Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by progressive joint inflammation and damage. Oxidative stress plays a critical role in the onset and progression of RA, significantly contributing to the disease's symptoms. The complex nature of RA and the role of oxidative stress make it particularly challenging to treat effectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharmaceuticals (Basel)
March 2024
Methotrexate (MTX) is the first drug of choice to treat several diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis. However, its administration is accompanied by severe side effects, most commonly hepatotoxicity. Hence, alternative therapies with a lower toxicity and fewer side effects are needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities of a novel series of eleven pyrimido[1,2-b]pyridazin-2-one analogues substituted at position 7 were assessed in the current study.
Methods: The physicochemical characteristics were studied using MolSoft software. The antiproliferative activity was investigated by MTT cell viability assay, and cell cycle analysis elucidated the antiproliferative mechanism of action.
Cannabis Cannabinoid Res
December 2024
Evidence supports a role of cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2) in regulating the immune response. Some variations in the CB2 receptor gene (CB2) were linked to the susceptibility of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between rs2501431 and the risk of developing RA in Lebanese patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Improving response rates in colorectal cancer (CRC) is an urgent clinical need. This study aimed to explore the synergistic action of Lebanese rosemary essential oil (REO) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in HCT116 CRC cells.
Methods: We tested the cell viability of monotherapy and combination therapy.
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med
April 2023
Background: Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality, and ranks third among cancers in terms of prevalence. Despite advances in early detection and treatment with chemotherapy and surgery, colon cancer continues to be associated with high recurrence rates, thereby resulting in a heavy disease burden. Moreover, the effectiveness of currently available treatment modalities is limited by the occurrence of toxic side effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAtypical epigenetic processes including histone acetylation and DNA methylation have been identified as a fundamental theme in hematologic malignancies. Such mechanisms modify gene expression and prompt, in part at least, the initiation and progression of several malignancies including acute myeloid leukemia. In the current study we determined the effects of treating KG-1 and U937 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells, in vitro, with the HDAC inhibitor, suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), or with a DNMT inhibitor, decitabine (DAC), or their combination, on cell proliferation, cell cycle progression, apoptosis, and expression of apoptosis-related proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is a common cause of oncological deaths worldwide. Alterations of the epigenetic landscape constitute a well-documented hallmark of CRC phenotype. The accumulation of aberrant DNA methylation and histone acetylation plays a major role in altering gene activity and driving tumor onset, progression and metastasis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) being an incapacitating disease requires early effective intervention. Considering Methotrexate (MTX)- the first line of treatment for RA- intoxicates the liver; therefore, alternative therapies with similar efficacy yet lower cytotoxicity are desired. Indole-3-Carbinol (I3C) which is found in cruciferous vegetables was examined for its possible therapeutic potentials in comparison with MTX by investigating its anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritic, anti-oxidant, and hepatoprotective potentials in adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA) rat model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a painful chronic autoimmune disease affecting the joints. Its first-line therapy, Methotrexate (MTX), although effective in ameliorating the progress of the disease, induces hepatotoxicity over long-term usage. Thus, seeking natural compounds with fewer side effects could be an alternative therapeutic approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe cannabinoid (CB) receptor 2, primarily expressed in immune cells, was shown to play important immune-regulatory functions. In particular, the CB2-R63 functional variant has been shown to alter the ability of the CB2 receptor to exert its inhibitory function on T lymphocytes. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between a common dinucleotide polymorphism, Q63R, in the cannabinoid receptor 2 gene (CNR2) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the Lebanese population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis preclinical study investigated the therapeutic efficacy of electroporation (EP)-based delivery of plasmid DNA (pDNA) encoding viral proteins (envelope, core) and IFN-γ in the duck model of chronic hepatitis B virus (DHBV) infection. Importantly, only DNA EP-therapy resulted in a significant decrease in mean viremia titers and in intrahepatic covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) levels in chronic DHBV-carrier animals, compared with standard needle pDNA injection (SI). In addition, DNA EP-therapy stimulated in all virus-carriers a humoral response to DHBV preS protein, recognizing a broader range of major antigenic regions, including neutralizing epitopes, compared with SI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe explored in the duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) model the impact of electroporation (EP)-mediated DNA vaccine delivery on the neutralizing humoral response to viral preS/S large envelope protein. EP enhanced the kinetics and magnitude of anti-preS response compared to the standard needle DNA injection (SI). Importantly, EP dramatically enhanced the neutralizing potency of the humoral response, since antibodies induced by low DNA dose (10 μg) were able to highly neutralize DHBV and to recognize ten antigenic regions, including four neutralization epitopes.
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