• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• 제21권3호
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• pp.207-215
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• 2003

목적: Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)는 mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade의 일원으로 다양한 세포독성 자극에 의해 유도되는 apoptosis에 반대되는 역할을 한다. 따라서 ERK의 억제는 항암제로서 유용하게 사용될 것으로 생각되어진다. 대상 및 방법: 마우스 간암인 HCa-I는 TCD50가 80 Gy 이상으로 강한 방사선 내성종양으로 알려져 있으며, 방사선 민감성의 증진을 위해 다양한 항암제가 실험되었으나 뚜렷한 효과를 나타내지 못했다. 이 실험을 통해 in vivo,, 특히 방사선 내성종양에서 ERK의 억제가 방사선에 의한 항암 작용을 증진시키는지 알아보고자 하였다. C3H/HeJ 마우스에 종양의 크기가 $7.5\~8\;mm$가 되었을 때 PD98059 ($0.16\;\mug/50\;\mul$로 종양에 직접 주사)를 처리하였다. 결과: 처리 1시간째에 p-ERK가 0.5배로 억제되었다. 종양 성장 지연 분석에서 증강 지수가 전 처리군과 후 처리군에서 각각 1.6과 1.87로 PD98059가 종양의 방사선 감수성을 증가시키는 것으로 관찰되었다. 25 Gy 방사선과 PD98059 복합처리 시 apoptosis가 크게 증가되었다. 각 실험군의 apoptosis 최대치는 방사선 조사군에서 $1.4\%$, PD98059 처리군에서 $0.9\%$ 복합처리군의 전 처리군과 후 처리군에서 각각 $4.9\%\;5.3\%$를 나타냈다. Apoptosis 조절 물질의 변화는, p53의 발현이 복합 처리군에서 PD98059 전 처리군과 후 처리군 모두에서 24시간까지 대조군에 비해 2.7배, 3.2배의 높은 발현 수준을 유지하여 처리 1시간째부터 발현 증가를 하여 24시간까지 지속되는 것이 관찰되었다. $p21^{WAF1/CIP1}$의 발현은 p53 발현 변화와 유사한 양상으로 특히 PD98059 후 처리군에서 방사선 조사군이나 PD98059 전 처리군과 비교하여 높은 발현수준을 보였으며, 24시간까지 3.2배의 높은 발현 수준을 유지하는 것으로 나타났다. Bcl-Xs는 25 Gy 방사선 조사군이나 PD98059 처리군에서는 뚜렷한 변화를 보이지 않았으나 복합 처리군중 전 처리군에서 4시간 째 대조군에 비해 1.93배 증가를 보였으며, 후 처리군에서는 1시간 후에 1.83배의 증가를 보였다. 모든 실험군에서 Bcl-2, $Bcl-X_L$, BaX는 뚜렷한 발현 변화를 보이지 않았다. 결론: 방사선 내성 종양인 간암에 MEK 억제제를 방사선 조사와 복합 처리하여 방사선 감수성을 향상시켜 치료 효율의 상승을 유도 할 수 있을 것으로 생각된다.

• 대한한의학방제학회지
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• 제21권2호
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• pp.53-62
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• 2013

Objectives : Diabetic nephropathy is associated with morbidity and mortality of diabetes mellitus patients. Mesangial cell proliferation is known as the major pathologic features such as glomerulosclerosis. Oryeong-san, Korean formula, is widely used for the treatment of nephrosis, edema, and uremia. Oryeong-san is composed of five herbs: Alismatis Rhizoma, Polyporus, Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba, Hoelen, and Cinnamomi Cortex. Methods : The present study was performed to investigate potent inhibitory effect of Oryeong-san on high glucose (HG)-induced rat mesangial cells (RMC) proliferation. Results : RMC proliferation under 25 mM glucose was significantly accelerated compared with 5.5 mM glucose, which was inhibited by Oryeong-san in dose dependent manner. Pre-treatment of Oryeong-san induced down-regulation of cyclins/CDKs and up-regulation of CDK inhibitor, p21waf1/cip1 and p27kip1 expression. In addition, Oryeong-san reduced HG-induced RMC proliferation by suppressed the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phospholyration such as extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK), Jun N-terminal Kinase (JNK), and p38. Oryeong-san significantly suppressed HG-induced ROS production. Conclusions : Oryeong-san consequently inhibited HG-induced mesangial cell proliferation through the inhibition of MAPK and ROS signaling pathway. These results suggest that Oryeong-san may be effective in the treatment of renal dysfunction leading to diabetic nephropathy.

• Toxicological Research
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• 제21권1호
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• pp.77-85
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• 2005

Cadmium is an environmental pollutant exposed from contaminated foods or cigarette smoking and known to cause oxidative damage in organs. We investigated the cadmium-induced apoptosis and cell arrest in human breast cancer cells, MCF-7 cells and MDA-MB-231 cells. Obvious apoptotic cell death was shown in CdCl₂ 100 μM treatment for 12 hr, which were determined by DAPI staining and flow cytometric analysis. In cell cycle analysis, MCF-7 cells and MDA-MB-231 cells were arrested in S phase and G2/M phase respectively. These could be explained by the induction of cell cycle inhibitory protein, p21/sup Waf1/Cip1/ and p27/sup Kip1/, expression and reduction of cyclin/Cdk complexes in both cell lines. The decreased expression of cyclin A and Cdk2 in MCF-7 cells and cyclin B1 and Cdc2 in MDA-MB-231 cells were consistent with the flow cytometric observation. p-ERK expression was increased dose-dependent manner in both cell lines. It suggests that ERK MAPK pathway are involved in cadmium-induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Moreover, cotreatment of zinc (100 μM, 12 hr) recovered the cadmium-induced cell arrest in both cells, which shows cadmium-induced oxidative stress mediates apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in human breast cancer cells.

• 동의생리병리학회지
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.452-458
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• 2005

Cordyceps militaris is a medicinal fungus, which has been used for patient suffering from cancer in Oriental medicine. It was reported previously that C. militaris extracts are capable of inhibiting tumor growth, however, the anti-poliferative effects of human cancer cells have not been poorly understood. In this study, to elucidate the growth inhibitory mechanisms of human cancer cells by treatment of aqueous extract of C. militaris (AECM) we investigated the anti-proliferative effects of AECM in human leukemia U937 cell line. AECM treatment inhibited the growth of U937 cells and induced the apoptotic cell death in a concentration-dependent manner, which was associated with morphological changes. We observed the up-regulation of cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor p21(WAF1/CIP1) by p53-independent manner and activation of caspase-3 in AECM-treated U937 cells, however, the activity of caspase-9 was remained unchanged. Additionally, AECM treatment caused a dose-dependent inhibition of the expression of telomere regulatory gene products such as human telomere reverse transcriptase (hTERT) and telomerase-associated protein-1 (TEP-1). Taken together, these findings suggest that AECM-induced inhibition of human leukemic cell proliferation is associated with the induction of apoptotic cell death via modulation of several major growth regulatory gene products, and C. militaris may have therapeutic potential in human lung cancer.

• BMB Reports
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• 제42권4호
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• pp.217-222
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• 2009

Controlled gene expression in specific cells is a valuable tool for gene therapy. We attempted to determine whether the lentivirus-mediated Tet-On inducible system could be applied to cancer gene therapy. In order to select the genes that induce cancer cell death, we compared the ability of the known pro-apoptotreic genes, Bax and tBid, and a cell cycle inhibitor, p21cip1/waf1, and determined that Bax was the most effective. For the cancer cell-specific expression of $rtTA2^S$-M2, we tested the matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) promoter and determined that it is highly expressed in cancer cell lines, including SNU475 cells. The co-transduction of two lentiviruses that contain sequences for TRE-Bax and $rtTA2^S$-M2, the expression of which is controlled by the MMP-2 promoter, resulted in the specific cell death of SNU475, whereas other cells with low MMP-2 expression did not evidence significant cell death. Our data indicate that the lentivirus-mediated Tet-On system using the cancer-specific promoter is applicable for cancer gene therapy.

• 고려인삼학회:학술대회논문집
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• 고려인삼학회 1998년도 Advances in Ginseng Research - Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Ginseng -
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• pp.231-243
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• 1998

In the present study, we provide evidence that ginsenoside $Rh_2$ (G-$Rh_2$) as well as staurosporine induces apoptosis of human hepatoma SK-HEP-1 cells by caspase 3-mediated processing of $p21^{WAFI/CIPI}$ in the early stage of apoptosls. Immunoblottings showed that G-$Rh_2$ as well as statrosporine induced the processing of caspase-3 to an active form, pl7. In stable Bcl-2 transfectants however, G-$Rh_2$ induced DNA fragmentation, while staurosporine did not. In the early stage of apoptosis, $p21^{WAFI/CIPI}$ was detected to undergo proteolytic processing specifically conducted by caspase-3. $p21^{WAFI/CIPI}$ translated in vitro was cleaved into a p14 fragment, when incubated with cell extracts obtained from either G-$Rh_2$- or staurosporine-treated cells. Cleavage was equally inhibited in both cases by adding Ac-DEVD-cho, a specific caspase-3 inhibitor, but not by Ac-YVkD-cho, a specific caspase-l inhibitor. Similarly, $p21^{WAFI/CIPI}$ was efficiently leaved by recombinant caspase-3 overexpressed in E. coli. Moreover, the endogenous $p21^{WAFI/CIPI}$ of untreated-cell extracts was also cleaved by recombinant caspase-3. Mutation analysis allowed identification of two caspase-3 cleavage sites, $DHVD^{112}$/L and $SMTD^{149}$/F, which are located within, or near the interaction domains for cyclins, Cdks, and PCNA. Taken together, these results show that G-$Rh_2$ as well as staurosporine increases caspase-3 activity, which in turn directly cleaves $p21^{WAFI/CIPI}$ resulting in elevation of Cdk kinase activity in the early stages of apoptosis. We propose that proteolytic cleavage of $p21^{WAFI/CIPI}$ is a functionally relevant event that allows unleashing the cyclin/Cdk activity from the inhibitor seen in the earlier stage of apoptosis, the event of which may be associated with the triggering mechanism for the execution of apoptosis.

• 동의생리병리학회지
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• 제21권4호
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• pp.907-915
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• 2007

In this study the effect of water extract of Sophora tonkinensis Gapnep (RST) was investigated on the growth of human lung carcinoma A549 cells. Exposure of A549 cells to RST resulted in the growth inhibition in a dose-dependent manner as measured by MTT assay. The antiproliferative effect by RST treatment in A549 cells was associated with morphological changes such as membrane shrinking and cell rounding up. RST treatment did not induce the cell cycle arrest and the levels of tumor suppressor p53 as well as cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21(WAF1/CIP1). It was found that RST treatment decreased the levels of cyclooxygenase (COX) -2 mRNA and protein expression without significant changes in the expression of COX-1 and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), which was correlated with a decrease in prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) synthesis. RST treatment also slightly inhibited the levels of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) mRNA and protein expression, and the activity of telomerase. Taken together, these findings suggested that RST-induced inhibition of human lung carcinoma A549 cell growth was aoosciated with the inhibition of COX-2 expression and PGE2 production. These results provided important new insights into the possible molecular mechanisms of the anti-cancer activity of RST.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• 제39권2호
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• pp.125-134
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• 2015

Background: Black ginseng (Ginseng Radix nigra, BG) refers to the ginseng steamed for nine times and fine roots (hairy roots) of that is called fine black ginseng (FBG). It is known that the content of saponin of FBG is higher than that of BG. Therefore, in this study, we examined antitumor effects against MCF-7 breast cancer cells to target the FBG extract and its main component, ginsenoside Rg5 (Rg5). Methods: Action mechanism was determined by MTT assay, cell cycle assay and western blot analysis. Results: The results from MTT assay showed that MCF-7 cell proliferation was inhibited by Rg5 treatment for 24, 48 and 72 h in a dose-dependent manner. Rg5 at different concentrations (0, 25, 50 and $100{\mu}M$), induced cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase through regulation of cell cycle-related proteins in MCF-7 cells. As shown in the results from western blot analysis, Rg5 increased expression of p53, $p21^{WAF1/CIP1}$ and $p15^{INK4B}$ and decreased expression of Cyclin D1, Cyclin E2 and CDK4. Expression of apoptosiserelated proteins including Bax, PARP and Cytochrome c was also regulated by Rg5. These results indicate that Rg5 stimulated cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase via regulation of cell cycle-associated proteins in MCF-7 cells. Conclusion: Rg5 promotes breast cancer cell apoptosis in a multi-path manner with higher potency compared to 20(S)-ginsenoside Rg3 (Rg3) in MCF-7 (HER2/ER+) and MDA-MB-453 (HER2+/ER) human breast cancer cell lines, and this suggests that Rg5 might be an effective natural new material in improving breast cancer.

• International Journal of Oncology
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• 제56권6호
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• pp.1509-1520
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• 2020

The phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway plays an important role in human cancer as it regulates critical cellular functions, such as survival, proliferation and metabolism. In the present study, a novel PI3Kα inhibitor (HS-146) was synthesized and its anticancer effects on MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, SKBR3 and BT-474 human breast cancer cell lines were confirmed. HS-146 was found to be most effective in inhibiting the proliferation of MCF-7 cells and in inducing cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase by downregulating cyclin D1, cyclin E, cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk)2 and Cdk4, and upregulating p21Waf1/Cip1 protein levels in this cell line. The induction of apoptosis by HS-146 was confirmed by DAPI staining and western blot analysis. Cell shrinkage and nuclear condensation, which are typical morphological markers of apoptosis, were increased by HS-146 in the MCF-7 cells in a concentration-dependent manner, and HS-146 also increased the protein expression levels of cleaved poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and decreased the protein expression levels of Mcl-1 and caspase-7. In addition, HS-146 effectively decreased the phosphorylation levels of downstream PI3K effectors, such as Akt, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β), p70S6K1 and eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1 (4E-BP1). Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression were also suppressed by HS-146 under hypoxic conditions, and HS-146 inhibited the migration and invasion of MCF-7 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. On the whole, the findings of the present study suggest that HS-146, a novel PI3Kα inhibitor, may be an effective novel therapeutic candidate that suppresses breast cancer proliferation and metastasis by inhibiting the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway.

• 동의생리병리학회지
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.163-170
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• 2006

Nardostachyos Rhizoma (N. Rhizoma) belonging to the family Valerianaceae has been anti-arrhythmic effect, and sedation to the central nerve and a smooth muscle. We reported that the water extract of N. Rhizoma induced apoptotic cell death and differentiation in human promyelocytic leukemia (HL-60) cells. Cytotoxicity of N. Rhizoma was detected only in HL-60 cells (IC50 is about 200 ${\mu}g/ml$). The cytotoxic activity of N. Rhizoma in HL-60 cells was increased in a dose-dependent manner. We used several measures of apoptosis to determine whether these processes were involved in N. Rhizoma-induced apoptotic cell death. The high-dose (200 ${\mu}g/ml$) treatment of N. Rhizoma to HL-60 cells showed cell shrinkage, cell membrane blobbing, apoptotic bodies, and the fragmentation of DNA, suggesting that these cells underwent apoptosis. Treatment of HL-60 cells with N. Rhizoma time-dependently induced activation of caspase-3, caspase-8, and caspase-9 and proteolytic cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. Also, we investigated the effect of N. Rhizoma on cellular differentiation and proliferation in HL-60 cells. Differentiation and proliferation of HL-60 cells was determined through expression of CD11b and CD14 surface antigens using flow cytometry and nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) assay, and through analysis of cell cycle using propidium iodide assay, respectively. N. Rhizoma induced the differentiation of HL-60 at the low-dose (100 ${\mu}g/ml$) treatment, as shown by increased expression of differentiation surface antigen CD11b, but not CDl4 and increased reducing activity of NBT. When HL-60 cells were treated with N. Rhizoma at concentration of $50{\mu}g/ml\;and\;100{\mu}g/ml$, NBT-reducing activities induced approximately 1.5-fold and 20.0-fold as compared with the control. In contrast, HL-60 cells treated with the N. Rhizoma-ATRA combination showed markedly elevated levels of 26.3-fold at $50{\mu}g/ml$ N. Rhizoma-0.1 ${\mu}M$ ATRA combination and 27.5-fold at 50 ${\mu}g/ml$ N. Rhizoma-0.2 ${\mu}M$ ATRA combination than when treated with N. Rhizoma alone or ATRA alone. It may be that N. Rhizoma plays important roles in synergy with ATRA during differentiation of HL-60 cells. DNA flow-cytometry indicated that N. Rhizoma markedly induced a G1 phase arrest of HL-60 cells. N. Rhizoma-treated HL-60 cells increased the cell population in G1 phase from 32.71% to 42.26%, whereas cell population in G2/M and S phases decreased from 23.61% to 10.33% and from 37.78% to 33.98%, respectively. We examined the change in the $p21^{WAF1/Cip1}\;and\;p27^{Kip1}$ proteins, which are the CKIs related with the G1 phase arrest. The expression of the CDK inhibitor $p27^{Kip1},\;but\;not\;p21^{WAF1/Cip1}$ were markedly increased by N. Rhizoma. Taken together, these results demonstrated that N. Rhizoma induces apoptotic cell death through activation of caspase-3, and potently inhibits the proliferation of HL-60 cells via the G1 phase cell cycle arrest in association with $p27^{Kip1}$ and granulocytic differentiation induction .