Computational and Molecular Docking Studies of New Benzene Sulfonamide Drugs with Anticancer and Antioxidant Effects

BACKGROUND

The studies on the potential usage of benzene sulfonamide derivatives as anticancer agents are limited. benzene sulfonamide derivatives are currently used as anticancer agents against different breast cancer cell lines, such as MCF-7, lung cancer cells (A549), prostate cancer cells (Du-145), and cervical cells (HeLa).

OBJECTIVE

A series of new sulfonamide drugs are synthesized by reacting aldehydes thio-semi-carbazones derivatives with benzene sulphonyl chloride to form benzylidene-N-(phenylsulfonyl) hydrazine-1-carbothioamide derivatives. Studying the anticancer effects against MCF-7 breast carcinoma cell lines and the antioxidant activities of these newly synthesized compounds.

METHODS

Studying the anticancer effects against MCF-7 breast carcinoma cell lines and the antioxidant activities of these newly synthesized compounds. To study the anti-breast cancer activity of the newly synthesized compounds, a molecular docking study is used to analyze the binding energy for the nonbonding interactions between the ligands (studied compounds) and receptor (4PYP (pdb code: 4FA2)) against human breast cancer (MCF-7) cells. The bioavailability of all studied compounds is confirmed by pharmacological investigations using Mol inspiration and absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity online servers.

RESULTS

The two derivatives, 2-(4- methoxy benzylidene)-N-(phenylsulfonyl) hydrazine-1-carbothioamide (4c) and 2-(4-dimethylamino) benzylidene)-N-(phenylsulfonyl) hydrazine-1-carbothioamide (4e) show the most potent anticancer effects against MCF-7 breast carcinoma cell lines. Meanwhile, these two derivatives show the lowest antioxidant activities.

CONCLUSION

The different spectral techniques were used to confirm the structure of the novel synthesized compounds. Further, 2-(4-(dimethyl amino) benzylidene)-N- (phenylsulfonyl)hydrazine-1-carbothioamide (4e) and 2-(4- methoxy benzylidene)-N-(phenylsulfonyl) hydrazine-1 carbothioamide (4c) were the most potent anticancer derivatives against MCF-7 breast carcinoma cell lines. Furthermore, they exhibited the most potent antioxidant activities. Meanwhile, the 2-benzylidene-N-(phenylsulfonyl) hydrazine-1-carbothioamide (4a) and 2-(4-chloro benzylidene)-N-(phenylsulfonyl) hydrazine-1-carbothioamide (4d) had the lowest antioxidant potentials. The estimated binding energies, inhibition constant, intermolecular energies, and reference RMSD produced from docking for all studied compounds were reported. These values showed that all studied compounds formed stable complexes with the receptor with high binding affinity. It was further noted from the ADMET analysis that compounds 4c, 4d, and 4e have good absorption, low toxicity in the human liver, and medium BBB penetration. Hence, these studied compounds (4c-4e) may be suggested as potential compounds against human breast cancer MCF-7 cells.

Metabolic Analysis of Various Date Palm Fruit (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Cultivars from Saudi Arabia to Assess Their Nutritional Quality

Date palm is an important crop, especially in the hot-arid regions of the world. Date palm fruits have high nutritional and therapeutic value and possess significant antibacterial and antifungal properties. In this study, we performed bioactivity analyses and metabolic profiling of date fruits of 12 cultivars from Saudi Arabia to assess their nutritional value. Our results showed that the date extracts from different cultivars have different free radical scavenging and anti-lipid peroxidation activities. Moreover, the cultivars showed significant differences in their chemical composition, e.g., the phenolic content (10.4–22.1 mg/100 g DW), amino acids (37–108 μmol·g⁻¹ FW) and minerals (237–969 mg/100 g DW). Principal component analysis (PCA) showed a clear separation of the cultivars into four different groups. The first group consisted of the Sokary, Nabtit Ali cultivars, the second group of Khlas Al Kharj, Khla Al Qassim, Mabroom, Khlas Al Ahsa, the third group of Khals Elshiokh, Nabot Saif, Khodry, and the fourth group consisted of Ajwa Al Madinah, Saffawy, Rashodia, cultivars. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) revealed clustering of date cultivars into two groups. The first cluster consisted of the Sokary, Rashodia and Nabtit Ali cultivars, and the second cluster contained all the other tested cultivars. These results indicate that date fruits have high nutritive value, and different cultivars have different chemical composition.

Intra-arterial methylene blue injection into ex vivo colorectal cancer specimens improves lymph node staging accuracy: a randomized controlled trial

AIM

A randomized controlled trial was carried out to study the effect of a recently proposed technique of ex vivo intra-arterial methylene blue injection of the surgical specimen removed for colorectal cancer on lymph node harvest and staging.

METHOD

Between May 2012 and February 2013, 100 consecutive colorectal cancer resection specimens in a single institution were randomly assigned to intervention (methylene blue injection) and control (standard manual palpation technique) groups before formalin fixation. The specimen was then examined by the histopathologist for lymph nodes.

RESULTS

Both groups were similar for age, sex, site of tumour, operation and tumour stage. In the intervention group, a higher number of nodes was found [median 23 (5-92) vs. 15 (5-37), P < 0.001], with only one specimen not achieving the recommended minimum standard of 12 nodes [1/50 (2%) vs. 8/50 (16%), P = 0.014]. However, there was no upstaging effect in the intervention group [23/50 (46.0%) vs. 20/50 (40.0%); P = 0.686]. With a significantly lower number of nodes harvested in rectal cancer, the positive effect of the intervention was particularly observed in the patients who underwent preoperative neoadjuvant radiotherapy [median 30 nodes (12-57) vs. 11 (7-15); P = 0.011; proportion of cases with < 12 nodes 0/5 vs. 5/8 (62.5%), P = 0.024].

CONCLUSION

Ex vivo intra-arterial methylene blue injection increases lymph node yield and can help to reduce the number of cases with a lower-than-recommended number of nodes, particularly in patients with rectal cancer having neoadjuvant treatment. The technique is easy to perform, cheap and saves time.

Specific anti-Toxoplasma antibodies in relation to infection and reinfection using different infective stages

The possibility of rat re-infection with different Toxoplasma gondii stages was studied in this work. Two groups of rats were infected with either intra-peritoneal injection of 1000 trophozoites of virulent Toxoplasma strain or 1000 oocysts through oral routes. IgA, IgM and IgG were detected 15, 30, 60 and 120 days post infections. IgA and IgM appeared as early as 15 days post infection but declined afterwards. IgA antibody response was more prominent with oocyst infection and IgM was more prominent with tachyzoite infection with insignificant statistical difference. On the other hand, IgG started to increase 60 days post infection, then increased gradually till the end of the experiment (120 days). The primary orally infected rats were either re-infected orally with oocysts or intra-peritoneal trophozoites and re-examined after 15 and 120 days for the same immunological parameters. Those rats which primary infected with intra-peritoneal trophozoites were re-examined after oral infection with oocysts or injection of trophozoites intra-peritoneal. The level of IgA and IgM in one rat of group A and 2 rats of group B were significantly increased and this occurred in presence of anti-Toxoplasma IgG from the primary infection. In this study, the rats were lab-bred so, the factors affect the immune system could be under control, also strain variability was excluded as the infection was only by one strain, and as the IgG level was high, these rats were presumed to be immune from the primary infection. So, the rats which became positive after challenge most probably re-infected.

Transmission of circulating schistosomal antigens from infected mothers to their newborns

Two previous reports have appeared in the literature regarding tansplacental transfer of Schistosoma mansoni antigens which raised the question of its reality. In a previous study the senior author, and others (1992 & 1997) detected circulating antigens of S. mansoni and S. haematobium in infected patients, using monoclonal antibodies 128C3, with a very high sensitivity using ELISA. This work tried to answer the question of antigen transfer possibility using a high sensitive assay in 50 mothers and their newborns at birth and 1, 3, and 6 months after delivery. The assay used in the present work could detect circulating S. mansoni antigens in 45 infected mothers (90%) with active S. mansoni infection. A significant direct increase in mean antigen levels was found with the intensity of infection evaluated by egg counting (p < 0.01). The clinical stage of the diseased mothers was apparently unrelated to the ELISA test values as no significant relations were observed. Positive antigen levels were detected in 33 newborns (66%) of the 45 positive antigen mothers, then the percentage positivity was directly decreased with the advancement of age as only 5 infants (10%) had positive antigen levels compared to 0% at 6 months of age. A positive correlation between newborn serum antigen concentration and concentration of antigen in sera of their mothers was obtained. This work answers some of the questions concerning the ability of the used monoclonal to detect antigens in newborns and the possibility of antigen transfer through the placenta alone or incorporated in immune complexes forms. This work clarifies the time of antigen disappearance from the circulation.

Effect of Copper T intrauterine device on cervico-vaginal flora

The effect of the Copper T intrauterine device (IUD) insertion on vaginal and cervical flora was studied in thirty cases. The vaginal and cervical cultures showed a significant increase (P less than 0.01) in some of the anaerobic bacteria. Some of the aerobic organisms showed a statistically significant increase in the cervical cultures (P less than 0.01). Strict asepsis during insertion of the device is recommended.

Contraception during lactation

Seven hundred and seventy-two lactating mothers were studied from delivery for 1 year to select the best contraceptive method (oral drug, injected drug, or IUD) which did not affect lactation. Ten groups of mothers were studied, including 234 control subjects. The injectable progestational contraceptives caused an improvement in the amount of milk and its protein concentration, whereas the IUCDs did not influence the lactation pattern. Sulpiride was an ineffective contraceptive but a potent lactation stimulant. The side effects of each method (effects on milk yield, protein content and prolactin concentrations) were also noted; it was concluded that IUCDs are the ideal contraceptive method during lactation, with the use of a lactation stimulant when indicated.