Novel resources of Taxol from endophytic and entomopathogenic fungi: Isolation, characterization and LC-Triple mass spectrometric quantification.

This work presents a second-to-none method for Taxol isolation from the Endophytic fungus Cladosporium sphaerospermum (AUMC 6896) and the Entomopathogenic fungus Metarizium anisopliae (AUMC 5130). The extracts were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and Liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) using positive electrospray ionization (ESI) in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. This is rapid, consistent, reproducible, accurate, and sensitive for quantifying Taxol across multiple samples. The yield of crude Taxol product obtained from Potato Dextrose broth (PDB) medium inoculated with Cladosporium sphaerospermu and Metarizium anisopliae was found to be 3.732, and 0.0023 µg L-1 respectively. The yield can be improved by adding ammonium acetate or salicylic acid to the culture broth. Addition of ammonium acetate (AA) (20 mg L-1) to culture media resulted in an increase of Taxol yield to 30.365 and 27.289 µg L-1 respectively. Production of Taxol was 29.844 and 67.254 µg L-1 for the two fungus species when ammonium acetate was substituted by 90 mg L-1 salicylic acid (SA). Adding both AA (20 mg L-1) and SA (90 mg L-1) to the culture media resulted in an increase of the Taxol yield to 4.054 and 116.373 µg L-1 respectively. Our proposed analytical method offers very fast (3 min) quantitation of Taxol in comparison with other published methods. These findings represent a new bioprospecting of the endophytic fungi that may serve as a potential material for the production of Taxol for anticancer treatment.

Efficacy and safety of tamsulosin oral-controlled absorption system, solifenacin, and combined therapy for the management of ureteric stent-related symptoms.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of solifenacin, tamsulosin oral-controlled absorption system (OCAS), and the combination of both drugs on JJ stent-related symptoms using the validated Arabic version of the ureteric stent symptom questionnaire (USSQ). PATIENTS AND METHODS: In all, 260 patients who had undergone JJ stenting of the ureter for different endoscopic urological procedures were postoperatively randomly assigned into four equal groups. Patients in Group I received no treatment and served as the control group, Group II patients received tamsulosin OCAS 0.4 mg daily, Group III patients received solifenacin 5 mg daily, and Group IV patients received a combination of both drugs. Before stent removal, all patients completed the Arabic version of the USSQ. RESULTS: In all, 234 patients completed the study, comprised of 56 in Group I, 59 in Group II, 58 in Group III, and 61 in Group IV. Baseline characteristics and indications for JJ stenting were comparable in the four groups. There were highly significant differences in all items of the USSQ between the treatment groups and the controls, while Group II and III were comparable. The USSQ score was significantly lower in Group IV vs Groups II and III. Crossing of the distal curl of the stent to the midline had a significant positive correlation with the severity of the urinary symptoms, body pain, general health, and work performance in the medicated groups. CONCLUSIONS: Combined therapy with tamsulosin OCAS 0.4 mg daily and solifenacin 5 mg daily is a safe and well-tolerated management for stent-related symptoms. However, stent position remains a significant factor affecting response to medical therapy and patients' health-related quality of life.