• 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.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1573-1578
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• 2011

Milk thistle (silybum marianum) is a famous dietary supplement widely used in the United States and Europe. Silbinin is a major biologically active compound of milk thistle and has strong antioxidant and radical scavenger activities. Anticancer activities, as well as chemopreventive effects on various cancer cell lines, including prostate, lung, colon, skin, and bladder, have also been reported in silbinin. In the present study, we investigated the anticancer effects of silibinin and apoptosis through cell cycle arrest on prostate cancer cell PC-3. We performed cell viability by MTT assay and western blotting to confirm cell cycle check point proteins such as cyclin A/D1/E and cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 2/4/6. To quantify silibinin-induced apoptotic cell death of PC-3, Annexin V and PI double staining was performed by flow cytometry, by which its cell distribution was determined. As a result, silibinin inhibited the cell growth of PC-3 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner, and its treatment resulted in cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase. Also the level of cell cycle check point proteins (cyclin, CDK) was decreased by silibinin in a dose-dependent manner. Taken together, we suggest that apoptosis of prostate cancer cell line PC-3 induced by silibinin is associated with cell cycle arrest through decrease of cell cycle check point proteins, caspase-3 activation and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.619-624
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• 2011

Tea extract (TE) has been shown to have anti-tumor properties in a wide variety of experimental systems. We evaluated green tea extract (GTE) as a biochemical modulator for the antitumor activity of cisplatin and doxorubicin in the treatment of human lung cancer A549 cells. Cells were grown in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 10% (v/v) heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum and two antibiotics (100 units/mL penicillin and $100\;{\mu}g$/mL streptomycin). Two types of TE, epigallocatechin galate (EGCG) and GTE, were used in this experiment. The cells were seeded at $1{\times}10^4$ cells/well in the RPMI-1640 media with or without TE ($100\;{\mu}g$/mL) and then treated with different concentrations of doxorubicin ($0{\sim}14\;{\mu}g$/mL) or cisplatin ($0{\sim}35\;{\mu}g$/mL). After incubation in 5% $CO_2$ at $37^{\circ}C$ for 24 hr, cell viability was determined with a MTT assay. We used a Western blot to detect the influence of EGCG and GTE on the expression of p53 and caspase-3 genes in the A549 cells. A549 cell viability decreased to 15% with a $10\;{\mu}g$/mL concentration of cisplatin, and to 21% with a $8\;{\mu}g$/mL concentration of doxorubicin, as measured with the MTT assay. However, pre-treatment of the cells with EGCG ($100\;{\mu}g$/mL) or GTE ($100\;{\mu}g$/mL) resulted in decreased cell viability with $6\;{\mu}g$/mL of cisplatin and $4\;{\mu}g$/mL of doxorubicin. There was no apparent change in cell viability between EGCG or GTE administration in cisplatin- or doxorubicin-induced cytotoxicity in A549 cells. The levels of p53 and caspase-3 in the A549 cells increased with both EGCG and GTE treatment. We found that GTE could potentially affect cisplatin- or doxorubicin-induced cytotoxicity of A549 cells, which may be useful in the chemotreatment of cancer.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.153-158
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• 2012

In order to develop as a natural source of anticancer materials of Cudrania tricuspidata, the cytotoxicity of methanol extracts by harvesting parts and times against 8 cell lines including 293 (normal kidney cells) and A-431 (epidermoid carcinoma cells) were investigated using MTT assay. All harvesting parts had hardly cytotoxicity against 293. And methanol extracts of stem bark and root bark showed very high cytotoxicities against 7 cancer cell lines. The cytotoxicity was the highest against HeLa (cervix adenocarcinoma cells) and followed by MCF-7 (breast adenocarcinoma cells), AGS (stomach adenocarcinoma cells), HT-29 (colon adenocarcinoma cells), HepG2 (hepatoblastoma cells), A549 (lung carcinoma cells) and A-431. By the way, leaf extract had a cytotoxicity against only AGS and ripe fruit extract had no cytotoxicity. Among harvesting times, the cytotoxicity of root bark were high from April to September but that of stem bark showed a little difference. These results showed that anticancer activities of Cudrania tricuspidata extracts were eventful changes by harvesting parts and times.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.369-377
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• 2014

In order to find out anticancer activity of Korean pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), the cytotoxicity against 8 cell lines including 293 (normal kidney cells) and A-431 (epidermoid carcinoma cells) of extracts by extraction solvents and plant parts were investigated using MTT assay. Also the correlation between content of capsaicin known as anticancer ingredient and cytotoxicity of extracts from pepper were analyzed. The distilled water extracts from seed and germinated seed showed very high cytotoxicity against 6 cancer cell lines including A549 (lung carcinoma cells), AGS (stomach adenocarcinoma cells), HeLa (cervix adenocarcinoma cells), HepG2 (hepatoblastoma cells), HT-29 (colon adenocarcinoma cells), and MCF-7 (breast adenocarcinoma cells). But 80% ethanol and methanol extracts showed cytotoxicity against 293 and AGS. The $RC_{50}$, that was, the concentration of sample required for 50% reduction of cell viability, of seed and germinated seed extracts against AGS were $33.4{\sim}389.1{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ and $63.9{\sim}1,316.7{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, respectively, so anticancer activity was higher in seed than in germinated seed. In capsaicin contents, seed with high cytotoxicity and pericarp with a little cytotoxicity contained $47.4{\sim}1,260.0{\mu}g/g$ and $58.3{\sim}1,498.0{\mu}g/g$, respectively. As these results, the correlation was not between cytotoxicity and capsaicin content.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.259-264
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• 2016

Metastatic cancer is one of the main causes of cancer-related death since they rarely respond to available treatments. There is epidemiologic evidence that high garlic consumption decreases the incidence of cancer. Recent studies of our laboratory have revealed that a garlic-extracts is effective in suppressing metastasis. For experimental metastasis, C57BL/6 mice were injected intravenously with melanoma B16F10 cells in the tail vein, and were orally administered various concentrations (0, 50, 100 or 200 mg/kg body weight) of garlic hexane extract (GHE) for 21 days. The incidence and the area of the melanoma cell colony occupied by the poorly differentiated carcinoma were significantly lower in dose-dependent in 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg BW GHE - treated mice compared with control mice. In conclusion, the results of the present study show that GHE administration prevents lung metastasis in C57BL/6 mice.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.645-652
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• 2019

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has the infamous distinction of being the leading cause of global cancer-related death over the past decade, and novel molecular targets are urgently required to change this status. We previously conducted a microarray analysis to investigate the association of transcription factor activating enhancer-binding protein 2C (TFAP2C) with NSCLC and revealed its oncogenic roles in NSCLC development. In this study, to identify new biomarkers for NSCLC, we focused on several oncogenes from the microarray analysis that are transcriptionally regulated by TFAP2C. Here, the cell division cycle 20 (CDC20) and tribbles pseudokinase 3 (TRIB3) were subsequently found as potential potent oncogenes as they are positively regulated by TFAP2C. The results showed that the mRNA and protein levels of CDC20 and TRIB3 were down-regulated in two NSCLC cell lines (NCI-H292 and NCI-H838), which were treated with TFAP2C siRNA, and that the overexpression of either CDC20 or TRIB3 was responsible for promoting cell viability in both NSCLC cell lines. In addition, apoptotic levels of NCI-H292 and NCI-H838 cells treated with TFAP2C siRNA were found to be suppressed by the overexpression of either CDC20 or TRIB3. Together, these results suggest that CDC20 and TRIB3 are positively related to NSCLC tumorigenesis and that they should be considered as potential prognostic markers for developing an NSCLC therapy.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2009

This study was conducted to examine the chemical composition of kiwifruit skin, and to est its anti-microbial activities and cytotoxicities, thus, exploring ways for the economic utilization of kiwifruit skin. Four varieties of kiwifruit were examined: Daeheung, Bidan, Haegeum No.1 and Hayward. Vitamin C content in the fruit skins of Bidan, Daeheung, Haegeum No.1 and Hayward were 72.44, 67.22, 62.51 and 61.44mg/100g, respectively. Total amino acids content in the fruit skins of Bidan, Haegeum No.1, Hayward and Daeheung ere 808.31, 706.02, 629.07 and 464.83mg/100g dry weight, respectively. K and Ca content ere $17.20-45.70{\mu}g/mL$ and $4.58-10.15{\mu}g/mL$. While, other inorganic matter contents were below $4.89{\mu}g/mL$. Anti-microbial activity of kiwifruit skin extracts, in terms of the diameter of inhibition zone when tested against five gram positive and three gram negative microbial trains (even in the concentration of 2,000mg/L), was less than 14.1mm. The hyperplasia inhibition of lung cancer cells by methanol extracts from Bidan and Haegeum No.1 using concentrations of 800mg/L were 27.7% and 14.5%, however, those from Daeheung and Hayward were below 3% Consequently, it will be useful to know that kiwifruit skin can be added to processed goods which demand for higher concentrations of vitamin C, amino acids, K and Ca.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.2491-2494
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• 2014

Objective: To explore the mechanism and significance of tumor angiogenesis by observing changes of microvessel density (MVD) and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in residual tumor tissues after cryoablation. Materials and Methods: A total of 18 nude mice xenograft models with transplanted lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549 were established and randomly divided into 3 groups when the maximum diameter of tumor reached 1 cm: control, cisplatin (DDP) and cryoablation. The nude mice were sacrificed after 21-d cryoablation to obtain the tumor tissues. Then immunohistochemistry was applied to determine MVD and the expression of VEGF in tumor tissues. Results: The tumor volumes of control group, DDP group and cryoablation group were $1.48{\pm}0.14cm^3$, $1.03{\pm}0.12cm^3$ and $0.99{\pm}0.06cm^3$ respectively and the differences were significant (P<0.01), whereas MVD values were $21.1{\pm}0.86$, $24.7{\pm}0.72$ and $29.2{\pm}0.96$ (P<0.01) and the positive expression rates of VEGF were $36.2{\pm}1.72%$, $39.0{\pm}1.79%$ and $50.8{\pm}2.14%$ (P<0.01), respectively, showing that MVD was proportional to the positive expression of VEGF (r=0.928, P<0.01). Conclusions: Cryoablation can effectively inhibit tumor growth, but tumor angiogenesis significantly increases in residual tumors, with high expression of VEGF playing an important role in the residual tumor angiogenesis.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.291-301
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• 2023

Introduction: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients are particularly vulnerable to the Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19). Currently, no anti-NSCLC/COVID-19 treatment options are available. As ginsenoside Rg3 is beneficial to NSCLC patients and has been identified as an entry inhibitor of the virus, this study aims to explore underlying pharmacological mechanisms of ginsenoside Rg3 for the treatment of NSCLC patients with COVID-19. Methods: Based on a large-scale data mining and systemic biological analysis, this study investigated target genes, biological processes, pharmacological mechanisms, and underlying immune implications of ginsenoside Rg3 for NSCLC patients with COVID-19. Results: An important gene set containing 26 target genes was built. Target genes with significant prognostic value were identified, including baculoviral IAP repeat containing 5 (BIRC5), carbonic anhydrase 9 (CA9), endothelin receptor type B (EDNRB), glucagon receptor (GCGR), interleukin 2 (IL2), peptidyl arginine deiminase 4 (PADI4), and solute carrier organic anion transporter family member 1B1 (SLCO1B1). The expression of target genes was significantly correlated with the infiltration level of macrophages, eosinophils, natural killer cells, and T lymphocytes. Ginsenoside Rg3 may benefit NSCLC patients with COVID-19 by regulating signaling pathways primarily involved in anti-inflammation, immunomodulation, cell cycle, cell fate, carcinogenesis, and hemodynamics. Conclusions: This study provided a comprehensive strategy for drug discovery in NSCLC and COVID-19 based on systemic biology approaches. Ginsenoside Rg3 may be a prospective drug for NSCLC patients with COVID-19. Future studies are needed to determine the value of ginsenoside Rg3 for NSCLC patients with COVID-19.