Phytochemical Profile, Antioxidant, Enzyme Inhibition, Acute Toxicity, In Silico Molecular Docking and Dynamic Analysis of Apis mellifera Propolis as Antidiabetic Supplement

This study aims to identification of phytochemical profile of Apis mellifera propolis and explore potential of its anti-diabetic activity through inhibition on α-amylase (α-AE), α-glucosidase(α-GE) and finally identified the novel antidiabetic compounds from propolis. Apis mellifera propolis extract (AMPE) exhibited elevated polyphenol 33.26 ± 0.17 (mg GAE/g) and flavonoid (15.45 ± 0.13 mg RE/g), while its also indicated moderate strong antioxidant activity (EC50 793.09 ±1.94 µg/ml). This study found that AMPE displayed promising α-AE and α-GE inhibition through in vitro study. Based on LC-MS/MS screening, 18 unique AMPE compounds were identified, majorly belonging to anthraquinone and flavonoid compounds. In silico study determined that 8 compounds of AMPE compounds exhibited strong binding to α-AE, interacting to catalytic residue of ASP197. Moreover, 2 compounds exhibit potential inhibition of α-AG, by interacting to crucial amino acids of ARG315, ASP352, and ASP69. Finally, we suggested 2,7-Dihydroxy-1-(p-hydroxybenzyl)-4-methoxy-9,10-dihydrophenanthrene and 3(3-(3,4-Dihydroxybenzyl)-7-hydroxychroman-4-one as novel inhibitors of α-AE and α-GE. Notably, these compounds were initially discovered in Apis mellifera propolis, and molecular dynamic analysis confirmed their stable binding with both enzymes over 100 ns simulations. In vivo acute toxicity test reveals AMPE as a practically non-toxic product with LD50 value of 16050mg/kg.

New insights of propolis nanoformulation and its therapeutic potential in human diseases

Background and purpose

Scientific research is crucial to develop therapies for various disease severity levels, as modern drugs cause side effects and are difficult to predict. Researchers are exploring herbal alternatives with fewer side effects, particularly propolis, which has been validated through in vitro, in vivo, and clinical studies. This will focus on scientific evidence and its supporting technology for developing new bioactive compounds for chronic diseases. Nanotechnology can improve the delivery and absorption of herbal medicines, which often have poor bioavailability due to their high molecular weight and solubility in water, particularly in oral medicines. This technology can enhance propolis's effects through multi-target therapy and reduce side effects.

Experimental approach

All publications related to each section of this review were discovered using the search engines Google Scholar, Scopus, and Pubmed. This was only available for publication between 2013 and 2023. The selected publications were used as references in this review after being thoroughly studied.

Key results

Evaluation of propolis active compounds, the classification of propolis nano formulations, design concepts, and mechanisms of action of propolis nano formulation. Additionally, the challenges and prospects for how these insights can be translated into clinical benefits are discussed.

Conclusion

In the last ten years, a list of nanoformulation propolis has been reported. This review concludes the difficulties encountered in developing large-scale nanoformulations. To commercialize them, improvements in nano carrier synthesis, standardized evaluation methodology within the framework of strategy process improvement, and Good Manufacturing Practices would be required.

Revealing Propolis Potential Activity on Inhibiting Estrogen Receptor and Heat Shock Protein 90 Overexpressed in Breast Cancer by Bioinformatics Approaches

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer globally, with the highest incidence of breast cancer occurring in Asian countries including Indonesia. Among the types of breast cancer, the estrogen receptor (ER)-positive subtype which is prominent with estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) and heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) overexpression genes becomes the most prevalent than the others, approximately 75% of all breast cancer cases. ERα and HSP90 play a role in breast cancer activities including breast tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis mechanism. Propolis, a natural bee product, has been explored for its anticancer activity. However, there is lack of studies that evaluated the potential inhibitor from propolis compounds to the ERα and HSP90 proteins. Therefore, this article focuses on examining the correlation between ERα and HSP90's role in breast cancer and investigating the potential of 93 unique propolis compositions in inhibiting these genes in breast cancer using in silico approaches. This study revealed the positive correlation between ERα and HSP90 genes in breast cancer disease development. Furthermore, we also found novel potential bioactive compounds of propolis against breast cancer through binding with ERα and HSP90; they were 3',4',7-trihydroxyisoflavone and baicalein-7-O-β-D glucopyranoside, respectively. Further research on these compounds is needed to elucidate deeper mechanisms and activity in the real biological system to develop new breast cancer drug treatments.

Revealing curcumin therapeutic targets on SRC, PPARG, MAPK8 and HSP90 as liver cirrhosis therapy based on comprehensive bioinformatic study

Cirrhosis naturally progresses through three stages: compensated, decompensated, and late decompensated, which carry an elevated risk of death. Although curcumin's anti-cirrhosis effects have been studied, underlying mechanism in preventing cirrhosis progression and the correlation between curcumin's action with upregulated genes remains insufficiently explored. In this study, we employed network pharmacology approach to construct a drug-target-disease network through bioinformatics and validate the findings with molecular docking and dynamic simulation. The curcumin-targeted liver cirrhosis network encompassed 54 nodes with 282 edges in protein-protein interactions (PPI) network. By utilizing network centrality analysis, we identified eight crucial genes. KEGG enrichment pathway revealed that these crucial genes are involved in pathway of cancer, endocrine resistance, estrogen signaling, chemical carcinogenesis-receptor activation, lipid metabolism, and atherosclerosis. Notably, these eight genes predominantly participate in cancer-related pathways. Further investigation revealed upregulation of four genes and downregulation of four others in hepatocellular carcinoma patients. These upregulated genes-MAPK8, SRC, PPARG, and HSP90AA1-strongly correlated with reduced survival probability in liver hepatocellular carcinoma patients with survival times approximately under 4000 days (∼11 years). Molecular docking and molecular dynamic results exhibited curcumin's superior binding affinities and stability compared to native ligands of MAPK8, SRC, PPARG, and HSP90AA1 within 50 ns simulations. Moreover, MM-GBSA analysis showed stronger binding energy of curcumin to MAPK8, SRC, and HSP90AA1 than native ligand. In conclusion, this study provides valuable insights into curcumin's potential mechanisms in preventing liver cirrhosis progression, specifically in HCC. These findings offer a theoretical basis for further pharmacological research into anti-HCC effect of curcumin.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Immunoinformatics Study: Multi-Epitope Based Vaccine Design from SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein

The coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak has become a huge challenge in the human sector for the past two years. The coronavirus is capable of mutating at a higher rate than other viruses. Thus, an approach for creating an effective vaccine is still needed to induce antibodies against multiple variants with lower side effects. Currently, there is a lack of research on designing a multiepitope of the COVID-19 spike protein for the Indonesian population with comprehensive immunoinformatic analysis. Therefore, this study aimed to design a multiepitope-based vaccine for the Indonesian population using an immunoinformatic approach. This study was conducted using the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein sequences from Indonesia that were retrieved from the GISAID database. Three SARS-CoV-2 sequences, with IDs of EIJK-61453, UGM0002, and B.1.1.7 were selected. The CD8+ cytotoxic T-cell lymphocyte (CTL) epitope, CD4+ helper T lymphocyte (HTL) epitope, B-cell epitope, and IFN-γ production were predicted. After modeling the vaccines, molecular docking, molecular dynamics, in silico immune simulations, and plasmid vector design were performed. The designed vaccine is antigenic, non-allergenic, non-toxic, capable of inducing IFN-γ with a population reach of 86.29% in Indonesia, and has good stability during molecular dynamics and immune simulation. Hence, this vaccine model is recommended to be investigated for further study.

In silico investigation of potential inhibitors to main protease and spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 in propolis

Docking analysis of propolis's natural compound was successfully performed against SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) and spike protein subunit 2 (S2). Initially, the propolis's protein was screened using chromatography analysis and successfully identified 22 compounds in the propolis. Four compounds were further investigated, i.e., neoblavaisoflavone, methylophiopogonone A, 3'-Methoxydaidzin, and genistin. The binding affinity of 3'-Methoxydaidzin was -7.7 kcal/mol, which is similar to nelfinavir (control), while the others were -7.6 kcal/mol. However, we found the key residue of Glu A:166 in the methylophiopogonone A and genistin, even though the predicted binding energy slightly higher than nelfinavir. In contrast, the predicted binding affinity of neoblavaisoflavone, methylophiopogonone A, 3'-Methoxydaidzin, and genistin against S2 were -8.1, -8.2, -8.3, and -8.3 kcal/mol, respectively, which is far below of the control (pravastatin, -7.3 kcal/mol). Instead of conventional hydrogen bonding, the π bonding influenced the binding affinity against S2. The results reveal that this is the first report about methylophiopogonone A, 3'-Methoxydaidzin, and genistin as candidates for anti-viral agents. Those compounds can then be further explored and used as a parent backbone molecule to develop a new supplementation for preventing SARS-CoV-2 infections during COVID-19 outbreaks.

Removal of Cu Metals from Wastewater by Adsorption using Synthetic Zeolites from Rice Husk and Corncob

Heavy metals, such as Cu, are hazardous components so that it needs to reduce their concentration due to their negative impact on the environment. One method that can be used to reduce heavy metals in waste is to use adsorbents (synthetic zeolites). Utilization of agricultural waste such as rice husks and corncobs as precursors of synthetic zeolites will add economic value because it is relatively cheap with a lot of availability. This research aimed to find out new variants of synthetic zeolites, which can reduce the concentration of Cu in the adsorption process. The study consisted of 3 stages, the first stage was zeolite synthesis by the sol-gel method with 3 zeolite variants (A, B and C), the second stage was characterization using XRD and SEM, and the third stage was zeolites optimization (variations in pH, weight, and concentration). According to the results of SEM, zeolite B had a larger and uniform pore size so as it produced a greater adsorption capacity (4.82 mg/g) to be compared with zeolites A and C. The results showed synthetic zeolite C was able to adsorb Cu waste by following the adsorption isotherm model of Langmuir