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Ferulic acid (FA) is a widely distributed hydroxycinnamic acid found in various cereals and fruits exhibiting potent antioxidant and anticancer activities. However, due to low solubility and permeability, its availability to biological systems is limited. Non-toxic chitosan-tripolyphosphate pentasodium (CS-TPP) nanoparticles (NPs) are used to load sparingly soluble molecules and drugs, increasing their bioavailability. In the present work, we have encapsulated FA into the CS-TPP NPs to increase its potential as a therapeutic agent. Different concentrations of FA were tested to obtain optimum sized FA-loaded CS-TPP nanoparticles (FA/CS-TPP NPs) by ionic gelation method. Nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analyses and evaluated for their anticancer activity against ME-180 human cervical cancer cell lines. The FTIR spectra confirmed the encapsulation of FA and thermal analysis depicted its degradation profile. A concentration-dependent relationship between FA encapsulation efficiency and FA/ CS-TPP NPs diameter was observed. Smooth and spherical FA-loaded cytocompatible nanoparticles with an average diameter of 125 nm were obtained at 40 lM FA conc. The cytotoxicity of 40 lM FA/CS-TPP NPs against ME-180 cervical cancer cell lines was found to be higher as compared to 40 lM native FA. Apoptotic morphological changes as cytoplasmic remnants and damaged wrinkled cells in ME-180 cells were visualized using scanning electron microscopic and fluorescent microscopic techniques. Data concluded that chitosan enveloped FA nanoparticles could be exploited as an excellent therapeutic drug against cancer cells proliferation.

Parthenium hysterophorus is a globally recognized invasive alien weed that prominently colonizes grazing areas and cultivated lands causing adverse effect on crop production. Major allelochemicals released from parthenium include sesqueterpene lactones and phenolic acids. Among these the presence of caffeic, vanillic and ferulic acids is of industrial significance as they possess potent free radical scavenging and anticancer activities. This study reports for the first time, high total phenolic acid content (20.82 ± 0.82 mg GAE/g dry sample) in parthenium. The GC-MS analysis indicated the presence of ferulic, p-coumaric, vanillic and gallic acid as major phenolic components. Free radical scavenging activity of the phenolic acids extract gave an EC50 value 130.4 µg/ml when measured using DPPH assay. Anticancer activity of parthenium phenolic extract against A-498 (IC50 0.5237 µg/ml) and MDA-MB231 (IC50 and 0.2685 µg/ml) cancerous cell lines indicated its potential to be used as anticancer agent.

bPEI (polyethylenimine, 25 kDa, gold standard) is highly effective in transfection efficiency owing to its high buffering capacity, however, cytotoxicity limits its use in in vivo applications. We hypothesized that partial conversion of secondary amines in IPEI to tertiary amines, while preserving the overall number of amines, would result in improved buffering capacity, which may, in turn, improve transfection efficiency of the resulting nanoparticles with cell viability comparable to that of native IPEI. IPEI was crosslinked with BDE to obtain a series of IPEI nanoparticles (LPN-1 to LPN-8) which were obtained in approximately 80-85% yield. These particles were relatively non-toxic in vitro and in vivo. In vivo gene expression studies using LPN-5 in Balb/c mice through i.v. injection showed maximum expression of the reporter gene in the spleen. These results demonstrate the potential of these particles as efficient transfection reagents.

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Background: Cancer remains one of the most dangerous human diseases. According to International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) (WHO) Global burden rises to 14.1 million new cases and 8.2 million cancer deaths in 2012 and nearly 13.3 million people are likely to die annually of cancer by 2030. Further due to ever emerging drug resistance in cancers and increasing number of cancer deaths there is a need to recognize new therapeutic molecules against the cancer cells. Bacterial strains have been shown to possess anticancer potential in the past few years. Bacterial proteins from strains Lactobacillus sps, Bacillus cereus, Serratia marcence and Shigella flexneri have been tested for anticancer activity. Methods Protein extracts of Lactobacillus sps (MTCC 4184, 9496, and 10093), Bacillus cereus (MTCC 7166, 9017 and 10202), Serratia marcence (MTCC 7641, 7298 and 7729), Shigella flexneri (MTCC 1457 and 9543) were evaluated for their anticancer potential against human cancer cell lines Breast Cancer (MDA-MB-231) and Hep-G2 (Liver Cancer). Inhibition of Cancer Cells proliferation was confirmed by MTT Cell Viability Assay, Fluorescent Staining, Caspase-3 activity by Western blotting, DNA Fragmentation and Flow Cytometery. Chromatography and electrophoresis techniques were used for protein fractionation and analysis. Results In general, most of the bacterial protein extracts were found to be effective against one or more cancer cell lines. Protein extract of Lactobacillus sps (MTCC 4184), Bacillus cereus (MTCC 10202) and Shigella flexneri (MTCC 9543) inhibited both the cancer cell lines. Lactobacillus sps (MTCC 9496) was effective only against MDA-MB-231. Serratia marcence (MTCC 7298 and 7729) protein extract inhibited growth MDA-MB-231, while no effect on HepG2 was observed. Bacillus cereus (MTCC 7166) inhibited MDA-MB-231 and not HepG2. Protein extract of Lactobacillus sps (MTCC 10093), Bacillus cereus (MTCC 2763), Serratia marcence (MTCC 7641) and Shigella flexneri (MTCC1457) were none effective to both the cell lines. The cancer cell mortality was observed from 52% to 71% + 2%. Fluorescent staining and increased Caspase-3 activity confirmed by western blotting, DNA fragmentation and detection of cell cycle arrest by Flow Cytometry suggested that apoptosis was the major mechanism in inhibition of MDA-MB-231 and Hep-G2 cancer cells. Further, protein purification and analysis suggest that these are the low molecular mass bacterial protein which potentially inhibit cancer cell proliferation and act as anticancer molecules. The study confirms the anticancer potential of bacterial proteins which may constitute valuable candidates for development of novel anticancer drugs. Conclusion The study confirms the anticancer potential of bacterial proteins which may constitute valuable candidates for designing and development of novel anticancer drugs. Citation Format: Asvene K. Sharma, Partha Roy, Pratibha Vats. Antiproliferative activity of bacterial proteins against MDA-MB-231 human breast adenocarcinoma and HEPG-2 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4491. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4491