Exploration of tumor penetrating peptide iRGD as a potential strategy to enhance tumor penetration of cancer nanotherapeutics.

Cancer therapy continues to be a huge challenge as most chemotherapeutic agents exert serious adverse effects on healthy organs. Chemotherapeutic agents lack selective targeting and even the existing target specific therapies are failing due to poor distribution into the tumor microenvironment. Nanotechnology offers multiple advantages to address the limitations encountered by conventional therapy.

Lung fibrosis: Post-COVID-19 complications and evidences.

Background: COVID 19, a lethal viral outbreak that devastated lives and the economy across the globe witnessed non-compensable respiratory illnesses in patients. As been evaluated in reports, patients receiving long-term treatment are more prone to acquire Pulmonary Fibrosis (PF). Repetitive damage and repair of alveolar tissues increase oxidative stress, inflammation and elevated production of fibrotic proteins ultimately disrupting normal lung physiology skewing the balance towards the fibrotic milieu.

Nanoceria Ameliorates Fibrosis, Inflammation, and Cellular Stress in Experimental Chronic Pancreatitis.

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is an inflammatory, irreversible disorder of the pancreas which leads to organ atrophy and poses high risk for the development of pancreatic cancer. Given the lack of clinically approved therapy, we explored the pharmacological potential of the nanoparticles of cerium oxide (nanoceria, NC) against animal models of CP. Nanoceria ameliorated the features of CP as evident from biochemical parameters.

Rare earth cerium oxide nanoparticles attenuated liver fibrosis in bile duct ligation mice model.

Liver fibrosis is one of the major liver complications which eventually progresses to liver cirrhosis and liver failure. Cerium oxide nanoparticles, also known as nanoceria (NC) are nanoparticles with potential antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Herein, we evaluated the hepatoprotective and anti-fibrotic effects of nanoceria (NC) against bile duct ligation (BDL) induced liver injury.

Acetaminophen induced hepatotoxicity: An overview of the promising protective effects of natural products and herbal formulations.

Background: The liver plays an important role in regulating the metabolic processes and is the most frequently targeted organ by toxic chemicals. Acetaminophen (APAP) is a well-known anti-allergic, anti-pyretic, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), which upon overdose leads to hepatotoxicity, the major adverse event of this over-the-counter drug.

Purpose: APAP overdose induced acute liver injury is the second most common cause that often requires liver transplantation worldwide, for which N-acetyl cysteine is the only synthetic drug clinically approved as an antidote.

Yttrium Oxide Nanoparticles Attenuate L-Arginine Induced Chronic Pancreatitis.

In this work, we tested the efficacy of yttrium oxide nanoparticles (NY), a promising antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, in L-arginine (L-Arg) induced chronic pancreatitis (CP) model. The nanoparticles were characterized using multiple techniques including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD), and Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). The rats were divided into three groups: normal control, L-Arg control, L-Arg + NY (1 mg/kg).

COVID-19 and fibrosis: Mechanisms, clinical relevance, and future perspectives.

Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has had significant impacts worldwide since its emergence in December, 2019. Despite a high recovery rate, there is a growing concern over its residual, long-term effects. However, because of a lack of long-term data, we are still far from establishing a consensus on post-COVID-19 complications.

Lactoferrin-Decorated Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles Prevent Renal Injury and Fibrosis.

Renal fibrosis is a hallmark feature of chronic kidney diseases (CKDs). However, despite the increased prevalence of renal fibrosis, there is no approved antifibrotic drug for the management of renal fibrosis. Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CONPs) have been demonstrated to possess a number of properties including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and nephroprotective activity.

Copper chelation therapy inhibits renal fibrosis by modulating copper transport proteins.

The copper (Cu) transporter proteins play an important role in the maintenance of the Cu homeostasis in the body. Lysyl oxidase (LOX) proteins are involved in crosslinking of collagens and elastin molecules resulting in the establishment of extracellular matrix (ECM) and require Cu for their functional activity. Although there are few reports showing the protective effects of Cu chelators, the mechanism behind protection remains unknown.

Disulfiram prevents collagen crosslinking and inhibits renal fibrosis by inhibiting lysyl oxidase enzymes.

Chronic kidney disease is one of the major health burdens affecting a considerable number of people worldwide. The aberrant regulation of lysyl oxidase (LOX) family of enzymes results in establishment of dense extracellular matrix (ECM). Since, LOX enzymes need copper (Cu) for their proper catalytic activity; the present study investigated the efficacy of a copper chelator, disulfiram (DSF) in renal fibrosis.

Nanoceria, the versatile nanoparticles: Promising biomedical applications.

Nanotechnology has been a boon for the biomedical field due to the freedom it provides for tailoring of pharmacokinetic properties of different drug molecules. Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology for the diagnosis, treatment and/or management of the diseases. Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CNPs) are metal oxide-based nanoparticles (NPs) which possess outstanding reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging activities primarily due to the availability of "oxidation switch" on their surface.

Silibinin alleviates silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis: Potential role in modulating inflammation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a devastating interstitial lung disease resulting from indefinite causes with very few limited, those too ineffective therapeutic options. Earlier evidence reported inflammation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) are the major threats in PF. The present study was aimed to examine the anti-fibrotic activity of silibinin (SB) in PF.

Inhibition of discoidin domain receptors by imatinib prevented pancreatic fibrosis demonstrated in experimental chronic pancreatitis model.

Discoidin domain receptors (DDR1 and DDR2) are the collagen receptors of the family tyrosine kinases, which play significant role in the diseases like inflammation, fibrosis and cancer. Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is a fibro-inflammatory disease in which recurrent pancreatic inflammation leads to pancreatic fibrosis. In the present study, we have investigated the role of DDR1 and DDR2 in CP.

Molecular updates on berberine in liver diseases: Bench to bedside.

Liver diseases are life-threatening illnesses and are the major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. These may include liver fibrosis, liver cirrhosis, and drug-induced liver toxicity. Liver diseases have a wide prevalence globally and the fifth most common cause of death among all gastrointestinal disorders.

Leveraging the Pathophysiological Alterations of Obstructive Nephropathy to Treat Renal Fibrosis by Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has wide prevalence globally that affects a considerable population and has renal fibrosis (RF) as a hallmark feature. RF is characterized by abnormal deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) in the interstitial space of renal tissue. There are only few studies where nanoparticles (NPs) were used for targeting the kidney mainly due to their size-dependent constraints.

Ferulic acid ameliorates the progression of pulmonary fibrosis via inhibition of TGF-β/smad signalling.

Natural products are one of the best sources for the discovery of novel drugs and compounds for multiple diseases. Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a chronic, progressive, irreversible, and fatal fibrotic disorder of lungs with unknown etiology and finite therapeutic choices. The use of naturally occurring phytomedicines has emerged to counteract many fibrotic disorders involving oxidative stress and inflammation.

A direct thrombin inhibitor, dabigatran etexilate protects from renal fibrosis by inhibiting protease activated receptor-1.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) involves interstitial fibrosis as an influential underlying pathological process associated with compromised renal function regardless of etiological cause of the injury. The tubulointerstitial fibrosis is found to be well correlated with declining renal function and its subsequent culmination into renal failure. Given the prominent role of thrombin in multiple diseases, it was tempting for us to investigate the outcome of a direct thrombin inhibitor in renal injury.

Targeting inflammatory cytokine storm to fight against COVID-19 associated severe complications.

Such testing and trying time probably never seen before in the human history. The novel coronavirus disease abbreviated as COVID-19 is the ongoing health crisis which entered into human life in late December 2019. The ease of transmission between humans and the undetectability in early stage makes COVID-19 frightening and unprecedented.

Borneol protects against cerulein-induced oxidative stress and inflammation in acute pancreatitis mice model.

Borneol is a commonly used flavouring substance in traditional Chinese medicine, which possesses several pharmacological activities including analgesic, antiinflammatory, and antioxidant properties. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of borneol on cerulein-induced acute pancreatitis (AP) model. Swiss albino mice were pretreated with borneol (100 and 300 mg/kg) daily for 7 days, before six consecutive injections of cerulein (50 μg/kg/hr, intraperitoneally).

Piperlongumine attenuates bile duct ligation-induced liver fibrosis in mice via inhibition of TGF-β1/Smad and EMT pathways.

Liver fibrosis (LF) is a progressive liver injury that may result in excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM). However, transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) play a central role in the progression of LF through the activation of matrix producing hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). Piperlongumine (PL), an alkaloid extracted from Piper longum, has been reported to possess anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities in various diseases but its hepatoprotective and antifibrotic effects have not been reported yet.

Riociguat ameliorates kidney injury and fibrosis in an animal model.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the greatest health burdens with an increasing global prevalence. Renal fibrosis (RF) is the hallmark of all forms of CKD which shows a strong positive correlation with severity of the disease. However, there are no therapeutic options available for treatment of RF.

Nimbolide abrogates cerulein-induced chronic pancreatitis by modulating β-catenin/Smad in a sirtuin-dependent way.

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide with no clinically approved therapeutic interventions. The present study was designed to investigate the protective effect of nimbolide (NB), an active constituent of neem tree (Azadirachta indica), by targeting β-catenin/Smad/SIRT1 in cerulein-induced CP model. The effects of NB was investigated on cerulein (50 μg/kg/hr*6 exposures /day, 3 days a week for 3 weeks) induced CP in mice.

Inhibition of lysyl oxidase ameliorates renal injury by inhibiting CD44-mediated pericyte detachment and loss of peritubular capillaries.

Renal fibrosis is a common pathological manifestation of almost all forms of kidney disease irrespective of the etiological cause. Microvascular rarefaction represents itself as an important phenomenon associated with renal fibrosis and shows strong correlation with decline in renal functions. Lysyl oxidase (LOX) catalyzes crosslinking of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins including collagens, plays an important role in stabilization of degradation resistant matrix.

Withaferin A reverses bile duct ligation-induced liver fibrosis by modulating extracellular matrix deposition: Role of LOXL2/Snail1, vimentin, and NFκB signaling.

Herein, we studied the effect of Withaferin A (WFA) in reversing bile duct ligation (BDL)-induced liver fibrosis. BDL was performed on C57BL/6J mice and 2 days later, WFA (1 and 3 mg/kg) was administered for 12 days. Estimation of liver enzymes and assays for lipid peroxidation, reduced glutathione, and nitrite levels were performed.

Nimbolide ameliorates unilateral ureteral obstruction-induced renal fibrosis by inhibition of TGF-β and EMT/Slug signalling.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) involves interstitial fibrosis as an underlying pathological process associated with compromised renal function irrespective of etiological cause of the injury. The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) plays a pivotal role in progression of renal fibrosis. TGF-β transduces its downstream signalling by phosphorylation of smad2/3 and also regulates epithelial-mesenchymal-transition (EMT), a program centrally involved in activation of fibroblasts.