Prevention of aspirin-mediated secondary toxicity by combined treatment of carotenoids in macrophages.

Upon understanding the boosting role of carotenoids on the endogenous anti-inflammatory system, it is vital to explore their role in reducing the use of high doses of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs), and their mediated secondary toxicity during the treatment of chronic diseases. The current study investigates the carotenoids potential on inhibition of secondary complications induced by NSAIDs, aspirin (ASA) against lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated inflammation. Initially, this study evaluated a minimal cytotoxic dose of ASA and carotenoids (ß-carotene, BC/lutein, LUT/astaxanthin, AST/fucoxanthin FUCO) in Raw 264.7, U937, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). In all three cells, carotenoids + ASA treatment reduced the LDH release, NO, and PGE2 efficiently than an equivalent dose of carotenoid or ASA treated alone. Based on cytotoxicity and sensitivity results, RAW 264.7 cells were selected for further cell-based assay. Among carotenoids, FUCO + ASA exhibited an efficient reduction of LDH release, NO, and PGE2 than the other carotenoids (BC + ASA, LUT + ASA, and AST + ASA) treatment. FUCO + ASA combination decreased LPS/ASA induced oxidative stress, pro-inflammatory mediators (iNOS, COX-2, and NF-κB), and cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1ß) efficiently. Further, apoptosis was inhibited by 69.2% in FUCO + ASA, and 46.7% in ASA than LPS treated cells. A drastic decrease in intracellular ROS generation with the increase in GSH was observed in FUCO + ASA compared to LPS/ASA groups. The results documented on the low dose of ASA with a relative physiological concentration of FUCO suggested greater importance for alleviating secondary complications and optimize prolonged chronic disease treatments with NSAID's associated side effects. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-023-03632-w.

Low-dose doxorubicin with carotenoids selectively alters redox status and upregulates oxidative stress-mediated apoptosis in breast cancer cells.

The combination of carotenoids and doxorubicin (DOX) selectively alters oxidative stress-mediated apoptosis in breast cancer cells. Primarily, cytotoxic efficiency of carotenoids (ß-carotene, BC; lutein, LUT; astaxanthin, AST; or fucoxanthin, FUCO) either with or without a minimal cytotoxic dose of DOX was evaluated in MCF-7 (0.12 µM) and MDA-MB-231 cells (0.28 µM). The higher cell growth inhibition of BC and/or LUT with DOX was selected for testing in further cell-based assays. Low-dose DOX significantly enhanced cytotoxicity in carotenoid (<5 µM)-treated cells compared to high-dose DOX (>1 µM) or carotenoid (20 µM) treatment alone. Depleted glutathione, increased lipid peroxides and increased ROS levels in cells confirmed the cytotoxic effect. Furthermore, mitochondrial dysfunction, cell growth arrest at G0/G1 phase and caspase cascades as well as up- and down-regulated expression levels of related proteins (p21, p27, Bax, p53, Bcl-2, and cyclin D1) revealed the synergistic effect of carotenoid and DOX treatment on ROS-mediated apoptosis. These observations demonstrated increased apoptosis in BC + DOX/LUT + DOX-treated cells due to the pronounced pro-oxidant action. Interestingly, normal breast epithelial cells (MCF 10A) exposed to similar treatments resulted in non-significant cytotoxicity. These newly observed mechanistic differences of anticancer drugs on the mitigation of toxicity with carotenoids may provide insight into the targeting of cancer therapy.

Astaxanthin from shrimp efficiently modulates oxidative stress and allied cell death progression in MCF-7 cells treated synergistically with ß-carotene and lutein from greens.

This study investigated the synergistic efficacy of keto-carotenoid astaxanthin (AST, from shrimp) plus hydrocarbon (ß-carotene, BC) and hydroxyl (lutein, L) carotenoids (from greens) on molecular events in MCF-7 cells. MCF-7 cells were treated with either of carotenoid (20 µM, AST or BC or L) separately or the mixture of them (an equimolar concentration of carotenoids mixture, CM) or saponified carotenoid extract from shrimp (SSCE) for 48 h and analyzed cellular uptake, cytotoxicity, and apoptosis. The IC50 and combination-index values of AST co-treatment with a lower concentration of BC and L (5 µM) exhibited enhanced cytotoxicity and oxidative stress as compared with individual carotenoids or SSCE. Further, higher cellular uptake/accumulation of AST along with BC and L found to synergistically induce apoptosis through modulation of cyclin D1, p53, Bax and Bcl-2 expressions by arresting cell cycle at G0/G1 phase. Further, CM or SSCE treatments are unlikely to affect proliferation of normal breast epithelial cells (MCF-10A). The results of selective killing of MCF-7 cells demonstrated a greater insight on the synergistic effect of shrimp AST plus BC and L. It is concluded that consumption of shrimp along with green leafy vegetables helps in combating cancer chemoprevention.

Enhanced cytotoxic and apoptosis inducing activity of lycopene oxidation products in different cancer cell lines.

Currently, upon understanding the metabolomics of carotenoids, it is important to address the key role of carotenoid derived products. In this regard, aim of the study was to elucidate and explore the role of lycopene (LYC) oxidative products generated through autoxidation (AOL) or chemical (KMnO4) oxidation (COL) against proliferation of selected cancer cells. Preliminary, we investigated the effect of LYC on cell viability of various cancer cell lines (PC-3, MCF-7, A431, HepG2, HeLa and A549). Based on the results of LYC treatment on cell cytotoxicity levels, MCF-7, PC-3 and HeLa cell lines were further tested with AOL and COL products. The decreased cell viability with depleted GSH and increased MDA levels were observed when treated with COL products than control, LYC and AOL. In addition, COL products increased ROS levels and percent apoptosis. The typical morphological changes and nuclear condensations showed that COL products have anti-proliferation and apoptosis inducing activity. Based on results, we hypothesized that ROS generation by LYC oxidation products may be one of intermediate step involved in apoptosis. The redox status and therapeutic approach of COL products in modulating ROS and induction of apoptosis in cancer cells were reported for the first time, to our knowledge. To conclude, COL products involves in cancer growth inhibition efficiently than intact LYC and AOL. Hence, there is a great potential for synthesizing or producing such carotenoid oxidation products to augment cancer complication.

Role of different vehicles in carotenoids delivery and their influence on cell viability, cell cycle progression, and induction of apoptosis in HeLa cells.

The objective of the present study was to determine the role of different vehicles in carotenoids delivery and their influence on cell viability, cell cycle progression and induction of apoptosis in HeLa cells. Cells (5 × 10(3)) were treated with different concentrations (25-100 µM) of ß-carotene (BC) or lutein (L) or astaxanthin (AST) dissolved in 0.5% of tetrahydrofuran (THF), dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), and fetal bovine serum (FBS), respectively. The effect of delivery vehicle on carotenoids uptake, cytotoxicity, oxidative status, cell cycle distribution, and apoptosis was examined after 48 h of incubation. The results shown that, cell viability reduced significantly in a dose- and time-dependent manner irrespective of carotenoid delivered in vehicles. Cellular uptake of BC delivered in THF was higher by 49.1, 29.7% and L delivered through THF was higher by 41.7 and 37.5% than DMSO and FBS, respectively. While, AST delivered through DMSO was higher by 36.1 and 43.7% than the THF and FBS, respectively. In case of cells treated either with BC or L delivered through THF and AST in DMSO decreased the glutathione and increased the malondialdehyde levels. The net increase in the G 2/M phase percentage of cell cycle progression was observed in carotenoid-treated cells. The % induction of apoptosis by BC or L delivered with THF and AST in DMSO was higher than other treated groups. In conclusion, choice of suitable vehicle for specific carotenoids delivery is essential that in turn may influence on cell proliferation and cell-based assays.