• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.170-172
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• 2002

In continuous efforts for discovery of novel potent antitumor agents from natural products, fifty-seven methanolic extracts derived from indigenous Korean plants were primarily evaluated for in vitro cytotoxic activity in cultured human lung (A549) and colon (Col2) cancer cells. As a result, 16 plant extracts were found to be active against A549 cells and 15 extracts were active against Col2 cells in the criteria of $IC_{50}$<$50\;{\mu}g/ml$. In particular, the extracts of Calystegia soldanella $(IC_{50}$<$8.0\;{\mu}g/ml\;in\;A549;IC_{50}=27.4\;{\mu}g/ml\;in\;Col2)$, Heloniopsis orientalis $(IC_{50}=4.6\;{\mu}g/ml\;in\;A549; IC_{50}=4.5\;{\mu}g/ml\;in\;Col2)$, and Thuja koraiensis $(IC_{50}=1.2\;{\mu}g/ml\;in\;A549;IC_{50}=0.6\;{\mu}g/ml\;in\;Col2)$ showed a potent cytotoxic activity. Further study for the identification of active compounds from these lead extracts might be warranted.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.550-555
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• 2002

The discovery and development of the taxane class of antitumor compounds represent significant advances in the treatment of patients with a variety of malignancies. These drugs are effectively used in the treatment of breast cancer. In this study we evaluated the efficacy of fractionated usage of both paclitaxel and docetaxel as a single agent in the breast cancer cell line MCF-7. It has been shown that the cytotoxic effect of paclitaxel was increased when the divided $IC_{50}$ concentrations were used sequentially and in contrast to paclitaxel, cytotoxic effect of docetaxel was decreased with the same schema and the single dose of $IC_{50}$ concentration was optimal. The cause of the difference between the cytotoxic effects of two agents with this schedule is obscure. Demonstrating mechanisms, which are responsible for these differences, will be important for more rational use of taxoids and to provide basis for the following clinical trials.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Reports
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.65-70
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• 2020

Although being one of the major causes of malignancy related death globally, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not received much attention in respect of novel drug development. Fortunately, several new drugs were found to be effective and tolerable in patients with advanced HCC from a number of phase 3 studies during the recent several years. Novel multi-targeted kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors were approved for clinical use, and combination strategies to maximize the potent of drugs demonstrated promising antitumor activity and safety with high response rate and improved safety profile. The increased number of available agents for HCC will contribute to change of treatment strategies and prognosis of patients with advanced HCC. Still, there is a many critical questions remain unanswered. Currently ongoing trials and future studies will provide better understanding of tumor biology and optimized criteria for patient selection and combination therapies.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.417-428
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• 2022

This study aimed to determine the antibacterial activity and toxicity of methanol and hexane extracts of Halymenia durvillei red seaweed which were found abundantly in Kayangan island, South Sulawesi. The antibacterial activity of the crude extract was tested against five gram-negative bacteria, namely Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Aeromonas hydrophila, and Vibrio harveyi at a dose of 200 g/disk. Extract toxicity was tested on Artemia salina larvae at concentrations of 1,000, 500, 250, 125, 62.5, and 31.25 ㎍/mL. The results showed that the methanol and hexane extracts of H. durvillei had the highest activity against S. thypi and A. hydrophila, respectively, with inhibition zones of 26.2 mm and 21.0 mm. On the other hand, the two extracts did not show activity against E. coli and P. aeruginosa, respectively. The toxicity of the methanol extract of H. durvillei was twice as high as that of the hexane extract with half-maximal inhibitory concentration of 98.24 and 184.21 ㎍/mL, respectively. Thus, the methanol and hexane extracts of red seaweed H. durvillei have the potential as new antibacterial agents respectively against the pathogenic bacteria S. typhi and A. hydrophila, but also have the opportunity to be developed into antitumor herbal compounds.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.223-230
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the association between adenosine triphosphate-based chemotherapy response assays (ATP-CRAs) and subsets of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: In total, 15 gastric cancer tissue samples were obtained from gastrectomies performed between February 2007 and January 2011. Chemotherapy response assays were performed on tumor cells from these samples using 11 chemotherapeutic agents, including etoposide, doxorubicin, epirubicin, mitomycin, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), oxaliplatin, irinotecan, docetaxel, paclitaxel, methotrexate, and cisplatin. TILs in the tissue samples were evaluated using antibodies specific for CD3, CD4, CD8, Foxp3, and Granzyme B. Results: The highest cancer cell death rates were induced by etoposide (44.8%), 5-FU (43.1%), and mitomycin (39.9%). Samples from 10 patients who were treated with 5-FU were divided into 5-FU-sensitive and -insensitive groups according to median cell death rate. No difference was observed in survival between the two groups (P=0.216). Only two patients were treated with a chemotherapeutic agent determined by an ATP-CRA and there was no significant difference in overall survival compared with that of patients treated with their physician's choice of chemotherapeutic agent (P=0.105). However, a high number of CD3 TILs was a favorable prognostic factor (P=0.008). Pearson's correlation analyses showed no association between cancer cell death rates in response to chemotherapeutic agents and subsets of TILs. Conclusions: Cancer cell death rates in response to specific chemotherapeutic agents were not significantly associated with the distribution of TIL subsets.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.760-771
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• 2012

Marine triterpene glycosides are physiologically active natural compounds isolated from sea cucumbers(holothurians). It was demonstrated that they have a wide range of biological activities, including antifungal, cytotoxic, and antitumor effects. A previous study showed that stichoposide C (STC) isolated from Thelenota anax induces apoptosis through generation of ceramide by activation of acid sphingomyelinase (SMase) and neutral SMase in human leukemia cells. In this study, we investigated whether STD, a structural analog of STC, can induce apoptosis and examined the molecular mechanisms for its activity. It was found that STC and STD induce apoptosis in a dose- and time-dependent manner and lead to the activation of caspase-8, mitochondrial damage, activation of caspase-9, and activation of caspase-3 in K562 and HL-60 cells. STC activates acid SMase and neutral SMase, which results in the generation of ceramide. Specific inhibition of acid SMase or neutral SMase partially blocked STC-induced apoptosis, but not STD-induced apoptosis. In contrast, STD generates ceramide through the activation of ceramide synthase. Specific inhibition of ceramide synthase partially blocked STD-induced apoptosis, but not STC-induced apoptosis. Moreover, STC and STD markedly reduced tumor growth of HL-60 xenograft tumors and increased ceramide generation in vivo. These results indicate that STC and STD can induce apoptosis and have antitumor activity through the different molecular mechanisms, because they have a different sugar residue attached to aglycones. Thus, these results suggest that their actions are affected by a sugar residue attached to aglycones and they can be used as anticancer agents in the treatment of leukemia.

• THE JOURNAL OF KOREAN ORIENTAL ONCOLOGY
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.71-87
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• 1998

Even though appropriate immune response is necessary for the survival of the individual, excessive or insufficient immune Response might cause autoimmune or allergic disease. So the immune response must be controlled to the degree that is beneficial for the well being of the individual. This study was undertaken to know the effects of Gunleetang Gagambang on the immune system of the mouse. Gunleetang Gagambang has been used for cure of tumor as a traditional medicine without any experimental evidence to support the rational basis for its clinical use. This study was carried out to evaluate the possible therapeutic or antitumoral effects of Gunleetang Gagambang extract against tumor, and to carry out some mechanisms responsible for its effect. Some kinds of tumor were induced by the typical application of 3-methylcholanthrene(MCA) or by the implantation(s.c) of malignant tumor cells such as leukemia cells(3LL cells) or sarcoma cells(S180 cells). Treatment of the Gunleetang Gagambang on water-extract(dailly 1mg/mouse, i. p.) was continued for 7 days prior to tumor induction and after that the treatment was lasted for 20 days. Against squamous cell carcinoma induced by MCA, Gunleetang Gagambang decreased not only the frequency of tumor production but also the number and the weight of tumors per tumor bearing mice(TBM). Gunleetang Gagambang on also significantly suppressed the development of 3LL cell and S180 cell-implanted tumors in occurrence-frequency and their size. and some developed tumors were regressed by the continuous treatment of Gunleetang Gagambang extract into TBM. In vitro, treatment of Gunleetang Gagambang extract had no effect on the growth of some kinds of cell line such as FsaII, A431 strain but significantly inhibited the proliferation of 3LL, S180 cells and augmented the DNA synthesis of mitogen-activated lymphocytes. Gunleetang Gagambang also stimulated the migrative ability of leukocyte, the MIF and IL-2 production of T lymphocytes, but not IL 6 production of B cells. Gunleetang Gagambang administration to mice enhanced NK cells activities. These results demonstrated that Gunleetang Gagambang extract exhibited a significant prophylactic benefits against tumors and its antitumor activity was manifested depending on the type of tumor cells. And these results also suggested that effect of Gunleetang Gagambang might be chiefly due to nonspecitie enhancement of NK cell activities and cell-mediated immune responses.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.185-192
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• 2005

Dietary chlarella has known as one of the best candidates for development of multifunctional probiotic foods owing to an excellent nutritional value such as high amount of proteins and various, valuable fatty acids. So many efforts were devoted to studying the chlorella as therapeutic agents or foods fighting against many diseases in the aged people such as cardiovascular diseases and cancers. In this study, we investigated sizes and weights of tumors derived from mice injected subcutaneously with tumorigenic cells to see if antitumor activity would be found in mice dieted with the chlarella complex. After BALB/c mice were dieted with $5\%$ organic cultured chlorella complex diet throughout for 19weeks, the fibrosarcoma was induced by subcutaneous injection of tumorigenic cells at the 3 weeks before sacrifice. The average weight of tumors in the diet group were significantly reduced to $60\%\;(P=0.012)$ of the one in control group, indicating that diet with the chlarella complex may have anticancer activity in mice. When the mice were dieted with $5\%$ organic cultured chlorella complex for 4 weeks before injecting the tumorigenic cells in order to see tumor-preventive effect of the diet, the potential preventive activity of the diet against cancer was implicated by the observation that the tumors were greatly reduced in the diet group to $37\%$ (P=0.l44) of the control group. Especially, when the $5\%$ diet were applied to mice after injecting with the tumorigenic cells, the tumors derived from the $5\%$ diet group were also decreased to $95\%$ (P=0.002) of those in the control group, suggesting that the diet with the organic cultured chlorella complex may also have therapeutic effect against tumor formation. As results, it was shown that the chlorella complex tested in this study had preventive and therapeutic effects on fighting against tumorigenesis. Therefore, the identification and further mechanistic study of the components which may be associated with antitumor activity from diet of the chlorella complex in the future will contribute to the development of anticancer probiotic foods, alternative therapeutic treatment against cancer, and a new anticancer drug.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.45-51
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• 2000

This study was carried out to evaluate cytotoxicity of the methanol extract from Sophora flavescens Ait. against L1210 (lymphocytic leukemia) and $P388D_1$ (lymphoid neoplasma) Cells in vitro. We have determined cytotoxicity by the MTT (3- (4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H- tetrazolium bromide) assay. The order of cytotoxicity of Sophora flavescens Ait. extracts against L1210 and $P388D_1$ cells in vitro is as follows: Fr. 4 > Fr. 3 > Fr. 5 > Fr. 2 > Fr. 1. These results suggest that the fraction 4 of the methanol extracts from Sophora flavescens Ait. may be a valuable choice for the development of antitumor agents. In order to develop an antimicrobial agent, dried Sophora flavescens Ait. was extracted with hot methanol, and then antimicrobial activity (MIC test) was investigated. In this study, the fraction 3 of the methanol extracts from the roots of S. flavescens showed strong growth inhibition activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria (MIC, $3.125\;{\mu}g/ml$) such as S. mutans, S. epidermidis and P. putida. These results indicate that fractions 3 and 4 inhibit tumor cells and bacteria.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.159-167
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• 2014

Curcumin is a widely used flavoring agent in food, and it has been reported to inhibit cell growth, to induce apoptosis, and to have antitumor activity in many cancers. Cisplatin is one of the most potent known anticancer agents and shows significant clinical activity against a variety of solid tumors. This study was undertaken to investigate the synergistic apoptotic effects of co-treatment with curcumin and cisplatin on human tongue SCC25 cells. To investigate whether the co-treatment efficiently reduced the viability of the SCC25 cells compared with the two treatments separately, an MTT assay was conducted. The induction and the augmentation of apoptosis were confirmed by DNA electrophoresis, Hoechst staining, and an analysis of DNA hypoploidy. Western blot, MMP and immunofluorescence tests were also performed to evaluate the expression levels and the translocation of apoptosis-related proteins following the co-treatment. In this study, following the co-treatment with curcumin and cisplatin, the SCC25 cells showed several forms of apoptotic manifestation, such as nuclear condensation, DNA fragmentation, reduction of MMP, increased levels of Bax, decreased levels of Bcl-2, and decreased DNA content. In addition, they showed a release of cytochrome c into the cytosol, translocation of AIF and DFF40 (CAD) to the nuclei, and activation of caspase-7, caspase-3, PARP, and DFF45 (ICAD). In contrast, separate treatments of $5{\mu}M$ of curcumin or $4{\mu}g/ml$ of cisplatin, for 24 hours, did not induce apoptosis. Therefore, our data suggest that combination therapy with curcumin and cisplatin could be considered as a novel therapeutic strategy for human oral squamous cell carcinoma.