Objective: This study intends to explore the potential of galangal extract as a co-chemotherapeutic agent through the analysis of its cytotoxic and migratory effects on metastatic breast cancer cells and as an anti-ageing agent through its senescence inhibitory effect on normal fibroblast cells. Methods: Galangal ethanolic extract (GE) was subjected to a cytotoxicity test with the 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay alone or in combination with doxorubicin (Dox) against 4T1 cells but not in NIH-3T3 cells. Evidence of senescent cells was detected using a SA-β galactosidase based assay. In addition, the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), apoptosis, and cell cycle were measured with a flow cytometry-based assay. Meanwhile, cell migration and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 expression after GE treatment on 4T1 cells were measured using the scratch wound healing assay and gelatin zymography assay, respectively. The metabolomic profiles of GE were traced using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Results: GE effectively inhibited the growth of 4T1 cells with an IC 50 value of 135 µg/mL and increased the cytotoxic effect of Dox at concentrations of 50 and 100 µg/mL. GE increased the number of senescent cells arrested in the G2/M phase but did not cause apoptosis. This effect is compounded by increasing intracellular levels of ROS. However, GE reduced senescence to normal in fibroblast cells (NIH 3T3 cells) under oxidative stress by Dox without any changes in the ROS level. Moreover, GE also inhibited the migration of 4T1 cells and suppressed the expression of MMP-9 induced by Dox. Conclusion: Galangal has the potential for use as a co-chemotherapeutic agent by inducing senescence in correlation with increasing intracellular ROS toward metastatic breast cancer. However, the effect of GE in decreasing the senescence phenomena toward normal fibroblast cells illustrates its potential as a promising anti-ageing agent.

The COVID-19 becomes worse with the existence of comorbid diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndromes, inflammation, degenerative diseases, as well as cancer. Therefore, a comprehension approach is needed to combat such comorbid conditions, not only focusing on the virus infection and replication but also directed to prevent the raising comorbid symptoms. This study analyzed the potential natural compounds, especially diosmin and hesperidin, as an anti-SARS-CoV-2 and chemopreventive agent against several COVID-19 comorbid diseases by using an in-silico method. Diosmin and hesperidin together with other natural compounds and existing viral drugs (lopinavir, nafamostat, and comastat) were docked into several proteins involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection and replication namely SARS-CoV-2 protease (PDB:6LU7), spike glycoprotein-RBD (PDB:6LXT), TMPRSS2, and PD-ACE2 (PDB:6VW1) using MOE software. The interaction properties were determined under docking score values. The result exhibited that diosmin and hesperidin performed superior interaction with all the four proteins compared to the other compounds, including the existing drugs. Moreover, under literature study, diosmin and hesperidin also elicit good chemopreventive properties against cardiovascular disorder, lung and kidney degeneration, as well as cancer development. In conclusion, diosmin and hesperidin possess high opportunity to be used for the COVID-19 and its the comorbid diseases as chemopreventive agents.Keywords: chemoprevention, COVID-19, diosmin, hesperidin, SARS-CoV-2 infection

Objective: To evaluate the anti-cancer properties of Caesalpinia sappan and Ficus septica in combination with doxorubicin on 4T1 cells, confirm their nephroprotective activities, and predict the molecular targets of the underlying mechanisms. Methods: The cytotoxic activities of all extracts and doxorubicin were determined by MTT assay followed by cell cycle and apoptosis analysis using flow cytometry. Immunoblotting was used to determine the protein expressions. The proteins involved in the cell proliferation and migration were analyzed through bioinformatics approaches, whereas, the interaction between compounds and protein targets was observed through molecular docking. Furthermore, the effect of the extracts on cell migration was analyzed by scratch wound healing assay. The intracellular ROS after treatment with extracts was observed using DCFDA staining flow cytometry. Results: Both ECS and EFS performed cytotoxic properties and significantly enhanced doxorubicin's cytotoxic effects against 4T1 cells. However, these cytotoxic activities did not correlate with the cell cycle progression. On the contrary, the combination treatment caused apoptosis that may correlate with the decreasing of IκBα phosphorylation, indicating that all agents targeted the inhibition of NF-κB activation. The combination treatments also inhibited cell migration and decreased MMP-9 expression. TNBC proliferation and metastasis needed at least 54 proteins to be activated, some of them are related to NF-κB activation. The inhibitory effect of ECS correlated with the interaction of brazilin and brazilein to IKK, a kinase protein that plays a role in IκBα phosphorylation. In addition, ECS and EFS reduced ROS expression in Vero cells caused by doxorubicin. Conclusion: In conclusion, ECS and EFS effectively enhanced the cytotoxic effect of doxorubicin and inhibit cell migration on 4T1 cells and these activities may correlate to the inhibitory effect of NF-κB activation. ECS and EFS also exhibit ROS suppressing effect on Vero cells that may be beneficent to reduce nephrotoxicity of chemotherapeutic treatment.

Background We previously reported that in highly metastatic breast cancer cells, doxorubicin (DOX) at non-toxic concentrations promoted cell migration and invasion. Hesperidin (30, 5, 9-dihydroxy-40-methoxy-7-orutinosyl flavanone) is a flavonoid glycoside isolated from citrus/lemon plant that possesses a cytotoxic effect in several cancer cells. In this study, we investigate whether DOX efficacy is enhanced by hesperidin (Hsd) and the molecular pathway involved in highly metastatic breast cancer, 4T1. Methods Combined cytotoxicity of Hsd and DOX was evaluated with MTT assay and was analyzed using Chou-Talalay’s method. To better understand the underlying mechanism, several factors, including apoptosis and cell cycle arrest were analyzed by flow cytometry. In addition, antimigration activity was evaluated by scratch wound healing assay, MMP-9 expression by ELISA and gelatin zymography, and Rac-1 protein level using western blot. The data on survival rate and expression level of MMP-9 and Rac-1 were obtained from Gene Expression OMNIBUS (GEO). Results Under MTT assay, Hsd showed a cytotoxic effect in a concentration-dependent manner with an IC50 value of 284 µM on 4T1 cells. Hsd synergistically enhanced the cytotoxic effect of DOX which seemed to correlate with an increase in apoptotic cell death, G2/M cell cycle arrest and blocked the migration of 4T1 cells. At 10 nM, doxorubicin induced lamellipodia formation, and increased the level of Rac-1 and metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) expression. Interestingly, combined treatment of DOX and Hsd dramatically downregulated the expression of MMP-9 and Rac-1. These results indicated that Hsd block the cell migration induced by DOX under in vitro studies. Conclusion These findings strongly suggest that Hsd possesses a potential synergistic effect that can be developed to enhance the anticancer efficacy of DOX and reduce the risks of chemotherapy use in highly metastatic breast cancer.

Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) is an epidemic of disease that usually becomes a benchmark of good or bad condition of the environment and health facilities of a region. When the disease is outbreak and does not get serious treatment, it causes death. One of the first steps that can be done to deal with this disease is to know the factors that affect the healing rate of DHF patients. This study aims to detect factors affecting the healing rate of DHF patients by using Cox regression analysis based on Cox model family, such as Cox Proportional Hazard (PH) model, extended Cox model with one and two heaviside function, and stratified Cox model and get best model for this study. The data used is secondary data consisting of 107 in-patients DHF period January-December 2016 at Regional General Hospital dr. Zainoel Abidin Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Based on Cox Proportional Hazard model, the variable that significantly affect the patient’s healing rate is Age. Based on the Extended Cox model with one heaviside function, the variables that significantly affect the patient’s healing rate are Age, Sex, Number of Platelets, Clinical Degrees III and Number of Leukocytes multiplied by the time function. Based on the Extended Cox model with two heaviside functions, the variables that significantly affect the patient’s healing rate are Age, Sex, Number of Platelets, Clinical Degrees III and Number of Leucocytes multiplied by second time function. Based on the stratified Cox model, there are no variables that significantly affect the patient’s healing rate. The best model based on Akaike Information Criterion value is the Stratified Cox model.

Senescence-induced therapy has been improved to increase its cytotoxicity and reduce the resistance of breast cancer cells to chemotherapy agents. An example of a potential senescence-inducing agent is black cumin oil (BCO) because one of its major compounds, α-pinene, can induce senescent cells. This study aims to explore the senescence-inducing activity of BCO in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells (MCF7/HER2). The yield obtained from hydro-distillation of BCO was 0.54%, and the main compounds were p-cymene (48.03%), dihydrocarveol (11.39%), and α-pinene (11.29%). BCO exhibited a moderate cytotoxicity profile indicated by IC50, which was >200 μg/mL in both cell lines. In combination with doxorubicin, BCO did not increase the cytotoxicity of doxorubicin. Moreover, BCO induced senescence by increasing 3% of the senescent cells compared with that of the control cells. However, this result was lower than that of the positive control on MCF7/HER2. BCO and doxorubicin combination increased the senescent cells by 3%–7% compared with the positive control on MCF7/HER2 cells. Therefore, the moderate cytotoxicity of BCO could be beneficial to the application of BCO as a supportive agent combined with a chemotherapy drug to increase cancer cells senescent and consequently inhibit cell proliferation.