Natural Compounds as Integrative Therapy for Liver Protection against Inflammatory and Carcinogenic Mechanisms: From Induction to Molecular Biology Advancement.

The liver is exposed to several harmful substances that bear the potential to cause excessive liver damage ranging from hepatitis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease to extreme cases of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Liver ailments have been effectively treated from very old times with Chinese medicinal herbal formulations and later also applied by controlled trials in Japan. However, these traditional practices have been hardly well characterized in the past till in the last decades when more qualified studies have been carried out. Modern advances have given rise to specific molecular targets which are specifically good candidates for affecting the intricate mechanisms that play a role at the molecular level. These therapeutic regimens that mainly affect the progression of the disease by inhibiting the gene expression levels or by blocking essential molecular pathways or releasing cytokines may prove to play a vital role in minimizing the tissue damage. This review, therefore, tries to throw light upon the variation in the therapies for the treatment of benign and malignant liver disease from ancient times to the current date. Nonetheless, clinical research exploring the effectiveness of herbal medicines in the treatment of benign chronic liver diseases as well as prevention and treatment of HCC is still warranted.

Hydrogels: 3D Drug Delivery Systems for Nanoparticles and Extracellular Vesicles.

Synthetic and naturally occurring nano-sized particles present versatile vehicles for the delivery of therapy in a range of clinical settings. Their small size and modifiable physicochemical properties support refinement of targeting capabilities, immune response, and therapeutic cargo, but rapid clearance from the body and limited efficacy remain a major challenge. This highlights the need for a local sustained delivery system for nanoparticles (NPs) and extracellular vesicles (EVs) at the target site that will ensure prolonged exposure, maximum efficacy and dose, and minimal toxicity. Biocompatible hydrogels loaded with therapeutic NPs/EVs hold immense promise as cell-free sustained and targeted delivery systems in a range of disease settings. These bioscaffolds ensure retention of the nano-sized particles at the target site and can also act as controlled release systems for therapeutics over a prolonged period of time. The encapsulation of stimuli sensitive components into hydrogels supports the release of the content on-demand. In this review, we highlight the prospect of the sustained and prolonged delivery of these nano-sized therapeutic entities from hydrogels for broad applications spanning tissue regeneration and cancer treatment. Further understanding of the parameters controlling the release rate of these particles and efficient transfer of cargo to target cells will be fundamental to success.

Beyond Physical Exercise: The Role of Nutrition, Gut Microbiota and Nutraceutical Supplementation in Reducing Age-Related Sarcopenia.

Sarcopenia is a commonly prevalent geriatric condition mainly characterized by progressive loss of the skeletal muscle mass that results in noticeably reduced muscle strength and quality. Most of the geriatric population above 60 years of age are overweight, leading to the accumulation of fat in the muscles resulting in abated muscle function. The increased loss of muscle mass is associated with high rates of disability, poor motility, frailty and mortality. The excessive degeneration of muscles is now also being observed in middle-aged people. Therefore, geriatrics has recently started shifting towards the identification of early stages of the disability in order to expand the life span of the patient and reduce physical dependence. Recent findings have indicated that patients with increased physical activity are also affected by sarcopenia, therefore indicating the role of nutritional supplements to enhance muscle health which in turn helps to counteract sarcopenia. Various interventions with physical training have not provided substantial improvements to this disorder, thereby highlighting the crucial role of nutritional supplementation in enhancing muscle mass and strength. Nutritional supplementation has not only been shown to enhance the positive effects of physical interventions but also have a profound impact on the gut microbiome that has come forward as a key regulator of muscle mass and function. This brief review throws light upon the efficiency of nutrients and nutraceutical supplementation by highlighting their ancillary effects in physical interventions as well as improving the gut microbiome status in sarcopenic adults, thereby giving rise to a multimodal intervention for the treatment of sarcopenia.

Role of Tumor Specific niche in Colon Cancer Progression and Emerging Therapies by Targeting Tumor Microenvironment.

Colorectal cancer is the third most common form of cancer worldwide leading to escalating mortality rates and mainly includes hereditary, sporadic and colitis-associated cancer development. The escalated mortality rates is due to the limited treatment options as this form of cancer is usually not easy to diagnose in its early stages and are highly invasive leading to rapid metastasis of the malignant cells to the neighbouring tissue. In order to combat this limitation several chemotherapeutic regimens are now being combined with targeted therapies after the knowledge acquired on the inevitable effects of the tumor microenvironment on the colon cancer growth and progress. The colon tumor niche mainly consists of a large mass of tumor cells along with various immune cells, inflammatory cells, tumor macrophages and fibroblasts that infiltrate the tumor as it is a site of predominant inflammation. Among cells of the microenvironment, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) exhibiting ability to evolve into cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) have recently generated a major interest in the field. The physiological state of the tumor microenvironment is closely connected to discrete steps of tumorigenesis. The colon cancer cells elicit various factors with their direct interaction with MSCs or via paracrine fashion, which modulate these cells to promote cancer instead of performing their innate function of abating cancer progression. This review intends to highlight the necessity to exploit the cellular landscape of tumor microenvironment of colon cancer and a detailed understanding of the interactions between tumor epithelial cells and their stromal/inflammatory elements will aid in future perspectives for designing therapeutic regimens targeting tumor microenvironment to improve the clinical outcome of colon cancer.

Benefits of aged garlic extract in modulating toxicity biomarkers against p-dimethylaminoazobenzene and phenobarbital induced liver damage in Rattus norvegicus.

Garlic (Allium sativum L.), a popular spice, has been used for decades in treating several medical conditions. Although Allicin, an active ingredient of garlic has been extensively studied on carcinogen-induced hepatotoxicity and oxidative stress in rats (Rattus norvegicus), no systematic study on the beneficial effects of generic aged garlic and specific aged garlic extract-Kyolic has been done. The present study involves rats fed chronically with two liver carcinogens, p-dimethylaminoazobenzene and phenobarbital, to produce hepatotoxicity. The aged garlic extract was characterized by UV-spectra, FTIR, HPLC and GC-MS. Biochemical and pathophysiological tests were performed by keeping suitable controls at four fixation intervals, namely, 30, 60, 90, and 120 days, utilizing several widely accepted toxicity biomarkers. Compared to the controls, remarkable elevation in the activities of lactate dehydrogenase, gamma glutamyl transferase and decline in catalase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase were observed in the carcinogen fed rats. Daily administration of aged garlic extract, could favorably modulate the elevated levels of various toxicity biomarkers including serum triglyceride, creatinine, urea, bilirubin, blood urea nitrogen except total cholesterol. It also altered the levels of blood glucose, HDL-cholesterol, albumin, AST, ALT, and hemoglobin contents in carcinogen intoxicated rats, indicating its protective potential against hepatotoxicity and oxidative stress in the experimental rats. Down-regulation of Bcl-2 and p53 proteins caused cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in garlic fed group. Kyolic exhibited additional benefits by arresting cell viability of cancer cells. This study would thus validate the use of aged garlic extract in the treatment of diseases causing liver toxicity including hepatocarcinoma.

A Review on Theragnostic Applications of Micrornas and Long Non- Coding RNAs in Colorectal Cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a heterogeneous malignancy leading to increased mortality and poor prognosis due to the lack of efficient early diagnostics. Metastasis of the tumor being the most common cause of mortality is accountable for almost 90% of CRC associated deaths. Intensified screening procedures and molecular target identification has inflated the median survival rate of in CRC patients. microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have come forward as potential targets for developing a novel approach in CRC theragnostics. Non-coding RNA (ncRNAs) sequences are abundantly present and thereby play a vital role in several biological processes such as cellular organization, cell fate determination, proliferation, apoptosis, tissue homeostasis maintenance as well as pathological conditions such as cancer by acting as post transcriptional regulators of gene expression. Several studies have highlighted the involvement of these ncRNAs in CRC development. However, the molecular mechanism involved in regulating CRC has not been clearly elucidated. This review, throws light upon the several non-coding RNAs involved in CRC with a focus on novel mechanisms of action, recent advances in the regulatory mechanisms that control the gene expression related to carcinogenesis. Furthermore, the potential role of ncRNAs as diagnostic as well as therapeutic targets has been reviewed.