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Abstract Renal fibrosis is the common final outcome of nearly all progressive chronic kidney diseases (CKD) that eventually develop into end-stage renal failure, which threatens the lives of patients. Currently, there are no effective drugs for the treatment of renal fibrosis. However, studies have shown that certain plant natural products have a fibrosis-alleviating effect. Thus, we have screened a large number of natural products for their ability to protect against renal fibrosis and found that bisdemethoxycurcumin has a good therapeutic effect in renal fibrosis according to the data obtained in a mouse model of unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO). The results indicate that bisdemethoxycurcumin can efficiently attenuate renal fibrosis induced by UUO. Additional studies of the bisdemethoxycurcumin mechanism of action in the treatment of renal fibrosis demonstrated that the therapeutic effect of bisdemethoxycurcumin is mediated by the specific induction of fibroblast apoptosis at a concentration of 20 μM. bisdemethoxycurcumin can efficiently protect against renal fibrosis both in vitro and in vivo. This discovery will provide new ideas for renal fibrosis treatment in clinics and a new direction for the development of effective drug therapy of renal fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tetrandrine (Tet), a bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloid, has been reported to possess anti-tumour activity. However, its effects on human glioma remain unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that Tet inhibited human glioma cell growth in vitro and in vivo . It has been hypothesised that Tet inhibits glioma growth by affecting glioma cell survival, proliferation and vasculature in and around the xenograft tumour in the chick CAM model and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) mediated these activities. Therefore, we conducted a detailed analysis of the inhibitory effects of Tet on cell survival using a TUNEL assay and flow cytometric analysis; on cell proliferation based on the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen; and on angiogenesis using a CAM anti-angiogenesis assay. We used western blotting to investigate the role of STAT3 on the anti-glioma activities of Tet. The results revealed that Tet inhibited survival and proliferation in human glioma cells, impaired tumour angiogenesis and decreased the expression of phosphorylated STAT3 and its downstream proteins. In sum, our data indicate that STAT3 is involved in Tet-induced the regression of glioma growth by activating tumour cell apoptosis, inhibiting glioma cell proliferation and inhibiting angiogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Anti-tumor activity of bakuchiol, an analogue of resveratrol, was investigated on human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cell line. MTT assay revealed that IC50 of bakuchiol at 72h was 9.58±1.12μmol/l, much lower than that of resveratrol (33.02±2.35μmol/l). Bakuchiol but not resveratrol elevated intracellular reactive oxygen species. Bakuchiol reduced mitochondrial membrane potential (∆Ψm) of cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, showing a more potent effect than that of resveratrol. More apoptotic cells were induced by bakuchiol, compared with resveratrol. Subsequently, S phase arrest, caspase 9/3 activaton, p53 and Bax up-regulation, as well as Bcl-2 down-regulation were observed in bakuchiol-treated A549 cells. The results point toward that S phase-related cell cycle regulation, more importantly reactive oxygen species-related apoptosis might contribute to the anticancer properties of bakuchiol, which will strongly support the further development of bakuchiol against non-small-cell lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]