Could vitamin C improve the therapeutic effect of integrated medicine for COVID-19?

Combined the therapy of Western medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, and a high dose of vitamin C resulted in the most effective outcome for flight against COVID-19. It’s shortening the time of disease recovery, symptom disappearance, chest CT improvement, and tongue amelioration. Traditional Chinese medicine such as Bai-Nu decoction, and Buzhong Yiqi decoction possessed anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant properties, which improved the properties of western medicines added by increasing the white blood cell count and lymphocyte count supplement with vitamin C for combating COVID-19.The western medicines that are commonly used include (i) alpha-interferon (5 million U or equivalent dose each time for adults and twice daily), (ii) lopinavir/ritonavir (200 mg/50 mg per pill for adults, two pills each time and twice daily), ribavirin (jointly with interferon or lopinavir/ritonavir, 500 mg each time for adults, and twice or three times of intravenous injection daily), chloroquine phosphate (500 mg for 7 days, adults aged 18-65 with body weight over 50 kg), and arbidol (200 mg for adults, and no longer than 10 days). (To be continued)..

Could Artemisinin Increase the Sensitivity of Photodynamic Therapy Against SARS-CoV-2 Infection?

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Photodynamic Action of LED-Activated Curcumin against Staphylococcus aureus

Aim. To investigate the effect of photodynamic action of LED-activated curcumin on cell viability, membrane permeability, and intracellular reactive oxygen species of Staphylococcus aureus. Methods. Staphylococcus aureus was incubated with the different concentrations of curcumin for 60 min and then irradiated by blue light with the wavelength of 470 nm and with light dose of 3 J/cm2. The colony forming unit assay was used to investigate photocytotoxicity of curcumin on Staphylococcus aureus, confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and flow cytometry (FCM) for assaying membrane permeability, FCM analysis with DCFH-DA staining for measuring the intracellular ROS level, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for observing morphology and structure. Results. Blue light-activated curcumin significantly killed Staphylococcus aureus in a curcumin dose-dependent manner. TEM observed remarkable structural damages in S. aureus after light-activated curcumin. More red fluorescence of PI dye was found in S. aureus treated by blue light-activated curcumin than in those of the controlled bacterial cells. Intracellular ROS increase was observed after light-activated curcumin. Conclusion. Blue light-activated curcumin markedly damaged membrane permeability, resulting in cell death of Staphylococcus aureus and highlighted that intracellular ROS increase might be an important event in photodynamic killing of Staphylococcus aureus in the presence of curcumin

A Review of Resveratrol as a Potent Chemoprotective and Synergistic Agent in Cancer Chemotherapy

Background: Cancer has become a major disease endangering human health around the world. Conventional chemotherapy suffers from many side effects including pain, cardiotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, and renal toxicity. This review aims to describe a natural product of resveratrol as a chemoprotective and synergistic agent in the modulation of cancer chemotherapy.Methods: The publications were identified by comprehensive searching of SciFinder, PubMed, Web of Science, and our own reference library. Search terms included combinations of “resveratrol,” “cancer,” “natural products,” “chemotherapy,” and “side effects.” Selection of material focused on resveratrol reducing the side effects on cancer chemotherapy.Results: Thirty one references were referred in this review to outline resveratrol as a potent chemoprotective and synergistic agent in cancer chemotherapy, including 22 papers for describing the chemoprotective effects, and 9 papers for illustrating the synergistic effects.Conclusion: This study provides a systematic summary of resveratrol serving as a potent chemoprotective and synergistic agent to reduce the associated-side effects and enhance the therapeutic outcomes in cancer chemotherapy. Further studies in terms of resveratrol on a large amount of preclinical tests and clinical trials are highly demanded

Folic acid-modified celastrol nanoparticles: synthesis, characterization, anticancer activity in 2D and 3D breast cancer models

AbstractCelastrol is used in traditional Chinese medicine for treating cancers. However, its low water solubility and poor tumour selection represent major pitfalls for clinical application. In the present study, gold nanoparticle (AuNP) firstly was conjugated with PVP-co-2-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (Polymer) and celastrol then modified by folic acid. The as-prepared folate receptor-targeted celastrol AuNP (FCA) was characterized using attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectrometry, transmission electron microscope, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The physical properties of FCA were also determined in solubility, drug encapsulation and in vitro drug release. Its anticancer activities were assessed in the 2D and 3D breast cancer models. The results showed that FCA was synthesized successfully with good solubility, high encapsulation efficiency and loading content. FCA showed the optimal cumulative release at pH 5.0 and high cellular uptake and exhibited significant inhibition on breast cancer cells. FCA also induced more significant apoptosis either in 2D and 3D breast cancer model than the celastrol AuNP and celastrol alone. These findings demonstrate that FCA improves water solubility of celastrol and enhances its anticancer activities against breast cancer. FCA might be a potential candidate of anticancer drug for breast cancer in the future if further development

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19): From Causes to Preventions in Hong Kong

Hong Kong has been recently attacked by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). In late January 2020, it's shown a steadily increasing trend of confirmed cases. There is a 257 in total infected cases confirmed including 4 deaths until 20th of March 2020. To prevent further outbreak of COVID-19, this article discusses the current understanding of COVID-19 and compares with the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in 2003 of Hong Kong from the causes, transmission, symptoms, diagnosis, treatments and preventions to study for an applicable measurement to control COVID-19

LED Light-Activated Hypocrellin B Induces Mitochondrial Damage of Ovarian Cancer Cells

Objective. Hypocrellin is a natural photosensitizer from a traditional Chinese herb. In the present study, our aim is to investigate the effect of LED light-activated hypocrellin B on mitochondria of ovarian cancer cells. Material and Methods. Ovarian cancer HO-8910 cells were incubated with hypocrellin B at the concentration of 2.5 μM for 5 h and then irradiated by blue light from a novel LED source. Cell survival rate of HO-8910 cells was measured using MTT assay 24 h after photodynamic treatment of hypocrellin B. Mitochondrial morphology was observed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Mitochondrial membrane potential was measured using flow cytometry with JC-1 staining. Results. MTT assay showed that cell survival rate of HO-8910 cells in the photodynamic treatment group has significantly decreased down to 27.22±1.26% (P<0.01). Light irradiation alone or hypocrellin B alone showed no significant impact. In our TEM mitochondria of the cells after photodynamic treatment of hypocrellin B showed severe damage with swollen mitochondria that had nearly nonexistant cristae. Mitochondrial membrane potential remarkably decreased after photodynamic action of hypocrellin B. Conclusion. The findings demonstrated that photodynamic action of hypocrellin B significantly decreased cell proliferation of ovarian cancer HO-8910 cells, caused severe damage to mitochondrial structure, and induced mitochondrial membrane collapse

The Potential Use of “Magnoliae flos” Against COVID-19

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Cytotoxic Effect of Protoporphyrin IX to Human Leukemia U937 Cells under Ultrasonic Irradiation

Background: Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) is an alternative strategy that manages malignancies via the generation of cytotoxic factors during ultrasound-activated sono-sensitive agents. However, the detailed mechanisms are not clear. This study was to identify the cytotoxic effects of ultrasound-activated protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) on U937 cells. Methods: Flow cytometry was performed to detect the time course for PpIX uptake in U937 cells. Sub-cellular localization of PpIX in U937 cells was visualized by inverted confocal laser scanning microscope. Following PpIX-mediated SDT treatment, cell viability was evaluated by the 3-(4, 5- dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazoliumbromide (MTT) assay; nuclear damage was observed under fluorescent microscope; DNA fragmentation and mitochondrial membrane potential disruption were measured by flow cytometry. The role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in SDT-induced cell death was also evaluated. Results: We observed that PpIX is mainly localized in the mitochondria, with a maximal uptake within 2 h. Compared with PpIX or ultrasound alone, PpIX plus ultrasound treatment significantly declined cell viability, caused more serious damage of cell morphology, DNA and mitochondria. In the combined treatment group, the intracellular ROS was greatly higher than in other groups; ROS scavenger N-acetylcysteine could effectively rescue the loss of mitochondria membrane potential and cell viability induced by SDT. Conclusion: Taken together, these findings primarily indicated that fatal damage could be induced by PpIX-mediated SDT in U937 cells, and the intracellular ROS was involved during this process