• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2005

Cell response to genotoxic agents is complex and involves the participation of different classes of genes including cell cycle control, DNA repair and apoptosis. In this report, we presented a approach to characterize the cellular functions associated with the altered transcript profiles of MCF-7 exposed to low-dose in vitro gamma-irradiation. We used the method of human 2.4 k cDNA microarrays containing apoptosis, cell cycle, chromatin, repair, stress and chromosome genes to analyze the differential gene expression characterization that were displayed by radiation-exposed cell, human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cell line, such as 4 Gy 4 hr, 8 Gy 4 hr, and 8 Gy 12 hr. Among these genes, 66 were up-regulated and 49 were down-regulated. Specific genes were concomitantly induced in the results. Cyclin dependent kinase 4 (Cdk4) is induced for starting the cell cycle. This regulation is required for a DNA damage­induced G1 arrest. In addition to, an apoptotic pathways gene Bcl-w was concomitantly induced. Mismatch repair protein homologue-l (hMLH1), a necessary component of DNA mismatch protein repair (MMR), in G2-M cell cycle checkpoint arrest. The present study provides new information on the molecular mechanism underlying the cell response to genotoxic stress, with relevance to basic and clinical research.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.231-237
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• 2007

Exposure to DNA-damaging agents can elicit a variety of stress-related responses that may alter the expression of genes associated with numerous biological pathways. We used 19 k whole human genome chip to detect gene expression profiles and potential signature genes in human normal hepatocytes (THLE-3) by treatment of five direct acting mutagens, furylfuramide (AF-2), N-nitroso-N-methylurea (MNU), methylmethanesulfonate (MMS), 4-nitroquinoline-N-oxide (4-NQO) and 2-nitrofluorene (2NF) of the $IC_{20}$ concentration for 3 h. Fifty one up-regulated common genes and 45 down-regulated common genes above 1.5-fold by five direct-acting mutagens were identified by clustering analysis. Many of these changed genes have some association with apoptosis, control of cell cycle, regulation of transcription and signal transduction. Genes related to these functions, as TP73L, E2F5, MST016, SOX5, MAFB, LIF, SII3, TFIIS, EMR1, CYTL1, CX3CR1 and RHOH are up-regulated. Down-regulated genes are ALOX15B, xs155, IFITM1, BATF, VAV2, CD79A, DCDC2, TNFSF8 and KOX8. We suggest that gene expression profiling on mutagens by toxicogenomic analysis affords promising opportunities to reveal potential new mechanistic markers of genotoxicity.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.323-328
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• 2007

SOX (Sry-related HMG box) family proteins, which have an evolutionarily conserved DNA binding domain, have crucial roles in cell differentiation. However, their target genes remain enigmatic. Some members of the SOX family may have roles in regulation of cell proliferation. We established stable NT2/D1 cell lines overexpressing SOX15 (SOX15-NT2/D1), and a modified 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay showed that the SOX15-NT2/D1 cells exhibited significantly slower growth than the controls. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that an increased fraction of the SOX15-NT2/D1 cells were in G1-G0. In addition, a microarray analysis identified 26 genes that were up-regulated in the SOX15-NT2/D1 cells, but none that were down-regulated genes. Among the up-regulated genes, IGFBP5, S100A4, ID2, FABP5, MTSS1, PDCD4 have been shown to be related to cell proliferation and/or the cell cycle.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.273-278
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• 2010

The cell cycle is regulated by cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)-cyclin complexes as well as other regulators. We isolated Kip-related protein 4 (KRP4) cDNA that encodes 289 amino acids including six conserved domains. To investigate the expression pattern of KRP4 as well as of other cell cycle-related genes associated with plant hormones, Arabidopsis seedlings were cultured on MS medium containing auxin or cytokinin. All seedlings treated with phytohormones displayed an increased proportion of cells in S phase. A higher proportion of cells in G2 phase was observed in seedlings treated with NAA. RT-PCR confirmed that the expression of KRP4 was decreased after treatment with phytohormones, and that CDKA and D-type cyclin transcription was increased. Additionally, mitotic cyclins were up-regulated by NAA treatment. These results suggest that KRP4 as well as other cell cycle-related genes might contribute to the control of plant growth in response to exogenous hormones.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.447-456
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• 2005

TNF-$\alpha$ plays a pivotal role in inflammation processes which are mainly regulated by endothelial cells. While TNF-$\alpha$ induces apoptosis of several cell types like tumor cells, endothelial cells are resistant to TNFa mediated cell death. The cytotoxic effects of TNF-$\alpha$ on most cells are only evident if RNA or protein synthesis is inhibited, suggesting that de novo RNA or protein synthesis protect cells from TNF-$\alpha$ cytotoxicity, presumably by NF-${\kappa}B$ mediated induction of protective genes. However, the cytoprotective genes involved in NF-${\kappa}B$ dependent endothelial cell survival have not been sufficiently identified. In the present study, the suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) method was employed to identify rarely transcribed TNF-$\alpha$ inducible genes in human arterial endothelial cells related to cell survival and cell cycle. The TNF-$\alpha$-induced expression of the RNA binding protein $p54^{nrb}$ and the 14-3-3 protein HS1 as shown here for the first time may contribute to the TNF-$\alpha$ mediated cell protection of endothelial cells. These genes have been shown to play pivotal roles in cell survival and cell cycle control in different experimental settings. The concerted expression of these genes together with other genes related to cell protection and cell cycle like DnaJ, $p21^{cip1}$ and the ubiquitin activating enzyme E1 demonstrates the identification of new genes in the context of TNF-$\alpha$ induced gene expression patterns mediating the prosurvival effect of TNF-$\alpha$ in endothelial cells.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1361-1365
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• 2015

Background: We aimed to discover potential gene biomarkers for gastric cancer (GC) diagnosis. Materials and Methods: Genechips of 10 GC tissues and 10 gastric mucosa (GM, para-carcinoma tissue, normal control) tissues were generated using an exon array of Affymetrix containing 30,000 genes. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between GC tissues and normal control were identified by the Limma package and analyzed by hierarchical clustering analysis. Gene ontology (GO) and pathway enrichment analyses were performed for investigating the functions of DEGs. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was performed to measure the effects of biomarker candidates for diagnosis of GC. Results: Totals of 896 up-regulated and 60 down-regulated DEGs were identified to be differentially expressed between GC samples and normal control. Hierarchical clustering analysis showed that DEGs were highly differentially expressed and most DEGs were up-regulated. The most significantly enriched GO-BP term was revealed to be mitotic cell cycle and the most significantly enriched pathway was cell cycle. The intersection analysis showed that most significant DEGs were cyclin B1 (CCNB1) and cyclin B2 (CCNB2). The sensitivities and specificities of CCNB1 and CCNB2 were both high (p<0.0001). Areas under the ROC curve for CCNB1 and CCNB2 were both greater than 0.9 (p<0.0001). Conclusions: CCNB1 and CCNB2, which were involved in cell cycle, played significant roles in the progression and development of GC and these genes may be potential biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of GC.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.222-229
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• 2009

Our previous finding that pre-initiation treatment of indole-3-carbinol (I3C) represents a chemopreventive effect in dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced mammary carcinogenesis has prompted us to test the global expression of genes at an early stage. Rats were continuously fed 300 ppm I3C in their diet at 6 weeks of age and were injected with DMBA at 7 weeks of age, and were sacrificed at 8 weeks of age. Global gene expression analysis using oligonucleotide microarrays was conducted to detect altered genes in DMBA- or DMBA plus I3C-treated mammary glands. Altered genes were identified by fold changes of 1.2 and by t-test (P<0.05) from the log ratios of the hybridization intensity of samples between control (Group 1) and DMBA (Group 2), and from those of samples between DMBA (Group 2) and DMBA plus I3C (Group 3). From these genes, we chose altered genes that were up- or down-regulated by DMBA treatment and recovered to the control level by I3C treatment. For early stage of carcinogenesis, I3C treatment induced the recovery to normal levels of several genes including cell cycle pathway (cyclin B2, cell division cycle 2 homolog A), MAP signaling pathway (fibroblast growth factor receptor 1, platelet derived growth factor receptor, beta polypeptide), and insulin signaling (protein phosphatase 1, regulatory (inhibitor) subunit 3B and flotillin 2), which were up-regulated by DMBA treatment. In addition, I3C treatment induced the recovery to normal levels of several genes including those of MAPK signaling (transforming growth factor, beta receptor 1 and protein phosphatase 3, catalytic subunit, beta isoform), which were down-regulated by DMBA treatment. These results suggest that the targeting of these genes presents a possible approach for chemoprevention in DMBA-induced mammary carcinogenesis.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.32-43
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• 2009

Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose is known to cause severe hepatotoxicity mainly through the depletion of glutathione. In this study, we compared the cytotoxic effects of APAP on both a normal murine hepatic cell line, BNL CL.2, and its SV40-transformed cell line, BNL SV A.8. Gene expression profiles for APAP-treated cells were also obtained using microarray and analyzed to identify differences in genes or profiles that may explain the differences of susceptibility to APAP in these cell lines. These two cell lines exhibited different susceptibilities to APAP (0-$5,000{\mu}M$); BNL SV A.8 cells were more susceptible to APAP treatment compared to BNL CL.2 cells. A dose of $625{\mu}M$ APAP, which produced significant differences in cytotoxicity in these cell lines, was tested. Microarray analysis was performed to identify significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) irrespective of APAP treatment. Genes up-regulated in BNL SV A.8 cells were associated with immune response, defense response, and apoptosis, while down-regulated genes were associated with catalytic activity, cell adhesion and the cytochrome P450 family. Consistent with the cytotoxicity data, no significant DEGs were found in BNL CL.2 cells after treatment with $625{\mu}M$ APAP, while cell cycle arrest and apoptosis-related genes were up-regulated in BNL SV A.8 cells. Based on the significant fold-changes in their expression, a genes were selected and their expressions were confirmed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR; there was a high correlation between them. These results suggest that gene expression profiles may provide a useful method for evaluating drug sensitivity of cell lines and eliciting the underlying molecular mechanism. We further compared the genes identified from our current in vitro studies to the genes previously identified in our lab as regulated by APAP in both C57BL/6 and ICR mice in vivo. We found that a few genes are regulated in a similar pattern both in vivo and in vitro. These genes might be useful to develop as in vitro biomarkers for predicting in vivo hepatotoxicity. Based on our results, we suggest that gene expression profiles may provide useful information for elucidating the underlying molecular mechanisms of drug susceptibility and for evaluating drug sensitivity in vitro for extrapolation to in vivo.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Bioinformatics Conference
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• 2005.09a
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• pp.278-283
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• 2005

Cell cycle is regulated cooperatively by several genes. The dynamic regulatory mechanism of protein interaction network of cell cycle will be presented taking the budding yeast as a sample system. Based on the mathematical model developed by Chen et at. (MBC, 11,369), at first, the dynamic role of the feedback loops is investigated. Secondly, using a bifurcation diagram, dynamic analysis of the cell cycle regulation is illustrated. The bifurcation diagram is a kind of ‘dynamic road map’ with stable and unstable solutions. On the map, a stable solution denotes a ‘road’ attracting the state and an unstable solution ‘a repelling road’ The ‘START’ transition, the initiation of the cell cycle, occurs at the point where the dynamic road changes from a fixed point to an oscillatory solution. The 'FINISH' transition, the completion of a cell cycle, is returning back to the initial state. The bifurcation analysis for the mutants could be used uncovering the role of proteins in the cell cycle regulation network.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.99-107
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• 2009

Naphthalene is bicyclic aromatic compound that is widely used in various domestic and commercial applications including lavatory scent disks, soil fumigants and moth balls. Exposure to naphthalene results in the development of bronchiolar damage, cataracts and hemolytic anemia in humans and laboratory animals. However, little information is available regarding the mechanism of naphthalene toxicity. We investigated gene expression profiles and potential signature genes in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells and human promyelocytic leukemia HL-60 cells after 3 h and 48 h incubation with the IC$_{20}$ and IC$_{50}$ of naphthalene by using 44 k agilent whole human genome oligomicroarray and operon human whole 35 k oligomicroarray, respectively. We identified 616 up-regulated genes and 2,088 down-regulated genes changed by more than 2-fold by naphthalene in HepG2 cells. And in HL-60, we identified 138 up-regulated genes and 182 down-regulated genes changed by more than 2-fold. This study identified several interesting targets and functions in relation to naphthalene-induced toxicity through a gene ontology analysis method. Apoptosis and cell cycle related genes are more commonly expressed than other functional genes in both cell lines. In summary, the use of in vitro models with global expression profiling emerges as a relevant approach toward the identification of biomarkers associated with toxicity after exposure to a variety of environmental toxicants.