• Archives of Pharmacal Research
• /
• v.26 no.10
• /
• pp.861-867
• /
• 2003

Inhibitory effect of the lectins (KML-C) isolated from Korean mistletoe (KM; Viscum album coloratum) on tumor metastases produced by murine tumor cells (B16-BL6 melanoma, colon 26M3.1 carcinoma and L5178Y-ML25 lymphoma cells) was investigated in syngeneic mice. An intravenous (i.v.) administration of KML-C (20-50 ng/mouse) 2 days before tumor inoculation significantly inhibited lung metastases of both B16-BL6 and colon 26-M3.1 cells. The prophylactic effect of 50 ng/mouse of KML-C on lung metastasis was almost the same with that of 100 $\mu$ g/mouse of KM. Treatment with KML-C 1 day after tumor inoculation induced a significant inhibition of not only the experimental lung metastasis induced by B16-BL6 and colon 26M3.1 cells but also the liver and spleen metastasis of L5178Y-ML25 cells. Furthermore, multiple administration of KML-C given at 3 day-intervals after tumor inoculation led to a significant reduction of lung metastasis and suppression of the growth of B16-BL6 melanoma cells in a spontaneous metastasis model. In an assay for natural killer (NK) cell activity. i.v. administration of KML-C (50 ng/mouse) significantly augmented NK cytotoxicity against Yac-1 tumor cells 2 days after KML-C treatment. In addition, treatment with KML-C (50 ng/mouse) induced tumoricidal activity of peritoneal macrophages against B16-BL6 and 3LL cells. These results suggest that KML-C has an immunomodulating activity to enhance the host defense system against tumors, and that its prophylactic and therapeutic effect on tumor metastasis is associated with the activation of NK cells and macrophages.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.36-44
• /
• 2005

Background: The anti-tumor therapeutic effect of autologous tumor cell lysate pulseddendritic cells (DCs) was studied for non-immunogenic and immune suppressive lung cancer model. To test the possibility as an adjuvant therapy, minimal residual disease model was considered in mouse in vivo experiments. Methods: Syngeneic 3LL lung cancer cells were inoculated intravenously into the C57BL/6 mouse. Autologous tumor cell (3LL) or allogeneic leukemia cell (WEHI-3) lysate pulsed-DCs were injected twice in two weeks. Intraperitoneal DC injection was started one day (MRD model) after tumor cell inoculation. Two weeks after the final DC injection, tumor formation in the lung and the tumor-specific systemic immunity were observed. Tumor-specific lymphocyte proliferation and the IFN-${\gamma}$ secretion were analyzed for the immune monitoring. Therapeutic DCs were cultured from the bone marrow myeloid lineage cells with GM-CSF and IL-4 for 7 days and pulsed with tumor cell lysate for 18 hrs. Results: Compared to the saline treated group, tumor formation was suppressed in 3LL tumor cell lysate pulsed-DC treated group, while 3LL-specific immune stimulation was minimum. WEHI-3-specific immune stimulation occurred in WEHI-3 lysate-pulsed DC treated group, which had no correlation with tumor regression. Conclusion: The data suggest the possible anti-tumor effect of cultured DCs as an adjuvant therapy for minimal residual disease state of lung cancer. The significance of immune modulation in DC therapy including the possible involvement of NK cell as well as antigen-specific cytotoxic T cell activity induction was discussed.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.32 no.6
• /
• pp.530-535
• /
• 2015

An 11-year-old intact female miniature poodle presented with a four-month history of hemorrhagic effusion. The patient was alert on physical examination, although muffled heart sounds were noted upon auscultation of the right hemithorax. The radiographic finding was pleural effusion. Ultrasonography revealed cystic changes in both ovaries and several nodules in the liver. A refractory opacity in the right lung field, as visualized with computer tomography (CT), was diagnosed as right middle lung lobe torsion with a collapsed bronchus. Five days after diagnosis, a right fifth intercostal thoracotomy was performed to remove the right middle lung lobe; the right middle lung lobe was grossly shrunken as a result of chronic lung lobe torsion. Ovariohysterectomy was also performed. Histopathologic examination revealed papillary adenocarcinoma in both ovaries and suspected metastasized ovarian adenocarcinoma cells in the lung lobe. The patient recovered favorably and had been doing well up to two months post-surgery. However, after four months, the dog presented with respiratory difficulty. The radiographic findings were pleural effusion and collapse of the right cranial and left caudal lung lobes. Malignant cells of epithelial origin were observed in the pleural effusion. The tumor cells were suspected to be metastasized cells from the previously resected lung lobe. Although cancer treatment was recommended, the suggestion was suspended and the dog was discharged from hospital. This was a case of lung lobe torsion that had occurred because of hemorrhagic effusion due to tumor. Although ovariohysterectomy and lobectomy were performed, there was a relapse of hemorrhagic effusion because of metastasized tumor from the previously resected lung lobe.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.293-301
• /
• 2019

Combination chemotherapy is more effective than mono-chemotherapy and is widely used in clinical practice for enhanced cancer treatment. In this study, we investigated the potential synergistic effects of acetaminophen, a common component in many cold medicines, and romidepsin, a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, in the A549 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell line. The combination of acetaminophen and romidepsin also exerted significant cytotoxicity and apoptosis induced by activation of caspase-3 on tumor cells in vitro. Moreover, combination therapy significantly induced increased production of chemokines that stimulate migration of activated T-cells into tumor cells. This mechanism can lead to active T-cell mediated anti-tumor immunity in addition to the direct cytotoxic chemotherapeutic effect. Activated T-cells led to enhanced cytotoxicity in drug-treated A549 cells through interaction with tumor cells. These results suggested that the interaction between the two drugs is synergistic and significant. In conclusion, our data showed that the use of romidepsin and low concentrations acetaminophen could induce effective anti-tumor effects via enhanced tumor immune and direct cytotoxic chemotherapeutic responses. The combination of acetaminophen with romidepsin should be considered as a promising strategy for the treatment of lung cancer.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.269-278
• /
• 2019

Objectives: Naesohwangryeon-tang (NHT) is a type of traditional herbal formula, however, little is known about its antitumor activity. In this study, the antitumor properties of NHT was evaluated in human lung adenocarcinoma cells. Methods: To check the inhibitory effect of NHT, MTT assay was performed. Cell cycle analysis and detection of ROS production were conducted by flow cytometry. To evaluate the signaling pathway, Western blotting was conducted. Results: Our results showed that the decrease of cell proliferation by NHT stimulation occurred more significantly in A549 cells than in NCI-H460 cells. In addition, NHT-induced apoptosis was associated with the activation of caspases and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). NHT-induced apoptosis was attenuated after pretreatments with z-VAD-fmk or N-acetylcysteine, suggesting that NHT-induced apoptosis was caspaseand ROS-dependent. Interestingly, NHT treatment led to the development of autophagic vesicular organelles and upregulation of several autophagy-related genes. The pretreatment of bafilomycin A1 decreased apoptosis slightly but increased cell viability in the presence of NHT. Conclusion: These findings indicated that NHT induces both apoptosis and cell-protective autophagy in human lung cancer cells. This data suggests that NHT might be a novel herbal drug for lung cancer.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
• /
• 2003.05a
• /
• pp.107-107
• /
• 2003

The heavy metal cadmium is a xenobiotic toxicant of environmental and occupational concern and it has been classified as a human carcinogen. Inhalation of cadmium has been implicated in the development of emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis, but, the detailed mechanism by which cadmium induces adverse biological effects is not yet known. Therefore, we undertook the investigation of genes that are induced after cadmium exposure to illustrate the mechanism of cadmium toxicity For this purpose, we employed the polymerase chain reaction-based suppression subtractive hybridization technique. We identified 29 different cadmium-inducible genes in human peripheral mononuclear cells, such as macrophage migration inhibitory factor, lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase-${\alpha}$, enolase-1${\alpha}$, VEGF, Bax, neuron-derived orphan receptor-1, and Nur77, which are known to be associated with inflammation, cell survival, and apoptosis. Induction of these genes by cadmium treatment was further confirmed by semi-quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Further, we found that these genes were also induced after cadmium exposure in normal human lung fibroblast cell line, WI-38, suggesting potential use of this induction profile to monitor cadmium toxicity in the lung. Next, Nur77, one of cadmium-inducible genes, was further studied since the products of Nur77 are known to be involved in the apoptotic process of lung cells. Following cadmium treatment, Nur77 gene expression was increased at protein-level in A549 cells. Consistently, the reporter containing Nur77 binding sequence was activated by 2.5-fold after exposure to cadmium in reporter gene analysis by transient transfection experiments. When the plasmid encoding dominant negative Nur77 that represses the transcriptional function of wild-type Nur77 was transfected into A549 cells, the expression of Bax was significantly reduced, suggesting that induction of Nur77 was an important process in cadmium-induced apoptosis in the cells. Cadmium induced the expression of Nur77 in vivo, confirming the relevance of the data obtained in viro. Together our results suggest that Nur77 gene expression in exposure to cadmium leads apoptosis of lung cells which may cause pathological changes in lung.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.14
• /
• pp.6123-6128
• /
• 2015

Background: The aim of this study was to analyze the prognostic implications of pretreatment circulating endothelial cells (CECs) and circulating endothelial progenitor cells (CEPCs) for the survival of patients with lung cancer. Materials and Methods: Relevant literature was identified using Medline and EMBASE. Patient clinical characteristics, overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) together with CEC and CEPC positive rates before treatment were extracted. STATA 12.0 was used for our analysis and assessment of publication bias. Results: A total of 13 articles (8 for CEC and 5 for CEPC, n=595 and n=244) were pooled for the global meta-analysis. The odds ratio (OR) for OS predicted by pretreatment CECs was 1.641 [0.967, 2.786], while the OR for PFS was 1.168 [0.649, 2.100]. The OR for OS predicted by pretreatment CEPCs was 12.673 [5.274, 30.450], while the OR for PFS was 4.930 [0.931, 26.096]. Subgroup analyses were conducted according to clinical staging. Odds ratio (OR) showed the high level of pretreatment CECs only correlated with the OS of patients with advanced lung cancer (stage III-IV). Conclusions: High counts of CECs seem to be associated only with worse 1-year OS in patients with lung cancer, while high level of pretreatment CEPCs correlate with both worse PFS and OS.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.54 no.6
• /
• pp.460-465
• /
• 2021

Background: Metastasis and recurrence of primary cancer are the main causes of cancer mortality. Disseminated tumor cells refer to cancer cells that cause metastasis from primary cancer to other organs. Several recent studies have suggested that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are associated with the clinical stage, cancer recurrence, cancer metastasis, and prognosis. There are several methods of isolating CTCs from whole blood; in particular, using a membrane filtration system is advantageous due to its cost-effectiveness and availability in clinical settings. In this study, an animal model of lung cancer was established in nude mice using the human large cell lung cancer cell line H460. Methods: Six-week-old nude mice were used. The H460 lung cancer cell line was injected subcutaneously into the nude mice. Blood samples were obtained from the orbital area before cell line injection, 2 weeks after injection, and 2 weeks after tumor excision. Blood samples were filtered using a polycarbonate 12-well Transwell membrane (Corning Inc., Corning, NY, USA). An indirect immunofluorescence assay was performed with the epithelial cell adhesion molecule antibody. The number of stained cells was counted using fluorescence microscopy. Results: The average size of the tumor masses was 35.83 mm. The stained cells were counted before inoculation, 2 weeks after inoculation, and 2 weeks after tumor excision. Cancer cells generally increased after inoculation and decreased after tumor resection. Conclusion: The CTC detection method using the commercial polycarbonate 12-well Transwell (Corning Inc.) membrane is advantageous in terms of cost-effectiveness and convenience.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.613-615
• /
• 2012

The aim of this study was to ana1yze T-cell lymphoma invasion and metastasis-inducing factor 1 (Tiam1) expression in 1ung cancer patients. A total of 204 patients with lung cancer tissue lesions were enrolled in the present study, along with 40 cases of normal lung tissue and 40 of normal fetal lung tissue. Tiam1 protein expression level was determined using intensity quantitative analysis, for comparison in lung cancer, metastatic, normal lung, and fetal lung tissue. The positive unit (PU) of Tiam1 was $13.5{\pm}5.42$ in lung cancer,$5.67{\pm}1.56$ in norma1 epithelial cells, and $5.89{\pm}1.45$ in fetal lung epithelial cells. The value in the lung cancer tissue was significantly higher than that in the normal lung tissue and the fetal lung tissue (P<0.01). The Tiam1 PU values with lymph node metastasis and without 1ymph node metastasis were $15.2{\pm}4.34$ and $12.5{\pm}4.23$, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The Tiam1 PU values in different tumor, nodes, metastasis (TNM) stages, III-IV period, and I-II phase were $14.7{\pm}4.14$ and $11.0{\pm}5.34$ (P<0.05). A correlation was found between Tiam1 expression and the age of patient, tumor size, tumor type, and tumor differentiation. Tiam1 protein expression in the lung tumor tissue is significantly higher than that in the normal lung tissue and fetal lung tissue. Tiam1 expression may be closely related to lung cancer development and metastasis.

• CELLMED
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.9.1-9.10
• /
• 2013

In traditional systems of medicine including homeopathy, the Condurango extract (Con) is often used to cure stomach cancer mainly, without having any scientific validation of its anti-cancer ability. Con has therefore been tested against non-small-cell lung cancer cells (NSCLC) A549 and NCI-H522 (H522) known to contain the KRAS mutation, making them resistant to most chemotherapeutic agents. As cancer cells generally defy cytotoxicity developed by chemopreventive agents and escape cell death, any drug showing the capability of preferentially killing cancer cells through apoptosis is worth consideration for judicious application. A549 and H522 cells were exposed to $0.35{\mu}g/{\mu}l$ and $0.25{\mu}g/{\mu}l$ of Con, respectively, for 48 h and analysed based on various protocols associated with apoptosis and DNA damage, such as MTT assay to determine cell viability, LDH assay, DNA fragmentation assay, comet assay, and microscopical examinations of DNA binding fluorescence stains like DAPI, Hoechst 33258 and acridine orange/ethidium bromide to determine the extent of DNA damage made in drug-treated and untreated cells and the results compared. Changes in mitochondrial membrane potential and the generation of reactive oxygen species were also documented through standard techniques. Con killed almost 50% of the cancer cells but spared normal cells significantly. Fluorescence studies revealed increased DNA nick formation and depolarized membrane potentials after drug treatment in both cell types. Caspase-3 expression levels confirmed the apoptosis-inducing potential of Con in both the NSCLC lines. Thus, overall results suggest considerable anticancer potential of Con against NSCLC in vitro, validating its use against lung cancer by practitioners of traditional medicine including homeopathy.