• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.294-298
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• 2016

Natural products are attractive as the source of new drug development. Especially, numerous unknown marine bioresources are an object of attention because the ocean occupies three fourth of the earth. Survival of marine bioresources in extreme environment may induce the production of biological active compounds. As previous study, we examined over 40 specimens of marine sponges collected from Micronesia and screened their anti-proliferative activities in various cancer cell lines. Among them, we investigated Coscinoderma sp.'s activity and mechanism in human colon carcinoma HCT116 and RKO cells. Furthermore, we also used the p53-knockout of HCT116 cells and the p53 loss of RKO cells for elucidating the role of p53. Coscinoderma sp. inhibited cellular viability independently of the p53 status. Therefore, we compared the expression level of cell death-related proteins by Coscinoderma sp. in HCT16 and in HCT116 p53KO cells. Coscinoderma sp. increased p53 level and NOXA levels and induced apoptosis under the condition of p53 existence. On the other hand, Coscinoderma sp. increased p21 and mTOR levels in HCT116 p53KO cells. These results suggest that Coscinoderma sp. induced anti-proliferation effect through different pathway depending on p53 status.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1340-1348
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• 2017

Sanguinarine is a benzophenanthridine alkaloid derived from the roots of Sanguinaria canadensis L., which is used for the purpose of treating various diseases. Although studies of anticancer activities have been performed using various cancer cell lines, the phenomenon of inducing apoptosis in cancer cells by using sanguinarine requires more research. Therefore, this study investigated the anti-cancer activities and related mechanisms of sanguinarine used with Hep3B human hepatocellular carcinoma cells in terms of the regulation of apoptosis. Sanguinarine inhibited the proliferation of Hep3B cells in a concentration-dependent manner, which was associated with the induction of apoptosis. Sanguinarine also increased the activity of caspase-3, which is a typical effector caspase, and the activities of caspase-8 and caspase-9, which are key when initiating extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis pathways, respectively. In addition, sanguinarine increased the expression of death receptor-related genes and pro-apoptotic BAX, which belongs to the Bcl-2 family, while suppressing the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2. Sanguinarine promoted the truncation of Bid and enhanced the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria to the cytoplasm due to a loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. Furthermore, the reduction of a survival rate that was induced by sanguinarine and the induction of apoptosis disappeared with the inhibition of artificial caspase activity. Therefore, the results of the study indicated that sanguinarine-induced apoptosis in Hep3B cells involves both extrinsic and intrinsic pathways; such apoptosis is a caspase-dependent phenomenon.

• Korean Journal of Bronchoesophagology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2002

Background and Objectives : Sulfur dioxide gas is one of the major airborne Pollutants noxious to human in industrialized countries. The most vulnerable areas in the human respiratory system were the trachea and main bronchi and a gradient of decreasing damage was observed in the peripheral tracheobronchial tree. Induced functional alteration was increased mucosal permeability, and morphological changes were epithelial sloughing, intracellular edema, mitochondrial swelling, widened intercellular spaces, and ciliary cytoplamic extrusions. The laminins are a family of extracellular matrix glycoproteins localized in the basement membrane. Their primary role is cell-matrix attachment, but many additional biologic activities, including Promoting cell growth and migration, tumor growth and metastasis, wound repair, and graft survival, have been demonstrated. Materials and Methods : Histologic changes and expression of laminin in tracheal mucosa sacrificed at 1 day, 2 day, 3 day, 1 week, 2 weeks, and 3 weeks after continued SO2 exposure of 250 ppm for 30 minutes a day(to 7week) were studied in rats. In this study, mild immune reaction for laminin was noted at the apical cytoplasm of epithelial cells and basement membrane one day after a 7 week $SO_2$ exposure. The cilia and nucleoi of epithelial cells were normal and no immune reaction was noted in Goblet cells. The lamina propria of the tracheal tissue was infiltrated by monocytes and lymphocytes. Results : At 24 hours after exposure, all tracheal cells except Goblet cells revealed a mild immune reaction for laminin. No immune reactions were noted in the basement membrane. At 72 hours after exposure, mild or moderate immune reactions for laminin was seen in the tracheal cell cytoplasm. Irregular faint immune reaction for laminin was noted in the basement membrane. At 1 week after exposure, strong immune reaction for laminin was detected over all tracheal cells, and the basement membrane was seen clearly. At 2~3 weeks after exposure, strong immune reaction for laminin was seen in all tracheal epithelial cells except Goblet cells and a mild immune reaction was partly revealed in the basement membrane. Conclusion : Our study suggests that 502 produces histologic damage on the tracheal mucosa. Longer duration after exposure of $SO_2$ makes more progressive healing on the tracheal mucosa and increased immunoreactivity for laminin.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.7 s.87
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• pp.948-955
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• 2007

Neutrophils play a key role as a first line of defense and are known to acquire the characteristics of dendritic cells (DCs) under the appropriate conditions. The spontaneous apoptosis of neutrophils was delayed by treatment with 4-(2-aminoethyl) benzensulfonylfluoride (AEBSF), a serine protease inhibitor. AEBSF inhibited both caspase-3 and serine protease activities, whereas ZVAD-fmk, a pancaspase inhibitor, inhibited only caspase-3 activity. The life span of neutrophils was prolonged up to 5 days by AEBSF in the presence or absence of granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor(CM-CSF). DC surface markers, such as CD80, CD83, and MHC class ll were not expressed on neutrophils treated with AEBSF alone. CM-CSF failed to prolong the survival time of neutrophils up to3 days but increased the expression levels of DC markers on neutrophils in the presence of AEBSF. Expression levels of DC markers were the highest on neutrophils treated with CM-CSF and AEBSF for 3 days. AEBSF and CM-CSF-treated neutrophils stimulated proliferation of T cells in the presence of a superantigen, Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) but produced $interferon-{\gamma}$ ($IFN{\gamma}$) in the absence of SEB. These results suggest that the inhibition of serine protease activity prolonged the life span of human neutrophils and combined treatment of neukophils with CM-CSF and serine protease inhibitor induced differentiation of neutrophils into DC-like cells.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.56-71
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• 2014

Objectives In this study, the author tried to investigate whether piryongbang-gamgil-tang (PGGT) significantly affect in vitro airway mucin secretion, PMA- or EGF- or TNF-${\alpha}$-induced MUC5AC mucin production / gene expression from human airway epithelial cells and increase in airway epithelial mucosubstances and hyperplasia of tracheal goblet cells of rats. Materials and Methods For in vitro experiment, confluent RTSE cells were chased for 30 min in the presence of PGGT to assess the effect of PGGT on mucin secretion by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Also, effect of PGGT on PMA- or EGFor TNF-${\alpha}$-induced MUC5AC mucin production and gene expression from human airway epithelial cells (NCI-H292) were investigated. Confluent NCI-H292 cells were pretreated for 30 min in the presence of PGGT and treated with PMA (10 ng/ml) or EGF (25 ng/ml) or TNF-${\alpha}$ (0.2 nM) for 24 hrs, to assess both effect of PGGT on PMA- or EGF- or TNF-${\alpha}$-induced MUC5AC mucin production by ELISA and gene expression by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). For in vivo experiment, the author induced hypersecretion of airway mucus and goblet cell hyperplasia by exposure of rats to $SO_2$ during 3 weeks. Effect of orally-administered PGGT during 2 weeks on increase in airway epithelial mucosubstances from tracheal goblet cells of rats and hyperplasia of goblet cells were assesed by using histopathological analysis after staining the epithelial tissue with alcian blue. Possible cytotoxicities of PGGT in vitro were assessed by examining LDH release from RTSE cells and the rate of survival and proliferation of NCI-H292 cells. In vivo liver and kidney toxicities of PGGT were evaluated by measuring serum GOT/GPT activities and serum BUN/creatinine concentrations of rats after administering PGGT orally. Results (1) PGGT did not affect in vitro mucin secretion from cultured RTSE cells. (2) PGGT significantly inhibited PMA-, EGF-, and TNF-${\alpha}$-induced MUC5AC mucin productions and the expression levels of MUC5AC mRNA from NCI-H292 cells. (3) PGGT decreased the amount of intraepithelial mucosubstances and showed the tendency of expectorating airway mucus already produced. (4) PGGT increased LDH release from RTSE cells. However, PGGT did not show in vivo liver and kidney toxicities and cytotoxicity to NCI-H292 cells. Conclusion The result from this study suggests that PGGT can regulate the production and gene expression of airway mucin observed in diverse respiratory diseases accompanied by mucus hypersecretion and do not show in vivo toxicity to liver and kidney functions after oral administration. Effect of PGGT with their components should be further studied using animal experimental models that reflect the diverse pathophysiology of respiratory diseases through future investigations.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.295-305
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• 2017

Purpose: We previously found that the histone methyltransferase suppressor of variegation, enhancer of zeste, trithorax and myeloid-nervy-deformed epidermal autoregulatory factor-1 domain-containing protein 3 (SMYD3) is a potential independent predictive factor or prognostic factor for overall survival in gastric cancer patients, but its roles seem to differ from those in other cancers. Therefore, in this study, the detailed functions of SMYD3 in cell proliferation and migration in gastric cancer were examined. Materials and Methods: SMYD3 was overexpressed or suppressed by transfection with an expression plasmid or siRNA, and a wound healing migration assay and Transwell assay were performed to detect the migration and invasion ability of gastric cancer cells. Additionally, an MTT assay and clonogenic assay were performed to evaluate cell proliferation, and a cell cycle analysis was performed by propidium iodide staining. Furthermore, the expression of genes implicated in the ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) pathway and proteins involved in cell cycle regulation were detected by polymerase chain reaction and western blot analyses. Results: Compared with control cells, gastric cancer cells transfected with si-SMYD3 showed lower migration and invasion abilities (P<0.05), and the absence of SMYD3 halted cells in G2/M phase and activated the ATM pathway. Furthermore, the opposite patterns were observed when SMYD3 was elevated in normal gastric cells. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence that the absence of SMYD3 could inhibit the migration, invasion, and proliferation of gastric cancer cells and halt cells in G2/M phase via the ATM-CHK2/p53-Cdc25C pathway. These findings indicated that SMYD3 plays crucial roles in the proliferation, migration, and invasion of gastric cancer cells and may be a useful therapeutic target in human gastric carcinomas.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.894-902
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• 1996

Background : Tumor angiogenesis is the growth of new vessels toward and within tumor. It has been demonstrated that the growth of tumor beyond a certain size requires angiogenesis and it is closely involved in tumor progression and metastasis. The finding that intensity of neovascularization correlates independently with metastasis may lead to identification of patients in whom radical surgery should be supplemented by systemic treatment. Method : We have collected paraffin blocks of bronchoscopic biopsy of patients with non-small cell lung cancer. We highlighted the vessel by staining endothelial cell with JC70 monoclonal antibody(to CD31) immunohistochemically and counted microvessels under 200 X field using light microscopy. Results : 1) The mean microvessel count was $32.7{\pm}20.8$ (9-96) in total 29 cases. 2) There were no correlations between microvessel counts and pathologic cell type, T staging, node melastasis(N) and hematogenous metastasis(M) (p>0.05). 3) The median follow-up duration was 15 months(2-46) and there was no correlation between the microvessel counts and survival rate of lung cancer patients (p>0.05). Conclusion : Tumor angiogenesis seems to be an important prognostic factor suggesting the probability of metastasis. But the microvessel count in the bronchoscopic biopsy specimen was inadequate and very limited. There has been no data about angiogenesis of lung cancer in korea yet So the study of tumor angiogenesis using resected lung tumor specimen would be demanded.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.705-710
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• 2016

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer and a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Although several diagnostic and therapeutic tools have been available, CRC remains difficult to complete cure because of insufficient understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying this disease progression. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules that strongly regulate gene expression via transcriptional and translational control mechanisms. Many crucial cellular pathways are frequently disrupted in cancer development process due to dysregulation of several miRNAs. Mir-31 functions as an oncogene that modulate expression of multiple cancer related genes. Thus, we aimed to demonstrate clinical relevance of miR-31 in human CRC. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of miR-31 expression was performed in 175 CRC tissues and 16 normal colonic mucosa (NM). Next, we investigated clinical significances of miR-31 expression in various clinicopathologic features in CRC patients cohort. Mir-31 was significantly up-regulated in CRC tissues compared to NM. In CRC tissues, miR-31 expression level was significantly elevated in a stage-dependent manner, which was associated with poor survival in patients with CRC. High miR-31 levels in CRC tissues significantly correlated with poor prognosis (hazard ratio [HR]=2.4) as well as distant metastasis (odds ratio [OR]=2.3). In conclusion, we identified clinical significance of miR-31 expression in CRC. High miR-31 expression may be clinically able to use as a biomarker for CRC prognosis and predicting metastasis.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.157-167
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• 2010

We investigated a method to improve anticancer activities of Acer mono wood extracts by ultra high pressure extraction process. The A. mono was extracted by water at $40^{\circ}C$ and 300 MPa for 15 min (High Pressure Extraction, HPE). The extraction yield by ultra high pressure extraction process was 5.42%. The cytotoxicity on human normal lung cell (HEL299) of the extracts from HPE showed 21.54% lower than that from conventional water extraction at $100^{\circ}C$ in adding the maximum concentration of 1.0 mg/$m{\ell}$. Ultra high pressure extracts process for 15 minutes extracts (HPE15) showed more potent scavenging effect than the control, BHA. On SOD-like test, the HPE15 showed highest activity as 32.4% at 1.0 mg/$m{\ell}$ concentration. Human stomach adenocarcinoma, liver adenocarcinoma, breast adenocarcinoma and lung adenocarcinoma cell growth were inhibited up to about 67~79%, in adding 1.0 mg/$m{\ell}$ of extracts from HPE. HPE was 20~25% higher than conventional water extraction. It was interesting that, among several cancer cell lines (stomach adenocarcinoma, liver adenocarcinoma), the growth of digestive related cancer cells were most effectively inhibited as about 75~79%. On in vivo experiment using ICR mice, the variation of body weight of mice group treated A. mono wood extracts from HPE of 100 mg/kg/day concentration was very lower than control and other group. The survival times of group treated this extracts was 61.96% longer than that of the control group and this extracts showed the lower tumor weight, which were 10.49 g than positive control as 16.17 g. Based on these results, we could tell that the HPE wood extracts of A. mono had higher anticancer activity than conventional water extraction. The results of HPE showed obvious advantages in higher efficiency, shorter extraction time, at lower energy costs.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.541-550
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• 2003

E2 glycoprotein of hepatitis C virus (HCV) comprises a surface of viral particle together with E1 glycoprotein, and is thought to be involved in the attachment of HCV viral particle to receptor (s) on the permissible cells including hepatocytes, B cells, T cells, and monocytes. We constructed a phage library expressing cellular proteins of hepatocytes on the phage surface, which turned out to be 8.8${\times}$$10^5$ cfu of diversity and carried inserts in 95% of library. We screened both cDNA phage library and 12-mer peptide library to identify the cellular proteins binding to E2 protein. Some intracellular proteins including tensin and membrane band 4.1 which are involved in signal transduction of survival and cytoskeleton organization, were selected from cDNA phage library through several rounds of panning and screening. On the contrary, membrane proteins such as CCR7, CKR-L2, and insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor were identified through screening of peptide library. Phages expressing peptides corresponding to those membrane proteins were bound to E2 protein specifically as determined by neutralization of binding assay. Since it is well known that HCV can infect T cells as well as hepatocytes, we examined to see if E2 protein can bind to CCR7, a member of C-protein coupled receptor family expressed on T cells, using CCR7 transfected tells. Human CCR7 cDNA was cloned into pcDNA3.1(-) vector and transfected into human embryonic kidney cell, 293T, and expressed on the surface of the cell as shown by flow cytometer. Binding assay of E2 protein using CCR7 transfected cells indicated that E2 protein bound to CCR7 by dose-dependent mode, giving rise to the possibility that CCR7 might be a putative cellular receptor for HCV.