Henry Lowe

Clinical cancer treatment modalities include radiation as one of the first-line therapies used for treating almost two-thirds of cancer patients. Combinational therapy for cancer is becoming extremely popular, with multiple therapies and their pharmacological effects expected to provide a synergistic outcome. The nanotechnology-based combinational...

Terpenes form part of a huge and diverse class of naturally occurring and volatile secondary metabolites produced by many plants, fruits, animals, insects, and other organisms. They are the largest group of naturally occurring metabolites, with over 55,000 types of terpenes produced by plants alone, primarily as essential oils. In humans, they cont...

This chapter aims to address the question of whether there is a clinically relevant difference between natural and synthetic psilocybin. Examining the history of when psilocybin was first researched in the late 1950s revealed that both synthetic and natural compounds were explored but lost momentum with the declaration of the war on drugs in 1971....

The word “psychedelic” (psyche (i.e., the mind or soul) and delos (i.e., to show)) has Greek origin and was first coined by psychiatrist Humphry Osmond in 1956, who had been conducting research on lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) at the time. Psychedelic drugs such as N,N-DMT/DMT (N,N-dimethyltryptamine), 5-MeO-DMT (5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine...

Oral and dental diseases are a major global burden, the most common non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and may even affect an individual’s general quality of life and health. The most prevalent dental and oral health conditions are tooth decay (otherwise referred to as dental caries/cavities), oral cancers, gingivitis, periodontitis, periodontal (gu...

The Endocannabinoid System (ECS) is primarily responsible for maintaining homeostasis, a balance in internal environment (temperature, mood, and immune system) and energy input and output in living, biological systems. In addition to regulating physiological processes, the ECS directly influences anxiety, feeding behaviour/appetite, emotional behav...

The psychedelic effects of some plants and fungi have been known and deliberately exploited by humans for thousands of years. Fungi, particularly mushrooms, are the principal source of naturally occurring psychedelics. The mushroom extract, psilocybin has historically been used as a psychedelic agent for religious and spiritual ceremonies, as well...

The cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa L.) produces an estimated 545 chemical compounds of different biogenetic classes. In addition to economic value, many of these phytochemicals have medicinal and physiological activity. The plant is most popularly known for its two most-prominent and most-studied secondary metabolites—Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-T...

Plants have had historical significance in medicine since the beginning of civilization. The oldest medical pharmacopeias of the African, Arabian, and Asian countries solely utilize plants and herbs to treat pain, oral diseases, skin diseases, microbial infections, multiple types of cancers, reproductive disorders among a myriad of other ailments....

The Cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa L.) produces an estimated 545 chemical compounds of different biogenetic classes. In addition to economic value, many of these phytochemicals have medicinal and physiological activity. The plant is most popularly known for its two most prominent and most studied secondary metabolites— Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-...

Plants have had historical significance in medicine since the beginning of civilization. The oldest medical pharmacopeias of the African, Arabian, and Asian countries solely utilize plants and herbs to treat pain, oral diseases, skin diseases, microbial infections, multiple types of cancers, reproductive disorders among a myriad of other ailments....

The Cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa L.) produces an estimated 545 chemical compounds of different biogenetic classes. In addition to economic value, many of these phytochemicals have medicinal and physiological activity. The plant is most popularly known for its two most prominent and most studied secondary metabolites— Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2019.00660.].

Flavonoids are widely used as phytomedicines. Here, we report on flavonoid phytomedicines with potential for development into prophylactics or therapeutics against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). These flavonoid-based phytomedicines include: caflanone, Equivir, hesperetin, myricetin, and Linebacker. Our in silico studies show that these flavon...

Pancreatic cancer is particularly refractory to modern therapies, with a 5-year survival rate for patients at a dismal 8%. One of the significant barriers to effective treatment is the immunosuppressive pancreatic tumor microenvironment and development of resistance to treatment. New treatment options to increase both the survival and quality of li...

The effects of Salako nutritional supplements on cocaine-dependent Sprague Dawley rats was investigated. Rats were made cocaine-dependent using conditioned place preference (CPP) where craving was analyzed regularly. Cocaine metabolite levels were determined from blood samples. CYP450 3A4 isoenzyme activities were obtained using liver homogenate. S...

Adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma (ATL) is a leukemia of mature CD4 T cells that develops after long-term infection of human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV-1). The prognosis for patients living with the disease is poor, with chronic ATL median survival is 2 years. Once they are diagnosed with acute/lymphomatous ATL, patients have less than 1 year of life...

Background The incidence and mortalities from cancers remain on the rise worldwide. Despite significant efforts to discover and develop novel anticancer agents, many cancers remain in the unmet need category. As such, efforts to discover and develop new and more effective and less toxic agents against cancer remain a top global priority. Our drug d...

Viral hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) pose a major health problem globally and if untreated, both viruses lead to severe liver damage resulting in liver cirrhosis and cancer. While HBV has a vaccine, HCV has none at the moment. The risk of drug resistance, combined with the high cost of current therapies, makes it a necessity for cost-effec...

Aims: Cancer is one of the leading chronic diseases that may lead to death. The search for new therapeutic, medicinal and nutraceutical compounds from folkloric plants including the marine flora are globally important objectives. Therefore the biological assessment of acroalgae is critical. Methodology: Three macroalgae, Galaxaura oblongata, Dictyo...

The effects that chronic cocaine administration (CCA) have on craving, cocaine metabolite concentrations and cytochrome P450 3A4 isoenzyme (CYP450 3A4) activities in Sprague-Dawley rats following the administration of Salako Nutritional Supplements (SNS) were examined. Five groups of fifty rats were used to assess the effect of the SNS following CC...

A method of treating prostate cancer by administering a pharmaceutically-acceptable amount of a crude extract of the indigenous Jamaican plant Ball Moss (Tillandsia Recurvata) comprising one or more cycloartane isolates, and the isolates used in the method for eliciting thereby a kinase inhibitory response of prostate cancer cells by selectively in...

Synthetic dicinnamate compounds and their analogs are disclosed that exhibit anti-tumor activity and/or an anti-inflammatory activity, and have beneficial activity principally in destroying cancer cells. Furthermore, methods for the extraction of the extracts are disclosed.

New cancer diagnoses remain on the rise despite significant improvements in early detection and treatment. The role of Kinases in cancer onset and progression has made kinases a target for the control of some cancers. The MRCKα/β kinases have recently been implicated in cancer onset and progression and as such could serve as a potential drug target...

Vernonia divaricata is one of five endemic Vernonia species of Jamaica. The ethno-medicinal uses of other species have been established, however, scientific validation of this species has not yet been done and as such this paper is aimed at identifying the anti-cancer activity of V divaricata against leukaemia, breast and prostate cancer cell lines...

Background: Approximately 250,000 deaths were caused by leukemia globally in 2012 and about 40%-50% of all leukemia diagnoses end-up in death. Medicinal plants are a rich source for the discovery of new drugs against leukemia and other types of cancers. To this end, we subjected the Jamaican ball moss (Tillandsia recurvata) and its cycloartanes, a...

1,3-di-O-Cinnamoyl-glycerol is a natural compound isolated from a Jamaican medicinal plant commonly referred to as Ball moss (Tillandsia recurvata). The synthesis of this compound was achieved via a Wittig chemistry process. The synthetic approach started with acylation of a di-protected glycerol with cinnamoyl chloride, deprotection of the glycero...

Background/Aim: The Jamaican "Guinea Hen Weed" (Petiveria alliacea L.) plant has been traditionally used in folklore medicine to treat a variety of diseases including cancer. In the present study we investigated on the therapeutic feasibility of dibenzyl trisulfide (DTS) (isolated from the Jamaican Guinea Hen Weed) as a potent small-molecule kinase...

Aim:The role of Kinases in cancer onset and progression has made kinases a target for the control of some cancers.Recent discoveries that kinases are most effectively inhibited bysmall molecules havealso resulted in an increased search for small molecule kinase inhibitors. Cycloartanes are small molecules found in many medicinal plants including th...

In our study of the Jamaican ball moss (Tillandsia recurvata L.) for its prostate cancer chemotherapeutic properties, we have identified a number of cycloartane-type compounds from the chloroform crude extract. Cycloart-23-ene-3,25-diol was isolated and characterized from the extract. Attempts to run this compound in our kinase and antiproliferativ...

Tillandsia recurvata, also commonly known as Ball Moss, is endemic to Jamaica and some parts of the Caribbean and South America. The plant, despite being reported to be used in folk medicine, had not previously been evaluated for its anti-cancer potential. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-cancer activity ofBall Moss. The anti-prolifer...

A crude chloroform extract from the Jamaican Ball Moss (Tillandsia recurvata L.) was tested for activity against three human cancer cell lines including; A375 (human melanoma), MCF-7 (human breast) and PC-3 (human prostate cancer) using the WST-1 assay. IC50s obtained against these cell lines; A375, MCF-7 and PC-3 in the presence of the crude extra...

Background Given the high occurrence of prostate cancer worldwide and one of the major sources of the discovery of new lead molecules being medicinal plants, this research undertook to investigate the possible anti-cancer activity of two natural cycloartanes; cycloartane-3,24,25-diol (extracted in our lab from Tillandsia recurvata) and cycloartane-...

This research was undertaken in order to investigate the inhibitory potential of the Jamaican ball moss, Tillandsia recurvata against several kinases. The inhibition of these kinases has emerged as a potential solution to restoring the tight regulation of normal cellular growth, the loss of which leads to cancer cell formation. Kinase inhibition wa...

Initial isolation and characterization screens have been carried out on the Jamaican ball moss (Tillandsia re- curvata L.) plant producing a novel complex glycosi- dic compound. This complex glycoside may be respon- sible for the promising anti-cancer and anti-inflamm- atory properties of this ball moss plant. A combina- tion of supercritical fluid...

Background: The Jamaican Tillandsia recurvata species is being fully investigated scientifically for medicinal properties and has demonstrated powerful anti-cancer properties in vitro and in vivo. Aim The scope of this study was to investigate the anti-tumor and anti-HIV effects of Ball Moss extracts, isolates and synthesized molecules both in vivo...

Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of death from cancer in men of all ages. The three conventional treatment options include surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. In many cases, these treatments are used in combination. Chemotherapy is however the most widely used tool in prostate cancer treatment especially where the cancer has metasta...

The International Diabetes Federation estimates that over 366 million people currently live with diabetes globally. This accounts for 8.3 % of the adult population and is projected to increase to near 552 million by 2030. Interestingly over 80 % of persons living with diabetes are from developing countries. In 2001, the prevalence rate of diabetes...

The island of Jamaica is known for its rich biodiversity and its abundance of medicinal plants being used as ethno medicines. Given the high occurrence of cancer worldwide and the major source of the discovery of new lead molecules being medicinal plants, this research undertook to investigate the anti-angiogenic properties of a chloroform extract...

This study investigated the effect of different traditional cooking methods on glycemic index (GI) and glycemic response of ten Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) cultivars commonly eaten in Jamaica. Matured tubers were cooked by roasting, baking, frying, or boiling then immediately consumed by the ten nondiabetic test subjects (5 males and 5 females;...

Lead poisoning, especially in children, is a preventable disease. Many children are exposed to this hazard, especially in poor communities, because of a paucity of information on lead poisoning and increasing economic hardships. In 1994, the case of the poor suburban community of Frazers Content, St Catherine, Jamaica, came to the public attention...

Forty patients with glaucoma and forty with normal intraocular tension were examined for changes in intraocular pressure before and after smoking tobacco and cannabis cigarettes. Smoking of cannabis cigarettes decreased the intraocular pressure in glaucoma. Smoking of tobacco cigarettes produced an initial rise in pressure followed by a fall. There...

Eugenitin (5-hydroxy-7-methoxy-2,6-dimethylchromone) and 2-acetonyl-3,5-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-1,4-naphthoquinone have been isolated from Cylindrocarpon sp. C.M.I. 127996.