• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.180-180
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• 2003

Transcript profiling is a particularly valuable tool in the field of steroid receptor biology, as these receptors are ligand-activated transcription factors and therefore exert their initial effects through altering gene expression in responsive cells. Also, an increased awareness of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EBCs) and their potential to affect wildlife and humans has produced a demand for practical screening methods to identify endocrine activity. Here we developed an in-house cDNA microarray, named KISTCHIP-400, with 401 clones, hormone related genes, factors, and ESTs, based on public database and research papers. Theses clones contained estrogen, androgen, thyroid hormone St receptors, sex hormone signal transduction ＆ regulation, c-fos, c-myc, ps2 gene, metabolism related genes etc. And to validate the KISTCHIP-400, we investigated gene expression profiles with reference hormones, 10$\^$-8/ M 17be1a-estradiol, 10$\^$-7/ M testosterone, 10$\^$-7/ M progesterone, and thyroxin in MCF-7 cell line. Although it is in first step of validation, low doses and combinations of EDCs need to be tested. Our preliminary results that indicate the developed microarray may be a useful laboratory tool for screening EDCs and elucidating endocrine disrupting mechanism.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.401-405
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• 2002

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of caponization on the growth performance, breast and thigh muscles physical properties and fiber diameter of the Pectoralis major and Gastrocnemius pars externa in Taiwan country chicken cockerels. Caponized birds were surgically altered at 10 weeks of age. Birds were fed grower and finisher diets ad libitum during an eighteen-week experimental period. The results indicated that the live weight and feed intake in the capons were significantly (p<0.05) higher and the shank length was significantly (p<0.05) longer than in intact birds. There were no significant (p>0.05) differences in feed conversion and mortality between two treatments at 28 weeks of age. Compared with intact birds, the capons had greater (p<0.05) tenderness in the breast and thigh muscles. Cohesion of the breast muscle in the capons was significantly (p<0.05) better than in the intact birds, but the thigh muscles were not significantly (p>0.05) affected. No treatment differences (p>0.05) were associated with cooking loss, muscle chewiness, and elasticity. The capons had a significantly (p<0.05) smaller fiber diameter in the Pectoralis major, but were not significantly (p>0.05) different in the fiber diameter of the Gastrocnemius pars externa. It is concluded that castration did not depress growth compared with the intact birds, but did improve muscle tenderness. This difference was most pronounced in the thigh muscles.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.48-50
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• 1988

Flehmen is well-known response which often occurs during the process of courtship in most mammals. Recent studies with domestic ruminants suggest that the flehmen may be involved in the mechanism of transferring some pheromonal substances to vomeronasal organ. Thus, variety of its significancehas been supposed, besides that male animals may use it for estrus detection. In this experiment, 8 male, 3 female and3 castrated goats of Saanen and its hybrid were used to ascertain whether urine from alien species can induce flehmen as that from same species. Urine was collected from twenty species consisting of 15 mammals, 3 birds and 2 reptiles and frozen until use. Mostly urine was sprayed to the nose of goats, but some coagulated ones were sniffed. Duration of flehmen was scored to four ranks as 0, 1-19, 20-39 and >40 sec. Each urine sample induced the response in any goats. However, much difference in the in tensity was found between the samples and according to the reproductive state of the receptor goats. Although individual difference was manifest, male goats generally showed more intense response than did female. Castrated goats showed the intermediate pattern. Administration of antiandrogen to the male goat tended to reduce the response. The results indicate that flehmen in the goat could occur for the urine of alien species as that of same species and the androgen may be one of the factors regulating the response.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.22
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• pp.9841-9846
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• 2014

Objectives: To compare the metabolic indices, lipid profile, androgens, and prostate specific antigen between prostate cancer and BPH and between grades of prostate cancer in a cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: The study enrolled 95 cases of prostate cancer and 95 cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Prostate gland volume was measured using transrectal ultrasound. We compared insulin, testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, prostate specific antigen levels and lipid profile between prostate cancer of different grades and BPH. Further, prostate cancer patients were classified into low grade and high grade. Unpaired t-test for normally distributed variables and Man-Whitney U test for non-normal variables were used to assess differences. Results: We found that prostate cancer patients had significantly higher levels of insulin, testosterone, PSA, cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) in comparison to their BPH counterparts. Higher levels of these parameters also correlated with a higher grade of the disease. Conclusions: We conclude that higher levels of insulin, testosterone, PSA, and cholesterol correlate with a higher risk of prostate cancer, and also with a higher grade of the disease.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.144-151
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• 2019

Alopecia has emerged as one of the biggest interests in modern society. Many studies have focused on the treatment of alopecia, such as transplantation of hair follicles or inhibition of the androgen pathway. Hair growth is achieved through proper proliferation of the components such as keratinocytes and dermal papilla cells (DPCs), movement, and interaction between the two cells. The present study examined the effect of the hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway, which is an important and fundamental signal in the cell, on the morphology and the viability of human keratinocytes and DPCs. Upregulation of Hh signaling caused a morphological change and an increase in epithelium-mesenchymal transition-related gene expression but reduced the viability of keratinocytes, while the alteration of Hh signaling did not cause any change in DPCs. The results show the possibility that the regulation of Hh signaling can be applied for the treatment of alopecia.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.2601-2611
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• 2015

Prostate cancer, with a lifetime prevalence of one in six men, is the second cause of malignancy-related death and the most prevalent cancer in men in many countries. Nowadays, prostate cancer diagnosis is often based on the use of biomarkers, especially prostate-specific antigen (PSA) which can result in enhanced detection at earlier stage and decreasing in the number of metastatic patients. However, because of the low specificity of PSA, unnecessary biopsies and mistaken diagnoses frequently occur. Prostate cancer has various features so prognosis following diagnosis is greatly variable. There is a requirement for new prognostic biomarkers, particularly to differentiate between inactive and aggressive forms of disease, to improve clinical management of prostate cancer. Research continues into finding additional markers that may allow this goal to be attained. We here selected a group of candidate biomarkers including PSA, PSA velocity, percentage free PSA, $TGF{\beta}1$, AMACR, chromogranin A, IL-6, IGFBPs, PSCA, biomarkers related to cell cycle regulation, apoptosis, PTEN, androgen receptor, cellular adhesion and angiogenesis, and also prognostic biomarkers with Genomic tests for discussion. This provides an outline of biomarkers that are presently of prognostic interest in prostate cancer investigation.

• BMB Reports
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.419-426
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• 1998

The nuclear hormone receptor superfamily currently includes approximately equal numbers of conventional receptors and orphan receptors, which do not have known ligands. Here, we review recent progress from this laboratory on three orphans, two of which are moving from orphan to conventional receptor status. Perhaps the most unusual is CAR, which is a constitutive transactivator in the absence of ligands but becomes transcriptionally inactive in the presence of its ligands, which are androgen metabolites. The response of CAR to its ligands is thus opposite to that of the conventional receptor paradigm. RIP14 (also known as FXR) is activated by both all-trans retinoic acid and a synthetic retinoid previously thought to specifically target the retinoic acid receptors (RARs), and thus appears to be a novel retinoid receptor. Finally, SHP is a novel orphan that lacks a DNA binding domain and interacts with a number of other receptor superfamily members. While it generally inhibits its targets, including CAR, the retinoid X receptor (RXR), and the estrogen receptor (ER), it stimulates transactivation by the orphan SF-1.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.339-349
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• 2009

An attempt has been made to assess whether the dose dependent effect of benzene extract of Ocimum sanctum leaves on the morphological changes in the cauda epididymal spermatozoa and sperm parameters in male albino rats. Scanning Electron Microscope observations illustrate the disturbance in plasma membrane as well as acrosomal membrane. Most of the sperms appear morphologically abnormal in the mid region of the tail; there is formation of balloon like cytoplasmic droplet. Sperm parametric study exhibits decrease in the total sperm count, sperm motility, forward velocity and increase in the percentage of abnormal sperms in dose dependent manner on treatment benzene extract of Ocimum sanctum leaves. The results suggest that the effects may have resulted from a general disturbance in the proteins and alteration in cauda epididymal milieu probably due to androgen deficiency consequent upon antiandrogenic property of Ocimum sanctum leaves.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.437-440
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• 2012

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is a transcription factor that regulates various cellular processes such as cell survival, angiogenesis and proliferation. In the present study, we examined that Cryptotanshione(CT), a tanshinone from oriental traditional medicinal herb Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge), had the inhibitory effects on hypoxia-mediated activation of STAT3 in androgen independent human prostate cancer PC-3 cells. CT inhibited the protein expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-$1{\alpha}$) under hypoxic condition. Consistently, CT blocked hypoxia-induced phosphorylation and nuclear accumulation of STAT3. In addition, CT reduced cellular of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a critical angiogenic factor and a target gene of STAT3 induced under hypoxia. Of note, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChiP) assay revealed that CT inhibited binding of STAT3 to VEGF promoter. Taken together, our results suggest that CT has anti-angiogenic activity by disturbing the binding STAT3 to the VEGF promoter in PC-3 cells.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2006

Many of endocrine disrupting chemicals induce effects via interaction with hormone receptors and responsive elements in target cells. We investigated endocrine disrupting effects of some food additives and contaminants including BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin, propionic acid, sorbic acid, benzoic acid, CPM, aflatoxin B1, cadmium chloride, genistein, TCDD and PCBs in yeast transformants expressing human steroid hormone receptors along with steroid responsive elements. The response limit of genetically recombinant yeast to $17{\beta}$-estradiol, testosterone and progesterone was $1{\times}10^{-16},\;1{\times}10^{-12}\;and\;1{\times}10^{-13}M$, respectively. BHT induced weak transcriptional activity in estrogen sensitive yeast, while BHA and sorbic acid interacted weakly with androgen receptor/responsive element. CPM induced transcriptional activities in all types of yeasts sensitive to steroid hormones. Zearalenone and genistein induced high transcriptional activation in estrogen sensitive yeast with relative potencies almost $10^8$ folds lower than $17{\beta}$-estradiol. TCDD induced transcriptional activation weakly in estrogen- and progesterone- sensitive yeasts. This study elucidated that recombinant yeast is a sensitive and high-throughput system and can be used for the direct assessment on chemical interactions with steroid receptors and responsive elements. Also, the present study raises the requirement of evaluation on the endocrine disrupting effects of BHT, BHA, sorbic acid, CPM and TCDD for their transcription activity in yeast screening system though weak in intensity.