Covid-19 Pneumonia of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic infection, persists to have high disease burden especially in cancer patients. Increased inflammation and thromboembolic processes are blamed to influence cancer patients more than the others but due to lack of knowledge regarding the pathophysiology of the both the virus itself and the response of the host, more basic and translational disease modeling research is needed to understand Cancer-Covid-19 interaction. In this study, serum samples from the patients, who were hospitalized due to Covid-19 pneumonia, applied to different cancer cells and cytotoxicity, motility, proliferation and gene expression analysis were performed. Serum samples derived from healthy volunteers and the fetal bovine serum that is used regularly in cell culture experiments used as controls. Hospitalized Covid-19 patients who had also cancer, were retrospectively screened, and their clinical course were recorded. Overall 12 Patient (PS) and 4 healthy serums (CS) were included in the experiments. PS applied cells showed increased motility in A549 cells as well as lost cell to cell connection in MCF7 and HCT116 cells, and induced expression of VIM, ZEB1 and SNAIL2 mRNA levels. Eight cancer diagnosed patients who were hospitalized due to Covid-19 between April and September 2020 were also reviewed retrospectively, which 5 of them were dead during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Thorax CT images of the 2 patients showed increased metastatic nodules in the lungs as of January 2021. The results of the study indicate that metastasis may be one of the prolonged consequences of COVID-19 pandemic in cancer sufferers.

DNA has become the target of metal complexes in cancer drug discovery. Due to the side effects of widely known cisplatin and its derivative compounds, alternative metal-based drug discovery studies are still ongoing. In this study, the DNA-binding ability of Pd(II) and Pt(II) complexes of four phosphorus Schiff base ligands and four hydrazonoic-phosphines are investigated by using in silico analyses. Phosphorus Schiff base-Pd(II) complexes encoded as B1 and B2 with the best DNA-binding potential are synthesized and characterized. The DNA-binding potentials of these two new Pd(II) complexes are also investigated experimentally, and their antitumor properties are demonstrated in vitro in A549, MCF7, HuH7, and HCT116 cancer cells. The mechanisms of these metal complexes that kill the cells mentioned above in different activities are elucidated by flow cytometry apoptosis analysis and colony formation analysis The in silico binding energies of these two new palladium complexes ΔG (B1): −4.51 and ΔG (B2): −6.04 kcal/mol, and their experimental DNA-binding constants were found as Kb (B1): 4.24 × 105, Kb (B2): 4.98 × 105). The new complexes, which show different antitumor effects in different cells, are the least effective in HuH7 liver cells, while they showed the best antitumor properties in HCT116 colon cancer cells.

Santolina chameacyparissus (Santo) is an evergreen plant which is traditionally used for its anti-inflammatory effects in various diseases. In this study, we aimed to explore the effects of Santo in non-small cell lung cancer cells. We extracted volatile oil from the plant and evaluated cytotoxicity, apoptosis, and motility effects of the extract on two non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines; one is a patient derived and the other one is a commercially available A549 cells. We also identified its components via GC/MS and investigated possible targets of the major components of the plant using qPCR and docking studies. Cytotoxicity tests showed dose dependent cell killing activity and flow cytometry assays exposed apoptotic effects of Santo. The essential oil also remarkably decreased migration rate of A549 cells, therefore we evaluated the expression levels of epithelial to mesenchymal transition related genes E-cadherin and Vimentin ratio, ZEB1 and SNAIL and another motility related gene Ezrin. Santo did not change the expression of EMT related genes but decreased Ezrin levels. According to the results of the GS/MS analysis, Artemisia ketone and Camphor were identified as major molecules of the extract. Docking analysis also revealed that artemisia ketone, the major component of the Santo extract, potentially showed strong binding to the active site of ezrin protein and both artemisia ketone and camphor had ability to bind DNA. The results of the present study indicate that Santo and its components artemisia ketone and camphor are promising anti-cancer agents, and their potential in targeting DNA and oncogenic proteins in the lung cancer cells seems worth to focus on this plant in cancer related drug discovery science.

The purpose of this study was to determine the chemical compositions, antioxidant and anticancer activities and thermal behavior of essential oils (EOs) obtained by a microwave assisted Clevenger apparatus from Mentha longifolia subsp. typhoides var. typhoides (ML), Thymus kotschyanus var. glabrescens (TK), Calamintha nepeta subsp. nepeta (CN) and Satureja cuneifolia (SC) in Osmaniye, Turkey. Nepetalactone (34.23 %), thymol (37.40 %), piperitone oxide (27.25 %), and carvacrol (28.34 %) were major compounds in the EOs of ML, TK, CN, and SC. Total phenolic content and antioxidant activity (by FRAP assay) were in the range of 0.27 -3.01 mg gallic acid equivalents and 0.62 -171.14 μmol trolox equivalent per g EO, respectively. IC 50 values of DPPH were mostly greater than ABTS. IC 50 levels of the EOs of ML, TK, CN for the cytotoxic activities were 195.7, 265.7, 442.9 μg/ml, and 218.4, 204.2, 133.9 μg/ml for 24 and 48 h, respectively. IC 50 of SC-EO could not be calculated in the applied concentration range. The highest fusion enthalpies were in between 58.72 and 81.65 kJ/kg. Both the TK and SC plant EOs had comparable and significant bioactivities. CN-EO reduced cell motility and triggered apoptosis more effectively than the others.

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