Roberto Di Santo

Glucosamine (GlcN) is a glycosaminoglycan (GAGs) constituent in connective tissues. It is naturally produced by our body or consumed from diets. In the last decade, in vitro and in vivo trials have demonstrated that the administration of GlcN or its derivates has a protective effect on cartilage when the balance between catabolic and anabolic processes is disrupted and cells are no longer able to fully compensate for the loss of collagen and proteoglycans. To date, these benefits are still controversial because the mechanism of action of GlcN is not yet well clarified. In this study, we have characterized the biological activities of an amino acid (AA) derivate of GlcN, called DCF001, in the growth and chondrogenic induction of circulating multipotent stem cells (CMCs) after priming with tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα), a pleiotropic cytokine commonly expressed in chronic inflammatory joint diseases. In the present work, stem cells were isolated from the human peripheral blood of healthy donors. After priming with TNFα (10 ng/mL) for 3 h, cultures were treated for 24 h with DCF001 (1 μg/mL) dissolved in a proliferative (PM) or chondrogenic (CM) medium. Cell proliferation was analyzed using a Corning® Cell Counter and trypan blue exclusion technique. To evaluate the potentialities of DCF001 in counteracting the inflammatory response to TNFα, we measured the amount of extracellular ATP (eATP) and the expression of adenosine-generating enzymes CD39/CD73, TNFα receptors, and NF-κB inhibitor IκBα using flow cytometry. Finally, total RNA was extracted to perform a gene expression study of some chondrogenic differentiation markers (COL2A1, RUNX2, and MMP13). Our analysis has shed light on the ability of DCF001 to (a) regulate the expression of CD39, CD73, and TNF receptors; (b) modulate eATP under differentiative induction; (c) enhance the inhibitory activity of IκBα, reducing its phosphorylation after TNFα stimulation; and (d) preserve the chondrogenic potentialities of stem cells. Although preliminary, these results suggest that DCF001 could be a valuable supplement for ameliorating the outcome of cartilage repair interventions, enhancing the efficacy of endogenous stem cells under inflammatory stimuli.

Plants have been known since ancient times for their healing properties, being used as preparations against human diseases of different etiologies. More recently, natural products have been studied and characterized, isolating the phytochemicals responsible for their bioactivity. Most certainly, there are currently numerous active compounds extracted from plants and used as drugs, dietary supplements, or sources of bioactive molecules that are useful in modern drug discovery. Furthermore, phytotherapeutics can modulate the clinical effects of co-administered conventional drugs. In the last few decades, the interest has increased even more in studying the positive synergistic effects between plant-derived bioactives and conventional drugs. Indeed, synergism is a process where multiple compounds act together to exert a merged effect that is greater than that of each of them summed together. The synergistic effects between phytotherapeutics and conventional drugs have been described in different therapeutic areas, and many drugs are based on synergistic interactions with plant derivatives. Among them, caffeine has shown positive synergistic effects with different conventional drugs. Indeed, in addition to their multiple pharmacological activities, a growing body of evidence highlights the synergistic effects of caffeine with different conventional drugs in various therapeutic fields. This review aims to provide an overview of the synergistic therapeutic effects of caffeine and conventional drugs, summarizing the progress reported to date.

The emergence of Arabidopsis thaliana as a model system has led to a rapid and wide improvement in molecular genetics techniques for studying gene function and regulation. However, there are still several drawbacks that cannot be easily solved with molecular genetic approaches, such as the study of unfriendly species, which are of increasing agronomic interest but are not easily transformed, thus are not prone to many molecular techniques. Chemical genetics represents a methodology able to fill this gap. Chemical genetics lies between chemistry and biology and relies on small molecules to phenocopy genetic mutations addressing specific targets. Advances in recent decades have greatly improved both target specificity and activity, expanding the application of this approach to any biological process. As for classical genetics, chemical genetics also proceeds with a forward or reverse approach depending on the nature of the study. In this review, we addressed this topic in the study of plant photomorphogenesis, stress responses and epigenetic processes. We have dealt with some cases of repurposing compounds whose activity has been previously proven in human cells and, conversely, studies where plants have been a tool for the characterization of small molecules. In addition, we delved into the chemical synthesis and improvement of some of the compounds described.