• KSBB Journal
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.306-311
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• 2003

Solid-phase refolding of immobilized proteins can be an effective way to reuse an immobilized enzyme column. Oriented immobilization methods are known to provide higher activity of the immobilized enzymes. In this study, using recombinant EK (enterokinase) as a model enzyme and a fusion protein, that consisted of recombinant human growth hormone and six His tag that was linked by the peptide of EK-specific recognition sequence, as a model substrate, we evaluated two oriented immobilization methods, i. e., reductive alkylation of N-terminus ${\alpha}$-amine and affinity interaction between poly-histidine tag and Ni-NTA (nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid). The immobilization yield, activity and cleavage of the immobilized enzymes, and the yield of solid-phase refolding were compared. The Ni affinity immobilization and the covalent immobilization yields were about 100％ and 65％, respectively. But the specific activities were the same, about 50％ of that of the soluble enzyme. The cleavage rate by the covalently immobilized EK was higher than the soluble enzyme and the side reaction of cryptic cleavage was significantly decreased. Covalently immobilized EK showed almost 100％ refolding yield but the affinity immobilized EK showed only 70％ yield, which suggested the covalent conjugation provided more rigid ‘reference structure’ for the solid-phase refolding. The monomeric hGH could be easily obtained by capturing the cleaved poly Histidine tag by the Ni affinity column.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2021

Silkworms have long been bred with human history to produce silk. It has been with humans for longer than other industrial insects, and the silkworm variety has been continuously improved. Silkworms have been developed into the optimal form for producing high quality silk and pupae. Recently, the production of transgenic silkworms has further expanded the possibility of industrial value of silkworms. Kynurenine 3-monooxygenase (KMO), which is a flavin enzyme, is known for its involvement in ommochrome pigment synthesis. In the field of mammals, including humans, previous studies have revealed the function and role of KMO, which is an important enzyme for various immune responses and cell protection. However, in the case of insects, the function of KMO has only been studied to be involved in the formation of pigment, and accordingly, KMO is used exclusively on screening for generation of transgenic insects as a marker. In this study, using KMO-edited silkworms, it was intended to discover the novel functions and roles of KMO in silkworms by identifying changes in the expression of various genes associated with stress and growth. The changes were observed in expressions of genes regulating on stresses to survive and those on ecdysteroid hormone between wild-type (WT) silkworms and kmo mutant silkworms. The loss of KMO, in particular, decreased the expression of the shadow (sad) gene, one of the Halloween genes in the synthesis of ecdysteroid. In conclusion, these results suggest that silkworm KMO is responsible for potential functions regarding stress response and ecdysteroid synthesis.

• BMB Reports
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.370-379
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• 2022

Human pregnancy is a delicate and complex process where multiorgan interactions between two independent systems, the mother, and her fetus, maintain pregnancy. Intercellular interactions that can define homeostasis at the various cellular level between the two systems allow uninterrupted fetal growth and development until delivery. Interactions are needed for tissue remodeling during pregnancy at both fetal and maternal tissue layers. One of the mechanisms that help tissue remodeling is via cellular transitions where epithelial cells undergo a cyclic transition from epithelial to mesenchymal (EMT) and back from mesenchymal to epithelial (MET). Two major pregnancy-associated tissue systems that use EMT, and MET are the fetal membrane (amniochorion) amnion epithelial layer and cervical epithelial cells and will be reviewed here. EMT is often associated with localized inflammation, and it is a well-balanced process to facilitate tissue remodeling. Cyclic transition processes are important because a terminal state or the static state of EMT can cause accumulation of proinflammatory mesenchymal cells in the matrix regions of these tissues and increase localized inflammation that can cause tissue damage. Interactions that determine homeostasis are often controlled by both endocrine and paracrine mediators. Pregnancy maintenance hormone progesterone and its receptors are critical for maintaining the balance between EMT and MET. Increased intrauterine oxidative stress at term can force a static (terminal) EMT and increase inflammation that are physiologic processes that destabilize homeostasis that maintain pregnancy to promote labor and delivery of the fetus. However, conditions that can produce an untimely increase in EMT and inflammation can be pathologic. These tissue damages are often associated with adverse pregnancy complications such as preterm prelabor rupture of the membranes (pPROM) and spontaneous preterm birth (PTB). Therefore, an understanding of the biomolecular processes that maintain cyclic EMT-MET is critical to reducing the risk of pPROM and PTB. Extracellular vesicles (exosomes of 40-160 nm) that can carry various cargo are involved in cellular transitions as paracrine mediators. Exosomes can carry a variety of biomolecules as cargo. Studies specifically using exosomes from cells undergone EMT can carry a pro-inflammatory cargo and in a paracrine fashion can modify the neighboring tissue environment to cause enhancement of uterine inflammation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.367-373
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• 2014

In this study, we investigated the anticancer activity of methyl gallate (MG), which is the major biologically active component of Galla Rhois, in RC-58T/h/SA#4 human prostate cancer cells. MG inhibited cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. Cell death induced by MG increased the population of cells in sub-G1 phase, formation of apoptotic bodies, nuclear condensation, and DNA fragmentation. Apoptosis induced by MG was associated with activation of initiator caspases-8 and -9 as well as effector caspase-3. Endocrine disruptors such as dioxin and bisphenol A increased growth of RC-58T/h/SA#4 cells in charcoal-treated FBS (cFBS) medium. Cell proliferation was highest upon treatment with 1 nM and $0.1{\mu}M$ dioxin and bisphenol A, respectively. MG also dose-dependently inhibited cell proliferation in RC-58T/h/SA#4 cells treated with endocrine disruptors. These results indicate that MG exerts anticancer effects on RC-58T/h/SA#4 primary human prostate cancer cells.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.221-227
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• 2005

Apoptosis of Prunus salicina Lindl. cv. Soldam, which possesses hematopoiesis, osteoporosis prevention, and antimutagenic effects, at different growth stages was evaluated. Cytotoxic effect of acetone extracts of immature fruits against various tumor cell lines was higher than that of mature fruits, particularly in hormone-independent human breast cancer, MDA-MB-231 cell line. Immature fruit extract increased expression level of pro-apoptotic protein Bax and reduced that of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, and stimulated caspase-3 activity in MDA-MB-231 cells. Results suggest immature fruit of P. salicina Lindl. cv. soldam to be natural source for development of functional food and medical agents to prevent human breast cancer.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.593-599
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• 1999

In this study, optimal conditions to infect CD34 positive cells containing hematopoietic stem cells obtained from cord blood and bone marrow were found using two different retroviral vectors expressing human growth hormone (hGH) and $\beta$-galactosidase. CD34 positive cells were successfully infected with recombinant retroviruses only when the CD34 positive cells were co-cultured with packaging cells secreting recombinant retroviruses. To find the highest infection efficiency for the gene transfer, CD34 positive cells from cord blood were co-cultured with packaging cells secreting recombinant retroviruses encoding E. coli lacZ gene. The highest infection efficiency was obtained when CD34 positive cells were cultured for 3 days, and then co-culturing was done for another 2 days. When CD34 positive cells from bone marrow were co-cultured with packaging cells secreting recombinant retroviruses encoding hGH gene, the maximum amount of hGH was also secreted at the same conditions found above, i.e. 3 days of culture and 2 days of co-culture. These results show that there are optimal conditions for the gene transfer into hematopoietic stem cells regardless of sources of target cells or retroviral vectors used to infect.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nutrition Society Conference
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• 1995.11b
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• pp.11-34
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• 1995

Growth hormone (GH) plays a key role in regulating postnatal growth and can stimulate growth of animals by acting directly on specific receptors on the plasma membrane of tissues or indirectly through stimulating insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I synthesis and secretion by the liver and other tissues. IGF-I and IGF-Ⅱ are polypeptides with structural similarity with proinsulin that stimulate cell proliferation by endocrine, paracrine and autocrine mechanisms. The initial event in the metabolic action of IGFs on target cells appears to be their binding to specific receptors on the plasma membrane. Current evidence indicates that the mitogenic actions of both IGFs are mediated primarily by binding to the type I IGF receptors, and that IGF action is also mediated by interactions with IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs). Six distinct IGFBPs have been identified that are characterized by cell-specific interaction, transcriptional and post-translational regulation by many different effectors, and the ability to either potentiate or inhibit IGF actions. Nutritional deficiencies can have their devastating consequence during growth. Although IGF-I is the major mediator of GH's action on somatic growth, nutritional status of an organism is a critical regulator of IGF-I and IGFBPs. Various nutrient deficiencies result in decreased serum IGF-I levels and altered IGFBP levels, but the blood levels of GH are generally unchanged or elevated in malnutrition. Effects of protein, energy, vitamin C and D, and zinc on serum IGF and IGFBP levels and tissue mRNA levels were reviewed in the text. Multiple factors are involved in the regulation of intestinal epithelial cell growth and differentiation. Among these factors the nutritional status of individuals is the most important. The intestinal epithelium is an important site for mitogenic action of the IGFs in vivo, with exogenous IGF-I stimulating mucosal hyperplasia. Therefore, the IGF system appears to provide and important mechanism linking nutrition and the proliferation of intestinal epithelial cells. In order to study the detailed mechanisms by which intestinal mucosa is regulated, we have utilized IEC-6 cells, an intestinal epithelial cell line and Caco-2 cells, a human colon adenocarcinoma cell line. Like intestinal crypt cells analyzed in vivo or freshly isolated intestinal epithelial cells, IEC-6 cells and Caco-2 cells possess abundant quatities of both type Ⅰ and type Ⅱ IGF receptors. Exogenous IGFs stimulate, whereas addition of IGFBP-2 inhibits IEC-6 cell proliferation. To investigate whether endogenously secreted IGFBP-2 inhibit proliferation, IEC-6 cells were transfected with a full-length rat IGFBP-2 cDNA anti-sense expression construct. IEC-6 cells transfected with anti-sense IGFBP-2 protein in medium. These cells grew at a rate faster than the control cells indicating that endogenous IGFBP-2 inhibits proliferation of IEC-6 cells, probably by sequestering IGFs. IEC-6 cells express many characteristics of enterocyte, but do not undergo differentiation. On the other hand, Caco-2 cells undergo a spontaneous enterocyte differentiation. On the other hand, Caco-2 cells undergo a spontaneous enterocyte differentiation after reaching confluency. We have demonstrated that Caco-2 cells produce IGF-Ⅱ, IGFBP-2, IGFBP-3, and an as yet unidentified 31,000 Mr IGFBP, and that both mRNA and peptide secretion of IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-3 increased, but IGFBP-4 mRNA and protein secretion decreased after the cells reached confluency. These changes occurred in parallel to and were coincident with differentiation of the cells, as measured by expression of sucrase-isomaltase. In addition, Caco-2 cell clones forced to overexpress IGFBP-4 by transfection with a rat IGFBP-4 cDNA construct exhibited a significantly slower growth rate under serum-free conditions and had increased expression of sucrase-isomaltase compared with vector control cells. These results indicate that IGFBP-4 inhibits proliferation and stimulates differentiation of Caco-2 cells, probably by inhibiting the mitogenic actions of IGFs.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.83-87
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• 2004

This research was designed to investigate the effects of Estromon including FGF271 (Female Growth Factor 271) which was developed as a phytoestrogen for post- and pre-menopausal syndrome (PMS). The oral administration of two capsules of Estromon twice a day for 3 months significantly improved PMS (Post-/Premenopausal Syndrome) about 5 times more than placebo group (OR=5.04, 95% C.1. 1.40-18.14). In the group of 24 patients having taken Estromon, the concentration of alkaline phosphatase asn the bone marker decreased by -9.3${\pm}$9.5 IU/L after 3 months with a statistic significance. Since the concentration of osteocalcin as the other bone marker also decreased in more patients in Estromon group than in placebo group, the bone density might be expected to be improved in long-term treatment. Serum human growth hormone level increased in 17 out of 24 patients. Triglycerides decreased by -8.0${\pm}$40 (mg%) after 1 month and by -4.4${\pm}$36 (mg%) after 3 months in Estomon group while triglycerides increased in both cases in placebo group (p.0.01). Therefore, PMS patients might benefit from Estromon as a phytoestrogen supplement without any serious side effects.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.595-606
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• 2018

Objective: The Fusarium mycotoxins of deoxynivalenol (DON) and zerolenone (ZEN) cause health hazards for both humans and farm animals. Therefore, the main intention of this study was to reveal DON and ZEN effects on the mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and other immune related genes in the liver of piglets. Methods: In the present study, 15 six-week-old piglets were randomly assigned to the following three different dietary treatments for 4 weeks: control diet, diet containing 8 mg DON/kg feed, and diet containing 0.8 mg ZEN/kg feed. After 4 weeks, liver samples were collected and sequenced using RNA-Seq to investigate the effects of the mycotoxins on genes and gene networks associated with the immune systems of the piglets. Results: Our analysis identified a total of 249 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), which included 99 upregulated and 150 downregulated genes in both the DON and ZEN dietary treatment groups. After biological pathway analysis, the DEGs were determined to be significantly enriched in gene ontology terms associated with many biological pathways, including immune response and cellular and metabolic processes. Consistent with inflammatory stimulation due to the mycotoxin-contaminated diet, the following Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathways, which were related to disease and immune responses, were found to be enriched in the DEGs: allograft rejection pathway, cell adhesion molecules, graft-versus-host disease, autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD), type I diabetes mellitus, human T-cell leukemia lymphoma virus infection, and viral carcinogenesis. Genome-wide expression analysis revealed that DON and ZEN treatments downregulated the expression of the majority of the DEGs that were associated with inflammatory cytokines (interleukin 10 receptor, beta, chemokine [C-X-C motif] ligand 9), proliferation (insulin-like growth factor 1, major facilitator superfamily domain containing 2A, insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2, lipase G, and salt inducible kinase 1), and other immune response networks (paired immunoglobulin-like type 2 receptor beta, Src-like-adaptor-1 [SLA1], SLA3, SLA5, SLA7, claudin 4, nicotinamide N-methyltransferase, thyrotropin-releasing hormone degrading enzyme, ubiquitin D, histone $H_2B$ type 1, and serum amyloid A). Conclusion: In summary, our results demonstrated that high concentrations DON and ZEN disrupt immune-related processes in the liver.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2020

Objective: The aim of the study was to perform a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials to compare the clinical efficacy and safety between combination of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitors with aromatase inhibitors (AIs) and AIs alone in patients with hormone receptor+/human epidermal growth factor receptor type2-(HR+/HER2-) advanced breast cancer. Methods: Published clinical studies were identified through electronic database searches until February 2019. Literature qualities were assessed by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network Checklist. Key endpoints of efficacy were progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), and clinical benefit (CB). Endpoints of safety were adverse events (AEs) (neutropenia, leukopenia, any grade 3/4 AEs, and serious AEs) and on-treatment death. Meta-analysis was performed using the RevMan 5.3 software. Results: The selected five studies were evaluated as "good" in quality assessment. Compared to AIs alone, the combination therapy significantly improved PFS (pooled hazard ratio=0.55; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.49-0.62), ORR (odds ratio=1.78; 95% CI=1.49-2.13), and CB (odds ratio=1.86; 95% CI=1.51-2.28). The prevalence of AEs was significantly higher in the combination group than in the AIs alone group. On-treatment death was greater in the combination group than in the AIs alone group, although insignificant. Conclusion: The combination therapy of CDK4/6 inhibitors with AIs was more effective for the treatment of HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer, but less safe than AIs alone. The combination therapy should be effectively managed through patient monitoring, and further studies are needed to reduce AEs in the combination therapy of CDK4/6 inhibitors with AIs.