BackgroundIndonesian mistletoe grows on various trees. Mango Mistletoes (Dendrophthoe pentandra) is one type of mistletoe that grown on mango tree (.benalu mangga in bahasa Indonesia). Our study used mistletoe as a parasitic plant that has been used for traditional medicine. It has been known that Dendrophtoe pentandra extract (DPE) anti-inflammatory and anticancer. Furthermore, it is necessary to follow-up study in vivo to evaluate the response to treatment of new cancer therapeutic agents. This research aimed to determine the levels of IL-22, myeloperoxide (MPO), proliferation and wild-type p53 expression after the administration of DPE to murine models of CAC.MethodsMouse colitis associated colon cancer (CAC) was induced firstly by azoxymethane (AOM) and followed by administration of drinking water containing 5 % dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) in a cycle protocol, each cycle consisted of seven days of 5 % DSS in the drinking water and followed by seven days of regular water. This study consists of five treatment groups: I was treated water only (control), II was administrated by (DSS only, without DPE), (III-V) were administrated by DPE (125 mg/kg BW, 250 mg/kg BW and 500 mg/kg BW) respectively. The administrated of DPE were started from the 8th weeks, were continued until 21 weeks. At the end of 21 weeks of the experiment, mice were sacrificed, colon tissue was removed, and then subjected to ELISA, flow cytometry, real-time PCR and histology examination.ResultsAdministration of DPE 250 mg/kgBW significantly reduce the levels of IL-22 and MPO compared with DSS only group (p < 0.001; p < 0.001). Colonic epithelial cells proliferation of group IV (DPE 250 mg/kgBW) were significantly lower than III and V groups. There was no significant change in the S phase in mice were treated DPE 125 mg/kg BW and 500 mg/kg BW, while administration of DPE 250 mg/kg BW was able to increase the percentage of cells in S phase. The expression of mRNA p53 was up regulated in mice received DPE 125 mg/kg BW.ConclusionThese findings indicate that the DPE could inhibit colonic epithelial cells proliferation through p53 pathway independently. This study also showed that DPE could be potential sources of new therapy.

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The aim of this study is to investigate the combination treatments of paclitaxel and chitosan-Dendrophthoe pentandra leaves extract nanoparticles (NPDP) on MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Chitosan-NPDP nanoparticles were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and assessed by using immunofluorescence microscopy. MCF-7 cells are cultured and divided into six groups: group 1 was a negative control (without paclitaxel or NPDP); group 2 was treated with paclitaxel alone; groups 3-5 were treated with NPDP (2, 4, and 8 mg/mL, respectively) and group 6 was treated only by 8 mg/mL of chitosan-NPDP nanoparticles. The proliferation and cell cycle were analyzed by flow cytometry and the expression of TUBB3 and MAP4 were assessed by immunofluorescence microscopy. The combinations of paclitaxel-NPDP significantly inhibit proliferation of cells (P<0.001) and it is able to induce G2/M cell cycle arrest (P<0.001). The combination of paclitaxel-NPDP significantly decreases the expressions of TUBB3 (P<0.001) and MAP4 (P<0.001) in MCF-7 cells. These results indicate that the combination of NPDP nanoparticles could reduce the expressions of TUBB3 and MAP4. This research may provide possible sources of new therapy for NPDP.

BACKGROUND: Population aging is considered to be a global phenomenon today. Age-associated immune system dysfunction or “immunosenescence” is indicated by increased susceptibility to infections and chronic diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, autoimmune diseases, heart disease, and atherosclerosis. One of the immunosenescence markers is a significant drop in CD28 and reduced proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-2 (IL-2). The mango mistletoes are deemed to have a better affinity for docking the CD28 and IL-2R receptors of α and β subunits than other plants. AIM: This study aims to determine the effect of ethanol extract of mango mistletoes on IL-2 levels, the percentage of CD4+CD28+, and the percentage of CD8+CD28+ in aged female mice. METHODS: The leaves of mango mistletoes were extracted using 96% ethanol solvent, and the extract was administered to aged female mice (18–20 months) orally with different doses for each group, namely 150, 300, and 600 mg/kg. Mango mistletoe leaves extract was administered once a day for 14 days. Then, the IL-2 levels of the mice were checked from their heart blood samples using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, while the percentages of CD4+CD28+ and CD8+CD28+ were examined from the spleen samples using flow cytometry. RESULTS: The ethanol extract of mango mistletoe leaves was able to increase the percentage of CD4+CD28+ significantly (p < 0.05) at doses of 300 and 600 mg/kg and increase the percentage of CD8+CD28+ significantly (p < 0.05) at a dose of 600 mg/kgBW, while other various doses had a strong enough correlation (r = 0.48) to increase IL-2 levels. CONCLUSION: The ethanol extract of mango mistletoe leaves has the good potential to inhibit the aging process in the immune system, as characterized by an increase in IL-2 levels and the percentage of CD4+CD28+ and CD8+CD28+.

Background: Placental malaria involves the sequestration of infected erythrocytes and infiltration of monocytes, helper T cells (CD4), cytotoxic T cells (CD8) as well as T-cell intracellular antigen-1 (TIA-1) in placental intervillous space. These may interferes the nutrient and oxygen transport, causing placental hypoxia and insufficiency that may affect the fetal growth. This study aimed to prove whether the infiltration of lymphocytes in placental malaria mice increases the expression of HIF-1α thus causes fetal Low Birth Weight (LBW). Methods: Nine pregnant BALB/c mice that infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA strain on day 9 post mating were used as treatment group and 8 non infected pregnant mice were used as control group. The mice were sacrificed on day 18 post mating; then the fetus was weighed individually and the placentas were isolated separately. Expression of CD4, CD8 and HIF-1α were counted by immunohistochemistry using CD4 monoclonal Ab (Santa cruz, sc-59031 CD4) and CD 8 monoclonal Ab (NeoMarker RM-9116-S0) as well as anti-HIF-1α antibody (H1α67) ChIP Grade from Abcam. Results: There was a higher expression of CD8, CD4 and HIF-1α in infected placenta compare to normal placenta. Analysis using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) showed expression CD8 and CD4 caused an increase expression of HIF-1α in placenta (t ≥1.96). Expression of HIF-1α caused low fetal weight (t ≥1.96). Conclusion: In placental malaria, the expression of CD4 and CD8 induce placental hypoxia characterized by increased expression of HIF-1α that causes LBW.

Ulcerative colitis is a major risk factor that increases the occurrence of colorectal cancer. In colorectal cancer due to colitis, intestinal inflammation plays an important role which causes DNA damage. The aim of this study is to investigate the anticancer effect of coelomic fluid of Eisenia fetida (CFEF) and cetuximab combinations. Colitis associated colon cancer was induced in BALB/c mice by DSS/AOM. The mice were randomly divided into six groups: group 1 received vehicle (control), groups 2–6 received DSS/AOM, groups 3–5 received cetuximab + CFEF (30, 60, or 120 mg/kgBW), and group 6 received CFEF only. After the 12th week of treatments, the colon tissues were removed for histological examination and immune-fluorescence. Intestinal Epithelial Cells (CECs) were analyzed by flow cytometer. Administration of CFEF significantly decreased the severity of DSS/AOM-induced CAC in a dose-dependent manner. The combinations of CFEF-cetuximab were revealed by histological change. The CFEF significantly reduced the severity scores (P<0.05). The combinations of CFEF-cetuximab significantly inhibited K-Ras and vimentin expressions, whereas the percentage of RUNX3 significantly increased in CECs. The increasing of RUNX3 could prevent EMT, so that it can decrease K-Ras and vimentin to suppressed cell invasion and migration by CFEF. Our results suggest that CFEF has the therapeutic potential to CAC.

Setelah menopause, wanita kehilangan efek protektif dari estrogen, sehingga merubah jalannya remodeling tulang dan akhirnya terjadi osteoporosis. Tujuan penelitian ini untuk mengetahui apakah ekstrak kacang tunggak dengan kandungan genistein didalamnya dapat berperan sebagai fitoestrogen yang dapat menjadi alternatif terapi pengganti estrogen pada tikus yang telah diovarektomi. Pada penelitian ini digunakan 6 kelompok yaitu: 1) kelompok tikus normal (K-neg), 2) kelompok tikus yang di ovarektomi dan dipertahankan selama 1 bulan (K-pos1), 3) kelompok tikus yang di ovarektomi dan dipertahankan selama 2 bulan (K-pos2), 4) kelompok yang diovarektomi dan dipertahankan selama 1 bulan kemudian diberi ekstrak kacang tunggak dosis 0,5 ml/kgBB (K-1), 5) 2,5 ml/kgBB (K-2), dan kelompok 6 dengan dosis 5 ml/kgBB (K-3). Tulang femur distal setiap tikus diambil kemudian dicat menggunakan Hematoxillin-Eosin. Jumlah osteoblas dan osteoklas kemudian dihitung dari 20 lapang pandang dengan perbesaran 1000x menggunakan mikroskop mikrofoto Olympus dan kemudian dihitung rata-ratanya. Data dianalisa menggunakan One Way ANOVA. Hasil menunjukkan jumlah osteoblas pada pada kelompok tikus yang di ovorektomi selama satu bulan dengan pemberian ekstrak kacang tunggak dosis 2,5 dan 5 ml/kgBB secara signifikan lebih rendah dibandingkan kontrol positif. Pemberian ekstrak kacang tunggak pada tikus yang diovorektomi juga memberikan kadar osteoklas yang lebih tinggi dbandingkan kontrol positif. Pemberian ekstrak kacang tunggak dapat meningkatkan jumlah osteoblas dan menurunkan jumlah osteoklas pada tikus yang mengalami perlakuan ovarektomi. Kacang tunggak, osteoblas, osteoklas, osteoporosisAfter menopause, women loss the protective effect of estrogen, so that process of bone remodelling is altered and osteoporosis begins. This study investigas whether genistein in blackeyed peas extract can act as phytoestrogen and become estrogen-replacement-therapy alternative in ovariectomized rats. In this study, there were 6 groups: the first group is normal control rats (K-neg), the second group is ovariectomized rats which are kept alive for 1 month (K-pos 1), the third group is ovariectomized rats which are kept alive for 2 month (K-pos 2), the fourth group is ovariectomized rats which are kept alive for 1 month and given blackeyed peas extract 0,, the fifth group with dosage 2,5 ml/kgBW (K-2), and the sixth group with dosage 5 ml/kgBW (K-3). Distal femoral bone of each rat was taken and stained using Hematoxillin-Eosin. The quantity of osteoblast and osteoclast were counted from 20 visual fields with 1000x magnitude using Microphoto Microscope Olympus and then averaged out. Data was analized using One Way ANOVA. The average quantity of osteoblast and osteoclast was significant up higher in K-1 and K-2 compared to K-pos 2. The average quantity of osteoclast was significant up lower in K-1, K-2, and K-3 compare to K-pos2. It can be concluded that blackeyed peas extract can increase the quantity of osteoblast and decrease the quantity of osteoclast in ...