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Background: Brain tissue in Alzheimer's patients is exposed to oxidative stress. Silymarin is an adjunct drug that has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties., Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of silymarin on biomarkers of oxidative stress, inflammation, and disease severity in Alzheimer's patients., Methods: This randomized, single-blind clinical trial study was performed on 33 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) whose disease was confirmed by DSM-5 criteria and by brain imaging. Patients in the case group received three 250 mg silymarin capsules daily (each containing 150 mg silymarin), as an adjunctive medication in addition to the routine medication regimen. In the placebo group (control), patients received the same amount of placebo. All patients underwent Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) and a panel of blood tests including malondialdehyde, neopterin, catalase, paraoxonase-1, total oxidative status, and total antioxidant capacity to reevaluate the changes pre/postintervention at the end of the trimester., Results: The catalase and MDA serum levels after the adjunctive silymarin treatment decreased significantly (Catalase before silymarin  = 9.29 ± 7.02 vs Catalase after silymarin  = 5.32 ± 2.97, p  = 0.007 and MDA before silymarin  = 4.29 ± 1.90 vs MDA after silymarin  = 1.66 ± 0.84, p  < 0.001) while MMSE increased notably (MMSE before silymarin  = 10.39 ± 6.42 vs MMSE after silymarin  = 13.37 ± 6.81, p  < 0.001)., Conclusion: Silymarin can be effective as an adjunct drug and a powerful antioxidant in reducing oxidative stress and improving the course of AD.

Introduction: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding single-stranded RNAs. Involving in post-transcriptional gene silencing, miRNAs are thought to play important roles in many cancers such as breast cancer. Paclitaxel is used widely in the treatment of breast cancer. In this study, we investigated the effect of paclitaxel treatment on the expression levels of two oncomirs (oncomiRs), miR-21 and miR-203, in breast cancer cell lines., Materials and Methods: MTT assay was performed to determine IC50 of paclitaxel for human breast cancer cell lines including MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, SKBR3 and BT-474. After RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis, the expression levels of miRNAs were then quantitatively evaluated using real-time PCR., Results: Our results showed that after treatment, the expression levels of both miR-21 and miR-203 were significantly increased in HER2-positive cell lines, BT-474 and SKBR3. HER2-negative cell lines, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231, in contrast had significantly decreased expression of both assessed oncomiRs., Conclusion: Our results showed that the expression levels of oncomiRs were increased in HER-2 positive breast cancer cells and this finding is in line with previous studies. Our findings present a probable mechanism of resistance against paclitaxel chemotherapy in HER2-positive breast cancers.