• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.20 no.10
• /
• pp.1519-1524
• /
• 2010

Apigenin (4', 5, 7-trihydroxyflavone), a common dietary flavonoid abundantly present in fruits and vegetables, has shown remarkable anti-proliferative effects against various malignant cell lines. To observe the anti-proliferative effects, oral cavity cancer cell lines, $6{\times}10^3$ cells/well (96 well plate) of KB oral cavity tumor cells were plated and 24 hr later treated with apigenin for one day, after which MTT assay was performed. Apigenin induced cell death in a dose-dependent manner after incubation. Cell viability was significantly decreased in the group treated with 100 ${\mu}M$ apigenin for 24 hr (p<0.05) compared to the control group. To assess apoptosis, the nuclei of KB cells were stained with DAPI. The presence of chromatin condensation in the apigenin treated cells was detected on a fluorescent microscope (${\times}200$). We investigated the in vivo growth inhibitory effects of apigenin on oral cavity cancer KB tumor xenograft subcutaneously implanted in male nude mice. Apigenin was administered to mice by gavage at doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg/day in 0.2ml of PBS. Tumor volume was significantly decreased in 25 and 50 mg/kg apigenin-administration groups compared to the control group. For apoptosis analysis, TUNEL staining was performed. A significant increase in TUNEL positive cells was found in the 25 mg/kg apigenin administration group compared to the non- apigenin administration group. Histopathological changes were not observed. These results indicate that apigenin inhibits oral cavity cancer cell growth through the induction of apoptosis.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
• /
• v.3 no.sup4
• /
• pp.34.2-34.2
• /
• 2007

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.121-129
• /
• 1996

Multiplication of Herpes simplex virus type-1 was observed by electronmicroscopy, a gene library of the genome was constructed and thymidine kinase gene was cloned. Vero cells infected with the virus were lysed 48 h p.j. and multinucleated giant cells were observed approximately at 72 h p.i. The nucleocapsids were observed in nuclei and cytoplasm, and the assembled nucleocapsids were budded out through the vacuole and cytoplasmic membranes, and then virions were released from the cells. HSV-1 genome DNA was digested with BamHI and BglII enzymes and then the gene library of the genome fragments were constructed. The BamHI cleaved the genome DNA into twenty-seven fragments in the range of 1.1 - 14 kb, and BglII cleaved the genome DNA into sixteen fragments in the range of $4.5{\sim}20.1\;kb$. The pHLA-12 and pHLB-4 recombinant plasmids were contained TK gene by Southern blot analysis. The molecular sizes of the fragments which contained the TK gene were 3.74 in pHLA-12 and 6.41kb in pHLB-4 recombinant plasmid, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 1991.04a
• /
• pp.237-242
• /
• 1991

In order to increase the production of glutathione by maximizing the expression of recombinant gsh plasmids, two genes responsible for the biosynthesis of glutathione were cloned. A gshI gene was cloned onto pBR322 plasmid as 3.6Kb PstI DNA fragment from E. coli K-12 chromosomal DNA. Also gshII gene was cloned onto pUC13 plasmid as 2.2Kb PstI-BamHI DNA fragment. In order to improve the glutathione producing activity more efficiently, various recombinant plasmids containing tandem repeated gshI genes or both genes in various copy number onto the same vector were constructed. E. coli cells harboring pGH501 plasmid (pUC8-gshI$\cdot$I$\cdot$II) showed the highest glutathione synthesizing activity. The conditions for glutathione production with an ATP-generating system such as acetate kinase reaction of E. coli cells or glycolytic pathway of yeast cells were examined using the E. coli cells harboring the pGH501 plasmid. When the acetate kinase reaction of E. coli cells was used as an ATP generating system, 20mM of L-csteine was converted into glutathione with a yield of $100\%$.

• Animal cells and systems
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.63-69
• /
• 1997

We have previously reported that NF-kB is involved in the regulation of nitric oxide synthase gene expression during differentiation of chick embryonic myoblasts. However, how NF-kB is timely activated during myogenesis remains elusive. One of the most prominent events in myogenesis is myoblast membrane fusion, which is accompanied with massive cytoskeletal reorganization. Here we show that the activity of NF-kB markedly increases in L6 rat myogenic cells that have just initiated morphological changes by treating nocodazole, a microtubule-disrupting agent. Furthermore, the induction of NF-kB activation was closely correlated with the myoblast fusion. In addition, a variety of agents that disrupt microtubules stimulated the myoblast fusion as well as the induction of NF-kB activation. In contrast, taxol, a microtubule-stabilizing agent, suppressed the induction of NF-kB activation and inhibited spontaneous differentiation of L6 cells as well. In addition, we found that the NF-KB in the cells consists of p50/p65 heterodimers. These results support the idea that reorganization of microtubule at early stages of differentiation plays a role as a signal for NF-KB activation during myogenesis.

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.1-6
• /
• 1997

The RAD4 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is essential for the incision step of UV-induced excision repair. A yeast RAD4 gene has been previously isolated by functional complementation. In order to identify the RAD4 homologous gene from fungus Coprinus cinereus, we have constructed cosmid libraries from electrophoretically separated chromosomes of the C. cinereus. The 13 C. cinereus chromosomes were resolved by pulse-field gel electrophoresis, hybridized with S. cerevisiae RAD4 DNA, and then isolated homologous C. cinereus chromosome. The insert DNA of the RAD4 homolog was contained 3.2 kb. Here, we report the partial cloning and characterization of fungus C. cinereus homolog of yeast RAD4 gene. Southern blot analysis confirmed that C. cinereus contains the sequence homologous DNA to RAD4 gene and this gene exists as a single copy in C. cinereus genome. When total RNA isolated from C. cinereus cells was hybridized with the 1.2 kb PvuII DNA fragment of the S. cerevisiae RAD4 gene, a 2.5 kb of transcript was detected. The level of the transcript did not increase upon UV-irradiation, suggesting that the RAD4 homologous gene in C. cinereus is not UV-inducible.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.53-58
• /
• 2000

Treatment of oral cancers with chemotherapeutic agents are evaluated as an effective method for remission to reduce cancer proliferation nowadays. But, minimization of side-effects such as bone marrow suppression, gastrointestinal toxicity and renal damage is another problem to be solved. Thus, a possible approach to develop a clinically applicable chemotherapeutic agents is to screen anticancer activity among traditional medicinal plants which have been used for thousands of years with very low side-effects in orient. In this study we focused on screening anti-oral cancer activities among 14 traditional medicinal plant extracts that revealed anticancer activities on other solid tumors. The results were as follow : 1. Methanol extract of Lepidium apetalum showed the highest anti-oral cancer activity against A253 cells. At concentration of $4{\mu}g/ml$, the cell viability was 48% under our experimental condition. $IC_{50}$ value obtained was $4{\mu}g/ml$. 2. Methanol extract of Coptis japonica and Solanum nigrum were effective on KB cells. Cell viability observed were 62% and 67% at concentration of $4{\mu}g/ml$, and $IC_{50}$ values were $12{\mu}g/ml$ and $10{\mu}g/ml$ respectively. 3. When the methanol extract of Lonicera caerule was combined with $2{\mu}g/ml$ of cisplatin, the anticancer activity was synergistically increased. One hundred ${\mu}g/ml$ of Lonicera caerule showed 92%(alone) or 59%(combined with cisplatin) cell viabilities. $IC_{50}$ value of Lonicera caerule extract against KB cells was reduced from $301{\mu}g/ml$ to $126{\mu}g/ml$ when combined with $2{\mu}g/ml$ of cisplatin. 4. Medicinal plant extracts effective on both A253 and KB cells were Coptis japonica, Lepidium apetalum, Solanum nigrum, Caesalpiniae Lignum, Curcuma aromatica.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.136-142
• /
• 1992

Bacillus stearothemophilus isolated from soil was identified to express multiple extracellular xylanases. Two HindIII restriction fragments of 5.4 and 6.4 kb from B. stearothermophilus genomic DNA were cloned into pBR322 to obtain recombinant plasmids pMG0l and pMG02, respectively, which enabled E. coli HBlOl cells to produce $\beta$-D-xylosidase activity. By subcloning into pUC18 and Southern blotting, the loci of the $\beta$-D-xyiosidase genes were elucidated to be on non-homologous DNA fragments of 2.2 kb from pMGOl(pMG1) and 1.0 kb from pMG02(pMG2), respectively. The two enzymes produced in E. coli cleaved xylobiose, xylotriose, xylotetrose and xylotetrose to produce xylose as a major end product. The gene on pMG1, distinct from that on pMG2 was observed to encode a bifunctional protein that displayed both P-D-xylosidase (EC.3.2.1.37) and a-L-arabinofuranosidase activities (EC.3.2.1.55).

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.105-116
• /
• 1995

To investigate genomic changes in c-myc gene by a chemical carcinogen, human lymphoblast NC-37 cells were exposed to benzo(a)pyrene(BP) and dimethylbenzanthracene(DMBA), and the c-myc gene expression was evaluated by Northern and Southern blot hybridization techniques. The results are as follows: When the genomic DNA of NC-37 cells exposed to several concentrations(1.25, 2.5 and 5ug/ml) of BP concentration. However, the c-myc gene was most significantly enhanced with 2.5ug/ml of BP. The expressions of c-myc gene in NC-37 cells was stimulated by BP and DMBA. Addition of TPA reduced the gene expression BP-treated cells, whereas it enhanced the gene expression in DMBA-treated cells. The expression of c-H-ras gene was slightly increased by treatment with BP and DMBA alone and in combination with TPA, however the magnitude of increase was not significantly different between each other. The expressions of c-myc c-H-ras genes in Burkitt's lymphoma cells were greater than those in NC-37 cells. When the DNA extracted from NC-37 cells exposed to various concentrations of BP were amplified by polymerase chain reaction using a primer set containing c-myc exon I, the amplified products were of the same size in all groups. To evaluate the BP toxicity in E.coli to which human c-myc gene-cloned pBR322 vector was inserted, Southern blot hybridization was conducted on c-myc genes digested with EcoRI/HindIII and Smal/Xbal restriction enzymes, and observing that in 2 ug/ml BP-treated cells a 3.5kb fragment was generated in addition to 1.3kb fragment which can be observed in normal cells. Direct nucleotide sequence analysis of polymerase chain reaction products showed a mutation of G$\longrightarrow$A transition at the Smal recognition site.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
• /
• v.23 no.2 s.73
• /
• pp.129-138
• /
• 1995

DNA fragment being able to restore in vitro activity of ${\beta}-1,3-glucan$ synthase was cloned by transformation of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae LP353 mutant strain with genomic library constructed in the YCp50. For the selection of transformants which showed no detectable phenotype linked to recovery of the defect in ${\beta}-1,3-glucan$ synthase activity, the colony autoradiography was succesfully applied. The restriction map of the cloned DNA fragment, which is 8.5-kb in length, was constructed. Both the YEplac195 and the YCp50 carrying the 8.5-kb fragment increased ${\beta}-1,3-glucan$ synthase activity of LP353 by two fold. Neither the YEplac195 nor the YCp50 carrying the 8.5-kb DNA fragment, however, complemented the temperature-dependent osmotic sensitivity which is another distinctive phenotype of LP353. Subcloning experiments indicated that a functional region was located in 4.8-kb BglII-KpnI fragment. The 4.8-kb fragment was also able to increase the level of ${\beta}-1,3-glucan$ content in cell wall as well as the resistance of cells to cell wall lytic enzyme, ${\beta}-1,3-glucanase$. The growth rate of the LP353 with 4.8-kb fragment was almost same as that of wild type strain in liquid medium with 1.2 M sorbitol at nonpermissive temperature. Taken these results together, the 4.8-kb fragment seemed to contain the BGS2 gene for ${\beta}-1,3-glucan$ synthase activity in yeast S. cerevisiae.