• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제5권3호
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• pp.265-271
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• 1997

Since the advent of chemotherapy, certain types of cancer have been particularly resistant to chemotherapeutic treatment. One of the most well-studied types of resistance is resistance to multiple struc-turally dissimialr hydrophobic chemotherapeutic agents, or multidrug resistance (MDR). We found that MDR cells (KBV20C, KB7D) being highly resistant to colchicine, etoposide, and vincristine were found to have very low level of putrescine and low level of spermidine than the drug sensitive parental cells (KB) but they had almost same level of spermine as the drug sensitive cells. Although both MDR and drug sensitive cells had almost same rate of polyamine uptake, MDR cells were much more sensitive to an inhibitor of polyamine synthesis, methylglyoxal-bis guanylhydrazone (MGBG), suggesting that MDR cells might be defective in polyamine synthesis. These results also suggest that HGBG can be used for treatment of MDR in vivo.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.1403-1410
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• 2014

Epigenetic regulators like histone deacetylases (1 and 2), and viral onco-proteins (E6/E7) are known to be overexpressed in cervical cancer cells. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of curcumin on HDACs (1 and 2) and HPV E6/E7 in the cervical cancer cell line SiHa and a drug resistant clone $SiHa^R$ (derived from SiHa). It was further intended to investigate whether curcumin could sensitize the cells towards cisplatin induced cell killing by modulation of multi drug resistant proteins like MRP1 and Pgp1. Curcumin inhibited HDACs, HPV expression and differentially increased acetylation and up-regulation of p53 in SiHa and $SiHa^R$, leading to cell cycle arrest at G1-S phase. Up-regulation of pRb, p21, p27 and corresponding inhibition of cyclin D1 and CDK4 were observed. Cisplatin resistance in $SiHa^R$ due to over-expression of MRP1 and Pgp1 was overcome by curcumin. Curcumin also sensitized both the cervical cancer cells towards cisplatin induced cell killing. Inhibition of HDACs and HPVs led to cell cycle arrest at G1/S phase by alteration of cell cycle regulatory proteins. Suppression of MRP1 and Pgp1 by curcumin resulted in sensitization of cervical cancer cells, lowering the chemotherapeutic dose of the drug cisplatin.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제27권2호
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• pp.193-200
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• 2019

Ceramide metabolism is known to be an essential etiology for various diseases, such as atopic dermatitis and Gaucher disease. Glucosylceramide synthase (GCS) is a key enzyme for the synthesis of glucosylceramide (GlcCer), which is a main ceramide metabolism pathway in mammalian cells. In this article, we developed a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method to determine GCS activity using synthetic non-natural sphingolipid C8-ceramide as a substrate. The reaction products, C8-GlcCer for GCS, could be separated on a C18 column by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Quantification was conducted using the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode to monitor the precursor-to-product ion transitions of m/z $588.6{\rightarrow}264.4$ for C8-GlcCer at positive ionization mode. The calibration curve was established over the range of 0.625-160 ng/mL, and the correlation coefficient was larger than 0.999. This method was successfully applied to detect GCS in the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (HepG2 cells) and mouse peripheral blood mononuclear cells. We also evaluated the inhibition degree of a known GCS inhibitor 1-phenyl-2-decanoylamino-3-morpholino-1-propanol (PDMP) on GCS enzymatic activity and proved that this method could be successfully applied to GCS inhibitor screening of preventive and therapeutic drugs for ceramide metabolism diseases, such as atopic dermatitis and Gaucher disease.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제45권6호
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• pp.1178-1187
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• 1998

연구배경 : Pyrazinamide(PZA)는 대식세포(macrophage)내의 결핵균에 주로 작용하는 항결핵약제로서 단기화학요법의 중요한 요소이다. 최근 서구에서 AIDS 발생의 증가와 함께 약제내성 결핵의 발생이 증가하면서 약제내성을 조기에 발견하려는 노력이 시도되고 있다. 현재 우리나라에서는 PZA 감수성 검사 대신에 pyrazinamidase(PZase) 활성도 유무로 PZA에 대한 내성여부를 판별하고 있다. 최근 결핵균의 PZase를 coding하는 pncA 유전자가 밝혀졌고 이 유전자의 돌연변이가 결핵균의 PZA 내성에 관여한다는 보고가 있었다. 이에 본 연구자는 결핵균의 pncA 유전자를 대상으로 한 PCR-SSCP 법으로 PZA 내성여부를 진단할 수 있는지 알아보기 위하여 본 연구를 시행하였다. 방 법 : 환자에서 추출되어 배양후 대한결핵연구원에서 PZase 활성도가 확인된 44예의 결핵균주와 대한결핵연구원에서 공여받은 BCG-French Strain, BCG-Tokyo strain, 그리고 1예의 우형결핵균 배양검체를 대상으로 하였다. 검체에서 bead beater 법으로 DNA를 추출하였으며 pncA 유전자를 포함하는 561bp 분절을 중합효소연쇄반응으로 증폭하였다. 이 증폭된 DNA를 BstB I 제한효소로 절단한 후 폴리아크릴아마이드젤에서 SSCP를 시행하여 그 결과를 표준균주 H37Rv와 비교하였다. 결 과 : 44예의 결핵균 중 22예는 PZase 활성도 양성이었고 22예는 PZase 활성도 음성이었다. 양성 22 예중 18예(82%)에서 표준균주인 H37Rv와 동일한 band의 이동성을 보였고 4예는 다른 band의 이동성을 보였다. 음성균주 22예중 19예(86%)에서 H37Rv와 다른 band의 이동성을 보였고 3예는 H37Rv와 동일한 band의 양상을 보여서 두 검사방법간의 관련성 검증 결과 통계적으로 유의하였다 (p<0.01). 근본적으로 PZA에 내성을 갖는 BCG strains과 1예의 우형결핵균 모두 H37Rv와 다른 band의 양상을 보여주었다. 결 론 : 결핵균의 PZase를 coding하는 pncA 유전자를 이용한 PCR-SSCP 법은 PZA 내성의 진단방법으로 기대된다.