Hypocrellin and its analog, hypericin (Figure 1), are naturally occurring quinones that have been used for centuries as folk medicines in the orient and the occident and that have attracted much interest because of their light-induced toxicity toward the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).1The structural similarities of hypocrellin and hypericin would seem to suggest that hypocrellin exhibits e...

St. John's wort (SJW), an over-the-counter antidepressant, contains hypericin, which absorbs light in the UV and visible ranges. In vivo studies have determined that hypericin is phototoxic to skin and our previous in vitro studies with lens tissues have determined that it is potentially phototoxic to the human lens. To determine if hypericin might also be phototoxic to the human retina, we exp...

   Cytotoxicity of depleted uranium, as a byproduct of military has been came to spotlight in recent decades. DU is known as a chemical rather than radioactive hazard and efforts to illustrating its mechanism is undergo, but the precise complete molecular mechanisms are still unclear. Recent studies showed that uranium induces biological changes in many different target tissues, such as the kid...

The virucidal and antiviral photoactivities of three compounds, hypericin, tetrabromohypericin and gymnochrome B, were evaluated against dengue viruses. All the three products were active, and both the virucidal and antiviral activities were enhanced by light. Gymnochrome B was more potent than hypericin and tetrabromohypericin. The presence of the side chains on the hypericin core of gymnochro...

In this issue of Blood, Chopra et al provide convincing evidence that tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) ligand acting through its receptor, fibroblast growth factor-inducible 14 (Fn14), is crucial to the intestinal apoptosis seen in graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and associated mortality.

After alveolar formation, >20% of interstitial lung fibroblasts undergo apoptosis, a process that is of critical importance for normal lung maturation. The immature lung contains two morphologically distinct fibroblast populations, lipid-filled interstitial fibroblasts (LIF) and non-LIF (NLIF), which differ with respect to contractile protein content, proliferative capacity, and expression of m...

BACKGROUND Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic auto- immune disease characterized by joint synovitis. Recent evidence suggests that rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts (RASFs) promote joint destruction. In this study, we investigated the role of microRNA-26b (miR-26b) in cell proliferation and inflammatory cytokine secretion using patient-derived Rheumatoid arthritis fibroblas...

The excited-state intramolecular H atom transfer reaction occurring in hypericin and hypocrellin A is investigated by means of the fluorescence upconversion technique in a variety of solvents. Rising components of ∼10 ps, attributable to intramolecular H atom transfer, are clearly observed in the fluorescence upconversion traces of both hypericin and hypocrellin A. The amplitude of the rising c...

Riboflavin-UVA photodynamic inactivation is a potential treatment alternative in therapy resistant infectious keratitis. The purpose of our study was to determine the impact of riboflavin-UVA photodynamic inactivation on viability, apoptosis and activation of human keratocytes in vitro. Primary human keratocytes were isolated from human corneal buttons and cultured in DMEM/Ham's F12 medium supp...