Plant polyphenols as possible lead compound against hormone-independent multidrug resistant breast cancer.

Cytotoxic activity of Holothuria tubulosa (Echinodermata) coelomocytes.

Abstract The immune system of marine invertebrates, in particular that of holothurians, still requires further study. Our research showed that coelomocyte cells contained in the coelomic fluid of the sea cucumber, Holothuria tubulosa, are able to lyse, in vitro, red blood cells in rabbits and sheep. A plaque-forming assay showed spherule cells to be the effector cells, able to release cytotoxic molecules after xenogenic cell contact. The coelomocyte lysate supernatant, analysed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis overlay technique, using rabbit and sheep erythrocytes, showed two different haemolytic protein patterns: one calcium dependent and the other calcium independent. The fractions o…

Pro-oxidant and antitumor effects of curcumin and N-ethylmaleimide in the HA22T/VGH model Overt hepatocellular carcinoma.

Ruolo delle HDAC sul silenziamento genico nell’embrione di riccio di mare

AQUATIC ACOUSTIC NOISE: BEHAVIORAL AND MOLECULAR RESPONSES IN ECHINODERMS, THE CASE OF A. LIXULA (LINNAEUS, 1758) SEA URCHINS

Anthropic noise is considered a real pollutant, in particular the submarine noise. The impact on biodiversity is not yet sufficiently understood. Further research is needed to evaluate any negative effects. The noises associated with anthropogenic activities are increasing: shipments, seismic surveys, sonar, recreational rowing and future mineral extraction activities from ocean depths (DSM). These noises are having an impact on the welfare of many marine species. The understanding of the effects on biodiversity could be important for the creation of guidelines, laws or rules for the most environmentally sustainable exploitation of natural resources. Our study aims to investigate the motili…

Yin Yang 1 and raf-1 Kinase Inhibitory Protein Status in Hepatocellular carcinoma: Future Perspectives

We focus on to the role of the transcription factors NF-κB and Yin Yang 1 (YY1) and of Raf-1 kinase inhibitory protein (RKIP) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). YY1, whose expression is enhanced by NF-κB, favors tumorigenesis. RKIP inhibits the oncogenic activities of MAPK and NF-κB pathways and promotes drug-induced apoptosis. Mutual influences between YY1 and RKIP may exist and there is separate evidence that relevant increases in YY1 and reductions in RKIP occur in HCC. In a recent study on clinical HCC, we found that, indeed, the ratio of YY1 to RKIP mRNA and protein expression is very frequently profoundly inverted in tumors compared with adjacent tissues. Hyperactivation of YY1 in tum…

Antimicrobial activity of the extracts of Terfezia claveryi and Tirmania pinoyi against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria causal agent of diseases in tomato

Tomato diseases caused by virus, bacteria and fungi have been reported worldwide and caused considerable economic losses. Among all diseases, attention is paid to those caused by bacteria. In this study, the extracts of two “desert truffles” Terfezia claveryi and Tirmania pinoyi were tested against six bacterial species, causal agent of economically important tomato diseases: Pseudomonas corrugata, P. mediterranea, P. syringae pv. tomato Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum, Xanthomonas vesicatoria and Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganansis. The extracts from both fungal species, evaluated by agar well diffusion method, showed an antimicrobial activity against all the teste…

A Shotgun Proteomics Approach Reveals a New Toxic Role for Alzheimer's Disease Aβ Peptide: Spliceosome Impairment.

Proteomic changes have been described in many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the early events in the onset of the pathology are yet to be fully elucidated. A cell model system in which LAN5 neuroblastoma cells were incubated for a short time with a recombinant form of Aβ42 was utilized. Proteins extracted from these cells were subjected to shotgun proteomics analysis by LTQ-Orbitrap-MS followed by label-free quantitation. By bioinformatics tools we found that the most significant of those found to be up-regulated were related to cytoskeletal dynamics (Rho related) and membrane-related processes. The most significant of the down-regulated proteins we…

Human Drug Pollution in the Aquatic System: The Biochemical Responses of Danio rerio Adults

Simple Summary The release of medicinal products for human use in the aquatic environment is now a serious problem, and can be fatal for the organisms that live there. Danio rerio is a freshwater fish that provides the possibility to study the effects of these pollutants on the health of aquatic organisms. The results of the various existing scientific studies are scarce and conflicting. Here, we review the scientific studies that have analyzed these effects, highlighting that the impacts of drugs are evident in the biochemical responses of these animals. Abstract To date, drug pollution in aquatic systems is an urgent issue, and Danio rerio is a model organism to study the toxicological ef…

Anesthetic efficacy of ketamine-diazepam, ketamine-xylazine, and ketamine-acepromazine in Caspian Pond turtles (Mauremys caspica)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of different anesthetic drug combinations on the Caspian Pond turtles (Mauremys caspica). Subjects and Methods: Three groups of the Caspian Pond turtles (n = 6) were anesthetized with three different drug combinations. Initially, a pilot study was conducted to determine the best drug doses for the anesthetization of the turtles, and according to these results, ketamine-diazepam (120 mg/kg ketamine hydrochloride [5%] and 2 mg/kg diazepam [5%]), ketamine-acepromazine (120 mg/kg ketamine hydrochloride [5%] and 1 mg/kg acepromazine [1%]), and ketamine-xylazine (120 mg/kg ketamine hydrochloride [5%] and 1 mg/kg xylazine [2%]) wer…

Underwater high frequency noise: Biological responses in sea urchin Arbacia lixula (Linnaeus, 1758)

Marine life is extremely sensitive to the effects of environmental noise due to its reliance on underwater sounds for basic life functions, such as searching for food and mating. However, the effects on invertebrate species are not yet fully understood. The aim of this study was to determine the biochemical responses of Arbacia lixula exposed to high-frequency noise. Protein concentration, enzyme activity (esterase, phosphatase and peroxidase) and cytotoxicity in coelomic fluid were compared in individuals exposed for three hours to consecutive linear sweeps of 100 to 200 kHz lasting 1 s, and control specimens. Sound pressure levels ranged between 145 and 160 dB re 1μPa. Coelomic fluid was …

Identification of New Antimicrobial Peptides from Mediterranean Medical Plant Charybdis pancration (Steinh.) Speta

The present work was designed to identify and characterize novel antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from Charybdis pancration (Steinh.) Speta, previously named Urginea maritima, is a Mediterranean plant, well-known for its biological properties in traditional medicine. Polypeptide-enriched extracts from different parts of the plant (roots, leaves and bulb), never studied before, were tested against two relevant pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. With the aim of identifying novel natural AMPs, peptide fraction displaying antimicrobial activity (the bulb) that showed minimum inhibitory concentration (MICs) equal to 30 &micro

Curcumin as a possible lead compound against hormone-independent, multidrug-resistant breast cancer

We examine the possible evidence that the phytochemical curcumin may overcome resistance to hormonal and cytotoxic agents in breast cancer. We present our observations on MCF-7R, a multidrug-resistant (MDR) variant of the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. In contrast to MCF-7, MCF-7R lacks aromatase and estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) and overexpresses the multidrug transporter ABCB1 and the products of different genes implicated in cell proliferation and survival, like c-IAP-1, NAIP, survivin, and COX-2. Nevertheless, in cytotoxicity and cell death induction assays, we found that the antitumor activity of curcumin is substantial both in MCF-7 and in MCF-7R. We elaborated the diketone system…

Salmo salar fish waste oil: Fatty acids composition and antibacterial activity

Background and aims Fish by-products are generally used to produce fishmeal or fertilizers, with fish oil as a by-product. Despite their importance, fish wastes are still poorly explored and characterized and more studies are needed to reveal their potentiality. The goal of the present study was to qualitatively characterize and investigate the antimicrobial effects of the fish oil extracted from Salmo salar waste samples and to evaluate the potential use of these compounds for treating pathogen infections. Methods Salmo salar waste samples were divided in two groups: heads and soft tissues. Fatty acids composition, and in particular the content in saturated (SAFAs), mono-unsaturated (MUFA…

Antibacterial Activity of Desert Truffles from Saudi Arabia Against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract Medicinal mushrooms represent an unlimited source of polysaccharides with nutritional, antitumoral, antibacterial, and immune-stimulating properties. Traditional studies of epigeous higher Basidiomycetes have recently been joined by studies of hypogeous fungi and, in particular, of so-called desert truffles. With the aim to obtain novel agents against bacteria of clinical importance, we focused on the edible desert truffle mushrooms Tirmania pinoyi, Terfezia claveryi, and Picoa juniperi as sources of new antimicrobial agents. In particular, we investigated the in vitro antibacterial activity of acid-soluble protein extracts (aqueous extracts) of these 3 species against the Gram-pos…

Stress and immune response to bacterial LPS in the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816).

The immune system of the sea urchin species Paracentrotus lividus is highly complex and, as yet, poorly understood. P. lividus coelomocytes mediate immune response through phagocytosis and encapsulation of non-self particles, in addition to the production of antimicrobial molecules. Despite this understanding, details of exactly how these processes occur and the mechanisms which drive them are still in need of clarification. In this study, we show how the bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) is able to induce a stress response which increases the levels of the heat shock proteins HSP70 and HSP90 only a few hours after treatment. This study also shows that LPS treatment increases the expressi…

Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Activity of a Recombinant Fragment of β-Thymosin of Sea Urchin Paracentrotus lividus

With the aim to obtain new antimicrobials against important pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, we focused on antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from Echinoderms. An example of such peptides is Paracentrin 1 (SP1), a chemically synthesised peptide fragment of a sea urchin thymosin. In the present paper, we report on the biological activity of a Paracentrin 1 derivative obtained by recombination. The recombinant paracentrin RP1, in comparison to the synthetic SP1, is 22 amino acids longer and it was considerably more active against the planktonic forms of S. aureus ATCC 25923 and P. aeruginosa ATCC 15442 at concentrations of 50 &micro

Induction of Apoptosis and Chemosensitization by the Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor Trichostatin in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells: Molecular Analysis and RKIP Levels

The mRNA and protein levels of RKIP are reduced and those of YY1 increased in clinical HCC. Loss, mutation, or promoter hypermethylation of the RKIP gene may not account for the downregulation of RKIP in HCC. Histone deacetylation can silence gene expression and play a significant role in hepatocarcinogenesis. The histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACI) trichostatin induced cell growth inhibition and proapoptotic effects in HA22T/VGH and HepG2 HCC cells; it also exhibited synergy with doxorubicin. Treatment with trichostatin caused histone hyperacetylation and down- or upregulated expression of different genes (such as β-catenin, cyclin D1, hTERT, XIAP, and IL-6). These changes might, at leas…

Allograft Inflammatory Factor AIF-1: early immune response in the Mediterranean sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus

Echinoderms are a phylum of deuterostomic invertebrates that play a key role in maintaining the biodiversity of marine ecosystems. They represent a good study model for immunity because their coelomic fluid contains different types of cells involved in the inflammatory response: the coelomocytes. In the case of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, the coelomocyte population is mainly represented by amoebocytes and uncoloured spherulocytes that implement a defence program through phagocytosis, encapsulation, cytotoxicity, and production of antimicrobial agents. The purpose of this study was to find evidence of a possible modulating effect of lipopolysaccharide LPS on the expression of the A…

Changes in the proteome of sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus coelomocytes in response to LPS injection into the body cavity.

Background The immune system of echinoderm sea urchins is characterised by a high degree of complexity that is not completely understood. The Mediterranean sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus coelomocytes mediate immune responses through phagocytosis, encapsulation of non-self particles, and production of diffusible factors including antimicrobial molecules. Details of these processes, and molecular pathways driving these mechanisms, are still to be fully elucidated. Principal findings In the present study we treated the sea urchin P. lividus with the bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and collected coelomocytes at different time-points (1, 3, 6 and 24 hours). We have shown, using label-free q…