مقالات رزومه محسن موسوی

Chemotherapy, biotherapy, and radiotherapy play a limited but important role in treating breast cancer. For more efficient treatment, combination therapy could be an appropriate option. In this study, radiotherapy using neutron radiation emitted from a 241Am-Be neutron source, as well as biotherapy using curcumin (80 μM) was combined to investigate the efficiency of treatment towards MCF-7 breast cancer in a 3D culture medium.

MTT, NR uptake assay, NO, GSH assay, catalase, cytochrome c, comet assay, and caspase-3 were used to determine the effect of neutron radiation and also neutron and curcumin combination on the viability of cancer cells.

The results of cytotoxicity test showed that neutron irradiation with or without curcumin at 5, 10, 15, and 20 h reduced the survival of tumor cells. Moreover, the rate of apoptosis due to the neutron effect at different irradiation times enhanced with the increasing time.

Due to the significant anticancer effect of curcumin in 3D culture, using this molecule before or after neutron therapy is recommended.

Prostate cancer is a major cause of disease and mortality among men. GNT is an isoflavone found naturally in legumes. Isoflavones, a subset of phytoestrogens, are structurally similar to mammalian estrogens. This study aimed to evaluate the anticancer and cytotoxic effects of GNT on PC3 cell line under 3D culture medium.

The 3D culture was created by encapsulating the PC3 cells in alginate hydrogel. MTT assay, neutral red uptake, comet assay, and cytochrome C assay were used to study the anticancer and cytotoxic effects of GNT at 120, 240, and 480 μM concentrations. Also, NO, catalase, and GSH levels were determined to evaluate the effect of GNT on the cellular stress. The culture medium was used as the negative control.

GNT reduced the production of cellular NO and increased the production of catalase and glutathione, confirming the results of the NO test. Evaluation of the toxicity effect of GNT at the concentrations of 120, 240, and 480 μM using comet assay showed that this chemical agent induces apoptosis in PC3 cells in a dose-dependent manner. As the level of cytochrome C in PC3 cells treated with different concentrations of GNT was not significantly different from that of the control, GNT could induce apoptosis in PC3 cells through the non-mitochondrial pathway. 

The findings of this study disclose that the anticancer effect of GNT on PC3 cells under 3D culture conditions could increase the effectiveness of treatment. Also, the cell survival rate is dependent on GNT concentration.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Information published by The Iranian Cancer Research Center in 2019 shows that one of every 10 to 15 women is afflicted with this cancer. As one of the active ingredients of turmeric, curcumin has a wide range of biological properties, such as antioxidant and anti-cancer activity. This study aimed to evaluate the anti-cancer effects of curcumin on breast cancer cells in 3-Dimensional (3D) culture conditions. To achieve a 3D environment, we used encapsulation of cells in alginate hydrogel. The anti-cancer effects of curcumin at concentrations of 20, 40, and 80 μM on MCF-7 breast cancer cells in 3D culture were evaluated by MTT, neutral red, comet assay, cytochrome c, Nitric Oxide (NO), catalase, and glutathione assays. The culture medium was used as the negative control and the cell-containing medium was used as the positive control. Data were analyzed by two-way ANOVA using GraphPad InStat software, and the significance was considered at the level of P<0.05. Curcumin reduces the production of cellular NO and increases the production of catalase and glutathione, which confirms the results of the NO test. In addition, the release of cytochrome c from Mitochondria from cells treated with different concentrations of curcumin compared to control cells are significant. The evaluation of the toxicity effect of curcumin at concentrations of 20, 40, and 80 μM using comet assay showed that this substance induces apoptosis in MCF-7 cells in a dose-dependent manner. The findings of this study showed that the anti-cancer effect of curcumin on MCF-7 cells under 3D culture conditions could increase the effectiveness of treatment. The Cell survival rate actually depended on curcumin concentration.

New natural substances obtained from scorpion venoms could be promising approaches for the treatment of cancers. Scorpion venom is a fully mixed compound that containing enzymes, non-enzymes, ions, and other organic compounds that induces apoptosis and necrosis in mammalian cells. In this study, the cytotoxicity effects, redox potential, and the ability of apoptosis induction of Odontobuthus bidentatus scorpion venom on MCF-7 cells were investigated. To do this, the MCF-7 cells were treated with the scorpion venom. MTT and neutral red assays was used to evaluate the cytotoxicity. Catalase, GSH and NO assays are used to determine the cells redox potential. Caspase-3 and cytochrome c release assays were exploited to investigate the apoptosis. The results of MTT and neutral red tests showed that O. bidentatus crude venom has cytotoxic effects on MCF-7 cells. Moreover, the results of catalase, GSH and NO assays showed that the crude venom could change the redox potential of MCF-7 cells, dose dependently which eventually lead to apoptosis. Also, the results of caspase-3 and the release of cytochrome c confirmed cell apoptosis. These results suggest that O. bidentatus venom is a suitable source of apoptosis-inducing compounds.

Scorpion venoms contain potentially useful pharmacological agents. Several studies demonstrate that the venoms of some scorpions induce apoptosis and inhibit the growth of cancer cells; therefore, they have been investigated for isolating anticancer components. In this study, antitumor effects of Hottentotta schach crude venom on MCF-7 (breast cancer cell line) as test group and Vero (African green monkey kidney normal cell line) as control group were analyzed. Cell toxicity was analyzed using MTT and neutral red (NR) uptake assays and apoptosis induction was analyzed using comet assay and caspase-3 activity. Oxidative stress following Hottentotta schach crude venom treatment was analyzed using nitrite oxide (NO) determination assay, reduced glutathione (GSH) and catalase enzyme activity assays. Results showed that crude venom (25-200 μg/mL) induced apoptosis and inhibited the growth of MCF-7 and to a lesser extent in Vero cell lines. Nitrite oxide concentration increased while glutathione concentration and catalase enzyme activity were decreased in MCF-7 cells; however, results in Vero cells were reversed completely. It can be concluded that Hottentotta schach crude venom disturbs the oxidation and reduction potential in cancer cells and ultimately induce apoptosis. So this venom can be used as a good source for isolation and designing new anticancer drugs.