Enhancing effects of indirubin on the arsenic disulfide-induced apoptosis of human diffuse large B-cell lymphoma cells

Pharmacological properties of indirubin and its derivatives

BACKGROUND

Indirubin is the main bioactive component of the traditional Chinese medicine Indigo naturalis and is a bisindole alkaloid. Multiple studies have shown that indirubin exhibits good anticancer, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties.

METHODS

The purpose of this review is to provide a summary of the pharmacological mechanisms of indirubin and its derivatives.

RESULTS

Indirubin and its derivatives exert anticancer effects by regulating the expression of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), GSK-3β, Bax, Bcl-2, C-MYC, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) through the PI3K/AKT/mTOR, nuclear factor (NF)-κB, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), JAK/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) pathways and other signaling pathways. We also reviewed the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties of indirubin and its derivatives.

CONCLUSION

The findings of recent studies assessing indirubin and its derivatives suggest that these compounds can be used as potential drugs to treat tumors, inflammation, neuropathy and bacterial infection.

Anticancer potential of indirubins in medicinal chemistry: Biological activity, structural modification, and structure-activity relationship

Indirubin is the crucial ingredient of Danggui Longhui Wan and Qing-Dai, traditional Chinese medicine herbal formulas used for the therapy of chronic myelocytic leukemia in China for hundreds of years. Although the monomeric indirubin has been used in China for the treatment human chronic myelocytic leukemia. However, due to low water solubility, poor pharmacokinetic properties and low therapeutic effects are the major obstacle, and had significantly limited its clinical application. Consequently, the attractive anticancer profile of indirubin has enthused numerous researchers to discover novel indirubin derivatives with improved pharmacodynamic activity as well as good pharmacokinetic property. In this paper, we comprehensively review the recent progress of anticancer potential of indirubins, structural modification and structure-activity relationship, which may provide useful direction for the further development of novel indirubins with improved pharmacological profiles for the treatment of various types of cancer.

From natural dye to herbal medicine: a systematic review of chemical constituents, pharmacological effects and clinical applications of indigo naturalis

Background

Indigo naturalis is a blue dye in ancient, as well as an extensive used traditional Chinese medicine. It has a wide spectrum of pharmacological properties and can be used to treat numerous ailments such as leukemia, psoriasis, and ulcerative colitis. This article aims to expand our understanding of indigo naturalis in terms of its chemical constituents, pharmacological action and clinical applications.

Methods

We searched PubMed, web of science, CNKI, Google academic, Elsevier and other databases with the key words of “Indigo naturalis”, and reviewed and sorted out the modern research of indigo naturalis based on our research results.

Results

We outlined the traditional manufacturing process, chemical composition and quality control of indigo naturalis, systematically reviewed traditional applictions, pharmacological activities and mechanism of indigo naturalis, and summarized its clinical trials about treatment of psoriasis, leukemia and ulcerative colitis.

Conclusions

Indigo naturalis has a variety of pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, immunomodulatory and so on. It has very good clinical effect on psoriasis, leukemia and ulcerative colitis. However, it should be noted that long-term use of indigo naturalis may produce some reversible adverse reactions. In summarize, indigo naturalis is an extremely important drug with great value and potential.

Transcription activator, hyaluronic acid and tocopheryl succinate multi-functionalized novel lipid carriers encapsulating etoposide for lymphoma therapy

Delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs using nanocarriers is emerging as a promising approach for the treatment of cancer. The aim of this research was to develop a dual targeted d-α-tocopheryl succinate (TOS) functionalized nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs), using etoposide (ETP) as a model drug to prove their in vitro and in vivo anti-tumor effects. Novel ETP loaded NLCs were constructed (ETP-NLCs). Hyaluronic acid (HA) and cell-penetrating peptide transcription activator (TAT) was applied for the surface decoration of ETP NLCs (HATOS/TATTOS-ETP-NLCs). The antitumor efficiency of HATOS/TATTOS-ETP-NLCs was evaluated in tumor bearing animal models. HATOS/TATTOS-ETP-NLCs displayed significantly higher transfection efficiency and better antitumor ability than undecorated ETP-NLCs in lymphoma cells bearing mice model. The newly constructed NLCs could successfully load drug and gene; and TAT could function as excellent targeting ligands to improve the cell targeting ability of the gene loaded nanocarriers. The resulting dual ligands decorated vectors could be a promising targeted gene delivery system for the lymphoma treatment.