Publications by authors named "Mohamed El-Mesery"

Aims: This study investigates the in vivo anticancer activity of carbenoxolone (CBX) and its role in fighting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression and alleviating resistance against doxorubicin (DOX). Moreover, the molecular mechanism of action of CBX is explored.

Methods: HCC was induced in Sprague Dawley rats via biweekly administration of thioacetamide (TAA) (200 mg/kg) intraperitoneally (i.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The Hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine uses purified surface antigens produced through recombinant DNA technology, targeting a specific region on the virus to induce neutralizing antibodies.
  • - A case study highlighted a vaccinated patient infected with an HBV strain (Eg200) that escaped the vaccine, belonging to genotype D and an uncommon sub-genotype D9 found in Egypt.
  • - The analysis revealed double mutations in a crucial part of the virus (T125M and P127T) that still aligns with the detected serotype of the vaccine escape strain, underscoring the need for ongoing surveillance of such strains for improving vaccination strategies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A common approach to cancer therapy is the combination of a natural product with chemotherapy to overcome sustained cell proliferation and chemotherapy resistance obstacles. Diosgenin (DG) is a phytosteroidal saponin that is naturally present in a vast number of plants and has been shown to exert anti-cancer activities against several tumor cells. Herein, we assessed the chemo-modulatory effects of DG on volasertib (Vola) as a polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) inhibitor and doxorubicin (DOX) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

NSAIDs represent a mainstay in pain and inflammation suppression, and their actions are mainly based on inhibiting COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes.Due to the adverse effects of these drugs, especially on the stomach and heart, scientists efforts have been directed to manufacture selective COX-2 without cardiovascular side effects and with minimal effects on the stomach. The cardiovascular side effects are thought to be related to the chemical composition rather than mechanism of action of these drugs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study explores repurposing the lipophilic statins, Simvastatin and Pitavastatin, alongside traditional chemotherapy drugs doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide for treating breast cancer.
  • Research was conducted using breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MCF7, focusing on cell viability, cell cycle effects, and apoptosis-related gene expression.
  • Results showed that combining statins with the chemotherapy drugs significantly reduced cell viability and increased apoptosis-related gene expression, particularly in the MDA-MB-231 cell line, suggesting a potential new strategy for breast cancer treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major cause of viral hepatitis globally, and it has four key proteins that are crucial for its function, including HBcAg.
  • This study details a method for cloning and expressing HBcAg using PCR and E. coli, leading to successful protein production verified by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting.
  • The synthesized HBcAg was effectively used in diagnosing HBV infections by detecting anti-HBcAg antibodies in patient serum, highlighting its potential for HBV research and diagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The sterile inflammatory response mediated by Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 4 and 9 is implicated in the massive hepatic damage caused by acetaminophen (APAP)-overdose. There is a crosstalk between TLR-dependent signaling with other intracellular kinases like phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases (PI3Ks). Nevertheless, the detailed role of PI3Kα is still unknown in hepatic sterile inflammation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inflammation has been convicted of causing and worsening many liver diseases like acute liver failure, fibrosis, cirrhosis, fatty liver and liver cancer. Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) like TLRs 4 and 9 localized on resident or recruited immune cells are well known cellular detectors of pathogen and damage-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs/DAMPs). Stimulation of these receptors generates the sterile and non-sterile inflammatory responses in the liver.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Preclinical studies have demonstrated the possible anticancer effects of statins, but the synergistic effect of concomitant statin use with standard chemotherapy protocols in patients with breast cancer has not yet been investigated.

Aim: The current study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of concomitant pitavastatin use with neoadjuvant chemotherapy protocols in patients with breast cancer.

Methods: This study was a randomized controlled clinical trial.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

All forms of restriction, from caloric to amino acid to glucose restriction, have been established in recent years as therapeutic options for various diseases, including cancer. However, usually there is no direct comparison between the different restriction forms. Additionally, many cell culture experiments take place under static conditions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The present study aimed to investigate the hepatoprotective effect of sesamol (SML), a nutritional phenolic compound obtained from sesame seeds, in liver fibrosis induced by thioacetamide (TAA) in rats and to explore the underlying mechanisms. Thirty-two male Sprague-Dawley rats were equally divided into four groups: control, TAA, TAA + SML 50 mg/kg, and TAA + SML 100 mg/kg groups. Liver functions and hepatic contents of glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured colorimetrically.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Nonlimited proliferation is a key characteristic of cancer cells, which rely on sufficient mass (amino acids) and energy (ATP, NADH) for division; restrictions in these resources can impact lifespan and diseases like cancer.
  • - A specific cell line (L929) shows a metabolic response to methionine restriction (MetR), characterized by low energy metabolism (LEM) and distinct molecular markers like acetoacetate and ATP.
  • - Mass spectrometry revealed that while healthy cells maintain energy for growth, MetR triggers LEM regardless of proliferation or contact inhibition, suggesting potential therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Therapeutics that impair the innate immune responses of the liver during the inflammatory cytokine storm like that occurring in COVID-19 are greatly needed. Much interest is currently directed toward Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors as potential candidates to mitigate this life-threatening complication. Accordingly, this study investigated the influence of the novel JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib (RXB) on concanavalin A (Con A)-induced hepatitis and systemic hyperinflammation in mice to simulate the context occurring in COVID-19 patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Methionine restriction (MetR) is an efficient method of amino acid restriction (AR) in cells and organisms that induces low energy metabolism (LEM) similar to caloric restriction (CR). The implementation of MetR as a therapy for cancer or other diseases is not simple since the elimination of a single amino acid in the diet is difficult. However, the in vivo turnover rate of cysteine is usually higher than the rate of intake through food.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Aims: The monosaccharide mannose has gained recent interest for its beneficial effect against certain inflammatory disorders. Nevertheless, the influence of mannose on experimentally-induced liver fibrosis and the ensued inflammation is still not fully clear to date.

Main Methods: The current study investigated the outcomes of treating rats with mannose (0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pevonedistat (MLN4924) is a specific NEDD8-activating enzyme inhibitor that inactivates cullin-RING ligases involved in ubiquitylation and turnover of different signaling molecules. In the current study, we evaluated the effect of pevonedistat on cisplatin (CIS)-induced nephrotoxicity in mice. Serum creatinine and urea levels were analyzed in different groups.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a significant health issue globally, and a study analyzed serum samples from 57 chronic HBV-infected Egyptians to understand the virus's characteristics.
  • The findings showed that all HBV isolates were of genotype D, with the ayw2 serotype being the most common (89%) and identified several mutations in the HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) and reverse transcriptase (RT) domains, some of which were novel.
  • The study highlighted the presence of 19 mutations linked to antiviral resistance in the RT domain and discovered viral quasispecies, emphasizing the Y124H mutation's prominence in Egypt and the novel mutations in both the HBsAg and RT domains for genotype D
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Otto Warburg's research in 1924 linked cancer cells' energy needs to a high glucose intake, motivating the exploration of energy metabolism as a cancer treatment strategy.
  • Methionine restriction (MetR) has been identified as a highly effective method for inducing low-energy metabolism due to methionine's crucial role in cellular processes.
  • This study developed the L929 murine cell line as a rapid testing model for MetR, analyzing over 150 metabolites using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) to enhance understanding of MetR's metabolic effects in cancer therapies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Obesity is a chronic inflammatory disease that represents a risk factor for number of diseases including diabetes, steatohepatitis, and cancer. Using safe natural compounds to ameliorate obesity and its related metabolic syndrome is an interesting spot for research. We investigated the regulatory role and the underlying mechanism of black seed oil (BSO) on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity in rats.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major global health concern, including in Egypt, with the study investigating the role of soluble fibrinogen-like protein 2 (sFGL2) during HBV infection.
  • The research measured serum levels of sFGL2 and other immune markers in acute and chronic HBV-infected patients compared to healthy individuals, finding that sFGL2 was significantly higher in acute cases.
  • The study concluded that sFGL2 levels could serve as a potential biomarker to help differentiate between acute and chronic HBV infections in Egyptian patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The gut-liver-axis is a bidirectional coordination between the gut, including microbial residents, the gut microbiota, from one side and the liver on the other side. Any disturbance in this crosstalk may lead to a disease status that impacts the functionality of both the gut and the liver. A major cause of liver disorders is hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection that has been illustrated to be associated with gut microbiota dysbiosis at different stages of the disease progression.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the anti-tumor effects of sesamol (SML), a compound from sesame, in mice with solid Ehrlich carcinoma (SEC) and its potential to boost the effectiveness of the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin (DOX).
  • SML treatment resulted in reduced tumor size and weight, increased expression of proteins related to apoptosis (cell death), and improved the anti-tumor effects of DOX while also protecting against its harmful effects on the heart.
  • The findings suggest that SML enhances apoptosis by activating death receptors in tumor cells, which may contribute to its therapeutic benefits when used alone or in combination with DOX.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF