The herbal agent plantamajoside, exerts a potential inhibitory effect on the development of hepatocellular carcinoma

The Most Potent Natural Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics, and Food Ingredients Isolated from Plants with Deep Eutectic Solvents

There is growing interest in reducing the number of synthetic products or additives and replacing them with natural ones. The pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food industries are especially focused on natural and bioactive chemicals isolated from plants or microorganisms. The main challenge here is to develop efficient and ecological methods for their isolation. According to the strategies and rules of sustainable development and green chemistry, green solvents and environmentally friendly technologies must be used. The application of deep eutectic solvents as efficient and biodegradable solvents seems to be a promising alternative to traditional methods. They are classified as being green and ecological but, most importantly, very efficient extraction media compared to organic solvents. The aim of this review is to present the recent findings on green extraction, as well as the biological activities and the possible applications of natural plant ingredients, namely, phenolics, flavonoids, terpenes, saponins, and some others. This paper thoroughly reviews modern, ecological, and efficient extraction methods with the use of deep eutectic solvents (DESs). The newest findings, as well as the factors influencing the efficiency of extraction, such as water content, and hydrogen bond donor and acceptor types, as well as the extraction systems, are also discussed. New solutions to the major problem of separating DESs from the extract and for solvent recycling are also presented.

Cytotoxic Effect of Phenylethanoid Glycosides Isolated from Plantago lanceolata L

The aim of the study is to investigate whether the bioactive compounds isolated from P. lanceolata inflorescences, namely, phenylethanoid glucosides, acteoside, plantamajoside, and a flavonoid, isorhamnetin-3-O-rutinoside-4'-O-glucoside, possessed cytotoxic activity against the selected cancer cell lines. The potential antitumor effects of two phenylethanoid glycosides and one flavonoid were evaluated via MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay on seven human carcinoma cell lines (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, Caco-2, HepG2, OVCAR-3, U138-MG, U251-MG) and one nontumorigenic mammary epithelial cell line (MCF-12A). For the first time, acteoside was studied in ovarian cancer cell line OVCAR-3, and plantamajoside in all cell lines except breast adenocarcinoma MDA-MB-281 and hepatocarcinoma HepG2. The phenylethanoid glycosides showed stronger cytotoxic activity than that of the glycoside flavonoid. Acteoside and plantamajoside, at concentrations of 200 and 300 μM, respectively, had a highly toxic effect on the selected two cancer cell lines of breast adenocarcinoma MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7, ovarian cancer cell line OVCAR-3, glioblastoma cell line U138-MG, and hepatocarcinoma cell line HepG2. Both glycosides were significantly less cytotoxic towards nontumorigenic cell line MCF-12A; the effect appeared at a concentration of 400 μM. For the first time, the activity of acteoside and plantamajoside was compared in one parallel investigation. The results are discussed against a broad background of existing knowledge on biological effects, their mechanisms, and structure-activity relationships. Phenylethanoids may be potential compounds with cytotoxic activity against the selected cancer types.

Roles of conventional and complementary therapies in recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common type of cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the world. HCC has a reported recurrence rate of 70%-80% after 5 years of follow-up. Controlling tumor recurrence is the most critical factor associated with HCC mortality. Conventional salvage therapies for recurrent HCC include re-hepatectomy or liver transplantation, transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, Y-90, target therapy, and immunotherapy; however, these conventional treatment modalities have yet to achieve consistently favorable outcomes. Meanwhile, previous studies have demonstrated that conventional therapies in combination with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), acupuncture, moxibustion or dietary supplements could notably benefit patients with HCC recurrence by strengthening and augmenting the overall management strategy. However, systemic reviews related to the interactions between complementary therapies and conventional therapy in recurrent HCC are limited. In this review, we discuss the molecular mechanisms underlying the functions of complementary therapies for recurrent HCC, which include augmenting the local control to improve the congestion status of primary tumors and reducing multicentric tumor occurrence via inducing autophagy, apoptosis or cell cycle arrest. TCM and its derivatives may play important roles in helping to control HCC recurrence by inhibiting epithelial-mesenchymal transition, migration, invasion, and metastasis, inhibiting cancer stem cells, and ameliorating drug resistance.

Plantamajoside promotes metformin-induced apoptosis, autophagy and proliferation arrest of liver cancer cells via suppressing Akt/GSK3β signaling

Metformin, a well-known antidiabetic drug, exhibits anticancer effect in a variety of cancers, including liver cancer. Plantamajoside (PMS), a phenylethanoid glycoside compound isolated from Plantago asiatica, is proved to possess anticancer effects, too. In our study, we hypothesized that PMS might promote metformin mediated anticancer effects on liver cancer. The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of metformin was evaluated by cell viability assay. The influence of PMS on proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis of metformin-treated cells was evaluated by BrdU incorporation assay, flow cytometry, western blot, wound scratch healing assay, transwell cell migration assay and immunofluorescence. A fasting/feeding mouse model was built to evaluate the influence of PMS on metformin sensitivity in vivo. PMS (2.5, 10 or 40 μg/mL) treatment reduced the IC₅₀ of metformin under different glucose concentrations. PMS (10 μg/mL) promoted metformin (5 mm) induced apoptosis and autophagy, and inhibition on proliferation, migration and invasion of HepG2 and HuH-7 cells. In the fasting/feeding mouse model, PMS (50 mg/kg) promoted metformin (200 mg/kg) induced proliferation arrest and apoptosis in vivo. Meanwhile, PMS reduced the level of pAkt^(ser473) and GSK3β^(ser9) in HepG2 and HuH-7 cells. Restoration of Akt/GSK3β signaling by a constitutively activated myr-Akt1 abrogated the effects of PMS on metformin-treated liver cancer cells. Our results demonstrated that PMS promoted the anticancer effects of metformin on liver cancer in vitro and in vivo.