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Mario Scrima,1,* Carmela Melito,1,* Filomena Merola,1 Antonio Iorio,1 Nicoletta Vito,1 Andrea Maria Giori,2 Angela Ferravante1 1R&D Department, IBSA Farmaceutici Italia, Ariano Irpino, Italy; 2R&D Department, IBSA Farmaceutici Italia, Lodi, Italy*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Angela FerravanteR&D Department, IBSA Farmaceutici Italia, Via Camporeale, Ariano Irpino 83031, AV, ItalyTel +39 0825881847Fax +39 0825881812Email angela.ferravante@ibsa.itPurpose: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential wound healing activity of the hydroalcoholic extract of Salvia haenkei on in vitro and in vivo experimental models.Materials and Methods: Preliminary analytical characterization of the hydroalcoholic extract of Salvia haenkei was made by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) that permitted identification of a qualitative fingerprint of the extract of aerial parts. The wound healing activity of the hydroalcoholic extract of Salvia haenkei was evaluated in vitro by the scratch assay on human dermal fibroblasts and human epidermal keratinocytes and in vivo by standardized mouse excisional splinting model. Real-time PCR (RT-PCR) experiments were performed to analyze gene expression levels of inflammatory markers.Results: The scratch assay tests showed that the treatment with the hydroalcoholic extract of Salvia haenkei did not induce an increase in the fibroblasts migration rate with respect to the positive control. Instead, the hydroalcoholic extract of Salvia haenkei was effective in improving the wound closure rate on keratinocyte cell cultures with an almost total invasion of the scratch after 48 h of treatment; whereas the positive control, at the same time point, showed only a 67% reduction of the wound size. In vivo experiments showed that the groups treated with the extract of Salvia haenkei completely re-epithelized the wound in 2.7 days, a timing that was comparable with the action of the positive control that took only 2.1 days. Gene expression analysis showed that Salvia haenkei positively regulated the signaling pathway of the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) transcription factor.Conclusion: The results suggested that the hydroalcoholic extract of Salvia haenkei induced a clear wound healing effect.Keywords: wound healing, cosmetics, animal model, scratch assay

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: N6-Isopentenyladenosine (i6A) is a modified nucleoside exerting in vitro and in vivo antiproliferative effects. We previously demonstrated that the i6A action is correlated to farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase (FPPS) expression and activity, a key enzyme involved in the mevalonate (MVA) pathway, which is found aberrant in brain cancer. To develop new anti-glioma strategies, we looked for other valuable compounds exhibiting improved activity as compared to i6A. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: we designed and synthesized i6A derivatives characterized by the introduction of diverse chemical moieties in the N6 position of adenosine and tested for their efficacy in U87 and primary derived patient's glioma cell model. NMR based structural analysis, molecular docking calculations and siRNA mediated knock-down helped to clarify the molecular basis of their action, targeting FPPS protein. KEY RESULTS: We demonstrated that CM223, the i6A derivative including a benzyl moiety in N6 position of adenine, is endowed with a marked activity in selectively targeting glioma cells but not normal human astrocytes (NHA). This is achieved by the induction of intrinsic pathways of apoptosis and inhibition of proliferation along a FPPS-dependent protein prenylation blocking, which counteract the oncogenic signaling mediated by the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: This biological effect together with structural data on interaction of CM223 with FPPS, gain additional evidence on the correlation of the i6A/CM223 antitumoral activity with FPPS modulation. Because the MVA pathway is becoming an important promising target, CM223 and derivatives should be considered interesting active molecules in antiglioma pharmacological research.

MicroRNAs are short (21–23 nucleotides), noncoding RNAs that typically silence posttranscriptional gene expression through interaction with target messenger RNAs. Currently, miRNAs have been identified in almost all studied multicellular eukaryotes in the plant and animal kingdoms. Additionally, recent studies reported that miRNAs can also be encoded by certain single-cell eukaryotes and by viruses. The vast majority of viral miRNAs are encoded by the herpesviruses family. These DNA viruses including Epstein-Barr virus encode their own miRNAs and/or manipulate the expression of cellular miRNAs to facilitate respective infection cycles. Modulation of the control pathways of miRNAs expression is often involved in the promotion of tumorigenesis through a specific cascade of transduction signals. Notably, latent infection with Epstein-Barr virus is considered liable of causing several types of malignancies, including the majority of gastric carcinoma cases detected worldwide. In this review, we describe the role of the Epstein-Barr virus in gastric carcinogenesis, summarizing the functions of the Epstein-Barr virus-encoded viral proteins and related epigenetic alterations as well as the roles of Epstein-Barr virus-encoded and virally modulated cellular miRNAs.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is regarded as a multifactorial disease characterized by a complex pathogenesis including a cholinergic deficit - due to degeneration of cholinergic projections from the basal forebrain - and the extracellular accumulation of amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide. Aβ containing 39 to 42 amino acids is the predominant component of the senile plaques that, together with neurofibrillary tangles, are regarded as the neuropathological hallmarks of AD (Sorrentino et al. 2014). Aβ may assume different conformations changing from random coil or α-helical monomers to β-sheet structures forming toxic oligomers and/or β-sheet mature fibrils. In this framework, we studied the effect of acetylcholine (ACh) on the conformation of Aβ by circular dichroism analysis. Moreover we investigated the ability of ACh to protect neuronal cells from the toxic action of amyloid peptide and to modulate the neuroinflammatory response occurring via the phospholipase A2 (PLA2). Results show that the amount of Aβ(25-35) β-strand raised linearly in absence of ACh, whereas it remained almost constant in presence of ACh. In addition, in a micelle solution mimicking the membrane environment ACh was found effective in increasing and stabilizing the soluble and not toxic helical content of Aβ(25-35) suggesting that ACh is capable to preserve the soluble form of Aβ(25-35), reducing the incipit of Aβ aggregation. In order to assess the neuro-protective ability of ACh against toxic Aβ(25-35) accumulation, we used neural cell (NCC) cultures containing both astrocytes and glial cells prepared from brains embryos from timed pregnant Wistar rats and infused ACh for 48h. By immunostaining, we observed that ACh reduced Aβ(25-35)-induced cell death. Then, we tested the protective effect of ACh on inflammation induced by Aβ administration. NCC were challenged with Aβ(25-35) in the presence and absence of ACh and immunostained for astroglial and neuronal markers: results showed a reduction of the morphological features of astrogliosys in ACh treated cells. PLA2 expression analysis corroborated these data also underlying that ACh can negatively regulate inflammation pathways in glial cells., Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology, Vol. 120, No. 1 (Supplement) 2015