Autophagic mechanisms in longevity intervention: role of natural active compounds

The term 'autophagy' literally translates to 'self-eating' and alterations to autophagy have been identified as one of the several molecular changes that occur with aging in a variety of species. Autophagy and aging, have a complicated and multifaceted relationship that has recently come to light thanks to breakthroughs in our understanding of the various substrates of autophagy on tissue homoeostasis. Several studies have been conducted to reveal the relationship between autophagy and age-related diseases. The present review looks at a few new aspects of autophagy and speculates on how they might be connected to both aging and the onset and progression of disease. Additionally, we go over the most recent preclinical data supporting the use of autophagy modulators as age-related illnesses including cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, and metabolic dysfunction. It is crucial to discover important targets in the autophagy pathway in order to create innovative therapies that effectively target autophagy. Natural products have pharmacological properties that can be therapeutically advantageous for the treatment of several diseases and they also serve as valuable sources of inspiration for the development of possible new small-molecule drugs. Indeed, recent scientific studies have shown that several natural products including alkaloids, terpenoids, steroids, and phenolics, have the ability to alter a number of important autophagic signalling pathways and exert therapeutic effects, thus, a wide range of potential targets in various stages of autophagy have been discovered. In this review, we summarised the naturally occurring active compounds that may control the autophagic signalling pathways.

Tromethamine and dodecanol appear to be the major secondary metabolites of Streptomyces decoyicus M

An isolate of Streptomyces decoyicus M* (code of the isolate) was identified by the sequencing of 16S rRNA gene. It was grown on solid media and secondary metabolites were extracted with n-butanol. The extract was dried and run in a sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel (SDS-PAGE, 10%). Two main bands obtained were sliced and the metabolites were regained in n-butanol. These two samples were then identified by gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The results demonstrated that tromethamine- and 1-dodecanol were the main constituents (band 1: 61% and 17.7%; band 2: 41% and 54%, respectively). This finding maintained that the isolate of Streptomyces decoyicus produced high amounts tromethamine- and 1-dodecanol under the conditions investigated.

Anticancer Effect and Phytochemical Profile of the Extract from Achillea ketenoglui against Human Colorectal Cancer Cell Lines

BACKGROUND

In the treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC), the search for new antineoplastic drugs with fewer side effects and more effectiveness continues. A significant part of these pursuits and efforts focus on medicinal herbs and plant components derived from these plants. A. ketenoglui is one of these medicinal plants, and its anticancer potential has never been studied before.

METHODS

The phenolic and flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity of A. ketenoglui extracts were determined. The phytochemical profiling and quantification analysis of major components were performed by HPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS. Cytotoxicity, proliferation, apoptosis and cell cycle were evaluated to reveal the anticancer activity of the extract on CRC cells (HCT 116 and HT-29). The determined anticancer activity was confirmed by mRNA (RT-qPCR) and protein (Western blotting) analyzes.

RESULTS

A. ketenoglui methanol extract was found to have high phenolic (281.89±0.23) and flavonoid (33.80±0.15) content and antioxidant activity (IC50 40.03±0.38). According to the XTT assay, the extract has strong cytotoxic activity (IC50 350 µM in HCT 116 and IC50 263 µM in HT-29 cell line). The compounds most commonly found in the plant are, in descending order, chlorogenic acid, apigenin, genistin, baicalin, eupatorin, casticin, and luteolin. In flowcytometric analysis, the extract was found to induce greater apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in both cell lines than in both control and positive control (casticin). According to the results of the mRNA expression analysis, the extract treatment upregulated the expression of the critical genes of the cell cycle and apoptosis, such as p53, p21, caspase-3, and caspase-9. In protein expression analysis, an increase in caspase-3 and p53 expression was observed in both cell lines treated with the extract. In addition, caspase-9 expression was increased in HT-29 cells.

CONCLUSION

The findings show that A. ketenoglui has an anticancer potential by inducing apoptosis and arresting the cancer cell cycle and may be promising for CRC therapy. This potential of the plant is realized through the synergistic effects of its newly identified components.

The Phytochemical Profile and Biological Activity of Liquidambar orientalis Mill. var. orientalis via NF-κB and Apoptotic Pathways in Human Colorectal Cancer

Liquidambar orientalis Mill. var. orientalis (Hammamelidaceae) commonly known as oriental sweet gum is a medicinal plant endemic to Turkey, and used for treatment of wounds such as ulcers, gastritis and skin diseases. However, there are only a limited number of studies on the anticancer properties of this plant. The aim of this study is to investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms of L. orientalis in colorectal cancer cell lines and to reveal the active therapeutic components. Antioxidant, anti-proliferative, anti-invasive and apoptotic effects were investigated for determining biological activities. The phytochemical profile and quantitation assays were carried out by using HPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS. The results demonstrated that leaf methanol extract (LM) of L. orientalis has the highest cytotoxic activity in HCT-116 (IC₅₀ 27.80 μg/mL) and HT-29 (IC₅₀ 43.13 μg/mL) cell lines as compared to the other extracts tested. Regarding chemical composition, quercetin 3-glucoside (61.005 ± 1.527 mg/g extract), chlorogenic acid (31.627 ± 0.970 mg/g extract), pyrogallol (9.950 ± 0.001 mg/g extract), epigallocatechin gallate (9.671 ± 0.004 mg/g extract), apigenin 7-O-glucoside (2.687 ± 0.027 mg/g extract), gallic acid (2.137 ± 0.012 mg/g extract), genistin (1.270 ± 0.027 mg/g extract), luteolin (0.055 ± 0.0005 mg/g extract) and kaempferol (0.506 ± 0.007 mg/g extract) were identified as the major phytochemical compounds. Our results showed that LM extract exhibited In Vitro cytotoxic and apoptotic properties.

Bioproduction process of natural products and biopharmaceuticals: Biotechnological aspects

Decades of research have been put in place for developing sustainable routes of bioproduction of high commercial value natural products (NPs) on the global market. In the last few years alone, we have witnessed significant advances in the biotechnological production of NPs. The development of new methodologies has resulted in a better understanding of the metabolic flux within the organisms, which have driven manipulations to improve production of the target product. This was further realised due to the recent advances in the omics technologies such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and secretomics, as well as systems and synthetic biology. Additionally, the combined application of novel engineering strategies has made possible avenues for enhancing the yield of these products in an efficient and economical way. Invention of high-throughput technologies such as next generation sequencing (NGS) and toolkits for genome editing Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR-associated 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) have been the game changers and provided unprecedented opportunities to generate rationally designed synthetic circuits which can produce complex molecules. This review covers recent advances in the engineering of various hosts for the production of bioactive NPs and biopharmaceuticals. It also highlights general approaches and strategies to improve their biosynthesis with higher yields in a perspective of plants and microbes (bacteria, yeast and filamentous fungi). Although there are numerous reviews covering this topic on a selected species at a time, our approach herein is to give a comprehensive understanding about state-of-art technologies in different platforms of organisms.

Regulatory Role of Nrf2 Signaling Pathway in Wound Healing Process

Wound healing involves a series of cellular events in damaged cells and tissues initiated with hemostasis and finally culminating with the formation of a fibrin clot. However, delay in the normal wound healing process during pathological conditions due to reactive oxygen species, inflammation and immune suppression at the wound site represents a medical challenge. So far, many therapeutic strategies have been developed to improve cellular homeostasis and chronic wounds in order to accelerate wound repair. In this context, the role of Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) during the wound healing process has been a stimulating research topic for therapeutic perspectives. Nrf2 is the main regulator of intracellular redox homeostasis. It increases cytoprotective gene expression and the antioxidant capacity of mammalian cells. It has been reported that some bioactive compounds attenuate cellular stress and thus accelerate cell proliferation, neovascularization and repair of damaged tissues by promoting Nrf2 activation. This review highlights the importance of the Nrf2 signaling pathway in wound healing strategies and the role of bioactive compounds that support wound repair through the modulation of this crucial transcription factor.

Heavy metal and essential elements in beers from turkey market: A risk assessment study

In this study, the level of arsenic (As), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) and also essential elements in beer samples consumed in Turkey were investigated using the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) method. The heavy metal-induced non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks were calculated. For essential elements, the calculated estimated daily intake of iron (Fe), copper (Cu), selenium (Se) and cobalt (Co) from beer consumption were compared with their toxicity reference values. Tukey post-hoc test showed that As was found at a significantly higher level when compared to Pb. Also, a significant correlation was found between As level and alcohol by volume percent. All samples had a hazard quotient and hazard index <1, indicating no non-carcinogenic risk from exposure to single or multiple heavy metals. Some samples exceeded the threshold limit of acceptable cancer risk for As in the high beer consumer group. This assessment showed that in addition to health implications based on the alcohol content of beer, there might be a carcinogenic risk associated with the heavy metals content of these beverages.

Polyphenols in the treatment of autoimmune diseases

In addition to protecting body from infections and diseases, the immune system produces auto-antibodies that can cause complex autoimmune disorders, such as Type I diabetes, primary biliary cirrhosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis, to name a few. In such cases, the immune system fails to recognize between foreign agents and its own body cells. Different factors, such as genetic factors (CD25, STAT4), epigenetic factors (DNA methylation, histone modifications) and environmental factors (xenobiotics, drugs, hormones) trigger autoimmunity. Glucocorticoids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), immunosuppressive and biological agents are currently used to manage autoimmune diseases of different origins. However, complete cure remains elusive. Many dietary and natural products including polyphenols have been widely studied as possible alternative treatment strategies for the management of autoimmune disorders. Polyphenols possess a wide-range of pharmacological and therapeutic properties, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. As immunomodulatory agents, polyphenols are emerging pharmaceutical tools for management of various autoimmune disorders including vitiligo, ulcerative colitis and multiple sclerosis (MS). Polyphenols activate intracellular pathways such as arachidonic acid dependent pathway, nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) signaling pathway, mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) pathway, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt) signaling pathway and epigenetic modulation, which regulate the host's immune response. This timely review discusses putative points of action of polyphenols in autoimmune diseases, characterizing their efficacy and safety as therapeutic agents in managing autoimmune disorders.