Objective: To investigate the anticancer effect of Illicium verum against human breast cancer MCF-7 cell line. Methods: An experimental study was conducted in Multidisciplinary and Tissue Culture Laboratory, Aga Khan University in collaboration with Pharmacology Department of Bahria University Medical and Dental College, Karachi, Pakistan from January 2021 to June 2021. MCF-7 cells of Luminal-A breast cancer were seeded in 96-well plate and treated with I.verum methanol extract. After incubation, MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) dye was used for cell viability and cell proliferation assays to determine the number of dead and viable cells, and the absorbance was measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) plate reader. In cell viability assay, different doses of I. verum methanol extract were used to treat the MCF-7 (0.25, 0.5, 1, 3, 6, 12, 25, and 50µg/ml) cells. For apoptosis analysis, the cells were processed with 4´, 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole fluorescent nuclear dye (DAPI) and were examined for fluorescence intensity and apoptotic cells. For cell proliferation assay and apoptosis the IC50 dose of 5.5µg/ml I. verum methanol extract was used. Results: The MCF-7 cells showed a significant reduction (p-value <0.01) in cell viability in the presence of all tested doses of I. verum methanol extract, except for the dose of 0.25µg/ml. The IC50 dose 5.5µg/ml of same extract also showed a significant reduction (p-value <0.01) in cell proliferation and apoptosis induction in MCF-7 cells. Conclusions: Illicium verum methanol extract possesses very potent anticancer action against MCF-7 cells through cytotoxicity, reduction, and inhibition of cancer cells and by inducing apoptosis. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.1.6580 How to cite this: Pahore AK, Khan S, Karim N. Anticancer effect of Illicium verum (star anise fruit) against human breast cancer MCF-7 cell line. Pak J Med Sci. 2023;39(1):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.1.6580 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BackgroundAn affordable approach accepted worldwide to successfully treat mild maternal hyperglycemia in gestational diabetes (GDM), is diet-controlled therapy. As no elaborate research was available, this study was crafted to investigate morphometric stereological details and to determine the mean placental oxygen diffusion capacity for patients who were kept on diet therapy for mild gestational hyperglycemia.MethodsA clinical trial (NCT04907708) was conducted from January 2018 to February 2019. A total of 70 women completed the study, out of which 35 served as healthy controls as Group A and 35 were diagnosed as mild gestational diabetics according to WHO criteria (Group B). These patients were kept on a restricted calorie diet with light exercise during gestation and were followed regularly during gestation. Soon after delivery, conserved placentas underwent complete gross, microscopic, and stereological investigations with the point and intersection -counting methods.ResultsSignificant differences were observed for placental width and syncytial knots (p< ​0.010 and 0.025 respectively) between the groups on gross and light microscopy. Most of the parameters were non-significant, though numerically more in the GDM group. On stereological details, mean placental volume, mean placental components volumes (villi, inter-villous space, fetal capillary, and fetal connective tissue), mean villi and mean fetal capillary diameter, mean villi and capillary surface density and mean morphometric diffusing capacity of placenta showed non-significant results between the groups.ConclusionMinimal changes were observed in gross, microscopy, and morphometric stereological details in the placentae of GDM patients managed with nutritional therapy during gestation compared with the healthy controls.

Aim: To evaluate the outcomes of Pioglita zone and Metformin on anthropometric, metabolic and endocrine variables in PCOS. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was executed at Pharmacology Department of Bahria University Medical and Dental College in collaboration with Mamji Hospital Karachi from September 2018 to March 2019. Eighty PCOS infertile patients as per Rotterdam 2003 criteria,aged 20-40 years were enrolled. They were divided into two groups of 40 patients each by using computer generated numbers. All patients had fasting insulin levels of >9 μU/mL, serum glucose levels ≥126 mg/dl and suffering from oligomenorrhoea or amenorrhoea. Group A received Tablet Pioglitazone 30 mg once daily and group B was given tablet Metformin 500 mg for three months along with lifestyle changes. Results: Sixty-one participants completed the study. Anthropometric variables included weight, BMI and W/H ratio. Metformin treated group reduced more weight and BMI as compared to Pioglitazone. Metabolic variables included glycaemic indices, lipid profile and hs-CRP estimation. Pioglitazone group improved glycaemic indices more compared to Metformin. Serum progesterone level was significantly increased in Pioglitazone group (5.20±1.18) than Metformin group. Pioglitazone produced more ovulation in comparison to Metformin. Hence it is proved that it is better option in those patients who are unable to tolerate Metformin and cannot continue treatment for infertility. Conclusion: Pioglitazone group produced highly significant increase in serum progesterone level indicating ovulation and improved insulin resistance than the metformin group. Keywords: Female infertility, ovulation induction, Metformin, Pioglitazone, polycystic ovarian syndrome