Thiol antioxidants sensitize malabaricone C induced cancer cell death via reprogramming redox sensitive p53 and NF-κB proteins in vitro and in vivo.

Specific focus on "redox cancer therapy" by targeting drugs to redox homeostasis of the cancer cells is growing rapidly. Recent clinical studies showed that N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) treatment significantly decreased the metabolic heterogeneity and reduced Ki67 (a proliferation marker) with simultaneous enhancement in apoptosis of tumor cells in patients. However, it is not yet precisely known how thiol antioxidants enhance killing of cancer cells in a context dependent manner.

Spice-derived phenolic, malabaricone B induces mitochondrial damage in lung cancer cells via a p53-independent pathway.

The spice-derived phenolic, malabaricone B (mal B) showed selective toxicity to human lung cancer (A549), malignant melanoma (A375) and T cell leukemia (Jurkat) cell lines, without showing toxicity to human normal intestinal (INT407), human kidney (HEK293) and lung fibroblast (WI-38) cells. Among the chosen cancer cell lines, mal B showed maximum cytotoxicity to the A549 cells (IC50 = 8.1 ± 1.

DNA damage dependent activation of checkpoint kinase-1 and mitogen-activated protein kinase-p38 are required in malabaricone C-induced mitochondrial cell death.

Background: Given that lung cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths with low survival rates, the project was aimed to formulate an efficient drug with minimum side effects, and rationalize its action mechanistically.

Methods: Mitochondria deficient cells, shRNA-mediated BCL2 and ATM depleted cells and pharmacological inhibition of DNA-damage response proteins were employed to explore the signaling mechanism governed between nucleus and mitochondria in response to mal C.

Results: Mal C decreased cell viability in three lung carcinoma cells, associated with DNA damage, p38-MAPK activation, imbalance in BAX/BCL2 expression, mitochondrial dysfunction and cytochrome-c release.

Antipromastigote activity of the malabaricones of Myristica malabarica (rampatri).

A major problem in the management of visceral leishmaniasis, especially in the Indian subcontinent, is the growing unresponsiveness to conventional antimonial therapy, indicating the urgent need to identify new antileishmanial compounds. This study was undertaken to evaluate the antileishmanial activity of the fruit rind of Myristica malabarica that is used as a spice and is also credited with medicinal properties. The antipromastigote activity of different extracts/fractions of M.