• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.2271-2275
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• 2016

Background: The value of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) in fluorescence detection of peritoneal metastases and the underlying mechanisms were evaluated in patients with peritoneal surface malignancies. Materials and Methods: Oral 5-ALA was administered at a concentration of 20 mg/kg body weight with 50 ml of water 2 hours prior to surgery (n=115). The diagnostic value of 5-ALA based fluorescence production was evaluated following white light inspection during prior to cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy. Then, peptide transporter PEPT1 (ALA influx transporter) and ATP-binding cassette transporter ABCG2 (porphyrin efflux transporter) gene expression was determined with quantitative real time (qRT)-PCR and pathological diagnoses confirmed for all tissue samples. Results: The 5-ALA based photodynamic detection rate was 17% for appendiceal mucinous neoplasms, 54% for colorectal cancers, 33% for gastric cancers, 67% for diffuse malign peritoneal mesotheliomas, and 89% for epithelial ovarian cancer of peritoneal metastases. 5-ALA was detected in all cases of peritoneal metastases originating from cholangiocarcinomas whereas it was not able to detect any in granulosa cell and gastrointestinal stromal tumor cases. Furthermore, PEPT1 was overexpressed whereas ABCG2 expression was downregulated in tumors detected with fluorescence. Conclusions: 5-ALA provided 100% specificity and high sensitivity to detect peritoneal metastases in subgroups of patients with peritoneal surface mailgnancies. ALA influx transporter PEPT1 and porphyrin efflux transporter ABCG2 genes are important in tumor specific 5-ALA induced fluorescence in vivo. Further studies should clarify diagnostic utility of 5-ALA in peritoneal surface malignancies.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.223-227
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• 2014

${\delta}$-Aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is a compound which is widely present in the biosphere and plays an important role in the living body as an intermediate of the tetrapyrrole compound biosynthesis pathway that leads to heme in mammals and chlorophyll in plants. ALA is of interest as a biodegradable mediator, a growth regulator, a precursor of heme proteins, and an effective agent used in therapy of cancer. It has been recently reported that ALA is commonly used in dermatology, due to good effects of skin therapy. Although for the last few decades a substantial amount of research has been focused on the elucidation of the mechanism of ALA and the improvement of its therapeutic activity, it's effect on the cell functions and growth was not cleared. Here, we identified that ALA treatment could attenuate cell proliferation of HEK293T and HaCaT cells. In addition, ALA treatement could induce apoptosis of HeLa cells. These results suggest that apoptosis induced by ALA treatment might be responsible for inhibition of cell proliferation. These results propose the possibility of the improved therapeutic strategy making ALA one of the effective drugs used in human cancers.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.171-174
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• 2006

To clarify the usefulness of fluorescent diagnosis for cancer, We investigated the optimal method of administrating 5-aminolevulinic acid(5-ALA) by analyzing fluorescence signal of Protoporphyrin IX(PpIX) in the cultured normal and cancer cells. 5-ALA was injected as a photosensitizer to the cervico-uterine cancer cell line(HeLa) and in normal liver cells(Chang). Chang and HeLa cells were incubated with various concentrations of 5-ALA($0-800{\mu}g/ml$). The accumulation of PpIX induced by 5-ALA was in HeLa and Chang cells. The cell viability was measured by MTT assay. The optimal concentration of ALA that induced maximum levels of PpIX was $50{\mu}g/ml$ in HeLa cell cultured for 24 hours after 5-ALA injection. Fluorescence of PpIX in HeLa cell was excited at a wavelength(${\lambda}$=410 nm) and showed an emission spectrum at 602.3 nm, 659.9 nm which could be related to the PpIX generation induced by the applied 5-ALA. The experimental results showed that fluorescence signal of PpIX was proportional to the concentration of 5-ALA in cancer cells, but measured with low concentration in normal cells.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.67-72
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• 2007

This study investigates the optimal method of administrating 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) in the context of fluorescence detection by analyzing protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) fluorescence in the cultured normal and cancer cells. 5-ALA was injected as a photosensitizer to the lung cancer cells (A549, NCI-H460) and normal lung cells (HeI299). Hel299, A549, and NCI-H460 cells were incubated with various concentrations of 5-ALA ($0\sim800{\mu}g/mL$). The accumulation of PpIX induced by 5-ALA was observed in A549, NCI-H460 and Hel299 cells. The cell viability was estimated by means of the MTT assay. Formation of PpIX was measured by fluorescence spectroscopy. Especially, formation of PpIX in cancer cells was higher than normal cells. This study suggests that the difference of PpIX induced in normal and cancer cells treated with 5-ALA may use by means of fluorescence diagnosis for cancer.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1136-1140
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• 2008

The Rhodopseudomonas palustris KUGB306 hemA gene codes for 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) synthase. This enzyme catalyzes the condensation of glycine and succinyl-CoA to yield ALA in the presence of the cofactor pyridoxal 5'-phosphate. The R. palustris KUGB306 hemA gene in the pGEX-KG vector system was transformed into Escherichia coli BL21. The effects of physiological factors on the extracellular production of ALA by the recombinant E. coli were studied. Terrific Broth (TB) medium resulted in significantly higher cell growth and ALA production than did Luria-Bertani (LB) medium. ALA production was significantly enhanced by the addition of succinate together with glycine in the medium. Maximal ALA production (2.5 g/l) was observed upon the addition of D-glucose as an ALA dehydratase inhibitor in the late-log culture phase. Based on the results obtained from the shake-flask cultures, fermentation was carried out using the recombinant E. coli in TB medium, with the initial addition of 90 mM glycine and 120 mM succinate, and the addition of 45 mM D-glucose in the late-log phase. The extracellular production of ALA was also influenced by the pH of the culture broth. We maintained a pH of 6.5 in the fermenter throughout the culture process, achieving the maximal levels of extracellular ALA production (5.15 g/l, 39.3 mM).

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2011

In order to enhance the clinical efficacy of 5-aminolevulinic acid-induced photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT), liposomal formulations using bulk hydrogenated phospholipids from soybean were introduced. Three types of lipids, S75-3, S100-3, and SL80-3 were used for formulating ALA. The pH of all the liposomal ALA is 4.5~5.5 and the size is 50~200 nm. All the liposomal formulations gave better ex vivo ALA skin penetration using nude mice skin in Franz cell than free ALA did. Among them, SL80-3 including 22% of lyso-phosphocholine achieved excellent ALA penetration when compared with those of S75-3 and S100-3 which have only 1~2% of lyso-phospholipids. S100-3 showed a little better results than S75-3 did. Addition of humectants (glycerine, propylene glycol, butylene glycol, betaine) in liposomal ALA formulated with SL80-3 produced little enhancing effect in ALA penetration. On the other hand, addition of surfactants (Tween 20, 60, Brij 72, 76, 78) in same liposomal system produced significant increase in ALA penetration. Among them, transferosomal system of lyso-phospholipid, SL80-3 and the surfactant, Brij76 showed the highest ALA penetration. Furthermore, this system also established the highest in vivo PpIX biosynthesis in hairy mice skin of C57BL/6. These results concluded that the transferosome of SL80-3 and Brij76 produced the best results in both ALA penetration and PpIX biosynthesis, and proved good correlation between them.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.129-132
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• 2007

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.747-748
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• 2005

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.225-232
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• 2010

The effect of Protox expression site on herbicidal resistance was investigated in wild-type and transgenic rice plants imposed by peroxidizing herbicide oxyfluorfen. The transgenic rice systems involved the plastidal expression of Arabidopsis protoporphyrinogen oxidase (Protox; AP line) and the dual expression of Myxococcus xanthus Protox in chloroplasts and mitochondria (TTS line). The oxyfluorfen-treated TTS4 line showed the lower levels of cellular leakage and malonyldialdehyde and the sustained capacity of 5-aminolevulinic acid synthesis, compared to the oxyfluorfen-treated AP and wild-type lines. During oxyfluorfen action, the TTS4 line had greater herbicide resistance than the AP1 line, indicating that the dual expression of M. xanthus Protox in chloroplasts and mitochondria prevented the accumulation of photodynamic protoporphyrin IX more effectively than the expression of Arabidopsis Protox only in chloroplasts. These results suggest that the ectopic expression of Protox in mitochondria greatly contributes to the herbicidal resistance in rice plants.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.512-514
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• 2002

S-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is a new kind drug used in photodynamic therapy. ALA-PDT have successfully used in superficial malignancies and some skin diseases. Here the effects of ALA-PDT were studied on leukemia cells and hepatoma cells to explore the application on different kind cancers. It was found from the fluorescence emission spectra, that after ALA incubation the sensitizer - protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) was endogenously produced in both leukemia and hepatoma cells. The fluorescence images showed that the PpIX distribute in cytoplasm. However the efficiency of ALA photodynamic inactivation to two cell lines was different. The leukemia cells were more sensitive for ALA-PDT than hepatoma cells, revealing that the ALA-PDT effect is cell line dependent. However by using ALA-Hexyl ester (He-ALA) instead of ALA, the cell photo-inactivation was improved. The PDT efficiency of He-ALA was 10 times high than that of ALA, showing He-ALA is a very promising drug in ALA-PDT.