Anticancer Activity of 2α, 3α, 19β, 23β-Tetrahydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic Acid (THA), a Novel Triterpenoid Isolated from Sinojackia sarcocarpa

BACKGROUND: Natural products represent an important source for agents of cancer prevention and cancer treatment. More than 60% of conventional anticancer drugs are derived from natural sources, particularly from plant-derived materials. In this study, 2α, 3α, 19β, 23β-tetrahydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid (THA), a novel triterpenoid from the leaves of Sinojackia sarcocarpa, was isolated, and its anticancer activity was investigated both in vitro and in vivo. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: THA possessed potent tumor selected toxicity in vitro. It exhibited significantly higher cytotoxicity to the cancer cell lines A2780 and HepG2 than to IOSE144 and QSG7701, two noncancerous cell lines derived from ovary epithelium and liver, respectively. Moreover, THA showed a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on A2780 ovary tumor growth in vivo in nude mice. THA induced a dose-dependent apoptosis and G2/M cell cycle arrest in A2780 and HepG2 cells. The THA-induced cell cycle arrest was accompanied by a downregulation of Cdc2. The apoptosis induced by THA was evident by induction of DNA fragmentation, release of cytoplasmic Cytochrome c from mitochondria, activation of caspases, downregulation of Bcl-2 and upregulation of Bax. CONCLUSION: The primary data indicated that THA exhibit a high toxicity toward two cancer cells than their respective non-cancerous counterparts and has a significant anticancer activity both in vitro and in vivo. Thus, THA and/or its derivatives may have great potential in the prevention and treatment of human ovary tumors and other malignancies

A Natural Combination Extract of Viscum album L. Containing Both Triterpene Acids and Lectins Is Highly Effective against AML In Vivo

Aqueous Viscum album L. extracts are widely used in complementary cancer medicine. Hydrophobic triterpene acids also possess anti-cancer properties, but due to their low solubility they do not occur in significant amounts in aqueous extracts. Using cyclodextrins we solubilised mistletoe triterpenes (mainly oleanolic acid) and investigated the effect of a mistletoe whole plant extract on human acute myeloid leukaemia cells in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo. Single Viscum album L. extracts containing only solubilised triterpene acids (TT) or lectins (viscum) inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner in vitro and ex vivo. The combination of viscum and TT extracts (viscumTT) enhanced the induction of apoptosis synergistically. The experiments demonstrated that all three extracts are able to induce apoptosis via caspase-8 and -9 dependent pathways with down-regulation of members of the inhibitor of apoptosis and Bcl-2 families of proteins. Finally, the acute myeloid leukaemia mouse model experiment confirmed the therapeutic effectiveness of viscumTT-treatment resulting in significant tumour weight reduction, comparable to the effect in cytarabine-treated mice. These results suggest that the combination viscumTT may have a potential therapeutic value for the treatment AML

[In Process Citation] Resveratrol und neu synthetisierte Resveratrol-Analoga zur Therapie des Prostatakarzinoms

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Assessment of genetic diversity of Smallanthus sonchifolius (Poepp. & Endl.) h. Robinson landraces by using AFLP markers

AFLP (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism) analysis was carried out on Smallanthus sonchifolius to increase the knowledge on its genetic diversity. It is an ethnomedical and edible plant native of Peru and cultivated in many other countries. Thirteen landraces were analyzed by selected AFLP primer combinations generating a number of 185 fragments, of which 180 were polymorphic (97.00% of polymorphism). The mean value of fragments per primer combination was 37, but MseI (M)-CAG/EcoRI (E)-ACT primer combination reported the highest number with 63 amplicons, instead only 27 were revealed by M-CAG/E-ACC. The marker attributes such as resolving power (RP), marker index (MI) and polymorphism information content (PIC) were determined. RP values varied from 11.54 (M-CAG/E-ACC) to 27.54 (M-CAG/E-ACT), PIC ranged from 0.25 (M-CAG/E-AGC) to 0.28 (M-CAG/E-ACA), whereas MI values were found to be in the range from 6.18 (M-CAG/E-ACC) to 15.95 (M-CAG/E-ACT). Cluster analysis and PCA were evaluated for determining relationships among yacon landraces. We concluded that AFLP markers showed a highest efficiency in estimating genetic diversity in yacon despite to previous paper in which 3 times lower samples have been analyzed

Marker-Assisted Selection and resistance gene pyramiding in barley

The soil-borne barley yellow mosaic virus complex (BaMMV-BaYMV), the aphid-borne barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) and the seed-borne fungus Pyrenophora graminea (leaf stripe) are the most serious diseases for the barley crop in Southern Europe. Moreover, resistance to BaYMV, still not present in Czech Republic, is a target of quarantine breeding for this as well as for other Eastern European Countries, and resistance to leaf stripe an increasingly important trait for organic barley crop in Europe. Nevertheless, breeding for multiple diseases encounters several economical and technical problems, and cultivars resistant to all the former diseases are not yet available. In this view, two schemes of marker-assisted selection (MAS) have been followed in winter barley to develop high yielding advanced lines: an assisted pedigree by introducing the two virus resistances, and a "gene pyramiding" scheme to introduce four loci of resistance - two to leaf stripe, and one each to BYDV and BaYMV. STS and SSR markers have been selected for the aim and applied to segregating progenies together with phenotypic selection for agronomic traits.Results of the two MAS processes are here presented, including yield performances of the advanced breeding lines