Abstract: The use of heat therapy to treat diseases was very common in Africa. To date, the number of people using this form of therapy is very much on the decrease. Data on the molecular action mechanisms of how it might induce beneficial effects remain unknown. The aim of the present study was to make a contribution towards understanding the putative implication of Heat Shock Protein 70 (HSP70) in the pathophysiology of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and the hypothetical benefits of heat therapy through the establishment of a network of protein-protein interactions between Krüppel Like Factor 14 (KLF14), Transcription Factor 7 Like 2 (TCF7L2), Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma (PPARG) and HSP70 (HSPA4). Data were generated by the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins (STRING) software version 10.0. This was used to identify the known and predicted protein-protein interactions (including direct or physical and indirect or functional associations) in the KLF14, TCF7L2, PPARG and HSP70 protein networks. With the active prediction methods (Gene Fusion, Neighborhood, Co-occurrence, Co-expression, Experiments, Databases and Text Mining) as interaction sources, Medium Confidence (0.400) and maximum number of interactions were used to show no more than 50 at the first shell and none at the second shell parameters. Fifty (50) proteins were identified to interact with these four proteins, namely KLF14, TCF7L2, PPARG and HSP70, resulting in a network diagram with 54 nodes (gene/proteins) and 485 edges, representing protein-protein associations. The network showed that HSP70 strongly interacts with other heat shock proteins like HSP90. The HSPBP, a cytoplasmic co-chaperone 1, inhibits HSPA1A chaperone activity by changing the conformation of its ATP-binding domain, thus interfering with this function. Based on the data generated by this in silico study, the potential beneficial effects of heat therapy on T2DM could probably be coordinated by the HSP70 protein-protein interactions involved in cell life and in the susceptibility to T2DM.Abstract: The use of heat therapy to treat diseases was very common in Africa. To date, the number of people using this form of therapy is very much on the decrease. Data on the molecular action mechanisms of how it might induce beneficial effects remain unknown. The aim of the present study was to make a contribution towards understanding the putative impli...Show More
Abstract: Natural products derived from plants play a vital part in preventing or treating various diseases or disorders in humans. Hyperlipidemia is one of the main pathological features of diseases affecting the circulatory system and diabetes mellitus. Presently available lipid-lowering drugs have been linked with some side effects. Herbal treatment for hyperlipidaemia has significantly fewer or no side effects and is reasonably inexpensive and locally accessible. Amaranthus spinosus belongs to the family Amaranthaceae is well known by many researchers for its various medicinal properties and is also known as "pigweed." The present study sought to assess the antihyperlipidaemic activity of the leaf extract by in vivo animal models. Here, acute hyperlipidemia was induced by intraperitoneal administration of dexamethasone (10 mgkg-1). The ethanol extract of A. spinosus leaf (EEASL) was administered daily at single doses of 250 and 500 mgkg-1, to dexamethasone-induced hyperlipidaemic rats for 8 days. The effect of EEASL on serum lipid profiles (total cholesterol, triglycerides low-density, very low-density, and high-density lipoprotein) were determined. EEASL was established to significantly decrease total serum cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein, Very low-density lipoprotein, and increased serum high-density lipoprotein compared to the hyperlipidaemic and vehicle only control models. The activities were also paralleled to the outcome exhibited by a standard antihyperlipidaemic agent, atorvastatin. The present investigation established pharmacological evidence to support the claim that EEASL contains active antihyperlipidaemic agents.Abstract: Natural products derived from plants play a vital part in preventing or treating various diseases or disorders in humans. Hyperlipidemia is one of the main pathological features of diseases affecting the circulatory system and diabetes mellitus. Presently available lipid-lowering drugs have been linked with some side effects. Herbal treatment for h...Show More
