• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.512-522
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• 2023

Cancer with unlimited cell growth is a leading cause of death globally. Various cancer treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy, can be applied alone or in combination depending on the cancer type and stage. New treatments with fewer side effects than previous cancer treatments are continually under development and in demand. Undifferentiated stem cells with unlimited cell growth are gradually changed via cellular differentiation to arrest cell growth. In this study, we reviewed the possibility of treating cancer by using cellular differentiation into the adipocytes in cancer cells. In previous in vitro studies, oral antidiabetic drugs of the thiazolidinedione (TDZ) class, such as rosiglitazone and pioglitazone, were induced into the adipocytes in various cancer cell lines via increased peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR γ) expression and glucose uptake, which is the key regulator of adipogenesis and the energy metabolism pathway. The differentiated adipogenic cancer cells treated with TDZ inhibited cell growth and had a less cellulotoxic effect. This adipogenic differentiation treatment suggests a possible chemotherapy option in cancer cells with high and abnormal glucose metabolism levels. However, the effects of the in vivo adipogenic differentiation treatment need to be thoroughly investigated in different types of stem and normal cells with other side effects.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.88-91
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• 2016

Pancreatic cancer is the lethal disease and the prognosis of pancreatic cancer has remained largely unchanged over the past years. Borderline advanced pancreatic cancer is a biological different from resectable pancreatic cancer due to higher risk of early recurrence because of artery/vein abutment. Therefore this unique subset of pancreatic cancer has a controversial issue with regard to their treatment policy. Some institutes managed borderline advanced pancreatic cancer by up-front neoadhuvant chemotherapy because neoadjuvant chemotherapy provide the opportunity to treat early micro-metastasis with unfavorable tumor biology. But, some institutes try aggressive up-front surgical procedures to provide a chance of long-term survival in highly selected patients. Therefore this unique subset of pancreatic cancer has a controversial issue with regard to their treatment policy. This review address recent treatment trend for patients with borderline advanced pancreatic cancer.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.445-448
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• 1995

Although significant progress has been made during the past four decades in the treatment of human neoplastic disease, effective chemotherapeutic treatments are nevertheless far from satisfactory to patients suffering from cancer, particularly to those with the stomach cancer which is most prevalent in Korea. To find out the effective anticancer drugs, especially human stomach cancer, we tested cytotoxic activities of several medicinal herbs against human stomach cancer cell line, SNU-1. Evodia officinalis, Melia toosendan, Sinomenium acutum, Galla Haeepensis, Celastrus orbiculatus and Taxus caespitosa showed a significant cytotoxic activities.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2419-2423
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• 2015

Background: There are few choices for treatment of advanced cancer patients who do not respond to or tolerate conventional anti-cancer treatments. Therefore this study aimed to deploy the benefits and clinical efficacy of continuous dendritic cell-cytokine induced killer cell infusions in such patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 381 infusions (from 67 advanced cases recruited) were included in this study. All patients underwent peripheral blood mononuclear cell apheresis for the following cellular therapy and dendritic cells-cytokine induced killer cells were expanded in vitro. Peripheral blood T lymphocyte subsets were quantified through flow cytometry to address the cellular immunity status. Clinical efficacy and physical activities were evaluated by RECIST criteria and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group scores respectively. Logistic regression model was used to estimate the association between cellular infusions and clinical benefits. Results: An average of $5.7{\pm}2.94{\times}10^9$ induced cells were infused each time and patients were exposed to 6 infusions. Cellular immunity was improved in that cytotoxic $CD8^+CD28^+$ T lymphocytes were increased by 74% and suppressive $CD8^+CD28^-$ T lymphocytes were elevated by 16% (p<0.05). Continuous infusion of dendritic cells-cytokine induced killer cells was associated with improvement of both patient status and cellular immunity. A median of six infusions were capable of reducing risk of progression by 70% (95%CI 0.10-0.91). Every elevation of one ECOG score corresponded to a 3.90-fold higher progression risk (p<0.05) and 1% increase of $CD8^+CD28^-$ T cell proportion reflecting a 5% higher risk of progression (p<0.05). Conclusions: In advanced cancer patients, continuous dendritic cell-cytokine induced killer cell infusions are capable of recovering cellular immunity, improving patient status and quality of life in those who are unresponsive to conventional cancer treatment.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.68-75
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• 2013

Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) belongs to the most malignant and rapidly progressive human thyroid cancers and its prognosis is very poor. Also, it shows high resistance to cancer treatments, so that effective treatment for ATC has not been found to date, and virtually all patients terminate their life rapidly after diagnosis. Although targeted treatment of genetic alterations has emerged as an extremely promising approach to human cancers, such as BRAF in metastatic melanoma, it remains unclear that how commonly genomic alterations are influenced in ATC tumorigenesis. In recent years, genome wide approaches have been exploited to find genetic alterations associated with complex diseases, including cancer. Here, we reviewed the comprehensive genetic alterations in ATC and recent approaches in the context of identifying genomic alterations associated with ATC. Since surprisingly few reports have been published on the genome wide study of ATC, this review puts emphasis on the urgent needs of genomic research for the prevention and treatment of ATC.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.79-89
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• 2012

Objective : This study was conducted to evaluate of efficacy and safety of Vanadium Water (VW) on Cancer related Fatigue of Non-advanced Cancer Patients. Methods : Experimental Group Administration. Participants in treatment group consumed three 500 ml/bottle bottles of Jeju Island's VW, which contains 40.2 ${\mu}g/L$ of vanadium, three times a day (morning, afternoon, evening) for 4 weeks (28 days) without any additional treatments for fatigue improvement. The control group participants consumed three 500 ml/bottle bottles of ordinary water (0 ${\mu}g/L$ of vanadium) three times a day for the same period of time without any additional treatments for fatigue improvement. Results : After 4 weeks of VW consumption, total score of Revised Piper Fatigue Scale (RPFS) was reduced 30% and basal score after Fisher's Exact Test resulted statistical borderline significance (p=0.0799) and result of t-test of comparison between two groups' RPFS total score and fatigue cognitive/mood changes resulted statistical significance (p=0.0112). In detail, only 36.4% of control group (N=11) showed improvement while 77.8% of treatment group (N=9) showed fatigue improvement and thyroid hormone level changes. No other lab measures indicated any significant differences between two groups. Conclusion : Daily consumption of 1.5 L of Vanadium water for 4 weeks showed improvement of non-advanced cancer patients' fatigue.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.27-33
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• 2018

Objective: The purpose of this study is to report the therapeutic possibility of a primary peritoneal carcinoma (PPC) patient with Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM). Methods: A 37 years old female patient diagnosed with PPC suffered from operation site pain, neck pain, nausea, headache and fatigue after undergoing operation and chemotherapy (Paclitaxel/Carboplain). The patient was treated with acupuncture, pharmacoacupuncture, moxibution and herbal medicine. Laboratory study and National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (NCI-CTCAE), version 5.0 were used to evaluate the safety and adverse events of treatments. The performance status was measured by Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) scale. Results: After treatments, cancer did not show any progression. Related symptoms such as postoperative pain, nausea, fatigue and quality of life have improved. Conclusion: This case study implies that TKM may have therapeutic possibility in treating PPC patient.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.76-94
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• 2003

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate Acute$\cdot$Subacute Toxicity and Anti-cancer Effect of K-Herbal-acupuncture in mice and rats. Methods : Balb/c mice were injected intraperitoneally with K-herbal-acupuncture for $LD_{50}$ and acute toxicity test. Sprague-Dawley rats were injected intraperitoneally with K-herbal-acupuncture for subacute toxicity test. K-Herbal-acupuncture was injected on abdomen of mice with S-180 cancer cell line. Result : 1. $LD_{50}$ of K-Herbal-acupuncture was limited $4{\times}10^{-3}$ml/kg~$2{\times}10^{-3}$ml/kg by the test. 2. In acute toxicity test, all of mice were down to the moving reflex, but the weight of mice was increased in treatment group, compared with the normal group. (P<0.05) 3. In acute toxicity test of serum biochemical values of mice, glucose was increased in treatment II group, total cholesterol was increased both treatments.(P<0.05) 4. In subacute toxicity test, the clinical signs of toxication was down to the moving reflex, but it is not severe like acute toxicity test, and observed weight loss at the treatments. 5. In subacute toxicity test, liver weight was decreased compared with the normal group. (P<0.05) 6. In subacute toxicity test of complete blood count test (CBC) of rat, HCT was decreased in treatments, compared with the normal group.(P<0.05) 7. In subacute toxicity test of serum biochemical values of rat, uric acid and triglyceride were decreased, and glucose was increased in treatment groups compared with the control group. (P<0.05) 8. Median survival time was increased about $45\%$ in treatment groups compared with the control group.(P<0.05) 9. Natural killer cell activity was increased in B16F10 lung cancer model, but it was not in sarcoma-180 abdomen cancer. 10. In interleukin-2 productivity test, treatment groups didn't show significant change in lung cancer and abdomen cancer, compared with the normal group.(P<0.005) 11. In making an examination of metastatic cancer with the naked eye, melanoma metastasized in the Lung of C57BL/6 mice. The treated group showed more Melanoma than the control in the numbers and volume. Conclusion : According to the result, K-herbal-acupuncture need further study to know the function and effect in cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.2181-2184
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• 2013

Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy in men in the United States. Surgery or radiation are sometimes unsatisfactory treatments because of the complications such as incontinence or erectile dysfunction. Selenium was found to be effective to preven prostate cancer in the Nutritional Prevention of Cancer Trial (NPC), which motivated two other clinical trials: the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) and a Phase III trial of selenium to prevent prostate cancer in men with high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia. However, these two trials failed to confirm the results of the NPC trial and indicated that the selenium may not be preventive of prostate cancer. In this article we review the three clinical trials and discuss some different points which might be potential factors underlying variation in results obtained.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.445-453
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• 2016

Epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs/HERs) and downstream signaling pathways have been implicated in the pathogenesis of several malignancies including breast cancer and its resistance to treatment with chemotherapeutic drugs. Consequently, several monoclonal antibodies as well as small molecule inhibitors targeting these pathways have emerged as therapeutic tools in the recent past. However, studies have shown that utilizing these molecules in combination with chemotherapy has yielded only limited success. This review describes the current understanding of EGFRs/HERs and associated signaling pathways in relation to development of breast cancer and responses to various cancer treatments in the hope of pointing to improved prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Also, we review the role of breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) in disease and the potential to target these cells.