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Among various neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form. Excessive aggregation of β-amyloid protein (Aβ) is thought to be a major cause in the pathogenesis of AD. A growing number of studies also have suggested that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a critical role in the onset and progression of AD. The present study was aimed to investigate the neuroprotective effect of the high frequency and low intensity pulsed electric field (H-LIPEF) against hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and Aβ-induced cytotoxicity in SH-SY5Y cells. The systematic study on frequency- and amplitude-dependent neuroprotective effect of pulsed electric field (PEF) was performed, and the result showed that H-LIPEF at 200 Hz conferred the best protective effect to the SH-SY5Y cells. The underlying mechanisms were confirmed to be due to the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway and the downstream prosurvival and antioxidant proteins. Given the fact that electric field can be modified to focus on specific area and applicable in a non-contact manner, we propose that H-LIPEF holds great potential for neuroprotection and curing the patients with NDDs. Furthermore, it is anticipated that the combination of such physical stimulation with drugs or natural compounds will be even more effective in treating NDDs.

Hyperthermia (HT) has shown feasibility and potency as an anticancer therapy. Administration of HT in the chemotherapy has previously enhanced the cytotoxicity of drugs against pancreatic cancer. However, the drugs used when conducting these studies are substantially conventional chemotherapeutic agents that may cause unwanted side effects. Additionally, the thermal dosage in the treatment of cancer cells could also probably harm the healthy cells. The purpose of this work was to investigate the potential of the two natural polyphenolic compounds, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and chlorogenic acid (CGA), as heat synergizers in the thermal treatment of the PANC-1 cells. Furthermore, we have introduced a novel strategy entitled the thermal cycling-hyperthermia (TC-HT) that is capable of providing a maximum synergy and minimal side effect with the anticancer compounds. Our results demonstrate that the combination of the TC-HT and the CGA or EGCG markedly exerts the anticancer effect against the PANC-1 cells, while none of the single treatment induced such changes. The synergistic activity was attributed to the cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase and the induction of the ROS-dependent mitochondria-mediated apoptosis. These findings not only represent the first thermal synergistic study of natural compounds in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, but also highlight the potential application of the TC-HT as an alternative strategy in anticancer treatment.

With the expansion of the aged population, it is predicted that neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) will become a major threat to public health worldwide. However, existing therapies can control the symptoms of the diseases at best, rather than offering a fundamental cure. As for the complex pathogenesis, clinical and preclinical researches have indicated that oxidative stress, a central role in neuronal degeneration, is a possible therapeutic target in the development of novel remedies. In this study, the motor neuron-like cell line NSC-34 was employed as an experimental model in probing the effects induced by the combination of non-invasive low intensity pulsed electric field (LIPEF) and fucoidan on the H2O2-induced neuron damage. It was found that single treatment of the LIPEF could protect the NSC-34 cells from oxidative stress, and the protective effect was enhanced by combining the LIPEF and fucoidan. Notably, it was observed that single treatment of the LIPEF obviously suppressed the H2O2-enhanced expression of ROCK protein and increased the phosphorylation of Akt in the H2O2-treated NSC-34 cells. Moreover, the LIPEF can be easily modified to concentrate on a specific area. Accordingly, this technique can be used as an advanced remedy for ROCK inhibition without the drawback of drug metabolism. Therefore, we suggest the LIPEF would be a promising strategy as a treatment for motor neurodegeneration and warrant further probe into its potential in treating other neuronal degenerations.

Cancer is one of the most troublesome diseases and a leading cause of death worldwide. Recently, novel treatments have been continuously developed to improve the disadvantages of conventional therapies, such as prodigious expenses, unwanted side effects, and tumor recurrence. Here, we provide the first non-invasive treatment that has combined epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the most abundant catechin in green tea, with a low strength pulsed electric field (PEF) and a low energy ultrasound (US). It has been observed that the cell viability of human pancreatic cancer PANC-1 was decreased approximately to 20% of the control after this combination treatment for 72 h. Besides, the combined triple treatment significantly reduced the high tolerance of HepG2 cells to the EGCG-induced cytotoxicity and similarly exhibited compelling proliferation-inhibitory effects. We also found the combined triple treatment increased the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and acidic vesicles, and the EGCG-induced inhibition of Akt phosphorylation was dramatically intensified. In this study, the apoptosis inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK and the autophagy inhibitor 3-MA were, respectively, shown to attenuate the anticancer effects of the triple treatment. This indicates that the triple treatment-induced autophagy was switched from cytoprotective to cytotoxic, and hence, cooperatively caused cell death with the apoptosis. Since the EGCG is easily accessible from the green tea and mild for a long-term treatment, and the non-invasive physical stimulations could be modified to focus on a specific location, this combined triple treatment may serve as a promising strategy for anticancer therapy.

Apoptosis plays a dual role in cancer development and malignancy. The role of apoptosis-related caspases in cancer remains controversial, particularly in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC). In this study, we examined the protein levels of cleaved caspase-3, caspase-3, caspase-8, and caspase-9 on tissue microarrays consisting of samples from 246 OTSCC patients by immunohistochemistry. Wilcoxon signed-rank test indicated that the protein levels of cleaved caspase-3, caspase-3, caspase-8, and caspase-9 in tumor tissues were significantly higher compared to those in adjacent normal tissues (all p

Background Prostate cancer is the most common malignant tumor associated with male reproductive system. Objective The existing eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were critically appraised for the safety and effectiveness of CHM for prostate cancer. Methods A literature search was conducted by using PubMed, CENTRAL, CNKI, CBM, VIP and Wanfang databases until August 2015. RCTs of CHM or CHM plus conventional medicine for prostate cancer patients were included. The primary outcomes appraised were survival time, time to progression and quality of life. The risk of bias assessment according to the Cochrane Handbook was used to evaluate the methodological quality of the included trials. Revman 5.3 software was used for data analyses. Risk ratio and mean difference (MD) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) were used as effect measures. Meta-analysis was to be used if sufficient trials without obvious clinical or statistical heterogeneity were available. Results A total of 17 RCTs involving 1224 participants were analyzed. One trial was about CHM comparing to no treatment. The remaining 16 trials used CHMs as adjunctive treatment for endocrine therapy. Due to the poor quality of methodologies of most trials, only limited evidence showed that a combination of CHM and endocrine therapy might be more effective in restraining the development of the disease (MD 10.37 months, 95%CI 9.10 to 11.63 months), increasing patients’ survival time (7–15 months) or improving patients’ performance status, when compared to endocrine therapy alone (Karnofsky performance scale average changed 15 scores between groups). No severe adverse event was reported related to CHM. Conclusion Due to the insufficient quality of trials that were analyzed, it is not appropriate to recommend any kind of CHMs in treating prostate cancer at the present time. Well-designed trials with high methodological quality are needed to validate the effect of CHMs for patients with prostate cancer.