Proteins that promote epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) are associated with cancer metastasis. Inhibition of EMT regulators may be a promising approach in cancer therapy. In this study, Thymoquinone (TQ) was used to treat cancer cell lines to investigate its effects on EMT-regulatory proteins and cancer metastasis. We show that TQ inhibited cancer cell growth, migration and invasion in...

Cervical cancer is one of the most common gynecological malignant tumors worldwide, for which chemotherapeutic strategies are limited due to their non-specific cytotoxicity and drug resistance. The natural product thymoquinone (TQ) has been reported to target a vast number of signaling pathways in carcinogenesis in different cancers, and hence is regarded as a promising anticancer molecule. Inh...

Chitosan (CS) nanoparticles of thymoquinone (TQ) were prepared by the ionic gelation method and are characterized on the basis of surface morphology, in vitro or ex vivo release, dynamic light scattering, and X-ray diffractometry (XRD) studies. Dynamic laser light scattering and transmission electron microscopy confirmed the particle diameter was between 150 to 200 nm. The results showed that t...

Nigella sativa Linn. (N. sativa) and its bioactive constituent Thymoquinone (TQ) have demonstrated numerous pharmacological attributes. In the present study, the neuroprotective properties of Thymoquinone-rich fraction (TQRF) and TQ against hydrogen peroxide- (H2O2-) induced neurotoxicity in differentiated human SH-SY5Y cells were investigated. TQRF was extracted using supercritical fluid extra...

The authors present the detailed theory and the new results associated with the triple quantum (TQ) nutation and the line narrowing effect of the TQ resonance in the two-level NMR system which we reported previously. The TQ resonance is induced in the spin-locked system by the oscillating field produced by the sinusoidal phase modulation (PM) of the RF field. The theory predicts that the TQ nut...

Dedifferentiation and inflammation are major features of cartilage degeneration during the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). Thymoquinone (TQ) is the major compound of black seed oil isolated from Nigella sativa with various beneficial or harmful effects on several diseases; however, its effects on the dedifferentiation and inflammation of chondrocytes have not yet been characterized. In the...

We have shown that thymoquinone (TQ) is a potent antitumor agent in human colorectal cancer cells. In this study, we evaluated TQ's therapeutic potential in two different mice colon cancer models [1,2-dimethyl hydrazine (DMH) and xenografts]. We also examined TQ effects on the growth of C26 mouse colorectal carcinoma spheroids and assessed tumor invasion in vitro. Mice were treated with saline,...

Combination chemotherapy regimen with several anti-tumor drugs is a strategy to improve outcome. Thymoquinone (TQ) has been reported to exert biological activity on various types of human cancers without obvious toxicity. However, only few studies showed the anti-tumor effects of TQ combination with cisplatin on gastric cancer (GC). Here, we showed pretreatment with 5μM TQ significantly increas...

Due to narrow therapeutic window of cancer therapeutic agents and the development of resistance against these agents, there is a need to discover novel agents to treat breast cancer. The antitumor activities of thymoquinone (TQ), a compound isolated from Nigella sativa oil, were investigated in breast carcinoma in vitro and in vivo. Cell responses after TQ treatment were assessed by using diffe...

The present study investigated the protective effect of thymoquinone (TQ), against cadmium-induced kidney injury in rats. Cadmium chloride (1.2 mg Cd/kg/day, s.c.), was given for nine weeks. TQ treatment (40 mg/kg/day, p.o.) started on the same day of cadmium administration and continued for nine weeks. TQ significantly decreased serum creatinine, renal malondialdehyde and nitric oxide, and sig...