• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.593-602
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• 2010

Chitosan as a natural polymer has superior physicochemical properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability and nontoxicity, but application of chitosan for therapy of cancer and gene related-disease has been limited by poor solubility in aqueous solution. Therefore, low molecular weight water-soluble chitosan (LMWSC) with high reactivity and strong positive charge can be applied as a delivery system having function to carry in the specific tissue the bioactive material like poor solubility drug, or therapeutic gene and developed as a therapeutic system having good therapeutic efficiency. The most important factor for therapy of various diseases is to reveal the antigen or receptor expressed in specific lesion tissue and the antibody and ligand which can bind with antigen is to introduce at the biomaterials for enhancement the therapeutic efficiency. The studies for cationic synthetic polymer as drug or gene delivery have been actively performed, but it has many problems such as toxicity in the body, therapeutic efficiency. From this point of view, this article demonstrated the introduction of functional groups to target the specific tissue and therapeutic strategy using the modification of LMWSC with free-amine group. The development of these delivery system will provide a positive vision for cancer therapy.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.181-184
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• 2002

This study reports the encapsulation of plasmid DNA in erythrocyte ghosts. The plasmid DNA was encapsulated into erythrocyte ghosts using three methods; osmotic shock, electroporation in isotonic medium, and e1ectroporation in hypotonic medium. Of three methods, electroporation in hypotonic medium resulted in the highest encapsulation efficiency of plasmid DNA. The morphology of erythrocyte ghosts prepared by electroporation in hypotonic medium was similar to that by osmotic shock alone. The circulation time of plasmid DNA in mice was prolonged by administration in erythrocyte ghost-encapsulated forms. These results indicated the potential of erythrocyte ghosts for biocompative nonviral delivery system of therapeutic genes for hematological diseases.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.319-329
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• 2010

Bifidobacteria comprises up to 25% of the cultivable fecal bacteria in adults and 80% in infants. Many in vivo and clinical research results supporting its efficacy in the prevention and improvement of gastrointestinal health have been accumulated. As a consequence, expert committee WHO/FAO expert committee recommended Bifidobacterium as representative probiotics together with Lactobacillus acidophilus. In this review, research trends in bifidobacteria concerning the classification and identification of the genus Bifidobacterium, modulation of intestinal microflora, improvement of constipation, prevention of diarrhea, alleviation of atopy and allergy, barrier function through antimicrobial activity andimmune enhancement of the host will be introduced. Several gene expression systems based on bifidobacterial plasmids have been developed and successfully used to express several heterologous genes including anticancer proteins in Bifidogacterium. In animal test, bifidobacteria was proven to be a promising candidate for safe gene delivery system which can specifically colonize in the solid tumor.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.451-453
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• 2002

A new concept of "photo" -antisense method has been evaluated, where the inhibition of gene expression by the conventional antisense method is enhanced by photochemical binding between antisense oligonucleotides conjugated with photo-reactive compound and target mRNA or DNA. Fluorescein labeled oligodeoxyribonucleotides (F-DNA) was delivered to cell nuclei in the encapsulated form in multilamellar lecithin liposomes with neutral charge. F-DNA was previously shown to photo-bind to the complementary stranded DNA, and the delivery system using neutral liposome to be effective in normal human keratinocytes. In the present study, we used human kidney cancer G401.2/6TG.1 cell line to be advantageous in reproducible experiments. p53 was adopted as a target gene since antisense sequence information has been accumulated. The nuclear localization ofF-DNA was identified by comparing the fluorescence ofF-DNA with that of Hoechst 33258 under fluorescence microscope. After 7hr incubation to accumulate p53 protein induced by UV -B, p53 protein was quantified by Western blot. After 2hrs from F-DNA application, about 30% of cell population incorporated F-DNA in their nuclei with some morphological change possibly due to liposomal toxicity. Irradiation of visible light longer than 400nm from solar simulator at this time enhanced the inhibitory action of antisense F-DNA. The present results suggest that photo-antisense method is promising to control gene expression in time and space dependent manner. Further improvement of F-DNA delivery to cancer cells in the stability and toxicity is in progress. progress.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.307-313
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• 2009

In order to systemically investigate the possibility of using coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) to deliver foreign genes in vivo, a recombinant strain of CVB3 encoding the renilla gene (CVB3-renilla) was constructed. The recombinant CVB3 resulted in extensive and transient expression of the renilla protein within mouse organs, especially the pancreas. The level of expression was generally dependent upon the viral titer present. Moreover, the CVB3-renilla strain was completely attenuated. Interestingly, the recombinant CVB3 vector was expressed much more strongly in mouse organs than was a comparable adenoviral vector. The CVB3-renilla strain did not express the renilla gene in mice with pre-existing coxsackievirus-specific neutralizing antibodies, but direct organ-specific administration of the virus during open-peritoneum surgery was able to circumvent this immunity. This coxsackievirus vector may represent a useful means for delivering and expressing foreign genes in mouse models in an acute and extensive fashion.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.70-76
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• 2016

The infectious full-length cDNA clone of zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV) isolate PA (pZYMV-PA), which was isolated from pumpkin, was constructed by utilizing viral transcription and processing signals to produce infectious in vivo transcripts. Simple rub-inoculation of plasmid DNAs of pZYMV-PA was successful to cause infection of zucchini plants (Cucurbita pepo L.). We further engineered this infectious cDNA clone of ZYMV as a viral vector for systemic expression of heterologous proteins in cucurbits. We successfully expressed two reporter genes including gfp and bar in zucchini plants by simple rub-inoculation of plasmid DNAs of the ZYMV-based expression constructs. Our method of the ZYMV-based viral vector in association with the simple rub-inoculation provides an easy and rapid approach for introduction and evaluation of heterologous genes in cucurbits.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.115-122
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• 2000

The development of molecular biology has brought many changes in psychiatry. Molecular biology makes us possible to know the cause of mental disorders that provide the way to prevent the disorders, and to develop various accurate diagnostic and treatment methods for mental disorders. The author discusses the concept, cause, and treatment of mental disorders in the aspect of molecular biology. Importing the methods of molecular biology into psychiatry, we can anticipate to get a number of the goals of psychiatric genetics, including identification of specific susceptibility genes, clarification of the pathophysiological processes whereby these genes lead to symptoms, establishment of epigenetic factors that interact with these genes to produce disease, validation of nosological boundaries that more closely reflect the actions of these genes, and development of effective preventive and therapeutic interventions based on genetic counseling, gene therapy, and modification of permissive or protective environmental influences. In addition to their capacity to accelerate the discovery of new molecules participating in the nervous system's response to disease or to self-administered drugs, molecular biological strategies can also be used to determine how critical a particular gene product may be in mediating a cellular event with behavioral importance. Molecular biology probably enables us discover the environmental factors of mental disorders and allow rational drug design and gene therapies for mental disorders, by isolation of gene products that facilitate a basic understanding of the pathogenesis of these disorders. A specific genetic linkage may suggest a novel class of drugs that has not yet been tried. With respect to gene therapy, the hypothetical method would use a gene delivery system, most likely a modified virus, to insert a functional copy of a mutant gene into those brain cells that require the gene for normal function.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.217-228
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• 2009

Mobile genetic segments, or transposons, are also referred to as jumping genes as they can shift from one position in the genome to another, thus inducing a chromosomal mutation. According to the target site-specificity of the transposon during a transposition event, the result is either the insertion of a gene of interest at a specific chromosomal site, or the creation of knockout mutants. The former situation includes the integration of conjugative transposons via site-specific recombination, several transposons preferring a target site of a conserved AT-rich sequence, and Tn7 being site-specifically inserted at attTn7, the downstream of the essential glmS gene. The latter situation is exploited for random mutagenesis in many prokaryotes, including IS (insertion sequence) elements, mariner, Mu, Tn3 derivatives (Tn4430 and Tn917), Tn5, modified Tn7, Tn10, Tn552, and Ty1, enabling a variety of genetic manipulations. Randomly inserted transposons have been previously employed for a variety of applications such as genetic footprinting, gene transcriptional and translational fusion, signature-tagged mutagenesis (STM), DNA or cDNA sequencing, transposon site hybridization (TraSH), and scanning linker mutagenesis (SLM). Therefore, transposon-mediated genetic engineering is a valuable discipline for the study of bacterial physiology and pathogenesis in living hosts.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.643-647
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• 2010

O-carboxymethyl water-soluble chitosan (OCMCh) prepared for enhance the application of chitosan was modified with mthoxy polyethyleneglycol (mPEG) by ion-complex for long circulation in the blood. OCMCh-PEG-PLLs was prepared by forming ion-complex with OCMCh-PEG and Poly(L-Lysine) (PLL) for drug and gene delivery system. The physicochemcal characterisitcs of OCMCh-PEG-PLLs were investigated by FT-IR, $^1H$-NMR. These results showed that CMCh-PEG-PLLs were successfully syntehsized by ion-complex. Particle size distribution and zeta potential of the OCMCh-PEG-PLLs were determined using dynamic light scattering technique. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was also used to observe the morphology of the OCMCh-PEG-PLLs. OCMCh-PEG-PLLs have spherical shapes with particle size 290∼390 nm. OCMCh-PEG-PLLs were showed when the feeding amount of mPEG ratio was increased, particle size and zeta potential were decreased. Based on these results, it is possible to introduction of the OCMCh-PEG-PLLs into various biomedical fields such as drug and gene delivery system.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2024

The advantages of replicon vectors of RNA viruses include a high ability to stimulate innate immunity and exponential amplification of target mRNA leading to high expression of foreign antigens. The present study aimed to construct a DNA-layered nervous necrosis virus (NNV) replicon vector system in which the capsid protein gene was replaced with a foreign antigen gene and to compare the efficiency of foreign antigen expression between the conventional DNA vaccine vector and the present replicon vector. We presented the first report of a nodavirus DNA replicon-based foreign antigen expression system. Instead of a two-vector system, we devised a one-vector system containing both an NNV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase cassette and a foreign antigen-expressing cassette. This single-vector approach circumvents the issue of low foreign protein expression associated with the low co-transfection efficiency of a two-vector system. Cells transfected with a vector harboring hammerhead ribozyme-fused RNA1 and RNA2 (with the capsid gene ORF replaced with VHSV glycoprotein ORF) exhibited significantly higher transcription of the VHSV glycoprotein gene compared to cells transfected with either a vector without hammerhead ribozyme or a conventional DNA vaccine vector expressing the VHSV glycoprotein. Furthermore, the transcription level of the VHSV glycoprotein in cells transfected with a vector harboring hammerhead ribozyme-fused RNA1 and RNA2 showed a significant increase over time. These results suggest that NNV genome-based DNA replicon vectors have the potential to induce stronger and longer expression of target antigens compared to conventional DNA vaccine vectors.