• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 1994

Hypothesis that hypoxic tumors should be more responsive to the addition of preferential hypoxic cell cytotoxin SR 4233 (tirapazamine) to fractionated irradiation was tested in the mouse SCCVll carcinoma and RIF-1 sarcoma, Model of hypoxic tumor was established using the tumor bed effect: tumors growing in the preirradiated tissue (preirradiated tumors) were more hypoxic than tumors growing in the unirradiated tissue (unirradiated tumors). When the tumors reached a mean volume of 100 $mm^{3}$, both unirradiated and preirradiated tumors were treated with a fractionated course of 6${\times}$2 Gy in 3 days or 8${\times}$2.5 Gy in 4 days with SR 4233 (0.08 mmol/kg/injection) given 30 minutes before each irradiation or without SR 4233. Compared to the unirradiated tumors, hypoxic preirradiated tumors were approximately 5 times more resistant to fractionated irradiation alone but were approximately 5 times more responsive to SR 4233. Addition of SR 4233 Potentiated the effect of fractionated irradiation in both unirradiated and preirradiated tumors. Potentiation in the preirradiated tumors was morequal to or greater than that in the unirradiated tumors and seemed to be higher for more fractionated treatment. We confirm the hypothesis in a transplantable mouse tumor. Present results suggest that radioresistance of some hypoxic tumors can be overcome with hypoxic cytotoxin.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.361-364
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• 2004

Internal ribosome entry site (IRES) of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is known to be essential for HCV replication and most conserved among HCV variants. Hence, IRES RNA is a good therapeutic target for RNA-based inhibitors, such as ribozymes. We previously proposed a new anti-HCV modulation strategy based on trans-splicing ribozymes, which can selectively replace HCV transcripts with a new RNA that exerts anti-HCV activity. To explore this procedure, sites which are accessible to ribozymes in HCV IRES were previously determined by employing an RNA mapping method in vitro. In this study, we evaluate the intracellular accessibility of the ribozymes by comparing the trans-splicing activ­ities in cells of several ribozymes targeting different sites of the HCV IRES RNA. We assessed the intra­cellular activities of the ribozymes by monitoring their target-specific induction degree of both reporter gene activity and cytotoxin expression. The ribozyme capable of targeting the most accessible site iden­tified by the mapping studies then harbored the most active trans-splicing activity in cells. These results suggest that the target sites predicted to be accessible are truly the most accessible in the cells, and thus, could be applied to the development of various RNA-based anti-HCV therapies.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.371-378
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• 1996

Three and 2 strains of E coli O157 were isolated from fecal materials of cattle (390) and pigs (420) in Korea, respectively. One strain of O157:H7 isolated from cattle and 2 strains of O157:H7 isolated from pigs were identified as verotoxin-1 (VT-1) produing strains and 2 strains (O157:H7 and O157:H-) isolated from cattle were identified as verotoxin-2 (VT-2) producing strains by neutralization test on HeLa and Vero cells. Culture supernatants of the isolates were cytotoxic to HeLa and Vero cells. The levels of cytotoxin produced by isolates were $10^2{\sim}10^4$ cytotoxic dose($CD_{50}$)/ml. Also, VT-2-converting bacteriophage was isolated from KSC109 strain which had been isolated from cattle. Molecular weight of the phage DNA was determined as approximately 45 Kb in 0.8% agarose gel electrophoresis, and morphology of the phage stained with phosphotungstic acid was observed by transmissible electron microscopy.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.233-240
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• 2015

Some virulence proteins of Helicobacter pylori, such as vacuolating cytotoxic protein A (VacA) and cytotoxin-associated gene protein A (CagA) have been reported to be causative agents of various gastric diseases including chronic gastritis, gastric ulcer or gastric adenocarcinoma. The expression level of these virulence proteins can be regulated when H. pylori is exposed to the antibacterial agent, cyanidin 3-O-glucoside (C3G) as previously reported. In this study, we analyzed the quantitative change of various virulence proteins including CagA and VacA by C3G treatment. We used 2-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) to analyze the quantitative change of representative ten proteome components of H. pylori 60190 ($VacA^+/CagA^+$; standard strain of Eastern type). After 2-DE analysis, spot intensities were analyzed using ImageMaster$^{TM}$ 2-DE Platinum software then each spot was identified using matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) or peptide sequencing using Finnigan LCQ ion trap mass spectrometer (LC-MS/MS). Next, we selected major virulence proteins of H. pylori among quantitatively meaningful ten spots and confirmed the 2-DE results by Western blot analysis. These results suggest that cyanidin 3-O-glucoside can modulate a variety of H. pylori pathogenic determinants.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.1057-1065
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• 2002

The antagonistic activities of 30 strains of lactobacilli against Helicobacter pylori were determined and Lactobacillus helveticus CU631 has been selected as the strain which possesses the strongest inhibitory effect in the disc diffusion assay showing inhibition zone diameter of $10{\pm}1.5mm$, whereas those of L. plantarum and L. fermentum have been shown to be $4.0{\pm}0.6mm$. H. pylori G88016 revealed the highest vacuolating toxin producing activity among the 8 strains, the inhibitory activity of L. helveticus CU631 in vacuolating toxin producing activity of H. pylori manifested in the co-culture of two strains and in the 5:5 mixture of supernatant of the two strains. Both L. helveticus CU631 and cell free culture supernatant had a strong inhibitory activities in urease and cytotoxin producing activities of H. pylori NCTC11637 and CJH12. An accelerated proteolytic activity of water soluble peptides by L. helveticus CU631 during the refrigeration storage has been manifested in the cream cheese. DNA seqences of 16S-23S ribosomal RNA spacer region showed typical pattern among the various strains of L. helveticus, which could be used in the identification of L. helveticus CU 631.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.231-237
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• 2006

Hypoxia in solid tumors is known to contribute to intrinsic chemoresistance. Histocultures are in vitro 3 dimensional cultures of tumor tissues and maintain the characteristic microenvironment of human solid tumors in vivo including hypoxia and multicellular structure. In this study, we evaluated the pharmacodynamics of tirapazamine(TPZ), a hypoxia-selective cytotoxin, in human non small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) cells grown as monolayers and histocultures. Antiproliferative activity of TPZ was determined after various conditions of drug exposure, and cell cycle arrest and apoptosis were also measured using flow cytometry. In monolayers, hypoxia selectivity measured by hypoxic/normoxic cytotoxicity ratio was increased with longer exposure. Lower cytotoxicity of TPZ was observed in histocultures compared to monolayers, however, a similar level of cytotoxicity was obtained with longer exposure of 96 hr. TPZ induced $G_2/M$ arrest and apoptosis in both culture conditions, which were greatly enhanced under hypoxic condition. Our data clearly showed the different pharmacodynamics of TPZ in monolayers and histocultures. Antiproliferative activity of TPZ against human solid tumors can be improved with longer drug exposure by exploiting drug delivery systems or by combining angiogenesis inhibitors to maintain drug concentration in tumor tissues.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.140-142
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• 2014

To evaluate the recovery rates to increase toxigenic C. difficile, the selective enrichment broth culture methods were compared with commonly used cytotoxin assays and toxigenic culture. First, the enrichment culture, using the selective medium broth for 2 to 5 days, was performed and then, toxigenic C. difficile was confirmed by C. difficile toxin gene-specific PCR after being cultured on C. difficile selective agar. The sensitivity of C. difficile from the enrichment culture (100%) was higher than that of C. difficile selective agar culture (93.8%), while positive predictive values (PPV) were low; 72.7% (16/22) and 88.2% (15/17). PPV of the enrichment culture are not high. Recently, combinations of C. difficile selective agar culture, C. difficile A & B assays, glutamate dehydrogenase, and nucleic acid amplification method are widely used. The enrichment culture was disadvantageous in PPV, turn-around time, and cost. So, what we performed is not considered as a common method of diagnosis of C. difficile-associated diarrhea.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.108-116
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• 2009

The HP0902, a homodimeric 22.1 kDa protein, has been suggested as a putative secretory protein from Helicobacter pylori, although the protein possesses no signal peptide for secretion. Since it may be associated with the virulence of the bacterium, NMR study has been initiated in terms of structural genomics. In our previous effort to assign the backbone NMR resonances, using 800MHz NMR machine at pH 7.8, the resonances from eight of the 99 residues could not be assined due to missing of the signals. In this work, to enhance the extent of assignments, a 900 MHz machine was employed and the sample pH was reduced down to 6.5. Finally, almost all signals, except for those from G9 and S24, could be clearly assigned. The determined secondary structure using the assined chemical shifts indicated that the HP0902 consists of 11 ${\beta}$-strands with no helices. In our database search result, HP0902 was predicted to interact with VacA (Vacuolating cytotoxin A), which is a representative virulence factor secreted from Helicobacter pylori. Thus, molecular interaction between HP0902 and VacA would be worthy of investigation, on the basis of the present results of NMR assignments.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.1189-1195
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• 2014

Natural resistance-associated macrophage protein 1 encoding gene (NRAMP1) plays an important role in immune response against intracellular pathogens. To evaluate the effects of NRAMP1 gene on immune capacity in pigs, tissue expression of NRAMP1 mRNA was observed by real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and the results revealed NRAMP1 expressed widely in nine tissues. One single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (ENSSSCG00000025058: g.130 C>T) in exon1 and one SNP (ENSSSCG00000025058: g.657 A>G) in intron1 region of porcine NRAMP1 gene were demonstrated by DNA sequencing and PCR-RFLP analysis. A further analysis of SNP genotypes associated with immune traits including contain of white blood cell (WBC), granulocyte, lymphocyte, monocyte (MO), rate of cytotoxin in monocyte (MC) and $CD4^-CD8^+$ T lymphocyte subpopulations in blood was carried out in four pig populations including Large White and three Chinese indigenous breeds (Wannan Black, Huai pig and Wei pig). The results showed that the SNP (ENSSSCG00000025058: g.130 C>T) was significantly associated with level of WBC % (p = 0.031), MO% (p = 0.024), MC% (p = 0.013) and $CD4^-CD8^+$ T lymphocyte (p = 0.023). The other SNP (ENSSSCG00000025058: g.657 A>G) was significantly associated with the level of MO% (p = 0.012), MC% (p = 0.019) and $CD4^-CD8^+$ T lymphocyte (p = 0.037). These results indicate that the NRAMP1 gene can be regarded as a molecular marker for genetic selection of disease susceptibility in pig breeding.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.1460-1466
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• 2015

In this study, the prevalence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) was investigated among raw meat or meat products from slaughterhouses and retail markets in South Korea, and their potential for antibiotic resistance and virulence was further analyzed. A total of 912 raw meats, including beef, pork, and chicken, were collected from 2008 to 2009. E. coli strains were frequently isolated in chicken meats (176/233, 75.9%), beef (102/217, 42.3%), and pork (109/235, 39.2%). Putative STEC isolates were further categorized, based on the presence or absence of the Shiga toxin (stx) genes, followed by standard O-serotyping. Polymerase chain reaction assays were used to detect the previously defined virulence genes in STEC, including Shiga toxins 1 and Shiga toxin 2 (stx1 and 2), enterohemolysin (ehxA), intimin (eaeA), STEC autoagglutination adhesion (saa), and subtilase cytotoxin (subAB). All carried both stx1 and eae genes, but none of them had the stx2, saa, or subAB genes. Six (50.0%) STEC isolates possessed the ehxA gene, which is known to be encoded by the 60-megadalton virulence plasmid. Our antibiogram profiling demonstrated that some STEC strains, particularly pork and chicken isolates, displayed a multiple drug-resistance phenotype. RPLA analysis revealed that all the stx1-positive STEC isolates produced Stx1 only at the undetectable level. Altogether, these results imply that the locus of enterocyte and effacement (LEE)-positive strains STEC are predominant among raw meats or meat products from slaughterhouses or retail markets in Korea.