and full-text of published articles. The journal is devoted to the promotion of health sciences and related disciplines (including medicine, pharmacy, nursing, biotechnology, cell and molecular biology, and related engineering fields). It seeks particularly (but not exclusively) to encourage multidisciplinary research and collaboration among scientists, the industry and the healthcare professionals. It will also provide an international forum for the communication and evaluation of data, methods and findings in health sciences and related disciplines. The journal welcomes original research papers, reviews and case reports on current topics of special interest and relevance. All manuscripts will be subject to rapid peer review. Those of high quality (not previously published and not under consideration for publication) will be published without delay. The maximum length of manuscripts should normally be 10,000 words (20 single-spaced typewritten pages) for review, 6,000 words for research articles, 3,000 for technical notes, case reports, commentaries and short communications.
The present investigation evaluates the hepato‐protective potential of R‐phycoerythrin (R‐PE)‐rich protein extract obtained from Portieria hornemannii (Lyngbye) Silva against H2O2‐induced hepatotoxicity using HepG2 cells (in vitro) and male Wistar albino Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) rats (in vivo). H2O2 treatment led to dose‐dependent decreases in cell viability of HepG2, which was ameliorated by the treatment with R‐PE‐rich extract. In vivo studies showed that all the vital parameters including enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidants as well as liver marker enzymes were affected in the experimentally induced HCC male Wistar rats upon exposure to the N‐diethylnitrosamine (DEN), a carcinogen. However, there was moderate to better restoration of such parameters in the carcinoma rats treated with R‐PE‐rich protein extract.
Practical applications
Therapeutic alternatives originating from food or food supplements are gaining popularity as “nutritional therapy” and they are well studied for their chemo‐preventive effects. Investigations of several food‐derived bioactive compounds revealed their ability to antagonize dysregulated targets in cellular signaling pathways to exhibit antineoplastic activities. Isolation of bioactive molecules present in marine food products and determination of their broad range pharmaceutical activity by means of deducing specific molecular targets as well as establishing minimal toxicity to normal tissues could aid in treatment of cancer. Phycobiliproteins are an important group of pigment molecules extracted from the red and blue green algae. A study was envisaged to evaluate the anticancer potential of RPERPE (R‐PE‐rich protein extract) obtained from P. hornemannii (Lyngbye) Silva against HCC using male Wistar albino rats as models. This study offers the scope of using the R‐PE‐rich protein extract of P.hornemannii for developing therapeutic anticancer formulation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.