Activity

006). A shorter duration of VAP treatment was recorded in high dose group (P=0.061). We did not observe any significant adverse event related to meropenem. Acinetobacter spp. (34.8%), Klebsiella spp. (32.6%) and, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (19.5%) isolated more frequently from sputum cultures. CONCLUSION Treatment with high dose of meropenem seems to be safe. However, it did not provide significantly higher clinical success rate in comparison with the standard dose, but could be considered as an appropriate empirical treatment in patients with severe infection due to reducing in SOFA and CPIS. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.BACKGROUND Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer deaths among women with lesser prognostics. Current treatment options are chemotherapy with platinum and taxane based chemotherapy, post cytoreductive surgery. β-Caryophyllene (BCP) an essential oil found in many plant species are known to possess an anti-proliferative effect. OBJECTIVE We aimed to investigate the antiproliferative, cytotoxic, and apoptotic role of BCP against ovarian cancer cells PA-1 and OAW 42. METHODS The antiproliferative effect of BCP was determined by MTT assay and cell viability by trypan blue exclusion assay. Cell cycle and live dead cell analyses were performed by flow cytometry to determine cell cycle distribution and apoptosis respectively. RESULTS Results of MTT assay proved the anti-proliferative effect of BCP in a dose and time-dependent manner on ovarian cancer cells. Cell cycle analysis showed that BCP induced S Phase arrest in OAW 42 cells. Results of apoptosis assay confirmed the apoptosis inducing potential of BCP in ovarian cancer cells. The apoptosis is mediated by caspase-3 activation. selleck CONCLUSION The results of our present study prove that BCP exerts its action partly by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in ovarian cancer. We conclude that BCP is a potential anti-cancer agent. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.BACKGROUND Hepatocellular carcinoma is a cancer with many new cases and the highest mortality rate. Chemotherapy is the most commonly used method for the clinical treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. Natural products have become clinically important chemotherapeutic drugs due to their great potential for pharmacological development. Many sesquiterpene lactone compounds have been proven to have antitumor effects on hepatocellular carcinoma. OBJECTIVE Britanin is a sesquiterpene lactone compound that can be considered for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. The present study aimed to investigate the antitumor effect of britanin. METHODS BEL 7402 and HepG2 cells were used to study the cytotoxicity and antitumor effects of britanin. Preliminary studies on the nuclear factor kappa B pathway were conducted by western blot analysis. A BEL 7402-luc subcutaneous tumor model was established for the in vivo antitumor studies of britanin. In vivo bioluminescence imaging was conducted to monitor changes in tumor size. RESULTS The results of the cytotoxicity analysis showed that the IC50 values for britanin in BEL 7402 and HepG2 cells were 2.702μM and 6.006μM, respectively. The results of the colony formation demonstrated that the number of cells in a colony was reduced significantly after britanin treatment. And the results of transwell migration assays showed that the migration ability of tumor cells was significantly weakened after treatment with britanin. Tumor size measurements and staining results showed that tumor size was inhibited after britanin treatment. The western blot analysis results showed the inhibition of p65 protein expression and reduced the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax after treatment. CONCLUSION A series of in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that britanin had good antitumor effects and provided an option for hepatocellular carcinoma treatment. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.Cancer is one of the global prominent causes of death and foremost worldwide health concern. Despite unprecedented progress in cancer chemoprevention, vast number of cancers however remain an undefeatable challenge for treatment modalities. Immense therapeutic activities of puerarin contribute to its use in various health disorders. In this review, we explored the potential molecular mechanisms and targets of puerarin proving its potential as a novel anticancer agent, for future cancer therapy and chemoprevention. Several mechanisms account for anticancer activity of puerarin which include downregulation of NF-kB signalling pathway, mTOR signalling pathway, PI3K and BCl-2 proteins and upregulation of miR-16, caspase proteins, c-Jun N terminal kinase and extracellular signal regulated kinase 1/2. These alterations result in inhibition of cancer cells proliferation and /or induction of apoptosis. Understanding molecular mechanisms involved in chemotherapy and chemoprevention could aid in more pronounced exploration of puerarin in effective cancer treatment. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.BACKGROUND Cancer is a prevalent disease in the world and will only become more widespread as time goes on. New, more effective chemotherapeutics need to be developed for the treatment of cancer to keep up with this prevalence. Repurposing drugs is an alternative to discovering new chemotherapeutics. Clioquinol is currently being studied for reposition as an anti-cancer drug. OBJECTIVE To summarize the anti-cancer effects of clioquinol and its derivatives through a thorough literature and patent review and to review their potential re-uses in cancer treatment. METHODS Research articles were gathered through a PubMed database search using the keywords “Clioquinol” and “Cancer.” The keywords “Clioquinol Derivatives” and “Clioquinol Analogues” were also used on a PubMed database search to gather research articles on clioquinol derivatives. Patents were gathered through a Google Patents database search using the keywords “Clioquinol” and “Cancer.” RESULTS Clioquinol acts as a copper and zinc ionophore, a proteasome inhibitor, an anti-angiogenesis agent, and is an inhibitor of key signal transduction pathways responsible for its growth-inhibitory activity and cytotoxicity in cancer cells preclinically.