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      Thymoquinone, as an anticancer molecule: from basic research to clinical investigation

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          Abstract

          Thymoquinone is an anticancer phytochemical commonly found in black cumin. In this review, we discuss the potential of thymoquinone as anticancer molecule, its mechanism of action and future usage in clinical applications. Thymoquinone exhibits anticancer activity via numerous mechanisms of action, specifically by showing selective antioxidant and oxidant activity, interfering with DNA structure, affecting carcinogenic signaling molecules/pathways and immunomodulation. In vitro activity of thymoquinone has been further implicated in animal models of cancer; however, no clinical application has been proven yet. This is the optimum time to focus on clinical trials for developing thymoquinone as a future drug in cancer therapeutics.

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          A review on therapeutic potential of Nigella sativa: A miracle herb.

          Aftab Ahmad, Asif Husain, Mohd Mujeeb … (2013)
          Nigella sativa (N. sativa) (Family Ranunculaceae) is a widely used medicinal plant throughout the world. It is very popular in various traditional systems of medicine like Unani and Tibb, Ayurveda and Siddha. Seeds and oil have a long history of folklore usage in various systems of medicines and food. The seeds of N. sativa have been widely used in the treatment of different diseases and ailments. In Islamic literature, it is considered as one of the greatest forms of healing medicine. It has been recommended for using on regular basis in Tibb-e-Nabwi (Prophetic Medicine). It has been widely used as antihypertensive, liver tonics, diuretics, digestive, anti-diarrheal, appetite stimulant, analgesics, anti-bacterial and in skin disorders. Extensive studies on N. sativa have been carried out by various researchers and a wide spectrum of its pharmacological actions have been explored which may include antidiabetic, anticancer, immunomodulator, analgesic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, spasmolytic, bronchodilator, hepato-protective, renal protective, gastro-protective, antioxidant properties, etc. Due to its miraculous power of healing, N. sativa has got the place among the top ranked evidence based herbal medicines. This is also revealed that most of the therapeutic properties of this plant are due to the presence of thymoquinone which is major bioactive component of the essential oil. The present review is an effort to provide a detailed survey of the literature on scientific researches of pharmacognostical characteristics, chemical composition and pharmacological activities of the seeds of this plant.
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            Targeting nuclear factor-kappa B activation pathway by thymoquinone: role in suppression of antiapoptotic gene products and enhancement of apoptosis.

            Gautam Sethi, Kwang Seok Ahn, Bharat B. Aggarwal (2008)
            Thymoquinone (TQ), derived from the medicinal plant Nigella sativa, exhibits antiinflammatory and anticancer activities through mechanism(s) that is not fully understood. Because numerous effects modulated by TQ can be linked to interference with the nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappa B) signaling, we investigated in detail the effect of this quinone on NF-kappa B pathway. As examined by DNA binding, we found that TQ suppressed tumor necrosis factor-induced NF-kappa B activation in a dose- and time-dependent manner and inhibited NF-kappaB activation induced by various carcinogens and inflammatory stimuli. The suppression of NF-kappaB activation correlated with sequential inhibition of the activation of I kappa B alpha kinase, I kappa B alpha phosphorylation, I kappa B alpha degradation, p65 phosphorylation, p65 nuclear translocation, and the NF-kappa B-dependent reporter gene expression. TQ specifically suppressed the direct binding of nuclear p65 and recombinant p65 to the DNA, and this binding was reversed by DTT. However, TQ did not inhibit p65 binding to DNA when cells were transfected with the p65 plasmid containing cysteine residue 38 mutated to serine. TQ also down-regulated the expression of NF-kappa B-regulated antiapoptotic (IAP1, IAP2, XIAP Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, and survivin), proliferative (cyclin D1, cyclooxygenase-2, and c-Myc), and angiogenic (matrix metalloproteinase-9 and vascular endothelial growth factor) gene products. This led to potentiation of apoptosis induced by tumor necrosis factor and chemotherapeutic agents. Overall, our results indicate that the anticancer and antiinflammatory activities previously assigned to TQ may be mediated in part through the suppression of the NF-kappa B activation pathway, as shown here, and thus may have potential in treatment of myeloid leukemia and other cancers.
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              Thymoquinone inhibits tumor angiogenesis and tumor growth through suppressing AKT and extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling pathways.

              Gautam Sethi, Xiufeng Pang, Mingyao Liu … (2008)
              Thymoquinone, a component derived from the medial plant Nigella sativa, has been used for medical purposes for more than 2,000 years. Recent studies reported that thymoquinone exhibited inhibitory effects on cell proliferation of many cancer cell lines and hormone-refractory prostate cancer by suppressing androgen receptor and E2F-1. Whether thymoquinone inhibits tumor angiogenesis, the critical step of tumor growth and metastasis, is still unknown. In this study, we found that thymoquinone effectively inhibited human umbilical vein endothelial cell migration, invasion, and tube formation. Thymoquinone inhibited cell proliferation and suppressed the activation of AKT and extracellular signal-regulated kinase. Thymoquinone blocked angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo, prevented tumor angiogenesis in a xenograft human prostate cancer (PC3) model in mouse, and inhibited human prostate tumor growth at low dosage with almost no chemotoxic side effects. Furthermore, we observed that endothelial cells were more sensitive to thymoquinone-induced cell apoptosis, cell proliferation, and migration inhibition compared with PC3 cancer cells. Thymoquinone inhibited vascular endothelial growth factor-induced extracellular signal-regulated kinase activation but showed no inhibitory effects on vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 activation. Overall, our results indicate that thymoquinone inhibits tumor angiogenesis and tumor growth and could be used as a potential drug candidate for cancer therapy.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Oncotarget
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Oncotarget
                Journal ID (publisher-id): Oncotarget
                Journal ID (publisher-id): ImpactJ
                Title: Oncotarget
                Publisher: Impact Journals LLC
                ISSN (Electronic): 1949-2553
                Publication date Collection: 1 August 2017
                Publication date (Electronic): 18 April 2017
                Volume: 8
                Issue: 31
                Pages: 51907-51919
                Affiliations
                1 Key Laboratory of Epigenetics and Oncology, The Research Center for Preclinical Medicine, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China
                2 Faculty of Applied Sciences, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
                3 Division of Computer Aided Drug Design, The Red-Green Computing Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh
                4 The Honors College, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, United States
                Author notes
                Article
                Publisher ID: 17206
                DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.17206
                PMC ID: 5584300
                PubMed ID: 28881699
                SO-VID: 7bc0767d-96de-4b9d-8f87-b173a5264e6c
                Copyright © Copyright: © 2017 Asaduzzaman Khan et al.
                License:

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

                History
                Date received : 13 March 2017
                Date accepted : 5 April 2017
                Categories
                Subject: Review

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Oncology & Radiotherapy
                Keywords: nigella sativa,thymoquinone,anticancer,mouse model,clinical studies
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Oncology & Radiotherapy
                Keywords: nigella sativa, thymoquinone, anticancer, mouse model, clinical studies

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