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Plants of the genus Crinum (Amaryllidaceae) are widely used in folk medicine in different tropical and subtropical regions around the world. The Indian species Crinum latifolium (L.) was traditionally used to treat rheumatism, fistula, tumors, earaches, rubefacient, tubercle and whitlow. In Vietnamese and Chinese traditional medicine Crinum latifolium preparations are used until nowadays because of their antiviral and antitumor properties. In this study, we demonstrate potent in vitro antioxidant activity of an aqueous Crinum latifolium extract by an oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) value of 1610 ± 150 μmol Trolox equivalents/g. Furthermore, significant anti-inflammatory effects of this extract were shown by its potential to suppress indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) mediated tryptophan degradation in unstimulated- and mitogen-stimulated PBMC at IC50 doses of 241 ± 57 μg/ml and 92 ± 20 μg/ml, respectively. Concentrations of the immune activation marker neopterin were slightly diminished in unstimulated PBMC, whereas a dose-dependent inhibition of neopterin formation was observed in mitogen-stimulated PBMC (IC50 = 453 ± 86 μg/ml). Additionally, we measured also dose-dependent inhibitory effects of this aqueous Crinum latifolium extract on cell proliferation of highly metastatic human prostate carcinoma PC3 cells (IC50 = 4.5 ± 0.8 mg/ml), androgen-sensitive prostate adenocarcinoma LNCaP cells (IC50 =2.3 ± 0.1 mg/ml), and benign prostate hyperplasia BPH-1 cells (IC50 = 2.1 ± 0.04 mg/ml). We conclude that both effects, inhibition of tumor cell growth and recovery of immune functions, are important for the antitumor properties of Crinum latifolium.

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Hemorheological abnormalities such as elevated whole blood viscosity, plasma viscosity, erythrocyte deformability and platelet aggregation, hematocrit and fibrinogen levels, are frequently examined as diagnostic tool and prognostic relevance in socially important hemorheological disorders. Distinct biological -morphological and functional platelet alterations, have been described in different addictions (heroin-, cocaine-, nicotine-, alcohol-, etc.). Chronic addictions could cause biochemical and conformational changes in platelets and their membranes, thus modulating platelet receptor expression, morphology (anisocytosis, giant platelets) and activation (alpha-granule release), platelet aggregation and hemorheological properties. Some of these alterations in chronic addicts -documented at cellular-and molecular level, could be easily used as a precise diagnostic tool with regard to thromboembolic complications and microcirulation injuries attributable to addictions. The present review focuses on some changes in platelet morphological, functional and rheological properties induced by chronic opiate/opioid abuse. Hypothesis is accumulated that free fatty acids (FFAs) and especially oleic acid (OA) could cause positive molecular and conformational changes in platelets of addicts with hemorheological disorders.

In our individual and collaborative studies, we have played a part in pioneering investigations on the usefulness of biomarkers -red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and neopterin. This mini review includes historical data on the topic and is related to the first contributions in this field, as well as to the possibilities for further improvement and simultaneous application of RDW and neopterin measurements in the prevention, prognosis and treatment of a great number of socially important disease conditions (arterial, cardiovascular, brain vascular, peripheral artery diseases, inflammations, autoimmune states, cancers and leukemias, addictions, etc.). When comparing the results obtained with the immunobiochemical biomarker neopterin with RDW, they are reported to be very similar as independent predictors of the same pathological states in the human body although their biomedical origins are very different. Both the parameters were until now successfully, but only separately used in medical practice. The combined use of these two biomarkers can shed some more light on their interrelationships and provide some clues as to how the interaction between immune system activation and red blood cells biology are intertwined.