Tinospora sinensis (Lour.) Merr alkaloid rich extract induces colon cancer cell death via ROS mediated, mTOR dependent apoptosis pathway: "an in-vitro study"

BACKGROUND

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most mortality rate causing disease after lung cancer. Though there is a significant improvement in the treatment schedule offered to CRC. However, there is no notable decrease in terms of cases as well as death rate. Hence, there is an urgent need to discover novel cancer therapeutics to treat CRC. Since ancient times, the use of phytochemicals has drawn huge attention as chemo-preventive and chemotherapeutic agents. Earlier studies on Tinospora sinensis (TS) revealed the cytotoxic effect on human colorectal carcinoma (HCT-116) cells, yet the mechanism is to be uncovered. Therefore, the present study was designed to study the cell death mechanism of TS in HCT-116 cells.

METHOD

Different extracts such as n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and ethanol extracts from the root part of TS were prepared using a cold maceration process. The extracts were screened against cancer cell lines by methyl thiazoldiphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. From the result, the most active extract was subjected to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and Fourier-Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses to identify the major constituents. Finally, the mechanism of cytotoxicity to cancer cells for the most active extract was evaluated using various experiments such as cell cycle analysis, Annexin-V assay, and Western blot.

RESULTS

The results from the MTT assay indicated that the n-hexane extract of TS inhibits the growth of HCT-116 cells more effectively than other cancer cells like Henrietta Lacks cervical cancer cells (Hela), and Michigan cancer foundation-breast cancer (MCF-7). The GC-MS and FT-IR analyses revealed the presence of alkaloids in the n-hexane extract and were responsible for the apoptosis activity in HCT-cells via reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/ protein Kinase B (Akt)/ mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) down-regulation.

CONCLUSION

This study concludes that this finding is unique of its kind, and for the first time. The anticancer effect of TS root is specific to colon cancer cells (HCT-116). This distinctive finding helps the researchers to investigate further, and to identify a novel source for anti-colon cancer drug candidates in near future.

The Common Occurrence of Theileria ovis in Tibetan Sheep and the First Report of Theileria sinensis in Yaks from Southern Qinghai, China

PURPOSE

The tick-borne protozoa piroplasms, including Theileria and Babesia, are the cause of substantial economic losses to the livestock industry. However, in southern Qinghai province, China, there are limited information on the molecular characteristics of piroplasms. This study therefore aimed at determining the prevalence and genetic diversity of piroplasms.

METHODS

In order to detect piroplasms, we examined 330 yaks and 236 Tibetan sheep blood samples by nested PCR. The differences in piroplasms prevalence in relation to different risk factors was analyzed using SPSS 26. Phylogenetic analysis based on 18S rRNA sequences was inferred using MEGA 7.

RESULTS

During this study, Theileria spp. were detected in 33.6% (111/330) of yaks and 94.1% (222/236) of Tibetan sheep, but no Babesia was identified. Importantly, a comparison study revealed that T. ovis infection was highly prevalent in sheep (94.1%) but infrequent in yaks (6.1%), while T. sinensis was host-specific to yaks with an infection rate of 27.6%. In addition, male animals were more likely to be infected by T. sinensis and female animals were more likely to be infected by T. ovis. And animals below 4000 m areas reported a higher infection rate with T. sinensis (26.1% vs. 2.9%, p < 0.001). Alongside these differences in prevalence, we found a significantly higher T. sinensis infection rate in separated-grazing livestock (22.2% vs. 3.7%, p < 0.001), while mixed-grazing ruminants had a higher T. ovis infection rate (50.0% vs. 39.0%, p = 0.014). Furthermore, sequence analysis revealed that the 18S rRNA sequences obtained in this study shared 86.9-100.0% identities with each other and they were clustered into T. sinensis or T. ovis.

CONCLUSION

To our knowledge, this is the first report of T. sinensis in Qinghai region. In addition, high prevalence of the generally sub-clinical T. ovis in sheep indicates extensive exposure to ticks and transmission of tick-borne pathogens with a significant economic impact. This study provides insights into the distribution and genetic diversity of Theileria in China.

Key Odor-Active Compounds in Raw Green and Red Toona sinensis (A. Juss.) Roem. and Their Changes during Blanching

Application of aroma extract dilution analysis and headspace aroma dilution analysis revealed 51 odorants in raw green Toona sinensis and 54 odorants in raw red T. sinensis in the flavor dilution factor range of 8-4096. (E,E)-2,4-Decadienal, nonanal, 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, (E,Z)- and (Z,Z)-di-1-propenyl trisulfide, 2-methoxyphenol, and 4-ethylphenol were first identified as key odorants of T. sinensis. Clear differences between green and red T. sinensis in aroma profiles, flavor dilution factors, quantitative data, and odor activity values verified that (E,E)-, (E,Z)-, and (Z,Z)-di-1-propenyl disulfide, (E,E)-, (E,Z)- and (Z,Z)-di-1-propenyl trisulfide, cis- and trans-2-mercapto-3,4-dimethyl-2,3-dihydrothiophene, and dimethyl sulfide caused the distinct sulfury odor note of each variety. Further, hexanal, (E)-2-hexenal, (E)-2-hexen-1-ol, and (E,Z)-2,6-nonadienal led to the green odor note in green T. sinensis, while 2-methoxyphenol and 4-ethylphenol contributed to the intense phenolic aroma note in red T. sinensis. Quantitation experiments and triangle tests in blanched T. sinensis verified that the quick loss of the abovementioned sulfur-containing compounds, aldehydes, the alcohol (E)-2-hexen-1-ol, and phenols was responsible for the changes in the overall aroma profile during blanching.

Development of a chemical fingerprint as a tool to distinguish closely related Tinospora species and quantitation of marker compounds

Tinospora species are morphologically similar. Several cases of human toxicity have been reported in association with T. crispa. A chemical fingerprint was developed to differentiate T. crispa from its closely related species and to quantitate its major furanoditerpenes namely as borapetosides B, C and F. The rapid, sensitive and repeatable method was established using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array and single quadrupole electrospray mass spectrometry detectors using a flavonoid, two alkaloids, an amide and six diterpenoids. Qualitative and quantitative determination was performed by UHPLC-UV and confirmed by MS. The intra-day RSD for replicates was between 0.9 and 6.8% and inter-day RSD was between 1.2 and 9.1%. Recovery was 97-103 %. The method is useful to achieve decisiveness in not only identifying but also differentiating T. crispa from T. sinensis and other closely related Tinospora species. Seventeen Tinospora plant samples and seventeen dietary supplements claiming T. crispa, T. sinensis and T. cordifolia were analyzed. The newly developed and validated method successfully resulted in the conclusive identification of two dietary supplements to be mislabeled.