• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.985-990
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• 2004

Levans produced from Microbacterium laevaniformans were isolated, characterized, and fractionated by molecular weight. TLC, HPLC, and GC-MS analyses of the exopolysaccharide showed that it was a fructan-type polymer and was composed of (2,6)- and (2,1)-glycosidic linkages. $^{13}C$-NMR analysis proved that the polysaccharide was mainly a $\beta$-(2,6)-linked levan-type polysaccharide. To investigate the cytotoxicity of the acetone-precipitated levan fractions such as M1, M2, and M3, HepG2, P388D1, U937, SNU-1, and SNUC2A cell lines were screened. Among the cell lines tested, the cytotoxicity of M1- M3 fractions were detected from only SNU-1 and HepG2 cells at the dosage level of $100-800\mu\textrm{g}ml$. The M2 fraction M_r$, 80,000) at 400 $mu{g/ml}$ had the greatest cell growth inhibition (84.6%) on SNU-1, while the M1 $(M_r$, 50,000) at $800\mu\textrm{g}ml$ showed the greatest (46.32%) on HepG2. To obtain more uniform M_r$ fractions of levan, the levan was further fractionated from S1 $(M_r$ 1,000,000) to S5 $(M_r$ 10,000) using gel permeation chromatography. Again, the S1-S5 fractions had strong cytotoxicity on SNU-1 and HepG2 cell lines. The greatest inhibition effects of S4 $(M_r$ 80,000) on SNU-1 and S5 $(M_r$ 10,000) on HepG2 were shown to be 49.5% and 73.0%, respectively. The cytotoxicity of the levan fractions was more effective on SNU-1 than on HepG2. Although the relationship between the Mw and the cytotoxicity was not clear, smaller $M_r$, fractions of levan showed greater growth inhibition effect on the cancer cell lines in general. Therefore, it was indicated that a specific Mw class of levan is responsible for the effective cytotoxicity.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.5883-5890
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• 2013

Previously, we demonstrated overexpression of semaphorin4D (SEMA4D, CD100) to be closely related to tumor angiogenesis in epithelial ovarian cancers (EOCs). However, the function and expression of SEMA4D in the EOC microenvironment has yet to be clarified in detail. In this study, we confirmed that overexpression of SEMA4D in primary tumors and ascites was related to low differentiation, platinum resistance and a refractory status (P<0.05), while high M2 macrophage count and percentage were evident in EOC patients with advanced FIGO stage and platinum resistance (P<0.05), using immunohistochemistry, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), respectively. The data showed correlations of SEMA4D expression and M2 macrophage counts in primary tumors and M2 macrophage percentage in ascites (r=0.281 and 0.355, each P<0.05). In the Cox proportional hazard mode, SEMA4D expression was an independent indicator of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) for EOC patients. Furthermore, higher expression of SEMA4D in ovarian cancer cell lines (SKOV3, A2780, and SW626) and their supernatants were found than that in a human primary cultured ovarian cell and its supernatant by reversed transcript PCR (RT-PCR), Western blotting and ELISA, respectively. Interestingly, peripheral blood monocytes (MOs) tended towards the M2-polarized macrophage phenotype ($CD163^{high}$) in vitro after human recombined soluble SEMA4D protein stimulation. These findings suggest that SEMA4D might possibly serve as a reliable tool for early and accurate prediction of EOC poor prognosis and could playan important role in promoting tumor dissemination and metastasis in the EOC microenvironment. Thus SEMA4D and its role in macrophage polarization in EOC warrants further study.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.153-157
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• 2001

Protoplasts were isolated from hypocotyls, cotyledons, and young leaves of Chinese cabbage grown under in vitro environmental condition. An enzyme mixture of 1% Cellulysin and 0.5% Macerozyme in combination with 0.4 M mannitol was most effective condition for protoplast isolation. The highest yield of protoplasts, 7.6$\times$10$^{5}$ protoplast/g of fresh weight, was obtained from the treatment of leaves for 12~16 hours at 27~28$^{\circ}C$ with shaking at 30 rpm. The most suitable medium for an initial cell division was K8p basal medium supplemented with 5 mg/L 2,4-D and 2 mg/L kinetin. Within 7~10 days, protoplasts derived from hypocotyl and cotyledon tissues formed cell colonies. When the cells were grown at the size of 8~10 cells, they were embedded into semi-solid medium containing 0.2% agarose. Calli derived from protoplast culture were transferred to the 100 different types of plant regeneration media, but no completely regenerated plants from inbred lines of Chinese cabbage used for this study wore obtained, though frequent rooting took place in several media tested.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.620-630
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• 2003

The proliferative effects of thirty Oriental medicinal herbs on MCF-7 (estrogen-sensitive breast cancer cell line) and ROS 17/2.8 osteoblast-like cells were determined using the MTT assay. Methanol extracts from several herbs was found to show proliferative activity on the above two cell lines in the range of 5 to 100 $\mu$g/mL. Among these active herbs, the methanol extract from the rhizomes of Drynaria fortunei showed the most potent proliferative activity, and the cell proliferations were significantly increase by 136 and 158% in the MCF-7 and ROS 17/2.8 cells, respectively, when treated with 100 $\mu$ g/mL. Through a bioassay-guided separation, eight flavonoids, including four new flavan-3-ols and two propelargonidins, together with the known (-)-epiafzelechin and naringin, were isolated. Their chemical structures were characterized as (-)-epiafzelechin (1), (-)-epiafzelechin-3-O-$\beta$-D-allopyranoside (2), (-)-epiafzelechin-3-O-(6"-O-acetyl)-$\beta$-D-allopyranoside (3), 4$\beta$-carboxymethyl-(-)-epiafzelechin methyl ester (4), 4$\beta$-car-boxymethyl-(-)-epiafzelechin sodium salt (5), naringin (6), (-)-epiafzelechin-(4$\beta$\rightarrow8)-4$\beta$-car-boxymethylepiafzelechin methyl ester (7) and (-)-epiafzelechin-($4\beta\rightarrow8, 2\beta\rightarrowΟ\rightarrow7)-epiafzelechin-(4\beta\righarrow8)-epiafzelechin (8) by extensive 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy. Most of these flavonoids, in the range of $10^{-15}∼10^{-6}$ M, accelerated the proliferation of MCF-7 cell, with compounds 7 and 8, in the range of $10^{-15}∼10^{-12}$ M, showing especially potent proliferation effects. Meanwhile, seven flavonoids, with the exception of compound 4, stimulated the proliferation of ROS 17/2.8 cells in the range of $10^{-15}∼10^{-6}$ M, with compounds 5-8 especially accelerating the proliferation, in dose-dependent manners ($10^{-15}∼10^{-9}$ M), and their proliferative effect was much stronger than that of $E_2$ and genistein. These results suggest that propelargonidin dimers and trimers isolated from the rhizomes of Drynaria fortunei may be useful as potential phytoestrogens, which play important physiological roles in the prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.1337-1342
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• 2014

A novel and convenient route for the synthesis of a series of thalidomide derivatives is described. Compound 2 was cyclized with different amines under alkaline condition to obtain 4-nitro substituted phthalimidines 3a-d. Hydroxylactams 4a-d were produced via bromination and hydroxylation. Different acyl chlorides were reacted with hydroxylactams to provide the desired esters 5a-d. All compounds were evaluated by MTT assay for their inhibitory activities against HCT-116, MG-63, MCF-7, HUVEC and HMVEC cell lines in vitro. Most of them showed no obvious cytotoxic effect on normal human cells, compounds 4a-d, $5a_2$, $5a_4$, $5a_5$, $5b_2$, $5c_2$ and $5d_2$ exhibited potent antitumor activities, among which compounds $5a_2$ and $5b_2$ were more effective than 5-FU.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.171-174
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• 1985

Panax ginseng root has been widely used as an important drug for thousands years in China, Korea and Japan. The main effective components of ginseng have been believed to be saponins. However, ginseng cultivation is very difficult and needs many years for growth. It has already been shown that Panax ginseng callus produces a considerable amount of the same kinds of saponins as in intact plants. Various culture conditions were examined for increased production of ginseng saponins by cell culture. The saponin contents and the growth rates in two cell lines of ginseng callus were compared in static and suspension cultures, rotary and reciprocal shaking cultures. It was shown that the growth rate in rotary shaking cultures of D5-B2K-B2K callus was the highest and ginseng saponin production was most effective in reciprocal cultures of D5-B2K-B2K callus. The saponin content per fresh weight of the culture was 1.03 times higher than that of the fresh ginseng root.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.289-291
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• 1999

Hypocotyl explants from 7 days old seedlings of one $F_1$ hybrid cultivar and two pure lines of cucumber formed embryogenic calli at frequencies of up to 8% when cultured on Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) supplemented with 1 mg/L 2,4-D for 3 weeks. Embryogenic calli gave rise to somatic embryos. When slices of somatic embryos were cultured on the same medium for 4 weeks, they formed embryogenic calli. Embryogenic cell suspension cultures were established with embryogenic calli in MS liquid medium with 1 mg/L 2,4-D. Embryogenic potential of cell suspension cultures was maintained by subculturing every seven days. When the level of 2,4-D in the medium was lowered to 0.2 mg/L by diluting with liquid MS basal medium, embryogenic cell suspension cultures underwent development into numerous somatic embryos. When plated onto MS basal medium, over 95% of somatic embryos developed into plantlets. Plantlets were transplanted to potting soil and grown to maturity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.613-618
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• 2005

This study was carried out to examine the effects of gamma irradiation on the cytotoxicity and multidrug-resistance reversing activity of methanol extracts from Coix lachryma-jobi L. var. me-yuen Stapf seed. The seed was irradiated with doses of 1, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 Gy of the gamma radiation, and then extracted by methanol. The extracts were examined for cytotoxicity on the human cancer cell lines, MCF-7 (human breast adenocarcinoma pleural effusion), Calu-6 (human pulmonary carcinoma) and SNU-601 (human gastric carcinoma) cells, and investigated for multidrug-resistance reversing activity using drug sensitive AML-2/WT and multidrug-resistant AML-2/D100 cells. The growth inhibitory activity of irradiated seed extracts on human cancer cell lines was higher than that of the control. In the case of Calu-6 cell line, the effect of cytotoxicity was observed in the extracts of 4, 8 and 16 Gy. $IC_{50}$ value in the MCF-7 cell line was measured in the only 8 Gy extract. And in the SNU-601 cell line as Calu-6, the effect of cytotoxicity was observed in the extracts of 4, 8 and 16 Gy. But the extracts of gamma-irradiated seed over 32 Gy showed little growth inhibitory effect against human cancer cell lines. In this result, 8 Gy extract had significant growth inhibitory in all human cancer cell lines $(Calu-6:\;633\;{\mu}g/mL,\;MCF-7:\;653\;{\mu}g/mL\;and\;SNU-601:\;683\;{\mu}g/mL)$. The extracts of 4, 8 and 16 Gy strongly potentiated vincristine cytotoxicity in AML-2/D100 cells. The reversal fold (RF) of 4, 8 and 16 Gy extracts was 1.7, 1.8 and 1.6, respectively. But their cytotoxicities to both sensitive AML-2/WT and resistant AML-2/D100 cells were in the same order of magnitude. These results indicate that the above samples would contain some principles which have cytotoxicity and multidrug-resistance reversing activity. Irradiation technology can be applied to promote physiological activities of medicinal plant seeds.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.14-22
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• 2009

In vitro cytotoxicity of 23 alkyl phenols (APs) on human cervical cancer cell lines (HeLa) was determined using the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) cytotoxicity assay. Two different sets of descriptors were used to construct the calibration model based on Genetic Algorithm-Multiple Linear Regression (GA-MLR) based on the experimental data. A statistically robust Structure-Activity Relationships (QSAR) model was achieved ($R^2$=95.05%, $Q^2_{LOO}$=91.23%, F=72.02 and SE= 0.046) using three Dragon descriptors based on Me (0D-Constitutional descriptor), BELp8 (2D-Burden eigenvalue descriptor) and HATS8p (3D-GETAWAY descriptor). However, external validation could not fully prove its validity of the selected QSAR in characterization of the cytotoxicity of APs towards HeLa cells. Nevertheless, the cytotoxicity profiles showed a finding that 4-n-octylphenol (4-NOP), 4-tert-octyl-phenol (4-TOP), 4-n-nonylphenol (4-NNP) had a more potent cytotoxic effect than other APs tested, inferring that increased length and molecular bulkiness of the substituent had important influence on the LDH cytotoxicity.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.1100-1105
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• 2006

During involution of the mammary gland after the lactation period, the gland undergoes an extensive epithelial cell death. In our previous study, overexpression of an extracellular proteinase inhibitor (Expi) gene accelerated apoptosis of mammary epithelial cells. Here we found that expression of the cathepsin D gene was induced in the Expi-overexpressed apoptotic cells. To understand the role of cathepsin D in apoptosis, we transfected cathepsin D gene into mammary epithelial HC11 cells and established the stable cell lines overexpressing the cathepsin D gene. We found that overexpression of the cathepsin D gene partially induced apoptosis of mammary epithelial cells. Expression patterns of the cathepsin D gene were examined in mouse mammary gland at various reproductive stages. Expression of the cathepsin D gene was increased during involution stages compared to lactation stages, and highest expression levels were shown at involution on day 4. We also examined expression of the cathepsin D gene in various mouse tissues. Mammary gland at involution on day 2 showed highest levels of cathepsin D mRNA of the mouse tissues that we examined. Liver tissues showed high levels of cathepsin D expression. These results demonstrate that cathepsin D may contribute to the apoptotic process of mammary epithelial cells.