scholarly journals Potential Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-Cancer Properties of Farnesol

Molecules ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (11) ◽  
pp. 2827 ◽  
Author(s):  
Young Jung ◽  
Sun Hwang ◽  
Gautam Sethi ◽  
Lu Fan ◽  
Frank Arfuso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Therapeutic Effects ◽  
Necrosis Factor Alpha ◽  
Ras Protein ◽  
Anti Cancer ◽  
Factor Alpha ◽  
Anti Inflammatory ◽  
Oxide Synthase ◽  
Light Chain Enhancer ◽  
Necrosis Factor ◽  
Inducible Nitric Oxide

Farnesol, an acyclic sesquiterpene alcohol, is predominantly found in essential oils of various plants in nature. It has been reported to exhibit anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory effects, and also alleviate allergic asthma, gliosis, and edema. In numerous tumor cell lines, farnesol can modulate various tumorigenic proteins and/or modulates diverse signal transduction cascades. It can also induce apoptosis and downregulate cell proliferation, angiogenesis, and cell survival. To exert its anti-inflammatory/anti-oncogenic effects, farnesol can modulate Ras protein and nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells activation to downregulate the expression of various inflammatory mediators such as cyclooxygenase-2, inducible nitric oxide synthase, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and interleukin-6. In this review, we describe the potential mechanisms of action underlying the therapeutic effects of farnesol against cancers and inflammatory disorders. Furthermore, these findings support the clinical development of farnesol as a potential pharmacological agent in clinical studies.

scholarly journals Immunogenicity and Protection Induced by a Mycobacterium tuberculosissigE Mutant in a BALB/c Mouse Model of Progressive Pulmonary Tuberculosis

2010 ◽  
Vol 78 (7) ◽  
pp. 3168-3176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rogelio Hernandez Pando ◽  
Leon Diana Aguilar ◽  
Issar Smith ◽  
Riccardo Manganelli
Keyword(s):  
Mutant Strain ◽  
Virulent Strain ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Live Vaccine ◽  
Necrosis Factor Alpha ◽  
Tnf Α ◽  
Factor Alpha ◽  
Oxide Synthase ◽  
Necrosis Factor ◽  
Inducible Nitric Oxide

ABSTRACT Tuberculosis is still one of the main challenges to human global health, leading to about two million deaths every year. One of the reasons for its success is the lack of efficacy of the widely used vaccine Mycobacterium bovis BCG. In this article, we analyze the potential use of an attenuated mutant of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv lacking the sigma factor σE as a live vaccine. We have demonstrated that BALB/c mice infected by the intratracheal route with this mutant strain showed significantly higher survival rates and less tissue damage than animals infected with the parental or complemented mutant strain. Although animals infected with the sigE mutant had low bacillary loads, their lungs showed significantly higher production of the protective factors gamma interferon (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and β-defensins than those of animals infected with the parental or complemented mutant strain. Moreover, we demonstrate that the sigE mutant, when inoculated subcutaneously, was more attenuated than BCG in immunodeficient nude mice, thus representing a good candidate for a novel attenuated live vaccine strain. Finally, when we used the sigE mutant as a subcutaneous vaccine, it was able to induce a higher level of protection than did BCG with both H37Rv and a highly virulent strain of M. tuberculosis (Beijing code 9501000). Taken together, our findings suggest that the sigE mutant is a very promising strain for the development of a new vaccine against tuberculosis.

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