RESUMEN
Objective: To assess the anticancer activity of eight cyanobacterial hydrophilic extracts on Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cell line. Methods: The cyanobacterial strains used in the investigation were collected from diverse habitats in Egypt. The initial cytotoxicity test of cyanobacterial hydrophilic extracts was carried out by MTT assay. The in vitro anticancer activity of the four most active extracts was performed on MCF-7 cells using sulforhodamine B assay. Morphological and molecular techniques were used to characterise identity of the isolate from which the most potent cytotoxic extract was obtained. Results: Extracts from four cyanobacterial strains had higher cytotoxic activities scoring 76.68%, 77.70%, 76.70% and 74.45%, respectively. A considerable anticancer effect was only detected when the concentrated extracts were used. One cyanobacterial extract gave the highest anticancer activity on human breast adenocarcinoma cell line (57.6% of inhibition) as compared to control. The isolate was best-matched to Cyanothece sp. with sequence resemblance 98% to Cyanothece sp. strain PCC7564 and the phylogenetic analysis confirmed its close identity to the Cyanothece genus. Conclusions: This is the first study to report the anticancer effect of aqueous extracts derived from the unicellular Cyanothece sp. from Egypt and its potential as a plausible candidate for future mass biotechnological applications.
RESUMEN
Several clinical trials suggest that botulinum toxin type-A [BTX-A] may be an effective treatment options for patients with chronic tension-type headache; however, controversy remains as how botulinum toxin optimally should be used for treating headache and which patients profile that fit for this treatment. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of BTX-A for the prophylactic treatment of chronic tension-type headache in Egyptian patients. This was a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled study of botulinum toxin type-A for the treatment of patients aged 25 to 50 years old with chronic tension-type headache. Following a 30-day screening; headache parameters and severity assessed by the standard visual analogue scale [VAS] and the 25-item Henry Ford Hospital Headache Disability Inventory [HDI] were recorded as a baseline. Then, injection was done with either BTX-A or with saline by a combination of two methods for detecting injection sites [the fixed-site approach and follow-the-pain approach]. Our study showed significant improvement after one month of BTX-A injection regarding headache days/month, severity measured by VAS and HDI in headache severity. There was significant reduction of prophylactic medications, and there were minor complications but these reversed spontaneously without further treatment. BTX-A was an effective and well-tolerated prophylactic treatment in Egyptian patients with chronic tension-type headache