Anti-breast Cancer Activity of SPG-56 from Sweet Potato in MCF-7 Bearing Mice in Situ through Promoting Apoptosis and Inhibiting Metastasis

Potent bystander effect and tumor tropism in suicide gene therapy using stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth

Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSVTK)/ganciclovir (GCV) suicide gene therapy has a long history of treating malignant gliomas. Recently, stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED), which are collected from deciduous teeth and have excellent harvestability, ethical aspects, and self-renewal, have been attracting attention mainly in the field of gene therapy. In the present study, we assessed SHED as a novel cellular vehicle for suicide gene therapy in malignant gliomas, as we have previously demonstrated with various cell types. SHED was transduced with the HSVTK gene (SHEDTK). In vitro experiments showed a significant bystander effect between SHEDTK and glioma cell lines in coculture. Furthermore, apoptotic changes caused by caspase 3/7 activation were simultaneously observed in SHEDTK and glioma cells. Mice implanted with a mixture of U87 and SHEDTK and treated with intraperitoneal GCV survived for longer than 100 days. Additionally, tumors in treatment model mice were significantly reduced in size during the treatment period. SHEDTK implanted at the contralateral hemisphere migrated toward the tumor crossing the corpus callosum. These results suggested that SHEDTK-based suicide gene therapy has potent tumor tropism and a bystander-killing effect, potentially offering a new promising therapeutic modality for malignant gliomas.

Sweet Potato Is Not Simply an Abundant Food Crop: A Comprehensive Review of Its Phytochemical Constituents, Biological Activities, and the Effects of Processing

Nowadays, sweet potato (Ipomoea batata L.; Lam.) is considered a very interesting nutritive food because it is rich in complex carbohydrates, but as a tubercle, contains high amounts of health-promoting secondary metabolites. The aim of this review is to summarize the most recently published information on this root vegetable, focusing on its bioactive phytochemical constituents, potential effects on health, and the impact of processing technologies. Sweet potato is considered an excellent source of dietary carotenoids, and polysaccharides, whose health benefits include antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective activity, cardiovascular protection, anticancer properties and improvement in neurological and memory capacity, metabolic disorders, and intestinal barrier function. Moreover, the purple sweet potato, due to its high anthocyanin content, represents a unique food option for consumers, as well as a potential source of functional ingredients for healthy food products. In this context, the effects of commercial processing and domestic cooking techniques on sweet potato bioactive compounds require further study to understand how to minimize their loss.

Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) Phenotypes: From Agroindustry to Health Effects

Sweet potato (SP; Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam) is an edible tuber native to America and the sixth most important food crop worldwide. China leads its production in a global market of USD 45 trillion. SP domesticated varieties differ in specific phenotypic/genotypic traits, yet all of them are rich in sugars, slow digestible/resistant starch, vitamins, minerals, bioactive proteins and lipids, carotenoids, polyphenols, ascorbic acid, alkaloids, coumarins, and saponins, in a genotype-dependent manner. Individually or synergistically, SP’s phytochemicals help to prevent many illnesses, including certain types of cancers and cardiovascular disorders. These and other topics, including the production and market diversification of raw SP and its products, and SP’s starch as a functional ingredient, are briefly discussed in this review.

In vivo murine breast cancer targeting by magnetic iron nanoparticles involving L. GG cytoplasmic fraction

OBJECTIVES

Use of chemical anti-cancer drugs frequently creates serious side effects. However, probiotics are natural and treat different kinds of cancer without undesired effects.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this study, a nano delivery system was planned to transport the Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (L. GG) cytoplasmic fraction (Cf) to cancerous tissue in a mouse model. Magnetic iron nanoparticles (MINPs) were synthesized and loaded with L. GG-Cf(0, 0.312, 0.625, 1.25, and 2.5 mg/ml) and were administrated for three weeks to treat experimentally induced murine breast cancer in a constant magnetic field. At the end of the trial, the treating efficacy of this complex molecule was evaluated via western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and qPCR.

RESULTS

Results showed that MINPS can deliver and accumulate L. GG-Cf in cancer tissue, and reduce the size and volume of the tumors. Additionally, in cancer tissues of treated mice with 2.5 mg/ml of Cf-MINPs, significantly induced apoptosis was seen compared with untreated mice (control), and our data proved that this induction may be due to the caspase-3 pathway.

CONCLUSION

L. GG-Cf could treat murine breast cancer, and MINPs are a suitable candidate for drug delivery because of their safety, uniformity, and magnetic properties.