Rosmarinus officinalis L. (rosemary) is a medicinal plant native to the Mediterranean region and cultivated around the world. Besides the therapeutic purpose, it is commonly used as a condiment and food preservative. R. officinalis L. is constituted by bioactive molecules, the phytocompounds, responsible for implement several pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiproliferative, antitumor and protective, inhibitory and attenuating activities. Thus, in vivo and in vitro studies were presented in this Review, approaching the therapeutic and prophylactic effects of R. officinalis L. on some physiological disorders caused by biochemical, chemical or biological agents. In this way, methodology, mechanisms, results, and conclusions were described. The main objective of this study was showing that plant products could be equivalent to the available medicines.

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Rosmarinus officinalis L. (rosemary) as therapeutic and prophylactic agent

Curcumin is herbal compound that has been shown to have anti-cancer effects in pre-clinical and clinical studies. The anti-cancer effects of curcumin include inhibiting the carcinogenesis, inhibiting angiogenesis, and inhibiting tumour growth. This study aims to determine the Clinical effects of curcumin in different types of cancers using systematic review approach. A systematic review methodology is adopted for undertaking detailed analysis of the effects of curcumin in cancer therapy. The results presented in this paper is an outcome of extracting the findings of the studies selected from the articles published in international databases including SID, MagIran, IranMedex, IranDoc, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Scopus, PubMed and Web of Science (ISI). These databases were thoroughly searched, and the relevant publications were selected based on the plausible keywords, in accordance with the study aims, as follows: prevalence, curcumin, clinical features, cancer. The results are derived based on several clinical studies on curcumin consumption with chemotherapy drugs, highlighting that curcumin increases the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiotherapy which results in improving patient’s survival time, and increasing the expression of anti-metastatic proteins along with reducing their side effects. The comprehensive systematic review presented in this paper confirms that curcumin reduces the side effects of chemotherapy or radiotherapy, resulting in improving patients’ quality of life. A number of studies reported that, curcumin has increased patient survival time and decreased tumor markers’ level.

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Clinical effects of curcumin in enhancing cancer therapy: A systematic review.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel corona virus that causes corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The COVID-19 rapidly spread across the nations with high mortality rate even as very little is known to contain the virus at present. In the current study, we report novel natural metabolites namely, ursolic acid, carvacrol and oleanolic acid as the potential inhibitors against main protease (Mpro) of COVID-19 by using integrated molecular modeling approaches. From a combination of molecular docking and molecular dynamic (MD) simulations, we found three ligands bound to protease during 50 ns of MD simulations. Furthermore, the molecular mechanic/generalized/Born/Poisson-Boltzmann surface area (MM/G/P/BSA) free energy calculations showed that these chemical molecules have stable and favourable energies causing strong binding with binding site of Mpro protein. All these three molecules, namely, ursolic acid, carvacrol and oleanolic acid, have passed the ADME (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion) property as well as Lipinski's rule of five. The study provides a basic foundation and suggests that the three phytochemicals, viz. ursolic acid, carvacrol and oleanolic acid could serve as potential inhibitors in regulating the Mpro protein's function and controlling viral replication. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

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Identification of phytochemical inhibitors against main protease of COVID-19 using molecular modeling approaches.

In this article, we report results of a molecular docking analysis of commonly occurring natural product compounds against COVID-19 6LU7 and 6Y2E proteases. Our results show that several of these compounds have binding affinity against both the COVID-19 proteases, and compare well with a known anti-HIV drug, Saquinavir. Many of the compounds form an integral component of many cuisines, both Indian as well as others. We propose that some of these compounds could be easily and quickly positioned to hold fort against the COVID-19 virus, until of course newer therapies are discovered and detailed studies are taken to empirically validate some of the compounds for their ability to inhibit the virus.

Molecular docking analysis of selected natural products from plants for inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 main protease

Nrf2 signaling pathway in cisplatin chemotherapy: Potential involvement in organ protection and chemoresistance.

Cancer is a life-threatening disease and is the second leading cause of death around the world. The increasing threats of drug-resistant cancers indicate that there is an urgent need for the improvement or development of more effective anticancer agents. Curcumin, a phenolic compound originally derived from turmeric plant (Curcuma longa L. (Zingiberaceae family)) widely known as a spice and a coloring agent for food have been reported to possess notable anticancer activity by inhibiting the proliferation and metastasis, and enhancing cell cycle arrest or apoptosis in various cancer cells. In spite of all these benefits, the therapeutic application of curcumin in clinical medicine and its bioavailability are still limited due to its poor absorption and rapid metabolism. Structural modification of curcumin through the synthesis of curcumin-based derivatives is a potential approach to overcome the above limitations. Curcumin derivatives can overcome the disadvantages of curcumin while enhancing the overall efficacy and hindering drug resistance. This article reports a review of published curcumin derivatives and their enhanced anticancer activities.

https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/24/23/4386/pdf

Curcumin and Its Derivatives as Potential Therapeutic Agents in Prostate, Colon and Breast Cancers

Ursolic acid is a pharmacologically active pentacyclic triterpenoid derived from medicinal plants, fruit, and vegetables. The pharmacological activities of ursolic acid have been extensively studied over the past few years and various reports have revealed that ursolic acid has multiple biological activities, which include anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-cancer, etc. In terms of cancer treatment, ursolic acid interacts with a number of molecular targets that play an essential role in many cell signaling pathways. It suppresses transformation, inhibits proliferation, and induces apoptosis of tumor cells. Although ursolic acid has many benefits, its therapeutic applications in clinical medicine are limited by its poor bioavailability and absorption. To overcome such disadvantages, researchers around the globe have designed and developed synthetic ursolic acid derivatives with enhanced therapeutic effects by structurally modifying the parent skeleton of ursolic acid. These structurally modified compounds display enhanced therapeutic effects when compared to ursolic acid. This present review summarizes various synthesized derivatives of ursolic acid with anti-cancer activity which were reported from 2015 to date.

Ursolic Acid-Based Derivatives as Potential Anti-Cancer Agents: An Update

Viral diseases, such as human immune deficiency virus (HIV), influenza, hepatitis, and herpes, are the leading causes of human death in the world. The shortage of effective vaccines or therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of the numerous viral infections, and the great increase in the number of new drug-resistant viruses, indicate that there is a great need for the development of novel and potent antiviral drugs. Natural products are one of the most valuable sources for drug discovery. Most natural triterpenoids, such as oleanolic acid (OA), possess notable antiviral activity. Therefore, it is important to validate how plant isolates, such as OA and its analogues, can improve and produce potent drugs for the treatment of viral disease. This article reports a review of the analogues of oleanolic acid and their selected pathogenic antiviral activities, which include HIV, the influenza virus, hepatitis B and C viruses, and herpes viruses.

https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/23/9/2300/pdf

Antiviral Activities of Oleanolic Acid and Its Analogues.

Pentacyclic triterpenoids are well-known phytochemicals with various biological activities commonly found in plants as secondary metabolites. The wide range of biological activities exhibited by triterpenoids has made them the most valuable sources of pharmacological agents. A number of novel triterpenoid derivatives with many skeletal modifications have been developed. The most important modifications are the formation of analogues or derivatives with nitrogen-containing heterocyclic scaffolds. The derivatives with nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds are among the most promising candidate for the development of novel therapeutic drugs. About 75% of FDA-approved drugs are nitrogen-containing heterocyclic moieties. The unique properties of heterocyclic compounds have encouraged many researchers to develop new triterpenoid analogous with pharmacological activities. In this review, we discuss recent advances of nitrogen-containing heterocyclic triterpenoids as potential therapeutic agents. This comprehensive review will assist medicinal chemists to understand new strategies that can result in the development of compounds with potential therapeutic efficacy.

https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/26/9/2401/pdf

Pentacyclic Triterpenoids with Nitrogen-Containing Heterocyclic Moiety, Privileged Hybrids in Anticancer Drug Discovery.

The treatment of wounds is one challenging biomedical field due to delayed wound healing common in chronic wounds. Several factors delay wound healing, including microbial infections, malnutrition, underlying physiological conditions, etc. Most of the currently used wound dressing materials suffer from poor antimicrobial properties, poor biodegradability and biocompatibility, and weak mechanical performance. Plant extracts, such as Aloe vera, have attracted significant attention in wound management because of their interesting biological properties. Aloe vera is composed of essential constituents beneficial for the wound healing process, such as amino acids, vitamins C and E, and zinc. Aloe vera influences numerous factors that are involved in wound healing and stimulates accelerated healing. This review reports the therapeutic outcomes of aloe vera extract-loaded polymer-based scaffolds in wound management.

Vuyolwethu Khwaza

Papers

Curcumin and Its Derivatives as Potential Therapeutic Agents in Prostate, Colon and Breast Cancers

Ursolic Acid-Based Derivatives as Potential Anti-Cancer Agents: An Update

Antiviral Activities of Oleanolic Acid and Its Analogues.

Pentacyclic Triterpenoids with Nitrogen-Containing Heterocyclic Moiety, Privileged Hybrids in Anticancer Drug Discovery.

Polymer-Based Scaffolds Loaded with Aloe vera Extract for the Treatment of Wounds