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1.
Novel Approaches to Anti-atherosclerotic Therapy: Cell-based Models and Herbal Preparations (Review of Our Own Data).
Orekhov, AN, Grechko, AV, Romanenko, EB, Zhang, D, Chistiakov, DA
Current drug discovery technologies. 2020;(3):278-285
Abstract
Atherosclerosis is a chronic arterial disease characterized by vascular inflammation, accumulation of lipids in the arterial wall, and formation and growth of atherosclerotic plaques followed by ischemia. In subclinical atherosclerosis, cholesterol retention in subendothelial cells leads to induction of local inflammation, generation of foam cells and lesion formation, followed by a chain of other pathogenic events. Atherosclerotic progression can frequently be fatal, since plaque rupture may lead to thrombosis and acute events, such as myocardial infarction, stroke and sudden death. Traditional anti-atherosclerotic therapy is mainly focused on improving the blood lipid profile and does not target various stages of plaque progression. Obviously, treating the disease at initial stages is better than beginning treatment at advanced stages and, in that regard, current atherosclerosis management can be improved. Cholesterol retention is an important component of atherogenesis that precedes plaque formation. Therapeutic targeting of cholesterol retention may be beneficial for preventing further atherogenic progression. For this purpose, we suggest using herbal preparations due to good tolerability and suitability for long-lasting treatment. We developed test systems based on cultured human intimal aortic cells for rapid screening of potential anti-atherogenic drugs. With the help of these test systems, we selected several natural substances with significant anti-atherogenic activity and further use these compounds to prepare herbal preparations for anti-atherosclerotic therapy. These preparations were clinically tested and showed good safety and a potent anti-atherogenic potential.
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2.
Targeting Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases by Natural Products: A Novel Therapeutic Approach for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.
Zobeiri, M, Momtaz, S, Parvizi, F, Tewari, D, Farzaei, MH, Nabavi, SM
Current pharmaceutical biotechnology. 2020;(13):1342-1353
Abstract
An increase in the prevalence of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) as a multifactorial intestinal chronic inflammation as well as the absence of a certain cure, has created an innovative era in the management of IBD by molecule/pathway-based anti-inflammatory approaches. There are credible documentations that demonstrate Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases (MAPK) acts as IBD regulator. Upon the activation of MAPK signalling pathway, the transcription and expression of various encoding inflammatory molecules implicated in IBD are altered, thereby exacerbating the inflammation development. The current pharmacological management of IBD, including drug and biological therapies are expensive, possess temporary relief and some adverse effects. In this context, a variety of dietary fruits or medicinal herbs have received worldwide attention versus the development of IBD. Infact, natural ingredients, such as Flavaglines, Fisetin, Myricitrin, Cardamonin, Curcumin, Octacosanol and Mangiferin possess protective and therapeutic effects against IBD via modulation of different segments of MAPK signaling pathway. This review paper calls attention to the role of MAPK signaling triggered by natural products in the prevention and treatment of IBD.
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3.
An alternative approach to minimize the risk of coronavirus (Covid-19) and similar infections.
Ahmad, A, Rehman, MU, Alkharfy, KM
European review for medical and pharmacological sciences. 2020;(7):4030-4034
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a new strain that was discovered in 2019 and has not been previously identified in humans. On December 31st 2019 World Health Organization (WHO) was informed of a cluster of cases with pneumonia of unknown origin from Wuhan City, Hubei province of China. The WHO announced in February 2020 that COVID-19 is the official name of the coronavirus diseases. A total of 519,899 confirmed cases with 23,592 deaths linked to this pathogen as on March 27, 2020 have been reported. Due to increasing number of infected people across the continents and huge loss to human life, the WHO has declared the novel COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. A pandemic is defined as the "worldwide spread" of a new disease. Currently, no COVID-19 specific treatments have been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA). However, the current treatment options include hydroxychloroquine, tocilizumab, remdesivir, lopinavir-ritonavir (Kaletra®), and nitazoxanide. In recent past, some natural herbal compounds have demonstrated encouraging anti-viral properties. This article attempted to summarize available information on the reported anti-viral activity of some natural products.
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4.
Herbal medicine, a reliable support in COVID therapy.
Grigore, A, Cord, D, Tanase, C, Albulescu, R
Journal of immunoassay & immunochemistry. 2020;(6):976-999
Abstract
At present, specific therapies for COVID-19 are not well established, being certain only that the immune system plays a decisive role in the initiation and progression of the disease. Plants have given and continue to give compounds with great efficiency and low toxicity, some of them being a starting point for extremely effective synthetic substances. Although herbal remedies are used mainly for preventive purposes, there are also guidelines issued by some countries that indicate the use of traditional remedies for different stages of COVID-19 disease.Europe has a long and strong tradition of using medicinal plants for therapeutic purposes, but clinical trials for this type of approach are scarce, compared to Asia. In this regard, a bridge between tradition and science, would have a strong impact on the capacity for prevention and treatment of COVID-19. The paper reviews compounds of plant origin that have previously proven effective in counteracting some coronaviruses but also some of their major effects - direct action on virus replicative apparatus (viral entry or replication, action on the viral enzymatic system), collateral action of natural compounds on the immune system and also the contribution of herbal medicine as vaccine adjuvants are tackled.
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5.
Review: Herbs, Immunity and nCOVID-19: Old performers in new Pandemic.
Naeem, S, Ikram, R, Shareef, H, Ali, H, Khan, SS
Pakistan journal of pharmaceutical sciences. 2020;(4):1747-1753
Abstract
The novel coronavirus (nCOVID-19) has spread to endless nations and turn out to be a pandemic around the globe. Because of the developing number of affirmed cases and open public hazard owing to its high risk of infection rate, it has expected a lot of consideration from world health organizations and national health regulatory and monitoring agencies. The world is in surge to explore or discover novel treatment options and vaccine that can lead to cure. There is no proven effective treatment for nCOVID-19 however along with available antiviral therapy Chinese researchers recommended herbal treatments as effective and alternative treatments options to treat this pandemic. Herbal products are wealthy in dynamic phytochemicals, such as the terpenoids, various collection of flavonoids, sulfides, lignans constiuents, coumarins concentrates, saponins moities, polyphenolics composite, numerous alkaloids, polyines, furyl mixtures, proteins and related compounds, thiophenes and peptides groups. In this review we discussed pathogeneis, immunity and current herbal treatment strategies of nCOVID-19 to cure this world wide pandemic.
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6.
Toxicity of Herbs, Vitamins, and Supplements.
Charen, E, Harbord, N
Advances in chronic kidney disease. 2020;(1):67-71
Abstract
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration regulates the efficacy and safety of pharmaceutical drugs. This government agency was formed in direct response to a mass poisoning and more than 100 deaths from kidney failure due to a medicinal toxic alcohol exposure. In contrast, the Food and Drug Administration also regulates the use of vitamins, minerals, herbs, or botanicals as dietary supplements, banning specific medical claims but requiring no documentation of efficacy. Safety of dietary supplements is only ensured through reporting of adverse events and rarely through intervention. Consumers should be aware that supplements may in fact contain actual pharmaceuticals or nothing of value and have significant toxic potential. Toxicity due to Chinese herbal medicines, aristolochic acid, amygdalin, hypervitaminosis D, and heavy metal contamination is reviewed.
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7.
Preterm Birth, Inflammation and Infection: New Alternative Strategies for their Prevention.
Muñoz-Pérez, VM, Ortiz, MI, Cariño-Cortés, R, Fernández-Martínez, E, Rocha-Zavaleta, L, Bautista-Ávila, M
Current pharmaceutical biotechnology. 2019;(5):354-365
Abstract
BACKGROUND Worldwide, the progress in reducing neonatal mortality has been very slow. The rate of preterm birth has increased over the last 20 years in low-income and middle-income countries. Its association with increased mortality and morbidity is based on experimental studies and neonatal outcomes from countries with socioeconomic differences, which have considered implementing alternative healthcare strategies to prevent and reduce preterm births. METHODS Currently, there is no widely effective strategy to prevent preterm birth. Pharmacological therapies are directed at inhibiting myometrial contractions to prolong parturition. Some drugs, medicinal plants and microorganisms possess myorelaxant, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties that have proved useful in preventing preterm birth associated with inflammation and infection. RESULTS This review focuses on the existing literature regarding the use of different drugs, medicinal plants, and microorganisms that show promising benefits for the prevention of preterm birth associated with inflammation and infection. New alternative strategies involving the use of PDE-4 inhibitors, medicinal plants and probiotics could have a great impact on improving prenatal and neonatal outcomes and give babies the best start in life, ensuring lifelong health benefits. CONCLUSION Despite promising results from well-documented cases, only a small number of these alternative strategies have been studied in clinical trials. The development of new drugs and the use of medicinal plants and probiotics for the treatment and/or prevention of preterm birth is an area of growing interest due to their potential therapeutic benefits in the field of gynecology and obstetrics.
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8.
Complementary therapies for clinical depression: an overview of systematic reviews.
Haller, H, Anheyer, D, Cramer, H, Dobos, G
BMJ open. 2019;(8):e028527
Abstract
OBJECTIVES As clinical practice guidelines vary widely in their search strategies and recommendations of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for depression, this overview aimed at systematically summarising the level 1 evidence on CAM for patients with a clinical diagnosis of depression. METHODS PubMed, PsycInfo and Central were searched for meta-analyses of randomised controlled clinical trials (RCTs) until 30 June 2018. Outcomes included depression severity, response, remission, relapse and adverse events. The quality of evidence was assessed according to Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) considering the methodological quality of the RCTs and meta-analyses, inconsistency, indirectness, imprecision of the evidence and the potential risk of publication bias. RESULTS The literature search revealed 26 meta-analyses conducted between 2002 and 2018 on 1-49 RCTs in major, minor and seasonal depression. In patients with mild to moderate major depression, moderate quality evidence suggested the efficacy of St. John's wort towards placebo and its comparative effectiveness towards standard antidepressants for the treatment for depression severity and response rates, while St. John's wort caused significant less adverse events. In patients with recurrent major depression, moderate quality evidence showed that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy was superior to standard antidepressant drug treatment for the prevention of depression relapse. Other CAM evidence was considered as having low or very low quality. CONCLUSIONS The effects of all but two CAM treatments found in studies on clinical depressed patients based on low to very low quality of evidence. The evidence has to be downgraded mostly due to avoidable methodological flaws of both the original RCTs and meta-analyses not following the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Further research is needed.
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9.
Plant-derived drugs and their applicaction in the anticancer therapy.
Blažejová, R, Hošek, J
Ceska a Slovenska farmacie : casopis Ceske farmaceuticke spolecnosti a Slovenske farmaceuticke spolecnosti. 2019;(1):3-11
Abstract
Nowadays, oncological diseases are one of the most common causes of untimely death. Current therapy based on synthetic chemotherapeuties has a number of side-effects, and a resistance to this type of treatment is very common. For this reason, new substances without these effects are constantly sought. In this regard, natural products appear to be a promising source of new active compounds. This review aims to introduce cytostatics inspired by natural substances that are in clinical trials or are already in common use.
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10.
Photodynamic Therapy of Psoriasis Using Photosensitizers of Vegetable Origin.
Bruschi, ML, da Silva, JB, Rosseto, HC
Current pharmaceutical design. 2019;(20):2279-2291
Abstract
Psoriasis is an immune-mediated, chronic and recurrent inflammatory skin disease, prevalent worldwide, and represents an important burden in life quality of patients. The most common clinical variant is termed as psoriasis vulgaris or plaque psoriasis, which with an individualized and carefully monitored therapy can decrease the patients' morbidity and improving their life quality. The aim is to achieve disease control, minimize the adverse drug effects, and tailor the treatment to individual patient factors. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is based on local or systemic administration of a non-toxic photosensitizer followed by irradiation with a particular wavelength to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), mainly highly cytotoxic singlet oxygen (1O2). The generation of these species results in the attack to substrates involved in biological cycles causing necrosis and apoptosis of affected tissues. Photosensitizers are found in natural products and also obtained by partial syntheses from abundant natural starting compounds. They can be isolated at low cost and in large amounts from plants or algae. Therefore, this manuscript reviews the use of molecules from vegetal sources as photosensitizer agents for the PDT of psoriasis. Psoriasis pathogenesis, management and treatment were reviewed. PDT principles, fundamentals and utilization for the treatment of psoriasis were also discussed. Photosensitizers for PDT of psoriasis are also reviewed focusing on those from vegetal sources. Despite the PDT is utilized for the treatment of psoriasis, very little amount of photosensitizers from plant sources are utilized, such as chlorophyll derivatives and hypericin; however, other natural photosensitizers such as curcumin, could also be investigated. They could constitute a very important, safe and cheap alternative for the successful photodynamic treatment of psoriasis.