Human mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have been widely investigated both for regenerative medicine and their antinflammatory/immunomodulatory capacity. However, their ability to home pathological tissues suggested the development of strategies for using MSCs as carrier to deliver drug into tumor microenvironment. MSCs obtained from different tissues can be loaded in vitro with anti-cancer drugs by a simple procedures. In this report, we studied MSCs isolated and expanded from gingival papilla (GinPa-MSCs), by testing their ability to uptake and release three important anti-neoplastic drugs: Paclitaxel (PTX), Doxorubicin (DXR) and Gemcitabine (GCB). The efficacy of drugs releasing GinPa-MSCs was studied on a pancreatic cancer cell line and confirmed in vitro against a line of tongue squamous cell carcinoma (SCC154). Our results demonstrated that GinPa-MSCs efficiently incorporate the drugs and then released them in active form and in sufficient amount to produce a dramatic inhibition of squamous cell carcinoma growth in vitro. If compared with other MSCs sources, the collection of GinPa-MSCs is poorly invasive and cells can be easily expanded and efficiently loaded with anti cancer drugs. In particular, gemcitabine loaded GinPa-MSCs provide a good “cell-mediated drug delivery system” for a future potential application in the context of the oral oncology.

No abstract

Crocus sativus L. is known in herbal medicine for the various pharmacological effects of its components, but no data are found in literature about its biological properties toward Helicobacter pylori, Plasmodium spp. and Leishmania spp. In this work, the potential antibacterial and anti-parasitic effects of crocin and safranal, two important bioactive components in C. sativus, were explored, and also some semi-synthetic derivatives of safranal were tested in order to establish which modifications in the chemical structure could improve the biological activity. According to our promising results, we virtually screened our compounds by means of molecular modeling studies against the main H. pylori enzymes in order to unravel their putative mechanism of action.

Antibacterial and cytotoxic activities of cyclohexane, dichloromethane, methanol, and aqueous extracts of Cantharellus cibarius were tested. Broth microdilution assay was performed against 10 bacterial strains (Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, Micrococcus luteus, Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus feacalis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella abony), with emphasis on Helicobacter pylori. Methanol extract was the most active against H. pylori strains with minimal inhibitory concentration values between 4 and 32 μg/mL. All extracts were active against antibiotic resistant H. pylori. Methanol and aqueous extracts had no cytotoxicity against tested cell lines, whereas cyclohexane and dichloromethane extracts were active against HeLa and N87 cells, but also against healthy MRC-5 cells (IC 39.26 ± 1.24-134.79 ± 0.01 μg/mL). The tested aqueous extracts have shown 68% of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitory activity in doses of 1.25 mg/mL. Chemical analysis has shown the presence of linoleic, cis-vaccenic, and oleic acids, sterols, β-glucans, and polyphenolic compounds.