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Asian Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences | Volume 8
May 14-15, 2018 | Montreal, Canada
Global Summit on
Biopharma & Biotherapeutics
H
istoryof Comfrey
(SymphytumL.)
remedies clearly illustrates
that despite plant extracts are still among most attractive
sources for drug development as they are considered relatively
safe for use in humans, many of their chemical constituents
represent serious risks to the human health and it is important
to justify biological effects that the vegetal products obtained
from medicinal plants can present. For ages, folk remedies
on the basis of extracts of various comfrey species were used
both internally and externally to treat different disorders, but
nowadays internal usage is banned due to the presence of
hepatotoxic and carcinogenic pyrrolizidine alcaloids (PAs) -
symphytine, echimidine and lasiocarpine. When determining
principal constituents responsible for diversecurativeproperties
of comfrey, a novel biopolymer poly[3-(3.4-dihydroxyphenyl)
glyceric acid] (PDGA) was isolated from PAs- and allantoin-free
high molecular fractions from
S. asperum, S. caucasicum
and
its monomer 3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl) glyceric acid (MDGA) was
synthesized at I Kutateladze Institute of Pharmacochemistry.
Pharmacological properties of PDGA and MDGA were studied
both
in vitro
and
in vivo
experiments. The obtained results
revealed:
in vitro
i) abrogation of melanoma cells adhesion to
tumor-conditioned medium- and VEGF-activated endothelial
cells as well as ii) strong inhibition of human prostate cancer
(PCA) cells growth. Consistent with
in vitro
results,
in vivo
study showed iii) efficacy against PCA 22Rv1 tumors; iv) anti-
inflammatory activity in formalin- and carrageenan induced
edemas; v) rapid burn and wound healing (fourfold superior
to that of allantoin – substance claimed to be comfrey’s most
active ingredient) due to the shortening of the second phase
of wound healing - the inflammatory response; vi) significant
stimulation of leucopoiesis in mice drug-induced leukopenia;
vii) promising results in prevention of ethanol- and NSAID-
induced gastric ulcers. Importantly, all observed effects were
accompanied with no or minor side effects, suggesting high
therapeutic potential of novel API from comfrey.
Speaker Biography
Karen Mulkijanyan is the Head of the Department of Preclinical Pharmacological
Research at Tbilisi State Medical University Institute of Pharmacochemistry. He has
obtained his MS in Biochemistry in 1981 and PhD in Pharmacy in 2005. His research
areas include pharmacology of anti-inflammatory, ulcer preventing, wound healing
and vasoactive drugs; analysis of SAR and prediction of bioactivity of natural, modified
and synthesized compounds. He is also an expert in IP protection and technology
commercialization. He was the Manager/Key Investigator of fundamental and applied
research projects funded by CRDF Global/GRDF (2007-2014), STCU (2011), GNSF/SRSNF
(2009-2016). As Organizing Committee Member, he arranged about 10 international
congresses and conferences on Pharmacology and Pharmacy. He is the author and co-
author of more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals, about 40 presentations at
national and international scientific meetings
e:
karmulk@gmail.comKaren Mulkijanyan
Tbilisi State Medical University, Georgia
Comfrey based remedies: Past, present and future