• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.3101-3109
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• 2015

Background: Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is involved in amino acid synthesis and DNA function. Two common polymorphisms are reported, C677T and A1298C, that are implicated in a number of human diseases, including cancer. Objective: The association between MTHFR C677T and A1298C genotype and haplotype frequencies in risk for lung cancer (LC) was investigated in the Jordanian population. Materials and Methods: A total of 98 LC cases were studied for MTHFR C677T and A1298C polymorphisms, compared to 89 controls taken from the general population, employing the PCR-RFLP technique. Results: The frequency of the genotypes of MTHFR C677T among Jordanians was: CC, 59.6%, CT, 33%; and TT, 7.4% among LC cases and 49.4%, 40.2% and 10.3% among controls. No significant association was detected between genetic polymorphism at this site and LC. At MTHFR A12987C, the genotype distribution was AA, 29.5%; AC, 45.3%, and CC 25.3% among LC cases and 36.8%, 50.6% and 12.6% among controls. Carriers of the CC genotype were more likely to have LC (OR=2.5; 95%CI: 1.04-6; p=0.039) as compared to AA carriers. Smokers and males with the CC genotype were 9.9 and 6.7 times more likely to have LC, respectively ($OR_{smokers}=9.9$; 95%CI: 1.2-84.5, p=0.018; $OR_{men}=6.6$; 95%CI: 1.7-26.2, p=0.005). Haplotype analysis of MTHFR polymorphism at the two loci showed differential distribution of the CC haplotype (677C-1298C) between cases and controls. The CC haplotype was associated with an increased risk for lung cancer (OR=1.6; 95% CI: 1.03-2.4, p=0.037). Conclusions: The genetic polymorphism of MTHFR at 1298 and the CC haplotype (risk is apparently lower with the C allele at position 677) may modulate the risk for LC development among the Jordanian population. Risk associated with the 1298C allele is increased in smokers and in males. The results indicate that a critical gene involved in folate metabolism plays a modifying role in lung cancer risk, at least in the Jordanian population.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 1969

Tissue homogenates of 10 kinds of human cancer tissues were incubated in medium containing either one of $C^{14}-1,\; C^{14}-2,\;or\; C^{14}-3-lactate $ as a substrate in order to observe the oxidative pathway of lactate in cancer tissues. Lactate concentration in incubation medium was maintained at 50 mg%. At the end of incubation period, gas samples and incubation media were analyzed for total $CO_2$ production rates, radioactivities of respiratory $CO_2$, lactate uptake rates and pyruvate appearance rates. The following results were obtained. 1. Lactate uptake rates in all of cancer tissues examined were less than $2.5\;{\mu}M/hr/gm$ and much lower than those in normal tissues. 2. In the 10 kind of human cancer tissues, total $CO_2$ production rates were less than $10\;{\mu}M/hr/gm$, in all cases. These lower values impressed that oxidative metabolism in tumor tissues generally inhibited as compared with that in normal tissue. On the other hand, fractions of $CO_2$ derived from lactate to total $CO_2$ production rates were less than 15% except one case These facts showed that oxidation of lactate into $CO_2$ was greatly inhibited in tumor tissues. 3. Respiratory $CO_2$ yields from C-1 carbon of lactate in various cancer tissues were mean of 77.7% of total $CO_2$ yield from lactate and $CO_2$ yields from C-2 and C-3 carbon of lactate were mean of 9.1% and 12.6% respectively. These facts showed that carboxyl carbon of lactate oxidized more easily than ${\alpha}\;and\;{\beta}$ carbon of lactate. 4. In 10 kinds of cancer tissues, fractions of disappeared lacteate from media into $CO_2$ and pyruvate, which expressed as RLD $co_2$ and RLDpy respectively, were about 5% in except 3 cases and less than 3% except one case. These fact showed that almost of disappeared lactate from media were degraded into compounds other than $CO_2$ and pyruvate. From the above date, it was suggested that in the oxidative pathway of lactate in cancer tissues $CO_2$ was easily Produced from carboxyl carbon of lactate by oxidative decarboxylation as in the normal tissue, and further oxidation of 2 carbon unit via TCA cycle was inhibited.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.7031-7038
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• 2015

Background: Arginine may play important roles in tumor progression by providing ornithine for polyamine biosynthesis, required for cell growth. The aim of this work was to determine the expression of arginine metabolic pathway enzymes in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) in northeast India. Materials and Methods: The expressions of arginase isoforms (ARG1 and ARG2), ornithine aminotransferase (OAT) and ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) were examined in fifty paired HNSCC and adjacent non-tumor tissues by immunohistochemistry. Immunocytochemistry, semiquantitative reverse transcription sq-PCR and quantitative real-time qPCR were used to assess protein and mRNA expressions in peripheral blood of fifty HNSCC patients and hundred controls. Results: ARG1 and ODC protein and mRNA were strongly expressed in peripheral blood from HNSCC patients. No ARG2 expression was observed. In vivo, expression of ARG1, ARG2 and ODC was significantly higher in tumor than in non-tumor tissues. Most tumors expressed low levels of OAT, with no difference in tissues or blood, compared to controls. The absolute extent of maximal ARG1 upregulation with qPCR showed 6.23 fold increase in HNSCC. Conclusions: These findings strongly suggest that in HNSCCs, the ARG1 pathway is stimulated leading to the formation of polyamines as indicated by higher ODC expression, which promote tumor growth.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.33 no.4 s.131
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• pp.376-383
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• 2002

The methanol extracts prepared from ten kinds of culinary herbs were investigated for the cytotoxcic effect againt L1210 cancer cells and the mode of action. The substantial cytotoxic effects were observed in all cases with the most prominent effect demonstrated by lemon verbena extract showing $87{\pm}4.1%$ cytotoxicity with $100{\mu}g/ml$ concentration and 3 days culture period. The cytotoxic effect was found to be dose and culture period dependent. With respect to the mechanism of the cytotoxicity, the augmented generation of $O_2{^-}ion$ and the dramatically escalated activities of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase(SOD) and glutathione peroixdase (GPx) with addition of the herb methanol extractw suggested that there would be the involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism in the course of L1210 cancer cell death by the mothanol extract of the edible herbs.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.171-174
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• 2004

Angiogenesis, the formation of new capillaries from existing vessels, increases oxygenation and nutrient supply to ischemic tissue and allows tumor growth and metastasis. As such, angiogenesis targeting provides a novel approach for cancer treatment with easier drug delivery and less drug resistance. Therapeutic anti-angiogenesis has shown impressive effects in animal tumor models and are now entering clinical trials. However, the successful clinical introduction of this new therapeutic approach requires diagnostic tools that can reliably measure angiogenesis in a noninvasive and repetitive manner. Molecular imaging is emerging as an exciting new discipline that deals with imaging of disease on a cellular or genetic level. Angiogenesis imaging is an important area for molecular imaging research, and the use of radiotracers offers a particularly promising technique for its development. While current perfusion and metabolism radiotracers can provide useful information related to tissue vascularity, recent endeavors are focused on the development of novel radioprobes that specifically and directly target angiogenic vessels. Presently available proges include RGD sequence containing peptides that target ${\alpha}_v\;{\beta}_3$ integrin, endothelial growth factors such as VEGF or FGF, metalloptoteinase inhibitors, and specific antiangiogenic drugs. It is now clear that nuclear medicine techniques have a remarkable potential for angiogenesis imaging, and efforts are currently continuing to develop new radioprobes with superior imaging properties. With future identification of novel targets, design of better probes, and improvements in instrumentation, radiotracer angiogenesis imaging promises to play an increasingly important role in the diagnostic evaluation and treatment of cancer and other angiogenesis related diseases.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.42 no.sup1
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• pp.60-65
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• 2008

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common primary tumor in the liver. FDG PET has been applied for staging and treatment planning of hepatocellular carcinoma. It could reflect tumor prognosis because glucose metabolism assessed by FDG PET is known to have correlations with the differentiation and aggressiveness of the tumor. Although the ability of FDG PET to detect well-differentiated or low grade tumors and intra-hepatic lesions is not good, it is expected to playa major role in pre-surgical assessments for liver transplantation because it is useful in detecting extra-hepatic lesions and unexpected distant metastases with a better diagnostic performance than other conventional imaging modalities. Additionally, FDG PET has an advantage to screen other cancers through whole body scanning. As a new tracer for PET, Acetate demonstrates higher sensitivity and specificity to FDG in evaluating hepatocellular carcinoma. It thus seems that simultaneous use of Acetate PET with FDG PET could be helpful in diagnosis, especially detecting extra-hepatic metastases.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.4595-4598
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• 2013

We conducted a comprehensive study to investigate the role of genes involved in transport pathways in response to chemotherapy and clinical outcome of osteosarcoma cases. Genotyping of six SNPs was performed in a 384-well plate format on the Sequenom MassARRAY platform for 208 osteosarcoma patients to reveal any correlations of the six SNPs with response to chemotherapy and clinical outcome. Individuals with the ABCB1 rs1128503 TT and ABCC3 rs4148416 TT genotypes had a higher probability of responding poorly to chemotherapy, indicated by odds ratios (ORs) of 2.46 (95%CI, 1.21-5.74) and 3.78 (95% CI, 1.20-13.85), respectively. Moreover, the ABCB1 rs1128503 TT and ABCC3 rs4148416 TT genotypes were significantly associated with shorter diseasefree survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Our study found the two SNPs in two transporter genes and one phase II metabolism enzyme to be associated with response to chemotherapy and overall survival in osteosarcoma patients, suggesting potential prognostic biomarker applications of the two SNPs.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.628-635
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• 2002

Five terpenes (1~5), three fatty acids (6~8), two sterols (9 and 11), and a monogalactosyldiacyl glycerol (10) were isolated from the methylene chloride extract of the aerial part of Cirsium setidens. Their chemical structures were determined to be $\alpha$-tocopherol (1), 25-hydroperoxycycloart-23-en-3$\beta$-o1 (2), 24-hydroperoxycycloart-25-en-3$\beta$-o1 (3), mokko lactone (4), transphytol (5), 9, 12, 15-octadecatrienoic acid (6), 9, 12-octadecadienoic acid (7), hexadecanoic acid (8), acylglycosyl $\beta$-sitosterol (9), (2R)-1, 2-O-(9z, 12z, 15z-dioctadecatrienoyl)-3-O-$\beta$-D-galactopyranosyl glycerol (10) and $\beta$-sitosterol glucoside (11) by spectral evidences. Compound 3 exhibited significant cytotoxic activity against five human cancer cell lines with its $ED_{50}$ values ranging from 2.66 to 11.25 $\mu$M.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.193-201
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• 2022

Excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a key phenomenon in tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α-induced cell death. However, the role of ROS in necroptosis remains mostly elusive. In this study, we show that TNF-α induces the mitochondrial accumulation of superoxide anions, not H₂O₂, in cancer cells undergoing necroptosis. TNF-α-induced mitochondrial superoxide anions production is strictly RIP3 expression-dependent. Unexpectedly, TNF-α stimulates NADPH oxidase (NOX), not mitochondrial energy metabolism, to activate superoxide production in the RIP3-positive cancer cells. In parallel, mitochondrial superoxide-metabolizing enzymes, such as manganese-superoxide dismutase (SOD2) and peroxiredoxin III, are not involved in the superoxide accumulation. Mitochondrial-targeted superoxide scavengers and a NOX inhibitor eliminate the accumulated superoxide without affecting TNF-α-induced necroptosis. Therefore, our study provides the first evidence that mitochondrial superoxide accumulation is a consequence of necroptosis.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.330-339
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• 2023

Liver kinase B1 (LKB1) is a crucial tumor suppressor involved in various cellular processes, including embryonic development, tumor initiation and progression, cell adhesion, apoptosis, and metabolism. However, the precise mechanisms underlying its functions remain elusive. In this study, we demonstrate that LKB1 interacts directly with malic enzyme 3 (ME3) through the N-terminus of the enzyme and identified the binding regions necessary for this interaction. The binding activity was confirmed to promote the expression of ME3 in an LKB1-dependent manner and was also shown to induce apoptosis activity. Furthermore, LKB1 and ME3 overexpression upregulated the expression of tumour suppressor proteins (p53 and p21) and downregulated the expression of antiapoptotic proteins (nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) and B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2)). Additionally, LKB1 and ME3 enhanced the transcription of p21 and p53 and inhibited the transcription of NF-κB. Moreover, LKB1 and ME3 suppressed the phosphorylation of various components of the phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase/protein kinase B signaling pathway. Overall, these results suggest that LKB1 promotes pro-apoptotic activities by inducing ME3 expression.