Beta cells AND Curcumin

5-Fluorouracil (5-Fu) is efficient for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment, but fast-emerging resistance limits its usage. Curcumin is being investigated for its potential chemosensitivity, but its low oral bioavailability hinders its chemosensitivity effect in vivo. Gut microbiota modulation is considered to contribute to its bioactivities in vivo. In the current study, we demonstrate that curcumin can enhance 5-Fu chemosensitivity in HCC cells in vitro, increase the apoptosis rate, arrest the cell cycle at G2/M phase, and block the PI3k/AKT/mTOR signalling pathway by inhibiting the phosphorylation of PI3K and its downstream protein kinases...

BACKGROUND: Poor oral bioavailability of curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, has limited its therapeutic use in various diseases including diabetes mellitus (DM). The present study was aimed at evaluating and comparing the antidiabetic activity as well as pharmacokinetic profile of two turmeric extracts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Rats were divided into seven groups (n = 6) including Normal control (NC), Diabetic control (DC), two standard control groups- Glibenclamide (GLIB) 5 mg/kg and Metformin (MET) 500 mg/kg, two bio-enhanced turmeric extract (BTE) treated groups (BTE-30 (30 mg/kg), BTE-60 (60 mg/kg)) and one regular turmeric extract treated (RTE) group RTE-30 (30 mg/kg)...

Misfolded amyloid beta (Aβ) peptides aggregate and form neurotoxic oligomers. Membrane and mitochondrial damages, calcium dysregulation, oxidative stress, and fibril deposits are among the possible mechanisms of Aβ cytotoxicity. Galantamine (GAL) prevents apoptosis induced by Aβ mainly through the ability to stimulate allosterically the α7 nAChRs and to regulate the calcium cytosolic concentration. Here, we examined the cytoprotective effects of two GAL derivatives, namely compounds 4b and 8 , against Aβ cytotoxicity on the human neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y...

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a crucial role in preventing antitumor immune responses in cancer tissues. Cancer tissues produce large amounts of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), which promotes the generation of Foxp3+ Tregs from naïve CD4+ T cells in the local tumor microenvironment. TGF-β activates nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB)/p300 and SMAD signaling, which increases the number of acetylated histones at the Foxp3 locus and induces Foxp3 gene expression. TGF-β also helps stabilize Foxp3 expression...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Recently, optimal immune function has become a primary focus of worldwide attention not only in the prevention of chronic disease but also as one strategy to reduce the severity of acute illness. Inflammation, a process largely controlled by the immune system, has long been studied and recognized for its role in chronic disease. Optimizing immune function or managing inflammation using individual nutrients and phytonutrients is not well understood by the average person...

Neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), present biomedical challenges due to inability of pharmaceuticals to permeate the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and lack of therapeutic specificity in definite sites against multiple pathologies. Phosphatidylcholine (PC)-liposomes carrying curcumin (CURC), quercetin (QU), epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and rosmarinic acid (RA) with crosslinked glutathione (GSH) and apolipoprotein E (ApoE) were fabricated to recognize brain microvascular endothelial cells and amyloid beta (Aβ), and reduce tau protein hyperphosphorylation for AD management...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of curcumin on cell cycle and apoptosis of human lens epithelial cells and the possible molecular mechanism. OBJECTIVE: Cultured human lens epithelial cell line HLEC-SRA01/04 was treated with 20, 40 and 60 μmol/L curcumin for 24 or 48 h. The cell proliferation inhibition rate was determined using MTT assay, and the changes in cell cycle, mitochondrial membrane potential and apoptosis rate were analyzed with flow cytometry. Western blotting was used to detect the expression levels of caspase-9, caspase-3, Bcl-2, Bax, cyclin B1, CDK1, β-catenin, c-myc, and cyclin D1 in the cells...

The goal of this research was to evaluate the beneficial effects of topical curcumin loaded freeze-dried wafers in wound healing. Curcumin wafers were fabricated by cross-linking of chitosan with beta glycerophosphate under magnetic stirring. Composite wafers were prepared by the addition of sodium hyaluronate. Wafers were fabricated by freeze-drying technique. The resulted wafers were examined by naked eye and their dimensions were measured using a caliper. % Drug content, in-vitro release and % water uptake tests were conducted to characterize the fabricated wafers...

Curcumin analogs with excellent biological properties have been synthesized to address and overcome the poor pharmacokinetic profiles of curcumin. This study aims to investigate the cytotoxicity, anti-proliferative, and apoptosis-inducing ability of curcumin analog, MS13 on human glioblastoma U-87 MG, and neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells, and to examine the global proteome changes in these cells following treatment. Our current findings showed that MS13 induced potent cytotoxicity and anti-proliferative effects on both cells...

Wound healing is a complex process of communication between growth factors, reactive species of oxygen, cells, signalling pathways, and cytokines in the extracellular matrix, in which growth factors are the key regulators. In humans, the main regulators of the cellular responses in wound healing are five growth factors, namely EGF, bFGF, VEGF, and TGF-β1. On the other hand, antioxidants such as astaxanthin, beta-carotene, epigallocatechin gallate, delphinidin, and curcumin have been demonstrated to stimulate cell proliferation, migration and angiogenesis, and control inflammation, to suggest a practical approach to design new strategies to treat non-healing cutaneous conditions...

Amyloidosis is a concept that implicates disorders and complications that are due to abnormal protein accumulation in different cells and tissues. Protein aggregation-associated diseases are classified according to the type of aggregates and deposition sites, such as neurodegenerative disorders and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Polyphenolic phytochemicals such as curcumin and its derivatives have anti-amyloid effects both in vitro and in animal models; however, the underlying mechanisms are not understood. In this review, we summarized possible mechanisms by which curcumin could interfere with self-assembly processes and reduce amyloid aggregation in amyloidosis...

Bleomycin (BLM) injury is associated with the severity of acute lung injury (ALI) leading to fibrosis, a high-morbidity, and high-mortality respiratory disease of unknown etiology. BLM-induced ALI is marked by the activation of a potent fibrogenic cytokine transcription growth factor beta-1 (TGFβ-1), which is considered a critical cytokine in the progression of alveolar injury. Previously, our work demonstrated that a diet-derived compound curcumin (diferuloylmethane), represents its antioxidative and antifibrotic application in TGF-β1-mediated BLM-induced alveolar basal epithelial cells...

PURPOSE: The goal was to directly deliver curcumin, a natural polyphenolic anticancer and anti-inflammatory compound, to the lung tissues with minimal systemic exposure through the fabrication of proliposomes, overcoming its poor aqueous solubility and oral bioavailability. METHODS: Nano-spray drying was employed to prepare proliposomes using hydroxypropyl beta-cyclodextrin as a carrier. Lecithin and cholesterol were used as lipids, stearylamine and Poloxamer 188 were added as positive charge inducer and a surfactant, respectively...

Mesenchymal stem cells are increasingly studied for their use as drug-carrier in addition to their intrinsic potential for regenerative medicine. They could be used to transport molecules with a poor bioavailability such as curcumin in order to improve their clinical usage. This natural polyphenol, well-known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, has a poor solubility that limits its clinical potential. For this purpose, the use of NDS27, a curcumin salt complexed with hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HPβCD), displaying an increased solubility in aqueous solution, is preferred...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ranks near the top in the global list of malignancies causing cancer-related death. Recently, combination therapy has gained popularity in treating this cancer. We tried to investigate the efficacy of combined treatment with curcumin and anti-programmed cell death-1 (anti-PD-1) in HCC. Hep3B cells were treated with different concentrations of curcumin, followed by determination of Hep3B cell proliferation and programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression. Then, Hep3B cells were co-cultured with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), after which the Hep3B cell growth and immune activity were detected following treatment with curcumin and/or anti-PD-1...

BACKGROUND: Curcumin exerts a suppressive effect in tumor growth by acting as a modulator of multiple molecular targets. Circular RNA hsa_circ_0007580 (circ-PRKCA) accelerates the tumorigenesis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, whether curcumin can regulate circ-PRKCA to inhibit NSCLC progression is unclear. METHODS: Cell viability, colony formation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion were analyzed using Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), plate clone, flow cytometry, or transwell assay...

Many (poly-)phenolic natural products, for example, curcumin and taxifolin, have been studied for their activity against specific hallmarks of neurodegeneration, such as amyloid-β 42 (Aβ42) aggregation and neuroinflammation. Due to their drawbacks, arising from poor pharmacokinetics, rapid metabolism, and even instability in aqueous medium, the biological activity of azobenzene compounds carrying a pharmacophoric catechol group, which have been designed as bioisoteres of curcumin has been examined. Molecular simulations reveal the ability of these compounds to form a hydrophobic cluster with Aβ42, which adopts different folds, affecting the propensity to populate fibril-like conformations...

Curcuma longa (C. longa) or turmeric is a plant with a long history of use in traditional medicine, especially for treating inflammatory conditions C. longa and its main constituent, curcumin (CUR), showed various pharmacological effects such as antioxidant and anti-microbial properties. The updated knowledge of anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory effects of C. longa and CUR is provided in this review article. Pharmacological effects of C. longa, and CUR, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory properties, were searched using various databases and appropriate keywords until September 2020...

We present an integrated delivery technology herein employing the aerosolized method to repurpose thioflavin S for imaging amyloid beta (Abeta) deposits in the retina as a surrogate of Abeta in the brain for early detection of Alzheimer's disease. The data showed that wild type (WT) mice also have Abeta deposits in the retinae, albeit much less than 5XFAD mice. Further, only in 5XFAD mice, significant Abeta deposits were found associated with retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in whole-mount and cross-section data...

Objectives: Various therapeutic approaches, including stem-cell-based strategies and tissue engineering, have been proposed for oral ulcerative lesions. We investigated the effects of adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) seeded onto the curcumin-loaded collagen scaffold in the mucosal healing of oral ulcers in rats. Materials and Methods: The current experimental study was conducted on 40 male Sprague-Dawley rats. Oral ulcers were created over both sides of buccal mucosa, and the rats were randomly divided into four equal groups: 1) an untreated group (negative control); 2) Teriadent-treated group (positive control); 3) group treated with curcumin-loaded collagen scaffold; and 4) group received the ADSCs (3 × 106 cells) seeded onto the curcumin-loaded collagen scaffold...