Effect of photodynamic therapy combined with Celecoxib on expression of cyclooxygenase-2 protein in HeLa cells

Gliclazide Prevents 5-FU-Induced Oral Mucositis by Reducing Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, and P-Selectin Adhesion Molecules

Oral mucositis (OM) is one of the main side effects of the head and neck cancer treatment, particularly radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. OM is characterized by ulcers, erythema, dysphagia, xerostomia, and increased susceptibility to opportunistic infections. In the perspective of finding pharmacological therapies to prevent inflammation and ulceration of OM, the investigation of the pleiotropic effect of commercial drugs is needed, among them gliclazide, an antidiabetic drug. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of gliclazide in an experimental OM model induced by 5-fluorouracil. Male hamsters were pre-treated with oral gliclazide (1, 5, or 10 mg/kg) for 10 days. Cheek pouch samples were subjected to histopathological and immunohistochemical analysis (COX₂, iNOS, MMP-2, NFκB P65, GPx) and imunofluorescence (P-selectin). IL-1β and TNF-α levels, Myeloperoxidase activity (MPO) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were investigated by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy analysis. NFκB NLS P50 protein levels were analyzed by western blotting. The group treated with gliclazide at a dose of 10 mg/kg showed presence of erythema, no evidence of erosion, and absence of mucosal ulceration with a score of 1 (1–2) (p < 0.01). Histopathological data for the group treated with gliclazide 10 mg/kg showed re-epithelialization, discrete mononuclear inflammatory infiltrate and absence of hemorrhage, edema, ulcers and abscesses with a score of 1 (1–1) (p < 0.01). Treatment with gliclazide 10 mg/kg reduced MPO activity (p < 0.001), MDA levels (p < 0.001) and NFκB NLS P50 (p < 0.05) protein levels, resulting in low immunostaining to Cox-2, iNOS (p < 0.05), NFκB P65 (p < 0.05), and negative immunoreaction to MMP-2 (p < 0.001). However, it appeared that for Gpx1, the staining was restored in the GLI 10-FUT group compared with 5FUT/saline (p < 0.05). Immunofluorescence revealed decreased levels of P-selectin (p < 0.001) after treatment with gliclazide 10 mg/kg (p < 0.05). In summary, gliclazide accelerated mucosal recovery and reduced oxidative stress and inflammation in the 5-FU-induced OM in hamsters.

High-Throughput Screening of Lipidomic Adaptations in Cultured Cells

High-throughput screening of biologically active substances in cell cultures remains challenging despite great progress in contemporary lipidomic techniques. These experiments generate large amounts of data that are translated into lipid fingerprints. The subsequent visualization of lipidomic changes is key to meaningful interpretation of experimental results. As a demonstration of a rapid and versatile pipeline for lipidomic analysis, we cultured HeLa cells in 96-well format for four days in the presence or absence of various inhibitors of lipid metabolic pathways. Visualization of the data by principle component analysis revealed a high reproducibility of the method, as well as drug specific changes to the lipidome. Construction of heatmaps and networks revealed the similarities and differences between the effects of different drugs at the lipid species level. Clusters of related lipid species that might represent distinct membrane domains emerged after correlation analysis of the complete dataset. Taken together, we present a lipidomic platform for high-throughput lipidomic analysis of cultured cell lines.