Saffron and natural carotenoids: Biochemical activities and anti-tumor effects

Objectives

Recently, a great deal of interest has been developed to isolate and investigate novel bioactive components from natural resources with health beneficial effects. Saffron is the dried stigma of Crocus sativus L. and has been used for centuries in traditional medicine mainly for its healing properties, as well as for the treatment of various pathological conditions. Objectives of the present review are to unravel its therapeutic properties and investigate the potential applications of saffron in contemporary therapy of a wide spectrum of diseases and summarize previous and current evidence regarding the biological/pharmacological activities of saffron and its active ingredients and their possible therapeutic uses.



Key findings

Recent phytochemistry and pharmacological experiments have indicated that crocin and safranal, the major active ingredients of saffron, exert important actions, such as antioxidant, anti-tumor, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory and anti-atherosclerotic. Unfortunately, the vast majority of those data derive from in vitro studies, whereas a limited number of in vivo experiments support the aforementioned effects. In addition to studies with mechanistic implications, very few clinical trials provide preliminary evidence of saffron potentiality to alleviate depression and increase cognitive function in patients with Alzheimer's disease.



Summary

The history and structural features of saffron constituents are given in the first part of the review, followed by a comprehensive and critical presentation of the published preclinical and clinical studies and review papers on the pharmacology and possible therapeutic uses of saffron and its main active components crocin and safranal.

/pdf/saffron-a-natural-product-with-potential-pharmaceutical-1dytzjk638.pdf

Saffron: a natural product with potential pharmaceutical applications.

The spice saffron is made from the dried stigmas of the plant Crocus sativus L. The main use of saffron is in cooking, due to its ability to impart colour, flavour and aroma to foods and beverages. However, from time immemorial it has also been considered a medicinal plant because it possesses therapeutic properties, as illustrated in paintings found on the island of Santorini, dated 1627 BC. It is included in Catalogues of Medicinal Plants and in the European Pharmacopoeias, being part of a great number of compounded formulas from the 16th to the 20th centuries. The medicinal and pharmaceutical uses of this plant largely disappeared with the advent of synthetic chemistry-produced drugs. However, in recent years there has been growing interest in demonstrating saffron’s already known bioactivity, which is attributed to the main components—crocetin and its glycosidic esters, called crocins, and safranal—and to the synergy between the compounds present in the spice. The objective of this work was to provide an updated and critical review of the research on the therapeutic properties of saffron, including activity on the nervous and cardiovascular systems, in the liver, its antidepressant, anxiolytic and antineoplastic properties, as well as its potential use as a functional food or nutraceutical.

https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/23/1/30/pdf

Saffron: An Old Medicinal Plant and a Potential Novel Functional Food

Dendritic cells (DC) are the antigen presenting cells that initiate and regulate immunity. There are distinct DC subsets with specialized functions spread throughout the body. The type of immune response is determined by the DC subsets involved. Therefore, it is important to understand distinct phenotype and functions of these DC subsets in terms of antigen uptake and processing for MHC class I- and II-restricted presentation and receptors for foreign and endogenous signals. These insights facilitate the direct targeting of antigens to DC surface receptors in vivo rather than ex vivo culturing DC and antigen loading. In addition, novel DC immunotherapies will be in combination with drugs targeting immunological check points.

Dendritic cells for cancer immunotherapy

A comprehensive review of the pharmacological potential of Crocus sativus and its bioactive apocarotenoids

Targeted therapy is a potentially useful approach for the treatment of T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. This study aimed to find a highly effective, low toxic anti-tumour drug and further investigate its mechanisms. Jurkat cells were used as the object and were stimulated by different concentrations of crocin. By cell count, growth curve, methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) method for the detection of cell proliferation, annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) method for the apoptosis rates, and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for Bcl-2 and Bax gene expression, the effect and mechanisms of proliferative inhibition of crocin on Jurkat cells were further explored. Crocin promoted Jurkat cell apoptosis and inhibited cell growth, in a dose-time-dependent manner. The mechanism might be related to the inhibition of Bcl-2 gene expression and the promotion of Bax gene expression. These results suggest that crocin can be used as a suitable clinical agent for the treatment of T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

/pdf/the-effect-and-mechanisms-of-proliferative-inhibition-of-s0bgrva494.pdf

The Effect and Mechanisms of Proliferative Inhibition of Crocin on Human Leukaemia Jurkat Cells.

Background:Targeted therapy is a potentially useful approach for antileukemic therapy, in particular eliminating minimal residual disease(MRD) to prevent tumor relapse. This study was aimed to find out an effective, nontoxic dendritic cell (DC) maturating agent for the immunotherapy of acute leukemia. Results: MDP-matured DCs(M-DCs) expressed higher level of phenotypic markers and secreted higher cytokine level, while lower than TNF-α-matured DCs (T-DCs) and co-administration of MDP and TNF-α-matured DCs (MT-DCs). MT-DCs promoted significantly allogeneic T-cells reaction. As a result, allogeneic T-cell proliferated significantly and secreted higher amount of IFN-γ. HL60-derived antigens were presented more effectively by MT-DCs to cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) to induce more beneficial anti-tumor effects in a dose-dependent manner. Methods: Purified mononuclear cells (MNCs) from bone marrow of acute leukemia children were differentiated by granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and rec...

Muramyl Dipeptide modulates differentiation, maturity of dendritic cells and anti-tumor effect of DC-mediated T cell in acute leukemia children.

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is considered to be a potent cell-damaging agent in various cell lineages; however, the effect of UV light-emitting diode (LED) irradiation on human cells remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of UV LED irradiation emitting at 280 nm on cultured HL-60 human leukemia cells, and to explore the underlying mechanisms. HL-60 cells were irradiated with UV LED (8, 15, 30 and 60 J/m2) and incubated for 2 h after irradiation. The rates of cell proliferation and apoptosis, the cell cycle profiles and the mRNA expression of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) were detected using cell counting kit-8, multicaspase assays, propidium iodide staining and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction, respectively. The results showed that UV LED irradiation (8–60 J/m2) inhibited the proliferation of HL-60 cells in a dose-dependent manner. UV LED at 8–30 J/m2 induced dose-dependent apoptosis and G0/G1 cell cycle arrest, and inhibited the expression of Bcl-2 mRNA, while UV LED at 60 J/m2 induced necrosis. In conclusion, 280 nm UV LED irradiation inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis and necrosis in cultured HL-60 cells. In addition, the cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase and the downregulation of Bcl-2 mRNA expression were shown to be involved in UV LED-induced apoptosis.

/pdf/ultraviolet-light-emitting-diode-irradiation-induced-cell-567m5f3p45.pdf

Ultraviolet light-emitting diode irradiation-induced cell death in HL-60 human leukemia cells in vitro.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) block the activity of tyrosine kinases by competitive inhibition of ATP at the catalytic tyrosine kinase binding site and inhibit oncogenic signaling. One important target of TKIs is BCR-ABL1, which is constitutively activated in leukemia cells. In this review, we briefly describe the development of TKIs from the first generation to the third generation, and summarize their use in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children. We highlight several future directions in the development of TKIs for pediatric leukemia therapy. In conclusion, we focus on chronic myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia as the examples of pediatric blood cancer that significantly benefit from TKIs-based target therapy. Further development of TKIs will allow us to better manage pediatric leukemia.

Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors for Pediatric Leukemia: History and Current Status.

The invention belongs to the technical field of plant culture, and particularly discloses a crocus sativus culture medium capable of increasing a content of crocin. With an MS culture medium as a basic culture medium, BA, IAA, saccharose, agar and a rare earth compound are added into the MS culture medium, the content of nitrates and the content of ammonium in the MS culture medium are the highest, thus induction of calluses of corms of crocus sativus is more benefited, the MS culture medium is used in cooperation with the fixed concentrations of cell auxin BA and plant hormone IAA, the fixedconcentrations of cell auxin BA and plant hormone IAA have a synergistic effect, thus the calluses of crocus sativus can be well induced, the number of induced biological cells is increased, adding the rare earth compound lanthanum trioxide further plays a role in promoting growing of callus cells of crocus sativus, and through synergism of the fixed concentrations of cell auxin BA and plant hormone IAA and the fixed concentration of rare earth compound lanthanum trioxide in an MS matrix, the synthetic amount of the crocin is effectively improved.

Crocus sativus culture medium capable of increasing content of crocin

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