„Kitalált történetek”. ,A látogató’ és az ,Útvesztõ’

Andrographolide (Andro) has emerged recently as a potential and effective anticancer agent with induction of apoptosis in some cancer cell lines while induction of G2/M arrest with weak apoptosis in others. Few studies have proved that Andro is also effective in combination therapy. The flavonoid Taxifolin (Taxi) has showed anti-oxidant and antiproliferative effects against different cancer cells. Therefore, the present study investigated the cytotoxic effects of Andro alone or in combination with Taxi on HeLa cells. The combination of Andro with Taxi was synergistic at all tested concentrations and combination ratios. Andro alone induced caspase-dependent apoptosis which was enhanced by the combination with Taxi and attenuated partly by using Z-Vad-Fmk. Andro induced a protective reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent autophagy which was attenuated by Taxi. The activation of p53 was involved in Andro-induced autophagy where the use of Taxi or pifithrin-α (PFT-α) decreased it while the activation of JNK was involved in the cell death of HeLa cells but not in the induction of autophagy. The mitochondrial outer-membrane permeabilization (MOMP) plays an important role in Andro-induced cell death in HeLa cells. Andro alone increased the MOMP which was further increased in the case of combination. This led to the increase in AIF and cytochrome c release from mitochondria which consequently increased caspase-dependent and independent cell death. In conclusion, Andro induced a protective autophagy in HeLa cells which was reduced by Taxi and the cell death was increased by increasing the MOMP and subsequently the

Prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis among women attending gynecology and infertility clinics in Gaza, Palestine

SummaryBackgroundChlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular bacterium characterized by a biphasic developmental cycle of replication. The organism is recognized as one of the major causes of sexually transmissible human bacterial infection throughout the world. Since there have been no previous studies dealing with chlamydial diagnosis in Palestine, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence of C. trachomatis infection among women attending gynecology and infertility clinics.MethodsEndocervical swabs were collected from 109 women, aged 18–52 years (median 29 years), attending gynecology and infertility clinics in Gaza. These specimens were processed using molecular (polymerase chain reaction, PCR) and enzyme immunoassay (EIA; IDEIA™ PCE Chlamydia) techniques.ResultsThe results obtained show that the overall prevalence rate of C. trachomatis was 20.2%. The sensitivity was 73% for the EIA, 86% for the MOMP (major outer membrane protein gene)-based PCR, and 100% for the plasmid-based PCR. Meanwhile the specificity was 94% for the EIA, 98% for the plasmid-based PCR, and 100% for the MOMP-based PCR. In multivariate analysis, only cervical discharge was significantly associated with positivity for C. trachomatis (adjusted odds ratio 5.6, 95% confidence interval 2.0–15.5; p=0.001).ConclusionsThe study revealed that a significant proportion of Palestinian women expressed evidence of exposure to C. trachomatis. Women with cervicitis are more likely to have been previously infected or exposed to Chlamydia infection. Furthermore, PCR proved to be superior and more efficient in the diagnosis of C. trachomatis than EIA

Anticancer effect of andrographolide on cell cycle, apoptosis and autophagy of human breast carcinoma cells

ALQOUQA, IAS, AL ZAHARNA, MMM & CHEUNG, HY 2014, 'Anticancer effect of andrographolide on cell cycle, apoptosis and autophagy of human breast carcinoma cells' 10th International Postgraduate Symposium on Chinese medicine (ICMCM), China, 12/08/14 - 14/08/14 … ALQOUQA, IAS, AL ZAHARNA, MMM, & CHEUNG, HY (2014). Anticancer effect of andrographolide on cell cycle, apoptosis and autophagy of human breast carcinoma cells. 10th International Postgraduate Symposium on Chinese medicine (ICMCM), China … ALQOUQA IAS, AL ZAHARNA MMM, CHEUNG HY. Anticancer effect of andrographolide on cell cycle, apoptosis and autophagy of human breast carcinoma cells. 2014. 10th International Postgraduate Symposium on Chinese medicine (ICMCM), China … EL Qouqa, Iyad A AS ; AL ZAHARNA, Mazen MM ; CHEUNG, Hon Yeung. / Anticancer effect of andrographolide on cell cycle, apoptosis and autophagy of