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Background: In the present study we investigated the combination effects of anthracycline antibiotic, doxorubicin, with methylxanthine fractions isolated from Bancha and Pu-erh tea leaves, against MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines.Methods: Neutral red uptake assay was used for assessment of cytotoxicity effects and fractional effect analysis and combination index for evaluation of the combination effects.Results: Doxorubicin was used in varying concentrations by a double dilution method, whereas the methylxanthine fractions were in fixed concentrations – 100, 200, 400 or 600 ?g/ml. Results have shown that methylxanthine fraction isolated from Bancha has synergic effects with doxorubicin, while methylxanthines from Pu-erh displayed antagonistic effects.Conclusions: ?he obtained results lead us to suspect, that even minor differences in the composition of natural products can lead to significant differences in the biological activity of the product.
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Objectives: To analyze the effect of human placental extracts (HPEx) on hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro. Methods: The hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines, namely, HLE and Huh-7, were used. The cells were subjected to a growth assay using the formazan dye method; the effect of combination treatment with sorafenib and HPEx was also assessed. The preventing normal cell damage effect of HPEx was analyzed by virtual therapy where possible; the experimental protocol was constructed on the basis of pre- and post-sorafenib treatment data. Cytotoxicity was measured by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay. Results: HPEx caused significant dose-dependent suppression in the growth of HLE and Huh-7 cells. These tumor cells were significantly suppressed by combination treatment with HPEx and sorafenib. In addition, HPEx potentiated sorafenib sensitivity against tumor cells, and significantly prevented sorafenib-induced cytotoxicity in primary cultured rat hepatocytes under all designed experimental conditions. Specifically, pre-treatment with HPEx had a greater effect than post-treatment with HPEx. Conclusion: HPEx suppresses tumor cell growth, potentiates sorafenib efficacy, and has a preventing normal cell damage effect; this triple functionality of HPEx makes it a useful agent for liver cancer therapy.
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Essential hypertension (EH), a complex polygenic disease, is considered to the result of the genetic interaction of multiple gene alterations in concert with environmental factors. Evidences showed that angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene and G protein beta3 subunit (GNB3) gene are both important susceptibility genes for EH, and that there exists putative biological connection between the two genes in developing hypertension. To investigate whether hypertension was affected by gene-gene interaction between the two genes in the northern Chinese Han population, a case-control association study including 502 hypertensive cases and 490healthy controls was conducted, selecting the ACE gene I/D polymorpinsm and the GNB3 gene C825T polymorphism. Linkage disequilibrium analysis revealed a significant nonrandom distribution only in male hypertensives, indicating that interaction between ACE gene and GNB3 gene may predispose males to the occurrence of hypertension. Multivariate stepwise logistic regression in single locus analysis, with adjustment for common risk factors for hypertension, demonstrated that the OR for DD/ID versus Ⅱ for hypertension among men was significant (OR 1.57; 95% CI, 1.09 ～2.27; P = 0.016) in dominant genetic model. In combination analysis stratified with respect to gender, slightly significant ORs were found after adjustment in males: OR for TT vs CC, 0.11; 95%CI, 0.01 ～0.99; P = 0.049 within ACE DD genotype; OR for DD/ID vs Ⅱ, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.01 ～2.29; P = 0.047 within GNB3 CC+CT genotype. The results suggest that ACE, or a nearby gene, is a male-specific susceptible gene for hypertension, and that there may exist epistatic gene-gene interaction between ACE D allele and GNB3 825C allele.
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PURPOSE: Premature ejaculation is the most common problem in patients with ejaculatory dysfunction and frequently occurs with erectile dysfunction. Although sildenafil (Viagra(R)) has dramatically improved the treatment of patients with erectile dysfunction, many still complain of premature ejaculation. We investigated the combined clinical efficacy of sildenafil and SS-cream in patients with erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Of men aged over 20 years who visited our Andrology clinic with erectile dysfunction, a total of 52 patients with concomitant premature ejaculation were enrolled. Each patient was administered with sildenafil for 4 weeks and then sildenafil plus SS-cream for 4 weeks. Sexual function was measured before and after therapy using an abbreviated version of the International Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5), which includes 5 categories regarding sexual function. RESULTS: Mean score of IIEF-5 was 10.2+/-4.1 at baseline, 18.8+/-5.2 after treatment with sildenafil and 22.2+/-4.2 after treatment with sildenafil and SS-cream, respectively. Mean score of four domains of sexual function, that is, overall satisfaction, orgasmic function, erectile function, intercourse satisfaction was 1.8+/-0.4, 2.1+/-0.5, 3.8+/-0.9, 1.8+/-0.4 at baseline, 4.0+/-0.6, 3.6+/-0.6, 8.0+/-1.2, 3.4+/-0.6 after treatment with sildenafil, and 4.4+/-0.8, 4.2+/-0.6, 9.2+/-1.4, 4.4+/-0.8 after treatment with sildenafil and SS-cream, respectively. Patient satisfaction was significantly higher after sildenafil and SS-cream administration (90.4%) compared to sildenafil alone 80.8%. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of sildenafil and SS-cream is more effective in patients with erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation compared to sildenafil alone.