Sahdeo Prasad

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center | MD Anderson · Department of Experimental Therapeutics

This report drives insights for the investigation of the underlying mechanisms of antitumor effects of Teucrium ramosissimum (TrS) essential oil (EO) that elicits colon tumor protection via activation of cell death machinery. A study of the aerial part phytocomplex was performed by FTIR spectra and GC/MS. In vivo colon carcinogenesis induced by LPS...

The tumor microenvironment (TME) is a complex network of cellular and non-cellular components surrounding the tumor. The cellular component includes fibroblasts, adipocytes, endothelial cells, and immune cells, while non-cellular components are tumor vasculature, extracellular matrix and signaling molecules. The tumor cells have constant close inte...

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the reason for worldwide pandemic, has already masked around 220 countries globally. This disease is induced by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Arising environmental stress, increase in the oxidative stress level, weak immunity and lack of nutrition deteriorates the clinical st...

Chronic joint inflammatory disorders like osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, which are manifested by joint dysfunction, show an upsurge in inflammation and oxidative stress. Although conventional anti-arthritic drugs are being used to relieve pain from arthritic symptoms, they usually cause severe side effects. Traditionally used Ayurvedic me...

Background: The aim of the study is to determine the anticancer activity of Thymus algeriensis (TS) and its underlying mechanisms using in vitro and in animal models. Methods: HCT116 cells were treated with TS essential oil alone or with TRAIL, and then its anticancer effect was determined by using MTT assay, live dead assay, caspase activation...

TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL/Apo2L), a member of cytokine family, is known to selectively induce apoptosis in cancer cells. However, developing resistance to TRAIL is a major obstacle in cancer therapy. In this study, the in vitro effect of Teucrium alopecurus (TA) essential oil on inhibition of cancer cell growth and enhancing TRAI...

Curcumin, an active component of the rhizome turmeric, has gained much attention as a plant-based compound with pleiotropic pharmacological properties. It possesses anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, hypoglycemic, antimicrobial, neuroprotective, and immunomodulatory activities. However, the health-promoting utility of curcumin is constrained due to it...

TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL/Apo2L), a member of cytokine family, is known to selectively induce apoptosis in cancer cells. However, developing resistance to TRAIL is a major obstacle in cancer therapy. In this study, the in vitro effect of Teucrium alopecurus (TA) essential oil on inhibition of cancer cell growth and enhancing TRAI...

Glioblastoma, also referred to as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is an aggressive type of brain cancer. The prognosis for GBM is poor with an average medium survival rate of 12–15 months. GBM is highly challenging to treat due to neural stem cells phenotypic variations. These variations are determined by the tumor microenvironment (TME), which refe...

Lamiaceae (Labiatae) are an important group of medicinal plants, which have been used for treating heart disease in traditional medicine for centuries. These mainly aromatic plants are used as essential oils, extracts or isolated components (polyphenols, phenolic compounds, terpenes, iridoids etc.). Some Labiatae species (more than 30, such as corn...

Oxidative stress on the body is an underlying commonality for many disease conditions and inflammation, and as aging occurs. Nutraceuticals containing curcuminoids and tetrahydrocurcumin have been used both in their capacity as antioxidants and for their antiinflammatory activity. However, curcuminoids such as curcumin have certain bioavailability...

Oxidative damage caused by imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants plays a major role in causation and progression of many chronic diseases, including cancer. Oxidative stress is known to mediate activation of multiple signaling pathways, growth factors, transcription factors, kinases, inflammatory and cell cycle regulatory molecules that cause...

Free radicals, generally composed of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), are generated in the body by various endogenous and exogenous systems. The overproduction of free radicals is known to cause several chronic diseases including cancer. However, increased production of free radicals by chemotherapeutic drugs is al...

Cancer continues to be one of the leading contributors towards global disease burden. According to NIH, cancer incidence rate per year will increase to 23.6 million by 2030. Even though cancer continues to be a major proportion of the disease burden worldwide, it has the lowest clinical trial success rate amongst other diseases. Hence, there is an...

Oxidative stress, caused by the overproduction of free radicals, leads to the development of many chronic diseases including cancer. Free radicals are known to damage cellular biomolecules like lipids, proteins, and DNA that results in activation of multiple signaling pathways, growth factors, transcription factors, kinases, inflammatory and cell c...

The use of synthetic, natural, or biological agents to minimize the occurrence of cancer in healthy individuals is defined as cancer chemoprevention. Chemopreventive agents inhibit the development of cancer either by impeding DNA damage, which leads to malignancy or by reversing or blocking the division of premalignant cells with DNA damage. The be...

Prostate cancer is one of the most common uro-oncological disease in men and is globally leading cause of cancer related deaths in males. The somatic mutation has a strong link in the occurrence of cancer. Mutation in the oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes that alter key cellular functions can lead to prostate cancer initiation and progression. W...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.00433.].

More than 90% of patients die of pancreatic cancer due to metastasis. Among the cytokines, CXCL12 and its CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) are known to play a role in invasion and metastasis in many types of cancer. Thus, agents that can interrupt the CXCR4/CXCL12 signaling cascade have the potential to suppress cancer metastasis. In the present st...

p>More than 90% of patients die of pancreatic cancer due to metastasis. Among the cytokines, CXCL12 and its CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) are known to play a role in invasion and metastasis in many types of cancer. Thus, agents that can interrupt the CXCR4/CXCL12 signaling cascade have the potential to suppress cancer metastasis. In the present...

Recent advances in research on cancer have led to understand the pathogenesis of cancer and development of new anticancer drugs. Despite of these advancements, many tumors have been found to recur, undergo metastasis and develop resistance to therapy. Accumulated evidences suggest that small population of cancer cells known as cancer stem cells (CS...

This work focused on characterizing hydrophilic fractions of Clematis flammula (CFl). The data here clearly demonstrated that hydrolate fractions act as a free radical scavengers and inhibited proliferation of different cell lines in a time- and concentration-dependent manner, transwell, and with a significant cytotoxic effect. Treating cells with...

Spices are not only just herbs used in culinary for improving the taste of dishes. They are also sources of a numerous bioactive compounds significantly beneficial for health. They have been used since ancient times because of their antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and carminative properties. Several scientific studies have suggested their protecti...

This study focused on characterizing the Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic fractions of Teucrium alopecurus in the context of cancer prevention and therapy. The goal was also to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved and to determine its efficacy against cancer by triggering apoptosis and suppressing tumorigenesis in human colon cancer. The data her...

Aurora A kinase (AURKA) is a master cell cycle regulator that is often dysregulated in human cancers. Its overexpression has been associated with genome instability and oncogenic transformation. The protein kinase D (PKD) family is an emerging therapeutic target of cancer. Aberrant PKD activation has been implicated in tumor growth and survival, ye...

Extensive research within the last several decades has revealed that the major risk factors for most chronic diseases are infections, obesity, alcohol, tobacco, radiation, environmental pollutants, and diet. It is now well established that these factors induce chronic diseases through induction of inflammation. However, inflammation could be either...

Teucrium alopecurus is an endemic plant limited to southern Tunisia. In the present study, the chemical composition, anticancer and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) inhibitory effects of Teucrium alopecurus leaf essential oil was investigated. The analysis of Teucrium alopecurus (TA-1) with Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) showed that α-Bisabo...

Background: While the anti-inflammatory and anticancer potential of curcumin, which is derived from turmeric (Curcuma longa), has been studied extensively, very little is known about Calebin A, another novel compound from the same source. Purpose: To determine whether Calebin A exhibits anti-inflammatory and anticancer potential. Methods: We e...

Background: For centuries, agents derived from natural sources (mother nature), especially plants have been the primary source of medicine. Neem, also referred to as Azadirachta indica is one such plant that has been so named because it provides freedom from all diseases, and used for thousands of years in Indian and African continents. Different...

Spices have been used since ancient times. Although they have been employed mainly as flavoring and coloring agents, their role in food safety and preservation have also been studied in vitro and in vivo. Spices have exhibited numerous health benefits in preventing and treating a wide variety of diseases such as cancer, aging, metabolic, neurologic...

Curcumin, a yellow pigment in the Indian spice Turmeric (Curcuma longa), which is chemically known as diferuloylmethane, was first isolated exactly two centuries ago in 1815 by two German Scientists, Vogel and Pelletier. However, according to the pubmed database, the first study on its biological activity as an antibacterial agent was published in...

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide and even develops resistance to chemotherapeutic agents over time. As a result survival for patients with CRC remains poor. Method: We investigated both in vitro and in vivo effects of γ-tocotrienol (γ-T3) alone and in combination with capecitabine. Apoptosis an...

Background: Spice and spice-derived compounds have been identified and explored for their health benefits since centuries. One of the spice long pepper has been traditionally used to treat chronic bronchitis, asthma, constipation, gonorrhea, paralysis of the tongue, diarrhea, cholera, malaria, viral hepatitis, respiratory infections, stomach ache,...

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) constantly generated inside the body are required to drive regulatory pathways and are also a cause for several pathological conditions including cancer. Numerous lines of evidence suggest that ROS can promote as well as suppress the survival of cancer cells. First, ROS are known to regulate each and every step of tumo...

Novel drug development leading to final approval by the US FDA can cost as much as two billion dollars. Why the cost of novel drug discovery is so expensive is unclear, but high failure rates at the preclinical and clinical stages are major reasons. Although therapies targeting a given cell signaling pathway or a protein have become prominent in dr...

Inflammation is a part of the complex biological response of inflammatory cells to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, irritants, or damaged cells. This inflammation has been linked to several chronic diseases including cancer, atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis. Major biomarkers of inflammation include tumor necrosis fac...

Extensive research over the past half a century indicates that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play an important role in cancer. Although low levels of ROS can be beneficial, excessive accumulation can promote cancer. One characteristic of cancer cells that distinguishes them from normal cells is their ability to produce increased numbers of ROS and...

The development of chemoresistance in human pancreatic cancer is one reason for the poor survival rate for patients with this cancer. Because multiple gene products are linked with chemoresistance, we investigated the ability of ursolic acid (UA) to sensitize pancreatic cancer cells to gemcitabine, a standard drug used for the treatment of pancreat...

Escaping from cell death is one of the adaptations that enable cancer cells to stave off anticancer therapies. The key players in avoiding apoptosis are collectively known as survival proteins. Survival proteins comprise the Bcl-2, inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP), and heat shock protein (HSP) families. The aberrant expression of these proteins is asso...

Osteoporosis is a bone disease that is exacerbated by aging and age-associated chronic diseases such as cancer. Cancer-induced bone loss is usually treated with bisphosphonates or denosumab, an antibody against receptor activator of nuclear factor (NF)-κB ligand (RANKL). Because these drugs are expensive and have numerous side effects and high rate...

This comprehensive volume focuses on anti-inflammatory nutraceuticals and their role in various chronic diseases. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drugs such as steroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), statins and metformin have been shown to modulate inflammatory pathways, but their long-term intake has been associated...

Considering that as many as 80 % of the anticancer drugs have their roots in natural products derived from traditional medicine, we examined compounds other than curcumin from turmeric (Curcuma longa) that could exhibit anticancer potential. Present study describes the isolation and characterization of another turmeric-derived compound, β-sesquiphe...

Cancer is primarily an “old-age disease” that has an “age-old” history. The overall incidence of cancer is much higher in Western countries than in Eastern countries for reasons that are not understood. Almost three million studies published to date indicate that cancer is a hyperproliferative disorder that arises from dysregulation of multiple cel...

No safe and effective cure currently exists for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, antiretroviral therapy can prolong the lives of HIV patients and lowers the secondary infections. Natural compounds, which are considered to be pleiotropic molecules, could be useful against HIV. Curcumin, a yellow pigment present in the spice turmeric (Cur...

Gastrointestinal (GI) cancer, a cancer of different organs of the digestive system, is one of the most common cancers around the world. The incidence and death rate of some of these cancers are very high. Although a large variety of chemotherapeutic agents have been introduced since the last few decades to combat GI cancer, most of them are very ex...

Curcumin (diferuloylmethane), a golden pigment from turmeric, has been linked with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antiviral, antibacterial, and antidiabetic properties. Most of the these activities have been assigned to methoxy, hydroxyl, α,β-unsaturated carbonyl moiety or to diketone groups present in curcumin. One of the major metabo...

Selective killing of cancer cells is one of the major goals of cancer therapy. Although chemotherapeutic agents are being used for cancer treatment, they lack selectivity toward tumor cells. Among the six different death receptors (DRs) identified to date, DR4 and DR5 are selectively expressed on cancer cells. Therefore, unlike chemotherapeutic age...

Chronic infections, obesity, alcohol, tobacco, radiation, environmental pollutants, and high-calorie diet have been recognized as major risk factors for the most chronic diseases including cancer. All these risk factors are linked to chronic diseases through inflammation. While acute inflammation that persists for short-term mediates host defense a...

Recently two different reports appeared in prominent journals suggesting a mechanism by which piperlonguimine, a pyridine alkaloid, mediates anticancer effects. In the current report, we describe another novel mechanism by which this alkaloid mediates its anticellular effects. We found that piperlonguimine blocked both constitutive and inducible NF...

Human tumor necrosis factor (TNF), first isolated by our group as an anticancer agent, has been now shown to be a primary mediator of inflammation. Till today 19 different members of the TNF superfamily which interact with 29 different receptors, have been identified. Most members of this family exhibit pro-inflammatory activities, in part through...

Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) is a yellow pigment present in the spice turmeric (Curcuma longa) that has been associated with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antiviral, and antibacterial activities as indicated by over 6,000 citations. In addition, over one hundred clinical studies have been carried out with curcumin. One of the major pr...

Cancer is a hyper-proliferative disorder that arises due to dysregulation of multiple cell signaling pathways. It is one of the most common causes of death worldwide. Globally, about 14.1 million new cases of cancer have reported in 2012, and 8.2 million deaths occurred due to cancer (14.6% of all human deaths) (WHO 2014). The most common types of...

Although much has been published about curcumin, which is obtained from turmeric, comparatively little is known about turmeric itself. Turmeric, a golden spice obtained from the rhizome of the plant Curcuma longa, has been used to give color and taste to food preparations since ancient times. Traditionally, this spice has been used in Ayurveda and...

Progressively increasing failure rates, high cost, poor bioavailability, poor safety, limited efficacy, and a lengthy design and testing process associated with cancer drug development have necessitated alternative approaches to drug discovery. Exploring established non-cancer drugs for anticancer activity provides an opportunity rapidly to advance...

Diabetic cardiomyopathy, a disorder of the heart muscle in diabetic patients, is one of the major causes of heart failure. Since diabetic cardiomyopathy is now known to have a high prevalence in the asymptomatic diabetic patient, prevention at the earliest stage of development by existing molecules would be appropriate in order to prevent the progr...

Purpose: Extensive research over the past decade has revealed that the proinflammatory microenvironment plays a critical role in the development of colorectal cancer. Whether nimbolide, a limonoid triterpene, can inhibit the growth of colorectal cancer was investigated in the present study. Experimental design: The effect of nimbolide on prolife...

Bone loss/resorption or osteoporosis is a disease that is accelerated with aging and age-associated chronic diseases such as cancer. Bone loss has been linked with human multiple myeloma, breast cancer, and prostate cancer and is usually treated with bisphosphonates, and recently approved denosumab, an antibody against receptor activator of NF-κB l...

The proteasome is a multicatalytic proteinase complex, the inhibition of which has been associated with induction of apoptosis, anti-tumorigenesis, and chemosensitization of tumor cells to the conventional chemotherapeutics agents and radiation. Therefore, inhibition of the proteasome pathway could be a novel approach for the prevention and treatme...

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States after cancers of the lung and the breast/prostate. While the incidence of CRC in the United States is among the highest in the world (approximately 52/100,000), its incidence in countries in India is among the lowest (approximately 7/100,000), suggesting that l...

Extensive research over the past several years has indicated a close association between chronic inflammation and chronic diseases. Chronic inflammation has now been shown to be involved in the onset and development of numerous chronic diseases, including cancer, neurological diseases, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, blood pressure, atherosc...

A major problem in clinical trials of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) as cancer therapy is the development of resistance to TRAIL. Therefore, agents that can overcome TRAIL resistance have great therapeutic potential. In this study, we evaluated capsazepine, a TRPV1 antagonist, for its ability to sensitize human colo...

Development of chemoresistance, poor prognosis, and metastasis often renders the current treatments for colorectal cancer (CRC) ineffective. Whether ursolic acid, a component of numerous medicinal plants, either alone or in combination with capecitabine, can inhibit the growth and metastasis of human CRC was investigated. Experimental design: The e...

IntroductIon Obesity is a medical condition in which excess fat is accumulated in the body, which further results in an adverse health effect (Haslam and James 2005). Measurement of obesity is determined by body mass index (BMI), which compares weight and height. A person is considered to be overweight (or preobese) if BMI is between 25 and 29.9 an...

Numerous cancer therapeutics were originally identified from natural products used in traditional medicine. One such agent is acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid (AKBA), derived from the gum resin of the Boswellia serrata known as Salai guggal or Indian frankincense. Traditionally, it has been used in Ayurvedic medicine to treat proinflammatory cond...

Chronic infections, obesity, alcohol, tobacco, radiation, environmental pollutants, and high-calorie diet have been recognized as major risk factors for the most common types of cancers. All these risk factors are linked to cancer through inflammation. While acute inflammation that persists for short-term mediates host defense against infections, c...

An abundance of epidemiological evidence has shown that lifestyle plays a major role in the aetiology of human cancers. Approximately 90% of all cancers are caused by an adverse lifestyle, and as much as 30–40% of all cancers have been linked to diet. Consumption of a high-fat diet with low physical activity causes overweight and obesity, which is...

Extensive research within the last half a century has revealed that cancer is caused by dysregulation of as many as 500 different gene products. Most natural products target multiple gene products and thus are ideally suited for prevention and treatment of various chronic diseases, including cancer. Dietary agents such as spices have been used exte...

Most chronic diseases--such as cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, arthritis, diabetes and obesity--are becoming leading causes of disability and death all over the world. Some of the most common causes of these age-associated chronic diseases are lack of physical activity, poor nutrition, tobacco use, and ex...

3-Formylchromone (3-FC) has been associated with anticancer potential through a mechanism yet to be elucidated. Because of the critical role of NF-κB in tumorigenesis, we investigated the effect of this agent on the NF-κB activation pathway. Whether activated by inflammatory agents (such as TNF-α and endotoxin) or tumor promoters (such as phorbol e...

Curcumin (diferuloylmethane), the active ingredient in turmeric (Curcuma longa), is a highly pleiotropic molecule with anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, chemopreventive, chemosensitization, and radiosensitization activities. The pleiotropic activities attributed to curcumin come from its complex molecular structure and chemistry, as well as its abil...