• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.12-20
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• 2006

Some natural products are able to inhibit radiation effects and exert an antitumor effect with fewer adverse reactions; however, their antitumor effects are less than those of widely-used synthetic drugs. Propolis is a natural material that has been attracting attention, and we extracted this material with water and investigated the effect of continuous propolis administration on radioactivity-induced reduction of hemocytes, in addition to the antioxidant and antitumor effects of propolis. Following a 1-week adjustment period, water-soluble propolis was administered intraperitoneally to male ICR mice at a dose of 100 mg/kg every other day for 2 weeks. Following administration, 2 Gy whole-body irradiation was performed and the counts of leukocytes, lymphocytes, and granulocytes and monocytes in the peripheral blood were determined 1, 3, 7, 15 and 30 days after irradiation. These cells were considered since they are closely associated with immunity to radioactivity. In a second experiment, water-soluble propolis was similarly administered to the mice for 2 weeks after a 1-week adjustment period, and 2 Gy whole-body irradiation was performed. The antioxidant effects in hemocytes were then investigated using 2,2'-azobis (2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH), a radical generator. In a third experiment, $1\;{\times}\;10^6$ Sarcoma-180 cells were inoculated into the right thigh of mice, which were divided into four groups: control, water-soluble propolis-treated, 6 Gy irradiated and water-soluble propolis-treated + 6 Gy irradiated groups, and changes in tumor size were measured for 20 days. Statistical analysis was conducted using ANOVA for multiple groups. In the three experiments, administration of water-soluble propolis inhibited the reduction of hemocytes caused by whole-body irradiation, showed antioxidant effects against radioactivity, and inhibited tumor growth, respectively. In conclusion, our data suggest that the antioxidant effect of watersoluble propolis inhibits hemocyte reduction caused by whole-body irradiation and enhances immunological inhibition of tumor growth.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.144-151
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• 2000

This study was carried out to evaluate cytotoxic effects of Houttuynia cordata Thunberg extracts on murine leukemia tumor cell lines. Disruptions in cell organelles were determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazol iumbromide (MMT) assay. The comparison of $IC_{50}$ values of Houttuynia cordata Thunberg extracts on $L1210,\;P388D_1$ and Vero cell lines showed that the methanol extract of Houttuynia cordata Thunberg indicated the most antitumor activity in the MTT assay. In order to develop a antimicrobial agent, dried Houttuynia cordata Thunberg was extracted with several solvents, and then antimicrobial activity was investigated. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the extracted substance against microorganisms were also examined. Antimicrobial activity of amocla and ketoconazole as references was compared to those of other solvent extracts such as $H_2O$, n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate ethanol and methanol. The antimicrobial activity of all extracts from the sample had growth inhibition activity against gram-negative bacteria, yam-positive bacteria and fungi $(MIC,\;>\;200\;{\mu} g/ml)$. These results suggest that the methanol soluble extract of Houttuynia cordata Thunberg may be a valuable choice for the studies on the treaeent of murine leukemia tumor cell lines and antimicrobial agents.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.1678-1727
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• 2006

This study was perfromed to develop the assessment guideline and endpoints for clinical trial with anticancer herbal medicine. The botanical products used to humans for long time may be applied to phase 3 clinical trial after submitting the evidences for safety and efficacy of them or completion of basic requirement of phase 1 and phase 2 for safety confirmation and dose determination. Syndrome improvement was chiefly evaluated by Zubrod and karnofsky(%) methods. We suggest the general clinical trial assessment with botanical products, by following assessment points, that is, tumor size for 50 points, survival fate for 10 points, major syndromes for 40 points. It is recommendable that the each symptom of Qi deficiency syndrome, blood deficiency syndrome and Qi stagnation syndrome was allocated by assessment points, Similarly, the each symptom was given the assessment points according to the severity of symptom, for example, slight for 3 points, moderate for 2 points and severe for 1 point in hepatocelluar carcinoma and lung cancer. Then, the efficacy of botanical products was evaluated by the difference between pre-treatment and post-treatment. Asking the neoplastic patients of questionnaire on physical, emotional, cognitive, social and role subjects availability, three more syndromes (Fatigue, Pain and Nausea/Vomit), quality of life(QOL) will be evaluated by GLM statistics. In addition, in case of lung cancer, 13 questions will be asked by the EORTC QLQ-C13 forms. As the assessment of endpoints for efficacy to reduce side effects induced by chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the data of image scanning and hemato-urinalysis can be usefully applied on immune response, weight loss, indigestion, hemopoietic damage and injury of liver and kidney, while the changes of syndromes of side effect can be evaluated by differentiation methods of Qi and blood and five viscera. However, it is still necessary to determine the ratio between scientific analytical method and Oriental differentiation method as well as confirm the Oriental assessment endpoints by clinical trial. In addition, we suggest the continuous development of assessment endpoints on other carcinomas except of hepatocelluar carcinoma and lung cancer in future.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.192-197
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• 1997

As a part of searching for new antitumor agents from natural products, 94 kinds of Chinese plants were extracted with petroleum ether/ether (1:1), ethyl acetate and methanol, successively and their cytotoxicities were evaluated against A549 (human lung carcinoma) cell line. Among them, six kinds of ether extracts, seven kinds of ethyl acetate extracts and one kind of methanol extracts showed significant cytotoxic activities (above 70% inhibition) at a concentration of $50\;{\mu}g/ml$. These results surest that they may be involved in natural sources with possible anticancer activities.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.101-104
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• 1996

Hydrogen peroxide is one of major chemicals mediating antitumor and antimicrobial activities of macrophages. We searched natural products enhancing hydrogen peroxide generation from murine macrophage-like cell line J774. Among 21 methanol extracts of Korean medicinal plants, the extract from Cornus officinalis was the most effective. The active component from the fractions was searched by activity guided fractionation, and identified as ursolic acid by spectral data.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.351-354
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• 1999

This study was carried out to evaluate cytotoxicity of the extracts from Sophora flavescens Ait. against L1210 (lymphocytic leukemia) and $P388D_1$ (lymphoid neoplasms) cells in vitro. We have determined cytotoxicity by MTT {3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazo-liumbromide} assay. The order of cytotoxicity of Sophora flavescens Ait. extracts against L1210 and $P388D_1$ cells in vitro is as follows: AM> EASF > CFSF > MTSF > WSF > HXSF and AM> EASF> CFSF> MTSF> HXSF> WSF. These results suggest that the ethyl acetate soluble extract of Sophora flavescens Ait may be a valuable choice for the development of antitumor agents.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.200-208
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• 2017

Actinobacteria are prolific producers of a large number of natural products with diverse biological activities. In the present study, an actinobacterium isolated from sunflower rhizosphere soil sample collected from Medak, Andhra Pradesh, South India was identified as Amycolatopsis thermoflava strain SFMA-103. A pigmented secondary metabolite in culture broth was extracted by using methanol and it was further purified by silica gel column chromatography with methanol-chloroform solvent system. Structural elucidation studies based on UV-visible, 1D and 2D-NMR, FT-IR, and mass spectroscopic analyses confirmed the structure as 1-methoxy-3-methyl-8-hydroxy-anthraquinone. It showed significant in vitro anticancer activity against lung cancer and lymphoblastic leukemia cells with $IC_{50}$ values of 10.3 and $16.98{\mu}M$, respectively. In addition, 1-methoxy-3-methyl-8-hydroxy-anthraquinone showed good free radical scavenging activity by DPPH method with an $EC_{50}$ of $18.2{\mu}g/ml$. It also showed other promising superoxide radical scavenging, nitric oxide radical scavenging and inhibition of lipid peroxidation activities. This is a first report of anti-proliferative and antioxidant activities of 1-methoxy-3-methyl-8-hydroxy-anthraquinone isolated from A. thermoflava strain SFMA-103 which may find potential application in biotechnological and pharmaceutical fields.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.21-23
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• 1982

To develop new potent antitumor substancces with low toxicity from natural products, especially from higher fungi of Korea, the carpophores of some wild basidiomycetes were collected and the antitimor test for their polysaccharides was done. The dried carpophores were extracted with hot water, and from the extracts, crude polysaccharides were obtained by alcohol precipitation. The alcohol precipitated crude polysaccharides were partially purified by dialysis and then used as the samples for antitumor tests. Among tested, the polysaccharide of Laccaria laccata, Trametes sanguineus, Armlliariella mellea, Clitocybe in fundibuliformis, and Xeromphalina campanella respectively showed the inhibition ratio of 75%, 72%, 94% 55%, and 47% when administered i. p. once dailly for ten days at the dose level of 20mg/kg/day into the mice implanted with $10^{6}$ cells of sarcoma 180/mouse. However, those of Craterellus cornucopiodes, Daedaleopsis confrogosa, and Coriolus sp. showed almost no activities.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.66 no.4
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• pp.356-381
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• 2023

Although immunotherapy has been broadly successful in the treatment of hematologic malignancies and a subset of solid tumors, its clinical outcomes for glioblastoma are still inadequate. The results could be due to neuroanatomical structures such as the blood-brain-barrier, antigenic heterogeneity, and the highly immunosuppressive microenvironment of glioblastomas. The antitumor efficacy of endogenously activated effector cells induced by peptide or dendritic cell vaccines in particular has been insufficient to control tumors. Effector cells, such as T cells and natural killer (NK) cells can be expanded rapidly ex vivo and transferred to patients. The identification of neoantigens derived from tumor-specific mutations is expanding the list of tumor-specific antigens for glioblastoma. Moreover, recent advances in gene-editing technologies enable the effector cells to not only have multiple biological functionalities, such as cytokine production, multiple antigen recognition, and increased cell trafficking, but also relieve the immunosuppressive nature of the glioblastoma microenvironment by blocking immune inhibitory molecules, which together improve their cytotoxicity, persistence, and safety. Allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells edited to reduce graft-versus-host disease and allorejection, or induced pluripotent stem cell-derived NK cells expressing CARs that use NK-specific signaling domain can be a good candidate for off-the-shelf products of glioblastoma immunotherapy. We here discuss current progress and future directions for T cell and NK cell therapy in glioblastoma.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2000

Cannabidiol derivatives (1, 2 and 3), and 5-fluorouracil (4, 5-FU) were tested for their growth inhibitory effects against human oral epitheloid carcinoma cell lines (KB) using two different 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and sulforhodamine B protein (SRB) assay. These compounds showed a potent inhibitory activity in vitro in the micromolar range against KB cell lines. In general, the antitumor activity of these compounds (1, 2, 3 and 4) was in a dose-dependent over the micromolar concentration ranges from $1\;{\mu}M\;to\;100\;{\mu}M$. The comparison of $IC_{50}$ values of these compounds in tumor cell lines shows that their susceptibility to these compounds decreases in the following order: CBD > 5-FU > CBDME > CBDDE by the MTT assay and SRB assay. Cannabidiol derivatives (1, 2 and 3), and 5-FU were tested for their cytotoxic effects on NIH 3T3 fibroblasts using two different MTT assay and SRB assay. These compounds exhibited potent cytotoxic activities in vitro in the micromolar range against NIH 3T3 fibroblasts. In general, the cytotoxic activities of these compounds (1, 2, 3 and 4) were in a dose-dependent over the micromolar concentration range $1\;{\mu}M\;to\;100\;{\mu}M$. The comparison of $CD_{50}$ values of these compounds on NIH 3T3 fibroblasts shows that their susceptibility to these compounds decreases in the following order; CBD > 5-FU > CBDDE > CBDME by MTT assay, CBD > 5-FU > CBDME > CBDDE by SRB assay. These results suggest that cannabidiol (1, CBD) retains the most growth-inhibitory activity against KB cell lines.