Elemene inhibits osteosarcoma growth by suppressing the renin‑angiotensin system signaling pathway

Dissolvable hyaluronic acid microneedles loaded with β-Elemene for the treatment of psoriasis

The pathology of psoriasis involves the over-proliferation of keratinocytes, exaggerated inflammation of keratinocytes, and infiltration of inflammatory cells such as macrophages (Mø), etc. The therapeutic outcomes of current treatment targeting one single pathological process are less than satisfactory. Based on their diverse biological activities, natural products offer a potential solution to this problem. In this study, we investigated the effects of β-Elemene (ELE) on both psoriatic keratinocytes and M1-type Mø (M1-Mø) in vitro. Hyaluronic acid (HA) microneedles loaded with ELE (HA-ELE-MN) were also fabricated and tested for the treatment of psoriasis in vivo using an imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriatic mice model. Our data suggest that ELE induces apoptosis and inhibits inflammation of psoriatic keratinocytes. In addition, ELE attenuates the expression of inflammatory cytokines secreted from M1-Mø, thus indirectly inhibiting the inflammation of keratinocytes. Furthermore, HA-ELE-MN has been found to significantly alleviate symptoms in an IMQ-induced psoriatic mice model by inducing keratinocytes apoptosis, suppressing keratinocytes proliferation, and inhibiting M1-Mø infiltration. Taken together, this study demonstrates that ELE can be used for the treatment of psoriasis by targeting both keratinocytes and M1-Mø, which provides a potential novel reagent for psoriasis treatment.

Exploration of Potential Ewing Sarcoma Drugs from FDA-Approved Pharmaceuticals through Computational Drug Repositioning, Pharmacogenomics, Molecular Docking, and MD Simulation Studies

Novel drug development is a time-consuming process with relatively high debilitating costs. To overcome this problem, computational drug repositioning approaches are being used to predict the possible therapeutic scaffolds against different diseases. In the current study, computational drug repositioning approaches were employed to fetch the promising drugs from the pool of FDA-approved drugs against Ewing sarcoma. The binding interaction patterns and conformational behaviors of screened drugs within the active region of Ewing sarcoma protein (EWS) were confirmed through molecular docking profiles. Furthermore, pharmacogenomics analysis was employed to check the possible associations of selected drugs with Ewing sarcoma genes. Moreover, the stability behavior of selected docked complexes (drugs-EWS) was checked by molecular dynamics simulations. Taken together, astemizole, sulfinpyrazone, and pranlukast exhibited a result comparable to pazopanib and can be used as a possible therapeutic agent in the treatment of Ewing sarcoma.