The Growth Inhibitory Potential and Antimetastatic Effect of Camel Urine on Breast Cancer Cells In Vitro and In Vivo.

Although it may sound unpleasant, camel urine has been consumed extensively for years in the Middle East as it is believed to be able to treat a wide range of diseases such as fever, cold, or even cancer. People usually take it by mixing small drops with camel milk or take it directly. The project aims to study the effects of camel urine in inhibiting the growth potential and metastatic ability of 4T1 cancer cell line in vitro and in vivo. Based on the MTT result, the cytotoxicity of camel urine against 4T1 cell was established, and it was dose-dependent. Additionally, the antimetastatic potential of camel urine was tested by running several assays such as scratch assay, migration and invasion assay, and mouse aortic ring assay with promising results in the ability of camel urine to inhibit metastatic process of the 4T1 cells. In order to fully establish camel urine's potential, an in vivo study was carried out by treating mice inoculated with 4T1 cells with 2 different doses of camel urine. By the end of the treatment period, the tumor in both treated groups had reduced in size as compared to the control group. Additional assays such as the TUNEL assay, immunophenotyping, cytokine level detection assay, clonogenic assay, and proteome profiler demonstrated the capability of camel urine to reduce and inhibit the metastatic potential of 4T1 cells in vivo. To sum up, further study of anticancer properties of camel urine is justified, as evidenced through the in vitro and in vivo studies carried out. Better results were obtained at higher concentration of camel urine used in vivo. Apart from that, this project has laid out the mechanisms employed by the substance to inhibit the growth and the metastatic process of the 4T1 cell.

Comparative study of keloid formation in humans and laboratory animals.

BACKGROUND: Keloids are common lesions arising from sites of a previous trauma, and are distinguishable from scars by the presence of continuous growth over the borders of the original injury. The objective of this article is to improve methods for studying keloids using experimental animal models, which may help to promote wound-healing research and to attain suitable management of keloids. MATERIAL/METHODS: This study consisted of two parts: animal and tissue culture experiments. Experimentally induced wounds in animal models were used to investigate keloid formation. Tissue cultures of cells in a conditioned medium were used to compare the growth rates of fibroblasts obtained from normal skin and wounds of experimental animals or from normal human skin and keloids. RESULTS: Since keloids are common in humans, hypertrophic scars rather than keloids were observed in animal skin wounds. Data from the tissue culture study demonstrated an increase in fibroblasts cells in human keloid cultures, but not in animal wound cultures. CONCLUSIONS: Studying keloids in experimental animals may be more efficient, cheaper, and more practical than to study them in humans. Furthermore, the use of tissue culture is a suitable medium in which to study keloid cell behavior in order to understand the mechanisms leading to the formation of keloids and to attain appropriate, effective management.