Background: Psoriasis is a common inflammatory skin disorder. There has been considerable interest in herbal medicine as a treatment for psoriasis. In a previous study HESA-A, a marine-herbal drug, was found to be beneficial in the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and tolerability of HESA-A in patients with psoriasis.Methods: Nineteen patients with a mean PASI score of 13.04±6.14 (min=3.90, max=27.70) were recruited to receive daily dosage of 30 mg/kg of HESA-A tablets for at least 4 weeks. The patients were followed every two weeks for determining PASI score changes and drug side effects until the end of the study.Result: At the end of the study, the mean PASI score of the patients reduced to 9.60±5.30 (min=0.90, max=19.1). PASI score reduced in 14 patients (73.7%) and increased in 5 patients (26.3%) during the study. Two patients achieved 75 to 100% improvement in PASI score and two achieved 50 to 75%. In 10 patients (52.6%), 1 to 50% improvement in the PASI score was detected. There was a statically significant correlation between the duration of treatment and PASI improvement. (P-value=0.024)Conclusion: Although this drug was very safe and tolerable, our study did not find rapid and acceptable efficacy in the treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis as shown in a previous study. According to our findings, HESA-A was more effective when used for a prolonged time and in respect of the safety profile of HESA-A, we can use this drug as a maintenance or adjuvant therapy for chronic plaque psoriasis in longer terms

Background: The first drug for the treatment of leishmaniasis is pentavalent antimony compounds which have great side effects. Objectives: This study aimed to assess apoptosis induction by HESA-A, an herbal marine compound in Leishmania major promastigotes. Methods: Leishmania major promastigotes were treated with HESA-A in different increasing concentrations ranged 1. 625-120 µ g/mL, and amphotericin B and the phenomenon of apoptosis in the parasite were evaluated by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), flow cytometry, and DNA fragmentation tests. Results: The IC50 value of the compound and amphotericin B at 72 h were estimated at 2. 81 µ g/mL and 40 µ g/mL, respectively. After 72 h of the adjacency of Leishmania major promastigotes with IC50 dose (2. 81 µ g/mL), the percentage of promastigotes in early and late apoptosis phases in the treated group was 5. 4% and 60. 4%, respectively. DNA fragmentation of Leishmania major promastigotes treated with 2. 81 µ g/mL for 72 h was observed. Conclusions: HESA-A, with significant induction of apoptosis in Leishmania major promastigotes, can be plausible in the treatment of cutaneous Leishmaniasis.

Majority of the currently available anticancer drugs are designed to have selective toxicity to rapidly dividing cells. Among these agents the focus of many studies are compounds obtained from natural products with high therapeutic index. In this study the cytotoxicity of HESA-A, a marine compound, on cancer and normal cells was evaluated. HESA-A was prepared in normal saline as a stock solution (0.8 mg/ml, pH=7.4), sterilized and further diluted to final concentrations of 0.4, 0.2, 0.1 and 0.05 mg/ml. Cells (MDA-MB-468, Hep-2, Hela as cancer cells; L929 and McCoy as normal cells) were grown in completed RPMI 1640 and seeded in 96 well micro plates at a concentration of 1-5 × 104 cells/ml. After incubation for 24 h, different concentrations of HESA-A were added and cells were further incubated for 72 h. Using MTT assay, percent cell survival was determined by ELISA at 540 rim. Doxorubicin was used as a positive control (20 µg/ml). HESA-A (0.4 mg/ml) reduced the number of viable MDA-MB-468 and Hela cells to less than 50%. For Hep-2 cells the IC50 was 0.8 mg/ml. In normal cells IC50 could not be obtained at any given concentrations. These results suggest that HESA-A in therapeutic doses and in a concentration dependent manner inhibits the growth of cancer cells more selectively than normal cells.    

Objective: Organophosphorus compounds (OPs) are common causes of poisonings. Atropine and oximes are pharmacological antidotes of OPs. However, because of their adverse effects and insufficient performance, several other compounds have been evaluated as adjuvant therapy. HESA-A is a herbal-marine drug that contains material from Carum carvi (Persian cumin), Penaeus latisculatus (king prawn), and Apium graveolens (celery) with anti-inflammatory and antioxidants properties, which has shown useful effects as adjuvant therapy on some diseases. We have evaluated the effect of HESA-A on 69 moderate to severe acute OPs poisoned patients (44 HESA-A treated and 25 controls) as an adjuvant drug. Materials and Methods: Two randomized age and sex matched groups of OPs poisoned patients were treated in Medical Toxicology Center of Imam Reza hospital, Mashhad, by conventional therapy with or without HESA-A (50 mg/kg/day orally). The evaluation criteria were total administrated doses of atropine and pralidoxime, intensive care unit (ICU) admission rate, mechanical respiration need, number of hospitalization days and mortality. Results: There were no significant differences between the morbidity and mortality rate criteria of the two groups; moreover, we did not observe significant adverse effects for HESA-A. Conclusion: HESA-A did not reduce morbidity and mortality of OPs poisoning and did not induce any major side effect in the patients.