No abstract

Breast cancer remains as one of the most prevalent types of cancer in the world. Although Western industrialized nations rely on a contemporary approach to modern medicine, many developing countries, such as Peru, rely on traditional medicine and alternative natural remedies. Therefore, the focus of this study was to determine the extent to which natural remedies and nutrition, contribute to the prevention and incidence of cancer. Here, we focus on the use of certain fruits, like papaya and the noni fruit, as natural remedies for illness. First, survey data was collected in Cusco, Peru regarding which fruits are consumed as natural remedies for illness. Then, molecular techniques such as MTT assay and LDH Cytotoxicity assay were used to test the effect these fruits have on HeLa cells. The survey results showed, papaya and noni as the most commonly used fruits for illness. Noni powder and papaya fruit were extracted with ethyl acetate and ethanol and used in MTT and cytotoxicity assays. Preliminary results in mammalian cells showed no effect of the ethyl acetate extracts on the viability of HeLa cells. However, MTT assay results for the ethanol extraction of papaya skin showed a decrease in mammalian cell viability at high concentrations. Further experiments will be conducted to test fresh noni and papaya as well as other commonly eaten fruits in Peru for their anticancer properties.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Type 2 diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. Type 2 Diabetes is the most generic form of diabetes, where your body suffers from insulin resistance. Islet Amyloid Polypeptide (IAPP) is a regulatory peptide which inhibits glucagon and insulin secretion. The aggregation of IAPP is present in pancreatic islet amyloid deposits seen especially in Type 2 diabetes in humans and other mammalian species. Our objective was to see how the changes in IAPP sequence correlates to the toxicity of IAPP on mammalian cells. Here, we focus on dog, cat, and guinea pig IAPP. Molecular techniques such as MTT assay and LDH Cytotoxicity assay were used to test the effect animal IAPP has on HeLa cells. As well as to see the effect mixing human and animal IAPP has on the HeLa cells. MTT assay results showed that the animal IAPP volumes had no significant effect on mammalian cell viability while the human IAPP was consistently toxic to the cells. Cell viability percentages stayed relatively constant despite increasing IAPP volume. In comparison, human IAPP showed a decreasing cell viability trend with increasing IAPP volume. However, when dog IAPP and human IAPP were mixed, cell viability was increased. The same effect occurred with the mixing of cat IAPP and human IAPP. LDH Cytotoxicity assay results showed that percent toxicity increased with increasing IAPP volumes for human, cat and guinea pig. Dog IAPP cell toxicity stayed constant as IAPP volume increased. When dog IAPP and cat IAPP were separately mixed with human IAPP, a decrease in cell toxicity is seen. Mixing guinea pig IAPP with human IAPP had no effect on cell viability or cell toxicity. Further experiments are necessary to determine a correlation between these specific animal IAPPs and cell toxicity.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.