Search

Background: Calophyllum (Clusiaceae) plants have been used as traditional medicine for rheumatism, vein problems, hemorrhoids, and gastric ulcers. The traditional uses of this genus prompted us to investigate six Malaysian Calophyllum species which are Calophyllum inophyllum, Calophyllum soulattri, Calophyllum lowii, Calophyllum teysmannii, Calophyllum benjaminum and Calophyllum javanicum for their anti-inflammatory properties. Materials and Methods: The stem bark of six plants was extracted with n-hexane (Hex), ethyl acetate (EA), and methanol (MeOH). The activities of the extracts were evaluated by determining the inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) production by lipopolysaccharide-induced RAW 264.7 cells, as well as protein denaturation. Results and Discussion: The C. lowii extracts showed the most significant activities against NO production with IC50values of <40 μg/mL. For the protein denaturation test, C. teysmannii extracts showed the strongest effect with IC50values of <100 μg/mL. The results indicated that C. lowii and C. teysmannii are effective in both assays. Besides, the Hex extracts of these Calophyllum plants possess stronger activities than the EA and MeOH extracts. The anti-inflammatory properties are contributed by the secondary metabolites present in the crude extracts, specifically flavonoid, triterpenes, and xanthones. Conclusion: These results confirm the potential of Calophyllum plants to serve as lead agents in preventing inflammation. Abbreviations used: NO: Nitric oxide; spp.: Species; Hex: Hexane; EA: Ethyl acetate; MeOH: Methanol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and mitogen-activated protein kinase 38 (p38MAPK), and preliminarily analyze their relationship with clinical characteristics of esophageal cancer. Materials and methods: Immunohistochemistry and Western blot were used to detect the expressions of uPA and p38MAPK in patients with esophageal cancer. The relationship between them and clinicopathological features was analyzed by chi-squared test and Spearman correlation. Prognosis was performed using Kaplan–Meier and Cox proportional hazard models analysis. Results: The expressions of uPA and p38MAPK proteins were significantly higher in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma than in normal esophageal mucosa tissue (both P<0.0001). The expression of uPA was significantly correlated with the depth of invasion of esophageal cancer (P=0.0067), tumor size (P=0.0364), and pathological stage (P<0.0001); p38MAPK expression vs esophageal cancer tissue type (P=0.0043), esophageal cancer infiltration depth (P=0.0097), tumor size (P=0.0015), and pathological stage (P<0.0001). Both were not significantly associated with lymph node staging, gender, age, and esophageal cancer histological type. There was a positive correlation between uPA and p38MAPK expressions (r=0.7301, P=0.0104). Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that the overall survival time of patients with positive expression of uPA or p38MAPK protein was significantly shorter, and the time of recurrence or metastasis of esophageal cancer was significantly earlier in patients with uPA-positive expression. Multivariate analysis of Cox model showed that uPA, p38MAPK, and pathological staging were independent factors influencing survival. Conclusion: The expressions of uPA and p38MAPK may play an important role in the progression of esophageal cancer, and there is a close relationship between the two proteins, which may be one of the prognostic indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Calophyllum genus is well-known for its antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities, and therefore, we analyzed these biological activities for resins of Calophyllum antillanum and Calophyllum inophyllum growing in Cuba. C. antillanum resins showed a potent activity against Plasmodium falciparum (IC50  = 0.3 ± 0.1 µg/mL), while its cytotoxicity against MRC-5 cells was much lower (IC50  = 21.6 ± 1.1 µg/mL). In contrary, the resin of C. inophyllum showed an unspecific activity. The presence of apetalic acid, isoapetalic acid, calolongic acid, pinetoric acid I, pinetoric acid II, isocalolongic acid, pinetoric acid III, and isopinetoric acid III in C. antillanum resins was also confirmed. These results demonstrated for the first time the potential activity of C. antillanum resins against P. falciparum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]