Development of plant based nanoparticles has many advantages over conventional physico-chemical methods and has various applications in medicine and biology. in present study, zinc oxide (Zno) nanoparticles (nps) were synthesized using leaf extracts of two medicinal plants Cassia fistula and Melia azadarach. 0.01 M zinc acetate dihydrate was used as a precursor in leaf extracts of respective plants for NPs synthesis. The structural and optical properties of NPs were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared (ftiR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope (SeM), ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer (UV-Vis) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). the antibacterial potential of Zno NPs was examined by paper disc diffusion method against two clinical strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) based on the zone of inhibition and minimal inhibitory indices (Mic). change in color of the reaction mixture from brown to white indicated the formation of Zno NPs. UV peaks at 320 nm and 324 nm, and XRD pattern matching that of JCPDS card for ZnO confirmed the presence of pure ZnO NPs. FTIR further confirmed the presence of bioactive functional groups involved in the reduction of bulk zinc acetate to Zno nps. SeM analysis displayed the shape of nps to be spherical whereas DLS showed their size range from 3 to 68 nm. The C. fistula and M. azadarach mediated Zno nps showed strong antimicrobial activity against clinical pathogens compared to standard drugs, suggesting that plant based synthesis of nps can be an excellent strategy to develop versatile and eco-friendly biomedical products. Plant mediated synthesis of nanoparticles (NPs) is a revolutionary technique that has wide range of applications in agriculture, food industry and medicine. NPs synthesized via conventional methods have limited uses in clinical domain due to their toxicity. Due to the physio-chemical properties of plant based NPs, this method also offer an added advantage of increased life span of NPs that overcome the limitations of conventional chemical and physical methods of NPs synthesis 1-3. Plants possess rich genetic variability with respect to number of biomolecules and metabolites like proteins, vitamins, coenzymes based intermediates, phenols, flavonoids and carbohydrates. These plant metabolites contain hydroxyl, carbonyl, and amine functional groups that react with metal ions and reduce their size into nano range. More specifically, flavonoids contain several functional groups and it is believed that-OH group of flavonoids is mainly considered responsible for the reduction of metal ions into NPs 4. These molecules not only help in bioreduction of the ions to the nano scale size, but they also play a pivotal role in the capping of the nanoparticles which is important for stability and biocompatibility 5. Reducing agents such as phenolic compounds, sterols and alkaloids can reduce metal ions into NPs in a single reaction 6 .

BACKGROUND & AIMS Drug repositioning offers a shorter approval process than new drug development. We therefore searched large public datasets of drug-induced gene expression signatures to identify agents that might be effective against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS We searched public databases of mRNA expression patterns reported from HCC specimens from patients, HCC cell lines, and cells exposed to various drugs. We identified drugs that might specifically increase expression of genes that are downregulated in HCCs and reduce expression of genes upregulated in HCCs using a non-parametric, rank-based pattern-matching strategy based on the Kolmogorov–Smirnov statistic. We evaluated the anti-tumor activity of niclosamide and its ethanolamine salt (NEN) in HCC cell lines (HepG2, Huh7, Hep3B, Hep40, and PLC/PRF/5), primary human hepatocytes, and 2 mouse models of HCC. In 1 model of HCC, liver tumor development was induced by hydrodynamic delivery of a sleeping beauty transposon expressing an activated form of Ras (v12) and truncated beta catenin (N90). In another mouse model, patient-derived xenografts were established by implanting HCC cells from patients into livers of immunocompromised mice. Tumor growth was monitored by bioluminescence imaging. Tumor-bearing mice were fed a regular chow diet or a chow diet containing niclosamide or NEN. In a separate experiment using patient-derived xenografts, tumor-bearing mice were given sorafenib (the standard of care for patients with advanced HCC), NEN, or niclosamide alone; a combination of sorafenib and NEN; or a combination sorafenib and niclosamide in their drinking water, or regular water (control), and tumor growth was monitored. RESULTS Based on gene expression signatures, we identified 3 anthelmintics that significantly altered the expression of genes that are up- or down-regulated in HCCs. Niclosamide and NEN specifically reduced the viability of HCC cells: the agents were at least 7-fold more toxic to HCCs than primary hepatocytes. Oral administration of NEN to mice significantly slowed growth of genetically induced liver tumors and patient-derived xenografts, whereas niclosamide did not, coinciding with the observed greater bioavailability of NEN compared with niclosamide. The combination of NEN and sorafenib was more effective at slowing growth of patient-derived xenografts than either agent alone. In HepG2 cells and in patient-derived xenografts, administration of niclosamide or NEN increased expression of 20 genes downregulated in HCC and reduced expression of 29 genes upregulated in the 274-gene HCC signature. Administration of NEN to mice with patient-derived xenografts reduced expression of proteins in the Wnt–beta catenin, STAT3, AKT–mTOR, EGFR–Ras–Raf signaling pathways. Using immunoprecipitation assays, we found NEN to bind cell division cycle 37 (CDC37) protein and disrupt its interaction with heat shock protein 90 (HSP90). Conclusions In a bioinformatics search for agents that alter the HCC-specific gene expression pattern, we identif...