Introduction 5-Loxin ® is a novel Boswellia serrata extract enriched with 30% 3-O-acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid (AKBA), which exhibits potential anti-inflammatory properties by inhibiting the 5-lipoxygenase enzyme. A 90-day, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of 5-Loxin ® in the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee.

WISP-2 mRNA and protein was overexpressed in preneoplastic and cancerous cells of human breast. Statistical analyses show a significant association between WISP-2 expression and estrogen receptor (ER) positivity. In normal breast, the expression was virtually undetected. The studies showed that WISP-2 is an estrogen-induced early response gene in MCF-7 cells and the expression was continuously increased to reach a maximum level at 24 h. The estrogen effect was inhibited by a pure antiestrogen (ICI 182,780). Human mammary epithelial cells, in which WISP-2 expression was undetected or minimally detected, responded to 17beta-estradiol by upregulating the WISP-2 gene after transfection with ER-alpha, providing further evidences that WISP-2 expression is mediated through ER-alpha. Overexpression of WISP-2 mRNA by estrogen may be accomplished by both transcriptional activation and stabilization. MCF-7 cells exposed to progesterone had a rapid but transient increase in WISP-2 expression, and PR antagonist RU38486 blocked this mRNA induction. In combination with estradiol, progesterone acted as an antagonist inhibiting the expression of WISP-2 mRNA. Moreover, disruption of WISP-2 signaling in MCF-7 cells by use of antisense oligomers caused a significant reduction in tumor cell proliferation. The results are consistent with the conclusion that WISP-2 expression is a requirement for breast tumor cells proliferation.

Aflapin® is a novel synergistic composition derived from Boswellia serrata gum resin (Indian Patent Application No. 2229/CHE/2008). Aflapin is significantly better as an anti-inflammatory agent compared to the Boswellia extracts presently available in the market. A 90-day, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study was conducted to evaluate the comparative efficacy and tolerability of 5-Loxin® and Aflapin® in the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee (Clinical trial registration number: ISRCTN80793440). Sixty OA subjects were included in the study. The subjects received either 100 mg (n=20) of 5-Loxin® or 100 mg (n=20) of Aflapin® or a placebo (n=20) daily for 90 days. Each patient was evaluated for pain and physical functions by using the standard tools (visual analog scale, Lequesne's Functional Index, and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index) at the baseline (day 0), and at days 7, 30, 60 and 90. A battery of biochemical parameters in serum, urine and hematological parameters in citrated whole blood were performed to assess the safety of 5-Loxin® and Aflapin® in OA subjects. Fifty seven subjects completed the study. At the end of the study, both 5-Loxin® and Aflapin conferred clinically and statistically significant improvements in pain scores and physical function scores in OA subjects. Interestingly, significant improvements in pain score and functional ability were recorded as early as 7 days after initiation of the study in the treatment group supplemented with 100 mg Aflapin. Corroborating the improvements in pain scores in treatment groups, our in vitro studies provide evidences that Aflapin® is capable of inhibiting cartilage degrading enzyme MMP-3 and has the potential to regulate the inflammatory response by inhibiting ICAM-1. Aflapin® and 5-Loxin® reduce pain and improve physical functions significantly in OA subjects. Aflapin exhibited better efficacy compared to 5-Loxin®. In comparison with placebo, the safety parameters were almost unchanged in the treatment groups. Hence both 5-Loxin® and Aflapin® are safe for human consumption.

Although previous in vitro studies predicted that CCN5/ WISP-2 may act as an anti-invasive gene in breast cancer, the distribution pattern of CCN5 in breast cancer samples is conflicting. Thus, we systematically investigated the CCN5 expression profile in noninvasive and invasive breast tumor samples and its functional relevance in breast cancer progression. The studies showed that CCN5 expression is biphasic, such that in normal samples CCN5 expression is undetectable, whereas its expression is markedly increased in noninvasive breast lesions, including atypical ductal hyperplasia and ductal carcinoma in situ. Further, CCN5 mRNA and protein levels are significantly reduced as the cancer progresses from a noninvasive to invasive type. Additionally, we showed that CCN5 mRNA and protein level was almost undetectable in poorly differentiated cancers compared with the moderately or well-differentiated samples and its expression inversely correlated with lymph node positivity. The result was further supported by evaluating the RNA expression profile in microdissected sections using real-time PCR analysis. Therefore, our data suggest a protective function of CCN5 in noninvasive breast tumor cells. This hypothesis was further supported by our in vitro studies illuminating that CCN5 is a negative regulator of migration and invasion of breast cancer cells, and these events could be regulated by CCN5 through the modulation of the expression of genes essential for an invasive front. These include Snail-E-cadherin signaling and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 and MMP-2. Collectively, these studies suggest that the protective effect of CCN5 in breast cancer progression may have important therapeutic implications. [Cancer Res 2008;68(18):7606-12]

Up-regulation of the dolichol pathway, a "hallmark" of asparagine-linked protein glycosylation, enhances angiogenesis in vitro. The dynamic relationship between these two processes is now evaluated with tunicamycin. Capillary endothelial cells treated with tunicamycin were growth inhibited and could not be reversed with exogenous VEGF(165). Inhibition of angiogenesis is supported by down-regulation of (i) phosphorylated VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 receptors; (ii) VEGF(165)-specific phosphotyrosine kinase activity; and (iii) Matrigel(TM) invasion and chemotaxis. In vivo, tunicamycin prevented the vessel development in Matrigel(TM) implants in athymic Balb/c (nu/nu) mice. Immunohistochemical analysis of CD34 (p < 0.001) and CD144 (p < 0.001) exhibited reduced vascularization. A 3.8-fold increased expression of TSP-1, an endogenous angiogenesis inhibitor in Matrigel(TM) implants correlated with that in tunicamycin (32 h)-treated capillary endothelial cells. Intravenous injection of tunicamycin (0.5 mg/kg to 1.0 mg/kg) per week slowed down a double negative (MDA-MB-435) grade III breast adenocarcinoma growth by ∼50-60% in 3 weeks. Histopathological analysis of the paraffin sections indicated significant reduction in vessel size, the microvascular density and tumor mitotic index. Ki-67 and VEGF expression in tumor tissue were also reduced. A significant reduction of N-glycan expression in tumor microvessel was also observed. High expression of GRP-78 in CD144-positive cells supported unfolded protein response-mediated ER stress in tumor microvasculature. ∼65% reduction of a triple negative (MDA-MB-231) breast tumor xenograft in 1 week with tunicamycin (0.25 mg/kg) given orally and the absence of systemic and/or organ failure strongly supported tunicamycin's potential for a powerful glycotherapeutic treatment of breast cancer in the clinic.

Motility of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) is an essential step for both normal and pathologic angiogenesis. We report here that breast tumor cells, such as MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231, can modulate this SMC migration. We present evidence that the tumor cell-derived platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) is the key regulator of vascular SMCs motility induced by breast cancer cells. PDGF significantly upregulates neuropilin-1 (NRP-1) mRNA expression and protein production in aortic smooth muscle cells (AOSMCs) and depletion of NRP-1 production by AOSMCs with specific short hairpin RNA (shRNA) prevents the PDGF-dependent migration of vascular SMCs. Moreover, we demonstrate that PDGF physically interacts with NRP-1. We propose that tumor-derived PDGF and NRP-1 of AOSMCs function as a relay system that promotes motility of vascular SMCs.

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is a mitogen for estrogen receptor (ER) -positive breast tumor cells, and it has been proven that EGF occasionally mimicked estrogen action and cross-talks with ER-A to exert its activity. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to explore whether EGF is able to modulate the expression of Wnt-1-induced signaling protein-2/connective tissue growth factor/cysteine-rich 61/nephroblastoma overexpressed 5 (WISP-2/CCN5), an estrogenresponsive gene, in normal and transformed cell lines of the human breast and, if so, whether this induction is critical for EGF mitogenesis and what downstream signaling pathways are associated with this event. Here, we show that EGF-induced WISP-2 expression in ER-and EGF receptor -positive noninvasive MCF-7 breast tumor cells was dose and time dependent and that expression was modulated at transcription level. A synergism was seen in combination with estrogen. Moreover, small interfering RNA -mediated inhibition of WISP-2/CCN5 activity in MCF-7 cells resulted in abrogation of proliferation by EGF. The multiple molecular cross-talks, including the interactions between phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways and two diverse receptors (i.e., ER-A and EGFR), were essential in the event of EGF-induced WISP-2/CCN5 up-regulation in MCF-7 cells. Moreover, EGF action on WISP-2/CCN5 is restricted to ER-and EGFR-positive noninvasive breast tumor cells, and this

There is significant number of evidences suggesting the anti-inflammatory properties of gum resin extracts of Boswellia serrata containing 3-O-acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid (AKBA) and their promising potential as therapeutic interventions against inflammatory diseases such as osteoarthritis (OA). Unfortunately, the poor bioavailability of AKBA following oral administration might limit the anti-inflammatory efficacy of standardized Boswellia extract(s). To address this issue, we describe a novel composition called Aflapin, which contains B. serrata extract enriched in AKBA and non-volatile oil portion of B. serrata gum resin. Our observations show that the availability of AKBA in systemic circulation of experimental animals is increased by 51.78% in Aflapin-supplemented animals, in comparison with that of 30% AKBA standardized extract or BE-30 (5-Loxin(®)). Consistently, Aflapin confers better anti-inflammatory efficacy in Freund's Complete Adjuvant (FCA)-induced inflammation model of Sprague-Dawley rats. Interestingly, in comparison with BE-30, Aflapin(®) also provides significantly better protection from IL-1β-induced death of human primary chondrocytes and improves glycosaminoglycans production in human chondrocytes. In Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα)-induced human synovial cells, the inhibitory potential of Aflapin (IC(50) 44.736 ng/ml) on matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) production is 14.83% better than that of BE-30 (IC(50) 52.528 ng/ml). In summary, our observations collectively suggest that both the Boswellia products, BE-30 (5-Loxin(®)) and Aflapin, exhibit powerful anti-inflammatory efficacy and anti-arthritic potential. In particular, in comparison with BE-30, Aflapin provides more potential benefits in recovering articular cartilage damage or protection from proteolytic degradation due to inflammatory insult in arthritis such as osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.