• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.562-571
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• 2019

Background: Ginsenosides have been widely used clinically for many years and were regarded as very safe. However, a few researches on the toxicities of these kinds of agents showed that some ginsenosides may have side-effect on the rats or dogs. So it is extremely necessary to further clarify the potential toxicity of ginsenosides. This study was carried out to investigate long-term toxicity and genotoxicity of 25-methoxydammarane-3, 12, 20-triol ($25-OCH_3-PPD$), a new derivative of ginsenoside, in beagle dogs. Methods: Twenty-four beagle dogs were divided randomly into four treatment groups and repeatedly orally administered with $25-OCH_3-PPD$ capsule at 60, 120, and 240 mg/kg/day for 91 consecutive days. Ames, micronucleus, and chromosomal aberration tests were established to analyze the possible genotoxicity of $25-OCH_3-PPD$. Results: There was no $25-OCH_3-PPD$einduced systemic toxicity in beagle dogs at any doses. The level of $25-OCH_3-PPD$ at which no adverse effects were observed was found to be 240 mg/kg/day. The result of Ames test showed that there was no significant increase in the number of revertant colonies of $25-OCH_3-PPD$ administrated groups compared to the vehicle control group. There were also no significant differences between $25-OCH_3-PPD$ administrated groups at all dose levels and negative group in the micronucleus test and chromosomal aberration assay. Conclusion: The highest dose level of $25-OCH_3-PPD$ at which no adverse effects were observed was found to be 240 mg/kg per day, and it is not a genotoxic agent either in somatic cells or germs cells. $25-OCH_3-PPD$ is an extremely safe candidate compound for antitumor treatment.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.89-116
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• 2019

Objective: This study aimed to ascertain what should be considered in the "Guideline for Clinical Trials with Herbal Medicinal Products for Liver Cancer," by analyzing existing guidelines and clinical trials. Methods: Committee for the development of a guideline, consisting of 6 Korean medicine doctors, reviewed guidelines and clinical trials on using herbal medicine for treating liver cancer. The trials were analyzed in terms of inclusion and exclusion of participants, intervention, comparators, outcomes, and trial design. We then compared the results of our analysis with the guidelines to identify issues we must to consider when following the "Guideline for Clinical Trials with Herbal Medicinal Products for Liver Cancer." Several guidelines for antitumor agents and clinical trials on herbal medicine were obtained from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety homepage, etc. The search terms were as follows: "liver neoplasms"; "herbal medicine"; "medicine, Korean traditional"; and "medicine, Chinese Traditional.". Results: Ten articles were obtained from pubmed and Embase. There was no guideline for clinical trials on using herbal medicine for treating liver cancer. All the participants in the reviewed articles had primary liver cancer, and the type of intervention varied (e.g., decoction, patches, and capsules. The comparators included placebos and conventional treatments such as chemotherapy. The outcome assessment methods were tumor response, quality of life, survival, and liver function tests. Adverse events occuring during the trial were also evaluated. Conclusion: Findings were derived by reviewing existing guidelines and comparing them with clinical trials on liver cancer and herbal medicinal products. These results will be utilized in the development of the "Guideline for Clinical Trials with Herbal Medicinal Products for Liver Cancer."

• Mycobiology
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.256-263
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• 2023

Species in the genus Trametes (Basidiomycota, Polyporales) have been used in natural medicine for a long time. Many studies reported that mycelia or fruiting bodies of Trametes spp. exhibited effects of antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and antimicrobial activities. However, comparative analysis in this genus is scarce due to limitation of morphological identification and the sample number. In this study, the 19 strains of seven Trametes species were chosen to generate a five-gene-based phylogeny with the 31 global references. In addition, 39 culture extracts were prepared for 13 strains to test for anticancer and antibacterial activities. Strong anticancer activities were found in several extracts from T. hirsuta and T. suaveolens. Anticancer activities of T. suaveolens, T. cf. junipericola and T. trogii were first described here. The antibacterial ability of T. versicolor and T. hirsuta extracts has been confirmed. The antibacterial activities of T. suaveolens have been reported at the first time in this study. These results suggest an efficient application of the genus Trametes as the drug resources especially for anticancer agents.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.10.1-10.14
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• 2020

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have shown remarkable benefit in the treatment of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and have emerged as an effective treatment option even in the first-line setting. ICIs can block inhibitory pathways that restrain the immune response against cancer, restoring and sustaining antitumor immunity. Currently, there are 4 PD-1/PD-L1 blocking agents available in clinics, and immunotherapy-based regimen alone or in combination with chemotherapy is now preferred option. Combination trials assessing combination of ICIs with chemotherapy, targeted therapy and other immunotherapy are ongoing. Controversies remain regarding the use of ICIs in targetable oncogene-addicted subpopulations, but their initial treatment recommendations remained unchanged, with specific tyrosine kinase inhibitors as the choice. For the majority of patients without targetable driver oncogenes, deciding between therapeutic options can be difficult due to lack of direct cross-comparison studies. There are continuous efforts to find predictive biomarkers to find those who respond better to ICIs. PD-L1 protein expressions by immunohistochemistry and tumor mutational burden have emerged as most well-validated biomarkers in multiple clinical trials. However, there still is a need to improve patient selection, and to establish the most effective concurrent or sequential combination therapies in different NSCLC clinical settings. In this review, we will introduce currently used ICIs in NSCLC and analyze most recent trials, and finally discuss how, when and for whom ICIs can be used to provide promising avenues for lung cancer treatment.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.195-205
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• 1989

Development of drug resistance in tumors during treatment is a major factor limiting the clinical use of anticancer agents. When tumor cells acquire resistance to anticancer drug, they show cross-resistance to other antitumor agents. In the present study, SNU-1 cell was induced adriamycin $10^{-7}M$ drug resistance, SNU-1/ADR, in vitro culture system. We got the doubling time and number for viability test during 96 hours by MTT assay. To investigate the cross resistance of various anticancer drugs in human stomach cancer cell SNU-1 and SNU-1/ADR. We compared $IC_{50}$ (drug concentration of 50% reduction) and the relative resistance(RR). SNU-1/ADR was expressed multidrug resistant with vinblastine(RR ; 31.62), vincristine(RR ; 29.50), dactinomycin(RR ; 21.37), epirubicin(RR ; 17.78), daunorubicin(RR ; 14.12), adriamycin(RR ; 7.76), and etoposide(RR ; 4.46), and other drugs, 5-fluorouracil, cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and aclarubicin, have not cross resistant with adriamycin. There was double minute chromosome in SNU-1/ADR by karyotyping although this change was not seen in SNU-1.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.71 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 2011

Background: Gefitinib and erlotinib are useful, molecular targeted agents in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who failed previous chemotherapy. We compared the efficacy and toxicity of two drugs in patients with squamous cell lung cancer, most of whom are male smokers. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical information on patients with NSCLC who were treated with gefitinib or erlotinib treatment at Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital between July 2002 and November 2009. The overall response rate (ORR), overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were compared between the two drugs. Results: A total of 182 (100 gefitinib vs. 82 erlotinib) of 584 patients treated by targeted agents had squamous histology. Of the 182 patients, 167 (91.7%) were male and 159 (87.4%) were smokers. The ORR and disease control rate (DCR) were 4.9% and 40.6%, and there was no significant difference between gefitinib and erlotinib (ORR, 5.0% vs 4.8%; p=0.970; DCR, 40.0% vs 41.4%; p=0.439). The median OS in the gefitinib group was 12.1 months, and that in the erlotinib was 12.7 months (hazard ratio [HR], 1.282; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.771~2.134; p=0.339). The median PFS for the gefitinib group was 1.40 months, compared with 1.37 months for the erlotinib group (HR, 1.092; 95% CI, 0.809~1.474; p=0.564). Skin rash ${\geq}$grade 3 was more common in erlotinib (12.2%) than gefitinib (1.0%, p=0.003) groups. Conclusion: This retrospective study showed that the two drugs appear to have similar antitumor efficacy and toxicity except for skin rash.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.160-166
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• 2007

Purpose: Recently, chemosensitivity tests have become widely used for the selection of effective drugs in gastric cancer patients. In this study, a chemosensitivity test was performed to select agents to increase the effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: Chemosensitivity testing was performed in 81 gastric cancer patients that received a gastrectomy at the Yeungnam University Hospital. An ATP (adenosine triphosphate) based chemotherapy response assay was used. Clinicopatholgical factors such as sex, age, expression of tumor markers (CEA and CA19-9 levels), location of the tumor, morphology of advanced cancer, histological type, cell differentiation, depth of invasion, Lauren classification, Ming classification, lymphatic invasion, vascular invasion, neural invasion, lymph node metastasis and TNM stage were used to correlate the chemosensitivity and clinicopathological factors. Results: The most effective antitumor agents in gastric cancer patients were (in order of effectiveness) 5-FU, Epirubicin, lrinotecan and Oxaliplatin in our series. The chemosensitivity test showed a significant difference in susceptibility according to clinicopathological factors. Conclusion: Further studies on multidrug therapy are needed to evaluate synergistic effects of drugs. Therefore, for effective chemotherapy, it is more efficacious to select a chemosensitive drug than continue to use the same drug regimen.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.405-412
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• 2020

Background: Root rot is a serious destructive disease of Panax notoginseng, a famous cultivated araliaceous herb called Sanqi or Tianqi in Southwest China. Methods: The chemical substances of Sanqi rot roots were explored by chromatographic techniques. MS, 1D/2D-NMR, and single crystal X-ray diffraction were applied to determine the structures. Murine macrophage RAW264.7 and five human cancer cell lines were used separately for evaluating the antiinflammatory and cytotoxic activities. Results and Conclusion: Thirty dammarane-type triterpenes and saponins were isolated from the rot roots of P. notoginseng. Among them, seven triterpenes, namely, 20(S)-dammar-25-ene-24(S)-hydroperoxyl-3β,6α,12β,20-tetrol (1), 20(S)-dammar-3-oxo-23-ene-25-hydroperoxyl-6α,12β,20-triol (2), 20(S)-dammar-12-oxo-23-ene-25-hydroperoxyl-3β,6α,20-triol (3), 20(S)-dammar-3-oxo-23-ene-25-hydroperoxyl-12β,20-diol (4), 20(S),24(R)-epoxy-3,4-seco-dammar-25-hydroxy-12-one-3-oic acid (5), 20(S),24(R)-epoxy-3,4-seco-dammar-25-hydroxy-12-one-3-oic acid methyl ester (6), and 6α-hydroxy-22,23,24,25,26,27-hexanordammar-3,12,20-trione (7), are new compounds. In addition, 12 known ones (12-16 and 19-25) were reported in Sanqi for the first time. The new Compound 1 showed comparable antiinflammatory activity on inhibition of NO production to the positive control, whereas the known compounds 9, 12, 13, and 16 displayed moderate cytotoxicities against five human cancer cell lines. The results will provide scientific basis for understanding the chemical constituents of Sanqi rot roots and new candidates for searching antiinflammatory and antitumor agents.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.184-194
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• 2020

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors represent a novel class of anticancer agents, which can be used to inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in several types of cancer cells. In this study, we investigated the anticancer activity of MHY4381, a newly synthesized HDAC inhibitor, against human prostate cancer cell lines and compared its efficacy with that of suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), a well-known HDAC inhibitor. We assessed cell viability, apoptosis, cell cycle regulation, and other biological effects in the prostate cancer cells. We also evaluated a possible mechanism of MHY4381 on the apoptotic cell death pathway. The IC₅₀ value of MHY4381 was lower in DU145 cells (IC₅₀=0.31 µM) than in LNCaP (IC₅₀=0.85 µM) and PC-3 cells (IC₅₀=5.23 µM). In addition, the IC₅₀ values of MHY4381 measured in this assay were significantly lower than those of SAHA against prostate cancer cell lines. MHY4381 increased the levels of acetylated histones H3 and H4 and reduced the expression of HDAC proteins in the prostate cancer cell lines. MHY4381 increased G2/M phase arrest in DU145 cells, and G1 arrest in LNCaP cells. It also activated reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, which induced apoptosis in the DU145 and LNCaP cells by increasing the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 and releasing cytochrome c into the cytoplasm. Our results indicated that MHY4381 preferentially results in antitumor effects in DU145 and LNCaP cells via mitochondria-mediated apoptosis and ROS-facilitated cell death pathway, and therefore can be used as a promising prostate cancer therapeutic.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.490-505
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• 2000

Mugwort (Artemisia sp.) abounds on hedgebank, waysides and grassy places in most part of Europe, Asia and Northern America. This herb has long been associated with witch-craft and magic as a protective charm. Mugwort has been a value as a foodstuff of relieving famine. Proximate composition of mugwort is similar to green vegetables, but it has high level in calcium, potassium and vitamin A content. For medicinal uses, the leaves are harvested twice in spring and autumn before the plant comes into flower and are dried for later uses. Aqueous or organic solvents extracts often have physiologically active constituents. Some extracts of mugwort include cineol, thujone, borneol, camphor, caryophyllene, coumarin, cubebene, pinene, linalool, absinthin etc. The dried leaves have traditionally been used as an antihelmintic, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, antitumor, hepatic stimulant, chologogue, emmenagogue, febrifuge, stomachic, tonic etc. Mugwort has been used the dried or green leaves as a flavoring and coloring agents for tea, cake. pastry, bread, noodle, alcoholic liquor, soap and hygienic band.