Anticancer potential of Ferula assa-foetida and its constituents,a powerful plant for cancer therapy

Cancer is one of the main challenges of the health system around the world. This disease is increasing in developing countries and imposes heavy costs on patients and governments. On the other hand, despite various drugs, the death rate among cancer patients is still high and the current treatments have many harmful effects. In the traditional medicine of different countries, there are many medicinal plants that can be effective in the treatment of cancer. Ferula plants are traditionally used as spices and food or for medicinal purposes. Ferula assa-foetida is one of the famous plants of this genus, which has been used for the treatment of various diseases since ancient times. Among the main compounds of this plant, we can mention monoterpenes, sulfide compounds and polyphenols, which can show different therapeutic effects. This article has been compiled with the aim of collecting evidence and articles related to the anti-cancer effects of extracts, derived compounds, essential oils and nanoparticles containing Ferula assa-foetida. This review article was prepared by searching the terms Ferula assa-foetida and cancer, and relevant information was collected through searching electronic databases such as ISI Web of Knowledge, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Fortunately, the results of this review showed that relatively comprehensive studies have been conducted in this field and shown that Ferula assa-foetida can be very promising in the treatment of cancer.     

Evaluation of production of some antifungal metabolites by fluorescent pseudomonads in vitro and their inhibitory effect on Penicillium digitatum in semi-commercial condition

Epiphytic fluorescent Pseudomonads isolated from the surfaces of citrus leaves and fruits collected from the citrus orchards located in the north of Iran were screened for antagonistic activity against Penicillium digitatum caused agent of green mold of citrus fruit. 9 isolates revealed antagonistic effect in dual culture and then evaluated for production of antimicrobial metabolites such as production hydrogen cyanide on King's B medium containing glycine, production of siderophore on blue CAS-agar medium and production protease enzyme on Skim Milk Agar (SMA) medium. About 28% strains produced hydrogen cyanide, 83% strains produced siderophore and 70% of them produced protease. Antagonistic effects of the screened 9 isolates were studied by inoculating of the infected orange fruits with the bacterium at the concentration of 10(8) cells/ml under sterilized condition at 20 degrees C. The three final screened antagonist isolates were more studied in semi commercial trails in cold storage with dipping of the orange fruits in the bacterial suspension at the concentration of 10(8) cells/ml and then 5 weeks storage at 4 degrees C. The isolate P39 showed to be the most effective for controlling of this disease and decreased the damage by 77.28% respectively.     

Molecular Expression of Some Oncogenes and Predisposing Behaviors Contributing to the Aggressiveness of Prostate Cancer

Background:Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men in Iran. It can be treated in the early stages of the disease; therefore, early diagnosis can be lifesaving. The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular expression of some oncogenes and predisposing behaviors contributing to the aggressiveness of prostate cancer.Methods:In this case-control study, prostate cancer specimens were collected from both patients and healthy volunteers. Several factors such as age, family history, smoking, and stage of the disease, were investigated based on the criteria of this study. Real-time PCR was used to measure the expression of four oncogenes. Statistical analysis of our data was carried out using SPSS software version 22.Results:The X² test showed that there was a difference in the incidence of prostate cancer in different age groups (X²= 9.30; p= 0.026). Although data analysis by the X² test showed that family history had a significant effect on prostate cancer (X²= 14.43; p= 0.001), smoking did not show a significant effect on the incidence of this disorder (X²= 4.67; p= 0.097). The T2N1M0 stage is the most common form of prostate cancer in patients with family history of prostate cancer and the habit of smoking. Also, the expression of KRAS1P, GLB1L2, SChLAP1 and PACSIN3 oncogenes reduced in prostate cancer samples compared to the control group.Conclusion:Overall, functional interpretation of gene expression in the prostate tissue can affect tumor progression. Yet, further practical studies are required to reveal the accurate underlying mechanisms.Key Words: Age, Family History, Oncogenes, Prostate Cancer, Smoking     

On the elastic properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes/poly(ethylene oxide) nanocomposites using molecular dynamics simulations

Molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the physical and mechanical properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes/poly(ethylene oxide) nanocomposites. The effects of nanotube atomic structure, diameter, and volume fraction on the polymer density distribution, polymer atom distribution, stress–strain curves of nanocomposites and Young’s, and shear moduli of single-walled carbon nanotubes/poly(ethylene oxide) nanocomposites are explored. It is shown that the density of polymer, surrounding the nanotube surface, has a peak near the nanotube surface. However, increasing distance leads to dropping it to the value near the density of pure polymer. It is seen that for armchair nanotubes, the average polymer atoms distances from the single-walled carbon nanotubes are larger than the polymer atom distance from zigzag nanotubes. It further is shown that zigzag nanotubes are better candidates to reinforce poly (ethylene oxide) than their armchair counterparts.     

Large-scale purification of recombinant hepatitis B surface antigen from Pichia pastoris with non-affinity chromatographic methods as a substitute to immunoaffinity chromatography

Abstract

The costly media, inconsistent ligand density, ligand leakage, and possible destabilization of recombinant hepatitis B surface antigen (rHBsAg) particles are main drawbacks of using immunoaffinity chromatography (IAF) in the large-scale downstream processing. In this study, we aimed to use an efficient large-scale purification system as an alternative purification method for immunoaffinity chromatography. For this purpose, we suggested integrating non-affinity chromatographic methods of hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) and size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) for cost-effective purification of rHBsAg expressed in P. pastoris. The optimization of such process is not trivial and straightforward since diverse molecular characteristics of expressed rHBsAg in each type of host cell cause different interactions in non-affinity chromatography processes. The working buffer composition and chromatography parameters are the most influential factors in hydrophobic interaction chromatography. The best result for lab-scale HIC was achieved by using ammonium sulfate buffer in 10% of saturation concentration in pH 7.0 with Butyl-S Sepharose 6 Fast Flow medium and with subsequent Tween-100 and urea elution. In this process, the recovery, purity, and total yield were about 84%, 82%, and 69%, respectively. By scaling-up the HIC and integrating it with Sephacryl S-400?SEC, we obtained highly pure, i.e.,?>?90%, rHBsAg virus-like particles (VLP).