness. Yet this is a road less explored and critically analyzed and lacks the credibility of the novel findings. Phenolic acids are a significant class of phytochemicals usually considered in the nonflavonoid category. The current review focused on the anticancer potential of phenolic acids with a special emphasis on chemoprevention and treatment of OC. We tried to summarize results from experimental, epidemiological, and clinical studies unraveling the benefits of various phenolic acids (hydroxybenzoic acid and hydroxycinnamic acid) in chemoprevention and as anticancer agents of clinical significance.