A review on ethno-medicinal plants used in traditional medicine in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The traditional medicine based on medicinal plants in the Kingdom of Arabia Saudia presents a strong relationship belonging to natural remedies, health, diet, and folk healing practice recognized by a specific culture. The aim of the current study is to carry out an ethnobotanical review on medicinal plants used in traditional medicine in the Kingdom of Arabia Saudia including information on plant species, used parts, preparation method as well as medical uses. Earlier published data in journals, textbooks, periodicals, websites, and databases written in pharmacological evidence of Suadi medicinal plants were based on gathering information. The present review work reported that 96 species belonging to 47 families have been used in Saudi Pharmacopeia. Amaranthaceae has the highest number of plant species (7) Followed by Asteraceae, Apocynaceae, and Fabaceae with 5 plant species in each. The inventoried plant species in the current work are frequently used for the treatment of various illnesses and to ensure the medication safety of Saudi people. The biological analysis of plant form used in Saudi natural remedies showed the dominance of herb and subshrub form with a percentage of 43% and 30% respectively. The most used preparation method of plant drugs, which used in Saudi Alternative medicine was decoction and infusion. The whole plant, leaves, seeds, and aerial parts were the most useful plant parts in natural preparation in Saudi traditional medicine with a percentage of 29%, 28%, 7%, and 5% respectively as reported in the present review work. The present review work gives big data about medicinal plants used in traditional medicine in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia including data about plant species, used parts, preparation method as well as medical uses.     

Improvement of Intracellular Traffic System by Overexpression of KDEL Receptor 1 in Antibody‐Producing CHO Cells

The localization of soluble endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperones in the cell organelle is mediated by the C‐terminal KDEL (lysine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid and leucine) motif. This motif is recognized by the KDEL receptor, a seven‐transmembrane protein that cycles between the ER and cis‐Golgi to capture missorted KDEL chaperones from post‐ER compartments in a pH‐dependent manner. The KDEL receptor's target chaperones have a substantial role in protein folding and assembly. In this study, the gene expression level of KDEL receptor 1 shows a moderate upregulation during either ER stress or growth of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells in batch culture, while the ER chaperones show higher upregulation. This might indicate the possibility of saturation of the ER retention machinery or at least hindered retention during late stage batch culture in recombinant CHO cells. KDELR1 is overexpressed in a monoclonal antibody‐producing CHO cell line to improve the intracellular chaperone retention rate in the ER. An increase in the specific productivity of IgG1 by 13.2% during the exponential phase, and 23.8% in the deceleration phase of batch culture is observed. This is the first study to focus on the ER retention system as a cell engineering target for enhancing recombinant protein production.     

The role of extracellular matrix in biomechanics and its impact on bioengineering of cells and 3D tissues

The cells and tissues of the human body are constantly exposed to exogenous and endogenous forces that are referred to as biomechanical cues. They guide and impact cellular processes and cell fate decisions on the nano-, micro- and macro-scale, and are therefore critical for normal tissue development and maintaining tissue homeostasis. Alterations in the extracellular matrix composition of a tissue combined with abnormal mechanosensing and mechanotransduction can aberrantly activate signaling pathways that promote disease development. Such processes are therefore highly relevant for disease modelling or when aiming for the development of novel therapies.In this mini review, we describe the main biomechanical cues that impact cellular fates. We highlight their role during development, homeostasis and in disease. We also discuss current techniques and tools that allow us to study the impact of biomechanical cues on cell and tissue development under physiological conditions, and we point out directions, in which in vitro biomechanics can be of use in the future.     

Aidi injection,a traditional Chinese biomedical preparation for gynecologic tumors: a systematic review and PRISMA-compliant meta-analysis

Aidi injection (ADI), a traditional Chinese biomedical preparation, is a promising adjuvant therapy for gynecologic tumors (GTs), including cervical cancer (CC), endometrial cancer (EC), and ovarian cancer (OC). Although studies have reported positively on ADI therapy, its exact effects and safety in GT patients remain controversial. Therefore, a wide-ranging systematic search of electronic databases was performed for this meta-analysis. Data from 38 trials including 3309 GT patients were analyzed. The results indicated that the combination of conventional treatment and ADI markedly improved the patients’ overall response rate (P<0.00001), disease control rate (P<0.00001), and quality of life (P<0.05) compared with conventional treatment alone. Furthermore, patient immunity was enhanced with combined treatment, as indicated by significantly increased percentages of CD3⁺ (P=0.005) and CD4⁺ (P<0.00001) and increased CD4⁺/CD8⁺ ratio (P=0.001). Most of the adverse events caused by radiochemotherapy such as gastrointestinal issues, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, and hepatotoxicity, (P<0.05 for all) were significantly alleviated when ADI was used in the GT patients. However, other adverse events such as nephrotoxicity, diarrhea, alopecia, and neurotoxicity did not significantly differ between the two groups. Overall, these results suggest that the combination of conventional and ADI treatment is more effective than conventional treatment alone.     

Focus: Preventive Medicine: Leveraging Organizational Health Literacy to Enhance Health Promotion and Risk Prevention: A Narrative and Interpretive Literature Review

Organizational health literacy involves the health care organizations’ ability to establish an empowering and co-creating relationship with patients, engaging them in the design and delivery of health services in collaboration with health professionals. Although scholars agree that organizational health literacy contributes to health promotion and risk prevention via patient empowerment, literature is not consistent in depicting the interplay between organizational health literacy and preventive medicine. The article intends to shed light into this issue, summarizing current knowledge about this topic and advancing avenues for further development. A narrative literature review was performed through a systematic search on PubMed^®, Scopus^®, and Web of Science^™. The review focused on 50 relevant contributions. Organizational health literacy triggers the transition towards a patient-centered approach to care. It complements individual health literacy, enabling patients to actively participate in health promotion and risk prevention as co-producers of health services and co-creators of value. However, many obstacles – including lack of time and limited resources available – prevent the transition towards health literate health care organizations. Two initiatives are required to overcome extant barriers. On the one hand, a health literate workforce should be prepared to increase the institutional ability of health care organizations to empower and engage patients in health co-creation. On the other hand, increased efforts should be made to assess organizational health literacy and to make its contribution to preventive medicine explicit.     

Large-scale pharmacogenomic studies and drug response prediction for personalized cancer medicine

The response rate of most anti-cancer drugs is limited because of the high heterogeneity of cancer and the complex mechanism of drug action. Personalized treatment that stratifies patients into subgroups using molecular biomarkers is promising to improve clinical benefit. With the accumulation of preclinical models and advances in computational approaches of drug response prediction, pharmacogenomics has made great success over the last 20 years and is increasingly used in the clinical practice of personalized cancer medicine. In this article, we first summarize FDA-approved pharmacogenomic biomarkers and large-scale pharmacogenomic studies of preclinical cancer models such as patient-derived cell lines, organoids, and xenografts. Furthermore, we comprehensively review the recent developments of computational methods in drug response prediction, covering network, machine learning, and deep learning technologies and strategies to evaluate immunotherapy response. In the end, we discuss challenges and propose possible solutions for further improvement.     

Targeting P2 receptors in purinergic signaling: a new strategy of active ingredients in traditional Chinese herbals for diseases treatment

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and its metabolites adenosine diphosphate, adenosine monophosphate, and adenosine in purinergic signaling pathway play important roles in many diseases. Activation of P2 receptors (P2R) channels and subsequent membrane depolarization can induce accumulation of extracellular ATP, and furtherly cause kinds of diseases, such as pain- and immune-related diseases, cardiac dysfunction, and tumorigenesis. Active ingredients of traditional Chinese herbals which exhibit superior pharmacological activities on diversified P2R channels have been considered as an alternative strategy of disease treatment. Experimental evidence of potential ingredients in Chinese herbs targeting P2R and their pharmacological activities were outlined in the study.