Tenuazonic acid mycotoxicosis in an immunosuppressed mouse model and evaluation of the protective effect of cinnamaldehyde against tenuazonic acid mycotoxicosis.

Patients with impaired immune systems are particularly vulnerable to infections. With the increasing number of immunocompromised patients, it becomes necessary to design studies that evaluate the effects of toxic contaminants that are a part of our daily lives. Simultaneously, the management of these toxic components also becomes essential. Therefore, the present study evaluated the possible protective role of Cinnamaldehyde (Cin) against tenuazonic acid-induced mycotoxicosis in the immunosuppressed murine model. Tenuazonic acid (TeA), a toxin usually produced by Alternaria species, is a common contaminant in tomato and tomato-based products. Evaluating the potential toxicity of a hazardous chemical necessitates the use of in vitro, in vivo, and in silico methods. Here, the immunomodulatory effect of TeA was assessed in vitro using mouse splenocytes. In silico docking was carried out for the tumour markers of eight organs and TeA. The haematological, histopathological, and biochemical aspects were analysed in vivo. The sub-chronic intoxication of mice with TeA showed elevated malondialdehyde, reduced catalase, and superoxide dismutase production, as well as abnormal levels of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine transaminase. The treatment with Cin prevented TeA-induced alterations of antioxidant defense enzyme activities and significantly forbade TeA-induced organ damage, showing therapeutic effects and toxicity reduction in TeA-induced mycotoxicosis.

Epitope prediction and designing of receptor inhibitor of Dengue Envelope Protein: An in silico approach.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Dengue virus (DENV) is the causative agent of dengue fever (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). It has four distinct serotypes (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4) based on their antigenic properties. Mostly, the immunogenic epitopes are present in the envelope (E) protein of the virus. Heparan sulfate (HS) acts as a receptor and interacts with the E protein of the virus thus facilitating the entry of dengue virus into human cells. This study focuses on epitope prediction on the E protein of the DENV serotype. The non-competitive inhibitors of HS were designed using bioinformatics. METHODS: In the present study, epitope prediction of the E protein of DENV serotypes was performed using the ABCpred server and IEDB analysis resource. The interactions of HS and viral E proteins (PDB ID: 3WE1 and PDB ID:1TG8) were evaluated through AutoDock. Subsequently, non-competitive inhibitors were designed to bind the E protein of DENV better than HS. All the docking results were validated by re-docking the ligand-receptor complexes and superimposing them onto their co-crystallized complexes using AutoDock and visualizing them in Discovery Studio. RESULTS: The result predicted B-cell and T-cell epitopes on the E protein of DENV serotypes. The designed HS ligand 1 (non-competitive inhibitor) demonstrated potential binding with the DENV E protein, thereby inhibiting HS-E protein binding. The re-docked complexes were superimposed entirely onto the native co-crystallized complexes (low root mean square deviation values), which validates the docking protocols. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: The identified B-cell and T-cell epitopes of the E protein and non-competitive inhibitors of HS (ligand 1) could be used in the designing of potential drug candidates against the dengue virus.