Golnaz Parvizi Fard, Lale Solouki, Mostafa Zakariazadeh, Hossein Haghaei, Somaieh Soltani,
Volume 9, Issue 3 (12-2022)
Abstract
Human serum albumin is one of the most important blood proteins that has the ability to bind a wide range of compounds and different drugs. Hence, knowing how drugs bind to albumin is crucial to understand their pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic properties. The binding of drugs to protein affects the drug's excretion, distribution and interaction in the target tissues. Nicotinamide (NA) is a safe and inexpensive medical supplement that used to prevent and treat vitamin B3 deficiency. In this research, the molecular mechanism of the interaction between nicotinamide and human serum albumin was studied by the utilization of spectroscopic and molecular docking methods. The effects of temperature, acidic/basic pHs, metal ions, urea, and glucose on the interaction between nicotinamide and human serum albumin were also investigated. The spectroscopic studies indicated that the interaction between nicotinamide and human serum albumin is mainly controled by hydrophobic forces and the interaction is spontaneous. The number of binding site and binding constant is 1 and 4.6×104 (L/mol), respectively, which were increased in the presence of glucose. The presence of metallic ions and basic pH decreased the binding constant of nicotinamide to albumin. The obtained results indicated that nicotinamide tend to binds to the similar sites wherever the molecules with acidic moieties bind. The results could be helpful to interpret the mechanisms of actions of nicotinamide in the various physiological phenomena in the human body.
Mahnaz Tymoori, Hussna Parvizi, , Mojtaba Koosha,
Volume 13, Issue 1 (4-2026)
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of cofactor-bearing chitosan-coated and non-chitosan carbon nanotubes on induction of apoptosis of cervical cancer HELAcell line by measuring the expression of Bax and Bcl-2 genes as well as cell growth and proliferation. MTT test was used for cell proliferation assay. Expression changes of Bax and Bcl-2 genes were analyzed by Real Time PCR. The MTT results showed that the carbon nanotube coated with caffeic acid carrier chitosan and without caffeic acid carrier and crude carbon nanotube and caffeic acid induce apoptosis and cell toxicity. The results showed that caffeic acid with a chitosan-coated carbon nanotube carrier increased Bax expression and decreased Bcl-2 gene expression, so that the expression ratio of Bcl-2 / Bax compared to free caffeic acid to significantly increase. The results show that the death of cancer cells treated with caffeic acid with chitosan-coated carbon nanotube carries an increase in Bcl-2 / Bax expression ratio and thus induces apoptosis in HELA cancer cells. . Also, the use of caffeic acid as a drug and carbon nanotube-coated carbon nanotube carriers of caffeic acid can be considered as a promising strategy in the treatment of cervical cancer.
