Objectives: In this present study, antioxidant, anti-hemolytic, cytotoxic and anti-bacterial activities derived from methanol extracts ofBruguiera gymnorrhizaandHeritiera littoraliswere investigated in order to determine their medicinal activities.Materials and methods: Folin-Ciocalteu reagent method and aluminum chloride methods were used to determine the mangroves’ total phenolics and total flavonoid content, respectively. Antioxidant capacity was assessed via the following methods: 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydroxyl (DPPH), 43 mM H₂O₂, Fe²⁺quenching assay, and anti-hemolytic activity. Brine shrimp (Artemia salinaL.) lethality assay was also carried out to determine the cytotoxic potential of the mangroves along with anti-bacterial activity test using five Gram-negative and another two Gram-positive bacterial strains.Results: The mangroves yielded 58.917 ± 0.601 and 36.625 ± 0.551 mg Gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g sample and 76.417 ± 0.19 and 113.637 ± 0.17 mg quercetin equivalent (QE)/g sample inB. gymnorrhizaandH. littoralis, respectively. Methanol extracts of both mangroves exhibited high radical scavenging activity against DPPH, H₂O₂and Fe²⁺radicals. The reductive capacity of the extracts increased with increasing concentrations of samples, and the extracts inhibited H₂O₂induced hemolysis in human red blood cells (RBCs). Antioxidant properties were found to be moderately weaker than that of the reference standard, L-ascorbic acid (AA), and Gallic acid (GA). Further, brine shrimp (Artemia salinaL.) lethality assay revealed significant cytotoxicity (241.4 and 272.6 μg/mL, respectively). Methanol extracts could also inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacterial strains.Conclusion: This study showed that the crude methanol extract of selected mangrove plants possesses free radical scavenging, anti-hemolytic, cytotoxic and anti-bacterial activity. The experimented plant has the potential to be used as a traditional medicine and replace synthetic drugs. Further studies are necessary to isolate active compounds responsible for the overall antioxidant activity of the crude extracts.

Cumulative studies have provided controversial evidence for the prognostic values of bone morphogenetic protein 5 (BMP5) in different types of cancers such as colon, breast, lung, bladder, and ovarian cancer. To address the inconsistent correlation of BMP5 expression with patient survival and molecular function of BMP5 in relation to cancer progression, we performed a systematic study to determine whether BMP5 could be used as a prognostic marker in human cancers. BMP5 expression and prognostic values were assessed using different bioinformatics tools such as ONCOMINE, GENT, TCGA, GEPIA, UALCAN, PrognoScan, PROGgene V2 server, and Kaplan–Meier Plotter. In addition, we used cBioPortal database for the identification and analysis of BMP5 mutations, copy number alterations, altered expression, and protein–protein interaction (PPI). We found that BMP5 is frequently down-regulated in our queried cancer types. Use of prognostic analysis showed negative association of BMP5 down-regulation with four types of cancer except for ovarian cancer. The highest mutation was found in the R321*/Q amino acid of BMP5 corresponding to colorectal and breast cancer whereas the alteration frequency was higher in lung squamous carcinoma datasets (>4%). In PPI analysis, we found 31 protein partners of BMP5, among which 11 showed significant co-expression (p-value < 0.001, log odds ratio > 1). Pathway analysis of differentially co-expressed genes with BMP5 in breast, lung, colon, bladder and ovarian cancers revealed the BMP5-correlated pathways. Collectively, this data-driven study demonstrates the correlation of BMP5 expression with patient survival and identifies the involvement of BMP5 pathways that may serve as targets of a novel biomarker for various types of cancers in human.

Since the origin of the SARS-CoV2 from Wuhan, in China, it has become a global threat to public health and a WHO-declared world epidemic within 2 month of identification of the first case. This has led to the race of scientists all over the world to discover a therapeutic to combat the SARS-CoV-2. Two proteins, namely, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and 3C-like proteinase work in facilitating the entry of the virus into host cell, viral transcription and replication. Among various treatment options, siRNA, also known as small interfering RNA is a prospective tool of the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway that controls virus-mediated infections of human by suppressing the expression of viral gene through hybridization and neutralization of complementary mRNA. In the current study, siRNA molecules were designed against RdRp and 3C-like proteinase gene. 12 conserved sequences were obtained from the genome 101 SARS-CoV-2 strains sequenced in different countries. A total of 38 siRNAs were predicted that can inactivate RdRp and 3C-like proteinase genes. Finally, after analyzing the GC ratio (%), free energy of folding-binding, melting temperature and efficacy prediction of all the predicted siRNAs, 6 siRNA molecules were selected which are proposed to exert the highest action. These screened siRNAs should effectively silence the RdRp and 3C-like proteinase genes of SARS-CoV-2 by siRNA mediated prospective treatment of COVID-19 patients.