Apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 inhibition attenuates human airway smooth muscle growth and migration in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Increased airway smooth muscle (ASM) mass is observed in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is correlated with disease severity and negatively affects lung function in these patients. Thus, there is clear unmet clinical need for finding new therapies which can target airway remodeling and disease progression in COPD. Apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) is a ubiquitously expressed mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) kinase kinase (MAP3K) activated by various stress stimuli, including reactive oxygen species (ROS), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and is known to regulate cell proliferation.

Autophagy and airway fibrosis: Is there a link?

In the past decade, an emerging process named "autophagy" has generated intense interest in many chronic lung diseases. Tissue remodeling and fibrosis is a common feature of many airway diseases, and current therapies do not prevent or reverse these structural changes. Autophagy has evolved as a conserved process for bulk degradation and recycling of cytoplasmic components to maintain basal cellular homeostasis and healthy organelle populations in the cell.

Synthesis and anti-inflammatory activity of novel triazole hybrids of (+)-usnic acid, the major dibenzofuran metabolite of the lichen Usnea longissima.

(+)-Usnic acid ((R)-2,6-diacetyl-7,9-dihydroxy-8,9b-dimethyl-1,3(2H,9bH)-dibenzo-furandione), a dibenzofuran isolated from the lichen Usnea longissima, has been chemically transformed to synthesize a series of sixteen novel triazole analogs by click chemistry approach. The synthesized compounds were tested for their anti-inflammatory potential against the cytokines TNF-[Formula: see text] and IL-1[Formula: see text] in U937 cell lines. The bromo enamines (2a, 2b), azido enamines (3a, 3b) and triazole analogs (4f, 4g, 4h, 5f, 5g and 5h) exhibited promising anti-inflammatory activity against TNF-[Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text] values ranging from 1.

Chromium-induced nephrotoxicity and ameliorative effect of carvedilol in rats: Involvement of oxidative stress, apoptosis and inflammation.

Nephrotoxicity is a major adverse effect of chromium poisoning. In the present study, we investigated the potential renoprotective effect and underlying mechanisms of carvedilol, a non-specific β-adrenergic blocker using rat model of potassium dichromate-induced nephrotoxicity. Rats were pretreated with carvedilol (10mg/kg) for 21days.

Antioxidant, hepatoprotective and cytotoxic effects of icetexanes isolated from stem-bark of Premna tomentosa.

The study investigates the antioxidant, hepatoprotective and antiproliferative effects of novel icetexane diterpenoids (ice 1-4) isolated from hexane extract of stem bark of Premna tomentosa. A549, HT-29, MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, A431 cells were used to assess the antiproliferative activity by MTT assay. Cell death induced by apoptosis was determined by morphological assessment studies using acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining (dual staining), mitochondrial potential measurement by JC-1 staining, and cell cycle analysis by propidium iodide staining method by Muse cell analyser.