In vitro protective effect of Celergen, a bioactive marine compound, on interleukin-6-related invasiveness of pancreatic cancer.

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of Celergen, a marine nutraceutical, against tumor cell invasion in human pancreatic cancer cell line (PSN-I). High invasive clone (HI) and low invasive clone (LI) were established from wild type PSN-l cell line after a repeated invasion assay test. The invasive ability of HI cells and the level of IL-6 in the conditioned medium of HI cells was significantly higher than that one of LI cells but both these parameters were significantly reduced by the addition of Celergen (p<0.01). Exogenous IL-6 administration induced a dose dependent enhancement of invasive ability in both cell populations. Moreover, IL-6 receptor expression was detected in 72% of HI cells whereas this occurred only in 37% of LI cells. When co-cultured with Celergen this parameter was significantly downregulated in both cellular subsets (p<0.05). The addition of conditioned medium derived from HI cells (HCM) and LI cells(LCM) enhanced the invasive ability in both cell populations without affecting cell proliferation. The effect of HCM on the invasive ability of HI cells was partially inhibited by the addition of Celergen (p<0.01). In summary, overexpression of IL-6 and its receptor may be one relevant factor contributing to the highly invasive characteristic of the pancreatic cancer cell line we used while a significantly beneficial modulation was obtained by applying this novel marine nutraceutical. This advices to further explore the possibility of marine compounds regulation of IL-6 ligand/receptor and other possible invasive factor interaction in the therapy of this malignancy while further studies are awaited in this setting.

Iron supplementation in young iron-deficient females causes gastrointestinal redox imbalance: protective effect of a fermented nutraceutical.

The aim of this study was to assess whether the concomitant supplementation of certified fermented papaya preparation (FPP, ORI, Gifu, Japan) together with iron supplementation could beneficially affect lipid peroxidation either systemically and at a intraluminal gut level in women with low iron stores. Treatment compliance and iron absorption was assessed as well. Fifty-two non-pregnant, fertile, non-smokers, healthy women with iron deficiency were recruited. The women were given iron supplements (100 mg Fe/d as ferrous sulfate) to be taken daily for 12 weeks (group A). Group B patients were also supplemented with 6g/day of a FPP. A detailed life style questionnaire was administered to all subjects. Iron, ferritin, transferrin receptors (Tf R) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in plasma were measured. The RBCs lysate was used for the estimation of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). The total and free iron concentration as well as analysis of oxidative stress in the feces was measured. FPP-supplemented subjects showed a significantly lower degree of gastrointestinal discomfort (p less than 0.05) and abolished the iron supplementation-induced increase of MDA (p less than 0.001) and the depletion of SOD and GPx (p less than 0.01). Moreover, the nutraceutical co-administration brought about a significant reduction of gut oxidative damage and lower fecal content of either total and free iron (p less than 0.05 vs group A). Overall, group B showed a better TfR/ferritin ratio response (p less than 0.05 vs group A). While iron supplementation maintains its clinical relevance considering the prevalence of iron deficiency among females, a careful clinical evaluation and a protective nutraceutical co-administration, as our data suggest with FPP, should be considered.

Effect of Celergen, a marine derivative, on in vitro hepatocarcinogenesis.

The aim of this study was to test for a potential anticarcinogenic effect of Celergen, a marine derivative devoid of traceable amounts of inorganic arsenic, on cell proliferation, cell cycle progression and apoptosis in the HepG2 human liver cancer cell line. Celergen significantly inhibited the proliferation of cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner while limiting the cell cycle progression at the G1 phase and significantly inducing apoptosis. Further examination showed that Celergen enhanced expression of the p21(CIPl1WAF1), GADD153 genes and downregulated the c-myc gene. These results suggest that Celergen exerts promising chemopreventive properties to be further investigated.

Ramsey fringes in the nonlinear Hanle effect in a metastable atomic beam.

Evidence of coherence effects has been observed in the Zeeman sublevels by means of nonlinear level crossing in a metastable Ca beam with resonance width 3 orders of magnitude less than the radiative linewidth of the investigated transitions. By using two separate traveling waves, Ramsey-like fringes have been observed. The final measured widths are determined by the transit time, are weakly dependent on the magnetic-field inhomogeneities, and are independent of the natural width of the optical transitions and the laser bandwidth.

Subnatural coherence effects in saturation spectroscopy using a single traveling wave.

We have performed zero-field level-crossing resonance measurements (nonlinear Hanle effect) in a metastable Ca atomic beam. By saturating the optical transitions (3)P(1,2) ? (3)S(1), for which the radiative linewidth is 10.5 MHz, we have recorded resonances corresponding to widths of about 31 kHz. The effect has been investigated as a function of the saturating-radiation intensity. The frequency jitter of the laser used in the measurements is about 40 times wider than the recorded widths.