Octyl Gallate and Gallic Acid Isolated from Terminalia bellirica Circumvent Breast Cancer Progression by Enhancing the Intrinsic Apoptotic Signaling Pathway and Elevating the Levels of Anti-oxidant Enzymes

Exploration of new strategies and identification of less expensive novel chemoprevention agents against breast cancer progression have become the need of the hour. Thus, the present study aimed at evaluating the anti-cancer efficacies of octyl gallate (OG) and gallic acid (GA) isolated from Terminalia bellirica (T. bellirica) in breast cancer cell lines and DMBA-induced Sprague-Dawley animal model. The results of western blot analysis show significant (p < 0.05) downregulation of anti-apoptotic protein (Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL) expression and up-regulation of pro-apoptotic protein (Bak and Bax) expression in both MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines. Our findings also show that DMBA-induced Sprague-Dawley rats (50-55 days old) orally administered with OG (20 mg/kg body wt.) and GA (20 mg/kg body wt.) for a treatment period of 14 weeks were observed for normalized body weight changes and hematological indices and significant reduction of tumor markers carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cancer antigen 15.3 (CA 15.3), and oxidative stress (TBARS) in serum, while the activity of anti-oxidant enzyme (SOD, CAT, and GPx) levels estimated in the mammary tissue was found restored back to normal. Computational molecular interaction study was also performed to substantiate the in vitro obtained results. The tissue histology reveals the therapeutic role of OG and GA. The study conducted brings to limelight of the molecular mechanisms of intrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway through which OG and GA exert their chemopreventive action. Both OG and GA can be explored further as chemotherapeutic natural drugs for their ability to prevent breast cancer progression.

Phytochemical screening and anti-obesity, anti- diabetic and anti-oxidant properties of Scoparia dulcis leaf decoction (crude)

Due to their rising prevalence, diabetes and obesity were both classified as epidemics by the World Health Organization.The natural leaf essence of Scoparia dulcis (S. dulcis), is used as herbal remedy for diabetes and obesity worldwide. However, the objective of the current research was to examine the effects of consuming commercially available S. dulcis porridge on both diabetes and obesity. The S. dulcis plants were collected and the essence was prepared in a traditional way. Phytochemical screening was carried out to identify the secondary metabolites present in the essence. The GC-MS analysis was carried out to identify the bioactive compounds present in the extracts. In order to understand the molecular interaction of identified compounds with selected target proteins from anti-diabetic, anti-oxidant, anti-obesity molecular docking studies was carried out. Results of this docking studies confirmed that identified compounds showed the strong interaction with all the selected target protein. Further experimental analysis is needed to confirm this activity.