Lemon balm derivatives are going to acquire a novelty as natural and potent remedy for treatment of viral infections since the influenza viruses are developing resistance to the current antivirals widely. Oseltamivir, Melissa officinalis essential oil (MOEO) and their synergistic efficacy against avian influenza virus (AIV) subtype H9N2 were evaluated in vitro in MDCK cells at different time exposure by using TCID50, HA, Real Time PCR and HI assay. The results showed that MOEO could inhibit replication of AVI through the different virus replication phase (P B 0.05). Also the highest antiviral activity of MOEO was seen when AIV incubated with MOEO before cell infection. The TCID50/ml was reduced 1.3-2.1, 2.3-2.8, 3.7-4.5 log 10 than control group (5.6 log 10), HAU/50 ll was decreased 85-94, 71.4-94, 71.4-94 % and viral genome copy number/ll was brought down 68-95, 90-100, 89.6-99.9 % at pre-infection, post-infection and simultaneous stage, respectively. Hemagglutination inhibition result showed the MOEO was not able to inhibit agglutination of the chicken red blood cell (cRBC). Replication of the AVI was suppressed by the different concentration of oseltamivir completely or near 100 %. Also oseltamivir showed a synergistic activity with MOEO especially when oseltamivir concentration reduced under 0.005 mg/ml. The chemical composition was examined by GC-MS analysis and Its main constituents were identified as monoterpenaldehydes citral a, citral b. In conclusion, the findings of the study showed that lemon balm essential oil could inhibit influenza virus replication through different replication cycle steps especially throughout the direct interaction with the virus particles.

BackgroundSince the 1990s, influenza A viruses of the H9N2 subtype have been causing infections in the poultry population around the globe. This influenza subtype is widely circulating in poultry and human cases of AI H9N2 have been sporadically reported in countries where this virus is endemic in domestic birds. The wide circulation of H9N2 viruses throughout Europe and Asia along with their ability to cause direct infection in mammals and humans, raises public health concerns. H9N2 AI was reported for the first time in Iran in 1998 and at present it is endemic in poultry. This study was carried out to evaluate the exposure to H9N2 AI viruses among poultry workers from the Fars province.Methods100 poultry workers and 100 healthy individuals with no professional exposure to poultry took part in this study. Serum samples were tested for antibodies against two distinct H9N2 avian influenza viruses, which showed different phylogenetic clustering and important molecular differences, such as at the amino acid (aa) position 226 (Q/L) (H3 numbering), using haemagglutination inhibition (HI) and microneutralization (MN) assays.ResultsResults showed that 17 % of the poultry workers were positive for the A/chicken/Iran/10VIR/854-5/2008 virus in MN test and 12 % in HI test using the titer ≥40 as positive cut-off value. Only 2 % of the poultry workers were positive for the A/chicken/Iran/12VIR/9630/1998 virus. Seroprevalence of non exposed individuals for both H9N2 strains was below 3 % by both tests. Statistical analyses models showed that exposure to poultry significantly increases the risk of infection with H9N2 virus.ConclusionsThe results have demonstrated that exposure to avian H9N2 viruses had occurred among poultry workers in the Fars province of Iran. Continuous surveillance programmes should be implemented to monitor the presence of avian influenza infections in humans and to evaluate their potential threat to poultry workers and public health.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12985-016-0472-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Background: Ovarian cancer is the second leading cause of death in Iran compared with other gynecological diseases. Considering the role of cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes and prostaglandin E2 production in tumor lesions, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) show antitumor properties by inhibiting COX. Furthermore, some compounds can serve as non-selective inhibitors of COX (such as ketoprofen) and prevent cancer development. Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) is one of the most sensitive tumor markers known in the study of the disease of ovarian epithelial cancer. The expression of HE4 increases in different types of ovarian cancer. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the anti-cancer effects of ketoprofen on the viability of ovarian cancer cells and expression of HE4 gene. Methods: To calculate half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50), A2780S cells were treated with different concentrations of ketoprofen for 24 hours, then the cells were incubated with appropriate concentrations of IC50 for 24, 48, and 72 hours. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to measure changes caused by the effect of drugs on HE4 gene expression and analyzed by the 2-ΔΔCT method. Results: The IC50 level of ketoprofen for 24 hours was 583.7 μM. According to real-time PCR results, treatment of cells with ketoprofen reduced HE4 expression. Conclusions: HE4 gene expression decreased in cells treated with ketoprofen compared with the cells in the control group, which proves the anti-cancer activity of ketoprofen and a reduction in the viability of ovarian cancer cells.