Personalized and Precision Medicine Journal

Abstract Introduction: In this study the effect of C. colocynthis extract and phycocyanin on the growth of colon cancer cells, and the expression of Caspase 3 and Bax were investigated.
Materials & Methods: colon cancer cells (HT29) were treated with different concentrations of C. colocynthis and phycocyanin extracts for 24, 48 & 72 hours. The percentage of cell survival was then measured by MTT assay. Expression of Caspase 3 and Bax genes was investigated by real-time PCR. At the end results were analyzed by SPSS software.
Results: Significant differences were observed in the average percentage of dead cells with 2 to 30 g/μL concentration of extract, phycocyanin, extract + phycocyanin after 24, 48 and 72 hours (p<0.05). The combination of extract and phycocyanin as well as phycocyanin alone showed stronger inhibitory effects on growth of cancer cells compared to extract (p <0.05). The expression of Bax gene was significantly increased by treatment of combination of extract and phycocyanin (2.55-fold) and also C. colocynthis extract alone (1.67-fold) (p <0.01). In addition, the combination of extract and phycocyanin and Abujahl watermelon extract significantly increased the expression of caspase 3 gene (2.15 and 1.75), respectively (p <0.01).
Conclusion: The anticancer effect of Citrullus Colocynthis extract, as well as phycocyanin can be applied by increase the expression of Bax and caspase 3 genes and as a result, apoptosis induction in cancer cells.

Abstract In this article, the features of DNA-functionalized goldnanoparticles (GNRs), including the size-dependent color, the amount of conjugated DNA, and the fluorescence quenchers will be described. DNA and aptamer conjugated GNRs can be applied for producing the colorimetric and fluorescent biosensors to detect all types of disease markers including DNA, RNA, protein and other small molecular metabolites.
The early phase of this work is performed in clean buffers and serum samples. DNA-conjugated GNRs delivery into the cells is recently used for intracellular diagnosis in personalized medicine. Simultaneously, DNA-functionalized GNRs can be used to deliver the antisense DNA for gene therapy applications.
With targeting both diagnosis and treatment applications, DNA- functionalized GNRs can be used as a suitable approach to reach theranostics purposes (diagnosis and treatment in a simultaneous manner).

Abstract Hesperidin is a flavanone present in citrus fruits, such as oranges and lemons. It exerts non-toxic activities in normal cells; however, it has been reported to suppress cell proliferation in several cancer types. Moreover, it was shown that dietary hesperidin acts as an anti-carcinogenic agent for some tumors. In the present study, we investigated the effect of hesperidin on breast cancer cell line MCF7 and also its effects on the expression of apoptosis-related genes in this cell line.
MCF7 cells were divided into 4 groups, including 3 study groups and 1 control group. Each study group was treated with 50, 75, or 100 μg/mL hesperidin, while the control group was left untreated. The samples underwent real-time PCR using the primers specific for BCL-2 and BAX, as the study genes, while GAPDH was used as the control.
According to our findings, hesperidin caused a significant decrease in BCL-2 mRNA levels at all the doses used in the study groups compared to the control group (p < 0.002). The observed decrease was dose-dependent. Also, hesperidin induced a significant overexpression of BAX when used in doses of 75 and 100 µg/mL in comparison to the control group.
The present study proved the significant apoptosis-inducing effect of hesperidin on the breast cancer cell line MCF7.