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Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), accounting for about 15∼18% of all breast cancers, is notorious for its poor prognosis, high rate of relapse and short overall survival. Because of lacking effective therapeutic targets or drugs, treatment of TNBC in clinical encounters great obstacle. Siegesbeckiaorientalis L. have been used as a traditional Chinese medicine "Xi-Xian-Cao" for centuries with multiple medicinal benefits including cancerous treatment. We have reported the isolation of twenty-seven germacranolides including So-2 from the aerial parts of S. orientalis with potent cytotoxicity against breast cancer cells. The studyaims to verified the anti-TNBC function of the natural compound So-2 both in vitro and vivo and uncover the underlying mechanism. The results showed that So-2 caused cell cycle arrest and suppress TNBC cell proliferation and migration. Also, So-2 was first identified to be a bona fide ferroptosis inducer in TNBC cells. So-2 effectively suppressed tumor growth of TNBC by using an orthotopic transplantation tumor model. We also characterized the oncogenic role of the transcription factor E2F7 in TNBC. E2F7 was demonstrated to be involved in the ferroptosis-inducing and tumor suppression effect of So-2. Altogether, So-2 exhibits inhibitory effect on TNBC both in vitro and vivo by inducing TNBC ferroptosis via downregulating the expression of E2F7. These findings provide valuable insight into the pathogenesis of TNBC. The natural compound So-2, isolated from Chinese traditional medicine, might be a prospective drug candidate in TNBC therapy., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are most widely used as effective anti-inflammatory agents. However, their clinical application brings about inevasible gastrointestinal side effects. Pogostemon cablin is a traditional herbal medicine used for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases in China. One of its representative components, the tricyclic triterpenoid β-patchoulone (β-PAE) has demonstrated great anti-inflammatory activity and gastroprotective effect against ethanol-induced gastric injury, but its protective effect against gastric ulcer induced by indomethacin is still unknown., Purpose: To assess the protective effect of β-PAE against ulcer produced by indomethacin and reveal the underlying pharmacological mechanism., Study Design: We used an indomethacin-induced gastric ulcer model of rats in vivo., Methods: Gastroprotective activity of β-PAE (10, 20, 40 mg/kg, i.g.) was estimated via indomethacin-induced gastric ulcer model in rats. Histopathological and histochemical assessment of ulcerated tissues were performed. Protein and mRNA expression were determined by Elisa, Western blotting and qRT-PCR., Results: β-PAE could inhibit ulcer formation. Histopathological and histochemical assessment macroscopically demonstrated that β-PAE alleviates indomethacin-induced gastric ulceration in dose-dependent manner. After administration of β-PAE, elevated tumor necrosis factor -α level was significantly decreased and the phosphorylation of JNK and IκB was markedly inhibited. β-PAE suppressed the levels of E-selectin, P-selectin, intercellular adhesion molecule-1, vascular cell adhesion molecule and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, as well as myeloperoxidase. Meanwhile, β-PAE increased cyclooxygenase enzyme activities (COX-1 and COX-2) to enhance the production of prostaglandin E 2 . Proangiogenic protein, vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptor fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 mRNA expression were promoted while anti-angiogenic protein, endostatin-1 and its receptor ETAR mRNA expression were decreased., Conclusion: β-PAE may provide gastroprotection in indomethacin-induced gastric ulcer in rats by reducing inflammatory response and improving angiogenesis., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

According to the GC-MS analysis, compositional variation was observed between samples of patchouli oil, of which an unknown compound identified as patchoulene epoxide (PAO) was found only in the long-stored oil, whose biological activity still remains unknown. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the potential anti-inflammatory activity with three in vivo inflammatory models: xylene-induced ear edema, acetic acid-induced vascular permeability, and carrageenan-induced paw edema. Further investigation into its underlying mechanism on carrageenan-induced paw edema was conducted. Results demonstrated that PAO significantly inhibited the ear edema induced by xylene, lowered vascular permeability induced by acetic acid and decreased the paw edema induced by carrageenan. Moreover, PAO markedly decreased levels of tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF- α ), interleukin-1 β (IL-1 β ), interleukin-6 (IL-6), prostaglandin E2 (PGE 2 ), and nitric oxide (NO), but increased levels of interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-10 (IL-10). PAO was also shown to significantly downregulate the protein and mRNA expressions of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric-oxide synthase (iNOS). Western blot analysis revealed that PAO remarkably inhibited p50 and p65 translocation from the cytosol to the nucleus by suppressing IKK β and I κ B α phosphorylation. In conclusion, PAO exhibited potent anti-inflammatory activity probably by suppressing the activation of iNOS, COX-2 and NF- κ B signaling pathways.

Objective: To compare the quality of volatile oil of Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma from Guangxi and Sichuan., Methods: The volatile oil was extracted from Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma by using steam distillation method, and analyzed by GC-MS. Peak area normalization method was used for calculating the relative percentage contents of chemical constituents, and hierarchical cluster analysis was used for classifying the 20 batches of samples by their relative contents of the main components that were methyleugenol, cis-methylisoeugenol, γ-asarone, β-asarone and α-asarone., Results: The average extraction rate of 10 batches of volatile oil in Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma from Guangxi was 1. 61%, and 10 batches of samples from Sichuan was 1. 72%. The relative percentage contents of five main components totaled 78. 19% and 88. 84%, respectively. By t-test, there was no statistical difference between samples from Guangxi and Sichuan. In the hierarchical cluster analysis,10 batches of samples from Guangxi and 10 batches of samples from Sichuan could respectively be classified into four clusters subcategories and five clusters subcategories, while the mean of samples of Guangxi and the mean of samples of Sichuan respectively analyzed with 20 batches of the two habitats that all were classified in the same clusters subcategories. The results of similarity showed that the correlation coefficients of 8 batches in 10 batches of samples from Guangxi were over 0. 9, while 1 batch was only 0. 466. The correlation coefficients of 7 batches in 10 batches of samples from Sichuan had were over 0. 9, while 1 batch was only 0. 069. The correlation coefficients between the mean of samples of Guangxi and the mean of samples of Sichuan was 0. 996., Conclusion: Quality of the different batches of volatile oil from Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma have significant differences, but it has no obvious correlation with the habitats.

Objective: To analysis the constituents of volatile oil from Fructus Auranti Immaturus by GC-MS., Methods: The volatile oil was extracted by steam distillation, then separated by capillary gas chromatography. The constituents of volatile oil were identified and their amount were determined by normalization method., Results: Nineteen components were identified from Fructus Auranti Immaturus and their amount accounted 95.791% of total volatile oil. The main components were Limonene (68.25%), gamma-Terpinene (13.02%), alpha-Terpinol (3.28%), beta-Cymene (3.09%), beta-Myrcene (2.34%), alpha-Pinene (1.53%), beta-Pinene (1.05%)., Conclusion: The main component of volatile oil from Fructus Auranti is Limonene.

Objective: To observe the effects of volatile oil of Rhizoma Acori Tatarinowii (VOSCP) on morphology and cell viability in cultured neonate rat cardiac myocytes., Methods: The cardiac myocytes were cultured by trypsin under cool treatment, and the cell purity was assayed with imminocytochemistry; Morphological changes were observed under phase contrast microscope after cardiac myocytes with VOSCP of different concentration for 24h in vitro, and the cell viability was examed by MTT assay., Results: The purity of cultured neonate rat cardiac myocytes was higher than 95%; VOSCP of different concentration could depress pulse frequency and 100-160 mg/L VOSCP can obviously improve the viability of cardiac myocytes. The relation of dose-effect relationship was a parabola whose peak was at the value of 140 mg/L., Conclusion: VOSCP of proper concentration can depress pulse frequency and improve the viability of cardiac myocytes.