Improved efficacy of cisplatin in combination with a nano-formulation of pentacyclic triterpenediol.

Cisplatin is widely used for the treatment of various cancers including cervical, ovarian, lung and head and neck, however, its clinical success is limited owing to the dose-dependent adverse effects, mainly nephrotoxicity and neurotoxicity. In order to address this limitation, the present study was undertaken to investigate growth inhibitory effect of cisplatin in combination with a triterpenediol (3a, 24-dihydroxyurs-12-ene and 3a, 24-dihydroxyolean-12-ene, TPD) on human ovarian cancer cell line. Poly(dl-lactic-co-glycolic) acid nanoparticles loaded with TPD (TPD-PLGA-NPs) were successfully developed by emulsion solvent evaporation method. The TPD-PLGA-NPs were characterized for size distribution and zeta potential which was in order of 152.56±3.01nm and -17.36±0.37mV respectively. The morphological evaluation was carried out by transmission electron microscopy and the formulation was also characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The drug loading of the optimized formulation was 51.03±1.52µg/mg and the formulation exhibited sustained drug release profile. The in vitro cellular uptake study of coumarin-6 loaded PLGA nanoparticles in OVCAR-5 cells demonstrated a time dependent increase in uptake efficiency. Further, growth inhibitory effect of cisplatin was investigated in combination with TPD-PLGA-NPs. The combination index (CI) was <1, indicating a synergistic interaction. Further, at 75% of cell growth inhibition (ED75) the dose of cisplatin was reduced to 3.8 folds using this combination. The results indicated the potential of cisplatin and TPD-PLGA-NPs combination in order to reduce to dose limiting toxicities of the former.

Quantification of sesquiterpene lactones in Parthenium hyterophorous by normal-phase HPLC.

This paper describes the development of a normal-phase liquid chromatography ultraviolet-diode array detection method for the simultaneous quantification of parthenin and coronopilin in the leaves and flowers of Parthenium hysterophorous. The compounds were analyzed on a Merck Si60 silica column (5 µm, 250 × 4 mm) using an isocratic 15:85 mixture of isopropyl alcohol and hexane. The calibration curves resulting from the reference compounds in the concentration range of 200-2,000 ng exhibited acceptable linearity (r > 0.999). The method was developed to study the levels of parthenin and coronopilin in the leaves and flowers of P. hysterophorous collected during different seasons, and the method was validated by analyzing the spiked samples.

Saponins as novel TNF-alpha inhibitors: isolation of saponins and a nor-pseudoguaianolide from Parthenium hysterophorus.

Two novel saponins and a 13-nor-pseudoguaianolide designated as hysterolactone were isolated from Parthenium hysterophorus. The two saponins were found to be potent inhibitors of TNF-alpha. Their mode of inhibition was studied through molecular modeling. The wet lab results were in concordance with the data obtained from docking experiments.

Structure-activity relationship (SAR) of parthenin analogues with pro-apoptotic activity: Development of novel anti-cancer leads.

Analogues of parthenin were synthesized by substitutions at different reaction centres to establish a structure-activity relationship (SAR). Some of the molecules have displayed significant cytotoxicity in human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) and human myeloid leukemia (HL-60) cells. A few of the compounds also induced apoptosis in HL-60 cells measured in terms of sub-Go/G1 DNA fraction. Also one of the lead molecules has been shown to be the inhibitor of both telomerase and topoisomerase-II.

A triterpenediol from Boswellia serrata induces apoptosis through both the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways in human leukemia HL-60 cells.

A triterpenediol (TPD) comprising of isomeric mixture of 3alpha, 24-dihydroxyurs-12-ene and 3alpha, 24-dihydroxyolean-12-ene from Boswellia serrata induces apoptosis in cancer cells. An attempt was made in this study to investigate the mechanism of cell death by TPD in human leukemia HL-60 cells. It inhibited cell proliferation with IC50 approximately 12 microg/ml and produced apoptosis as measured by various biological end points e.g. increased sub-G0 DNA fraction, DNA ladder formation, enhanced AnnexinV-FITC binding of the cells. Further, initial events involved massive reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) formation, which were significantly inhibited by their respective inhibitors. Persistent high levels of NO and ROS caused Bcl-2 cleavage and translocation of Bax to mitochondria, which lead to loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (Deltapsim) and release of cytochrome c, AIF, Smac/DIABLO to the cytosol. These events were associated with decreased expression of survivin and ICAD with attendant activation of caspases leading to PARP cleavage. Furthermore, TPD up regulated the expression of cell death receptors DR4 and TNF-R1 level, leading to caspase-8 activation. These studies thus demonstrate that TPD produces oxidative stress in cancer cells that triggers self-demise by ROS and NO regulated activation of both the intrinsic and extrinsic signaling cascades.