• Toxicological Research
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.361-369
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• 2019

1,2-Dichloropropane (1,2-DCP) has been used as an industrial solvent and a chemical intermediate, as well as in soil fumigants. Human exposure may occur during its production and industrial use. The target organs of 1,2-DCP are the eyes, respiratory system, liver, kidneys, central nervous system, and skin. Repeated or prolonged contact may cause skin sensitization. In this study, 1,2-DCP was dissolved in corn oil at 0, 2.73, 5.75, and 8.75 mL/kg. The skin of mice treated with 1,2-DCP was investigated using western blotting, hematoxylin and eosin staining, and immunohistochemistry. 1,2-DCP was applied to the dorsal skin and both ears of C57BL/6J mice. The thickness of ears and the epidermis increased significantly following treatment, and the appearance of blood vessels was observed in the dorsal skin. Additionally, the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor, which is tightly associated with neovascularization, increased significantly. The levels of protein kinase-B (PKB), phosphorylated PKB, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and phosphorylated mTOR, all of which are key components of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/PKB/mTOR signaling pathway, were also enhanced. Taken together, 1,2-DCP induced angiogenesis in dermatitis through the PI3K/PKB/mTOR pathway in the skin.

• 한국식품영양과학회지
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• 제45권9호
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• pp.1257-1264
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• 2016

개똥쑥은 예로부터 항암, 항바이러스 및 항균의 효능을 지니는 것으로 알려져 왔지만 작용 기작에 대한 내용이 많이 알려지지 않았다. 본 연구에서는 AGS 인체 위암 세포를 대상으로 개똥쑥 추출물(AAE)에 의한 apoptosis 효과와 신호경로 연구를 시행하였다. AAE의 암세포 성장에 미치는 영향을 확인하기 위하여 AGS cell에 AAE를 처리하고 MTT assay와 LDH assay를 수행한 결과 AAE 농도 의존적으로 나타난 세포 성장 억제가 세포 손상에 의한 것임을 확인하였다. 또한, AAE에 의한 암세포 증식 억제 효과가 apoptosis에 의한 것인지 확인하기 위하여 Hoechst 33342 staining과 Annexin V-PI staining을 수행한 결과, Hoechst 33342 staining에서 apoptotic body와 세포질 응축이 농도 의존적으로 증가하는 것을 확인하였고, Annexin V-PI staining에서 apoptotic cells의 변화가 농도 의존적으로 증가함을 확인하였다. Western blotting의 결과 AAE가 농도 의존적으로 세포 생장에 관여하는 신호 단백질인 p-Akt, p-TSC2, p-mTOR, p-GSK-$3{\beta}$의 발현이 감소함을 확인하였고, anti-apoptotic 단백질인 Bcl-2의 발현이 억제됨으로써 proapoptotic 단백질인 Bax, Bak의 발현이 증가하는 일련의 신호경로를 조절할 수 있다는 것을 확인하였다. 미토콘드리아 막 전위의 탈분극 유도를 확인하기 위한 JC-1 assay 수행 결과, AAE 농도 의존적으로 미토콘드리아 막 전위의 탈분극이 유도됨을 확인하였다. 탈분극에 의한 caspase 활성을 확인하기 위해 caspase-3/7 activity assay를 수행한 결과, AAE 농도 의존적으로 caspase activity 증가를 확인하였다. 또한, apoptosis가 일어나는 일련의 신호경로를 확인하기 위해 apoptosis 상위 단백질인 Akt, mTOR, GSK-$3{\beta}$의 활성을 억제하는 LY294002, Rapamycin, BIO를 각각 AGS cell에 처리하고 세포증식에 미치는 영향과 신호 단백질의 발현 양상을 알아보기 위해 MTT assay, LDH assay, western blotting을 수행하였다. 그 결과 AAE와 LY294002, Rapamycin 처리군에서 세포증식 억제와 LDH 방출량 증가뿐만 아니라 세포 생장 신호 단백질인 p-mTOR, p-TSC2, p-Akt, p-GSK-$3{\beta}$의 발현이 감소하는 것을 확인하였고, Bcl-2의 발현이 억제됨으로써 Bax와 Bak의 발현을 증가시키는 신호경로를 조절할 수 있다는 것을 확인하였다. 따라서 AGS cell에 개똥쑥 추출물을 처리하였을 때 유도되는 apoptosis 효과는 Akt/mTOR/GSK-$3{\beta}$ 경로 활성 억제를 통해 Bcl-2 발현이 감소함에 따라 Bax, Bak를 활성화해 세포질로의 cytochrome C 유리에 따른 caspase 활성으로 이루어진다는 것을 알 수 있었다.

• 한국미생물·생명공학회지
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.272-277
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• 2007

P. pastoris는 대장균에 비해 정확한 접힘, 당화, 효율적인 분비기작등의 장점을 가지고 있어 재조합 단백질의 생산을 위한 균주로서 관심을 받고 있다. 또한 재조합 단백질의 효율적인 생산공정 개발을 위하여 배양공정 중 특정 시간이나 조건에서 발현될 수 있는 효율적인 유도성 프로모터의 개발도 중요 관심 분야이다. 본 연구에서는 연속배양을 이용하여 P. pastoris의 배양 중 특정 기질이 소모되었을 때 발현되는 자동 유도성 프로모터를 개발하기 위하여, 인산이 고갈되었을 때 과발현 되는 유전자들을 탐색하였다. 인산 제한 연속배양의 정상상태에서 얻어진 균체로 부터 total RNA와 mRNA를 분리하였고, 이로부터 cDN를 합성하여 인산제한조건에서 과발현되는 유전자들을 확보하였다. 그 중 빈도수가 높은 8종의 유전자 3-phosphoglycerate kinase, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase(GAPDH), glucokinase, thiol-specific antioxidant protein, triosephosphate isomerase, sodium/phosphate symporter(NPS) 그리고 pyruvate decarboxylase를 선별하였고, Northern blot analysis를 수행한 결과 인산 섭취에 관련된 NPS 유전자가 인산제한조건에서 과발현 됨을 확인하였다. 본 연구실에서는 자동유도성 프로모터로서 NPS유래의 프로모터의 잠재성을 알아보기 위하여, 관련 유전자를 확보하여 외래 유전자를 이용한 발현연구를 진행 중이다.

• 한국응용약물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국응용약물학회 2001년도 추계학술대회 및 정기총회
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• pp.100-100
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• 2001

Hypoxia is a pathophysiological condition that occurs during injury, ischemia, and stroke. Hypoxic stress induces the expression of genes associated with increased energy flux, including the glucose transporters Glutl and Glut3, several glycolytic enzymes, nitric oxide synthase, erythropoietin and vascular endothelial growth factor. Induction of these genes is mediated by a common basic helix-loop-helix PAS transcription complex, the hypoxia-inducible factor-l${\alpha}$ (HIF-1${\alpha}$)/ aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT). Insulin plays a central role in regulating metabolic pathways associated with energy storage and utilization. It triggers the conversion of glucose into glycogen and triglycerides and inhibits gluconeogenesis. Insulin also induced hypoxia-induced genes. However the underlying mechanism is unestablished. Here, we study the possibility that transcription factor HIF-1${\alpha}$ is involved in insulin-induced gene expression. We investigate the mechanism that regulates hypoxia-inducible gene expression In response to insulin We demonstrate that insulin increases the transcription of hypoxia- inducible gene. Insulin-induced transcription is not detected in Arnt defective cell lines. Under hypoxic condition, HIF- l${\alpha}$ stabilizes but does not under insulin treatment. Insulin-induced gene expression is inhibited by presence of PI-3 kinase inhibitor and Akt dominant negative mutant, whereas hypoxia-induced gene expression is not. ROS inhibitor differently affects insulin-induced gene expressions and hypoxia-induced gene expressions. Our results demonstrate that insulin also regulates hypoxia-inducible gene expression and this process is dependent on Arnt. However we suggest HIF-l${\alpha}$ is not involved insulin-induced gene expression and insulin- and hypoxia- induces same target genes via different signaling pathway.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.36-43
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• 2008

Radiotherapy would be the choice of treatment for human cancers, because of high cost-effectiveness. However, a certain population of patients shows a resistance to radiotherapy and recurrence. In an effort to increase the efficacy of radiotherapy, many efforts were driven to find the genes causing the unresponsiveness to ionizing radiation. In this paper, we compared the gene expression profiles of two lung cancer cell lines, H460 and H1299, which showed differential responses to ionizing radiations. Each cell were irradiated at 2 Gy, and harvested after 0, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 hours to examine the expressions. Two-way ANOVA analysis on time-series experiments of two cells could select 2863 genes differentially expressed upon ionizing radiation among 32,321 genes in microarray (p<0.05). We classified these genes into 21 clusters by SOM clustering according to the interaction between cell types and time. Two SOM clusters were enriched with apoptosis-related genes in pathway analysis. One cluster contained higher levels of phosphatidyl inositol 3-phosphate kinase (PI3K) subunits in H1299, radio-resistant cells than H460, radiosensitive cells. TRAIL receptors were expressed in H460 cells while the decoy receptor for TRAIL was expressed in H1299 cells. From these results, we could characterize the differential responsiveness to ionizing radiation according to their differential expressions of apoptosis-related genes, which might be the candidates to increase the power of radiotherapy.

• BMB Reports
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• 제34권6호
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• pp.537-543
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• 2001

In the present study, an in vitro ELISA system to assess the interaction between Src homology (SH)2 domains and phosphotyrosine that contain peptides was established using purified GST-conjugated SH2 proteins and synthetic biotinylated phosphotyrosine that contain oligopeptides. The SH2 domains bound the relevant phosphopeptides that were immobilized in the streptavidin-coated microtiter plate in a highly specific and dose-dependent manner. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-, T antigen (T Ag)-, and platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR)-derived phosphopeptides interacted with the growth factor receptor binding protein (Grb)2/SH2, Lck/SH2, and phosphatidyl inositol 3-kinase (PI3K) p85/SH2, respectively. No cross-reactions were observed. Competitive inhibition experiments showed that a short phosphopeptide of only four amino acids was long enough to determine the binding specificity. Optimal concentrations of the GST-SH2 fusion protein and phosphopeptide in this new ELISA system for screening the binding blockers were chosen at 2nM and 500nM, respectively. When two candidate compounds were tested in our ELISA system, they specifically inhibited the Lck/SH2 and/or p85/SH2 binding to the relevant phosphopeptides. Our results indicate that this ELISA system could be used as an easy screening method for the discovery of specific binding blockers of protein-protein interactions via SH2 domains.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.224-231
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• 2007

$H_2O_2$, as an example of oxidative stress, induces cardiac myocyte apoptosis. Bcl-2 family proteins are key regulators of the apoptotic response while their functions can be regulated by post-translational modifications including phosphorylation, dimerization or proteolytic cleavage. In this study, we examined the role of various protein kinases in regulating total BAD protein levels in adult rat cardiac myocytes undergoing apoptosis. Stimulation with 0.1 mM $H_2O_2$, which induces apoptosis, resulted in a marked down-regulation of BAD protein, which is attributed to cleavage by caspases since it can be restored in the presence of a general caspase inhibitor. Inhibition of PKC, p38-MAPK, ERK1/2 and PI-3-K did not influence the reduced BAD protein levels observed after stimulation with $H_2O_2$. On the contrary, inhibition of PKA or specifically $PKC{\delta}$ resulted in up-regulation of BAD. Decreased caspase 3 activity was observed in $H_2O_2$ treated cells after inhibition of PKA or $PKC{\delta}$ whereas inhibition of PKA also resulted in improved cell survival. Furthermore, addition of okadaic acid to inhibit selected phosphatases resulted in enhanced BAD cleavage. These data suggest that, during oxidative stress-induced cardiac myocyte apoptosis, there is a caspase-dependent down-regulation of BAD protein, which seems to be regulated by coordinated action of PKA, $PKC{\delta}$ and phosphatases.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제38권2호
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• pp.163-170
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• 2015

Lipoteichoic acid (LTA) is a major component of the cell wall of Gram-positive bacteria. Its effects on living organisms are different from those of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) found in Gram-negative bacteria. LTA contributes to immune regulatory effects including anti-aging. In this study, we showed that LTA isolated from Lactobacillus plantarum (pLTA) inhibited melanogenesis in B16F10 mouse melanoma cells. pLTA reduced the cellular activity of tyrosinase and the expression of tyrosinase family members in a dose-dependent manner. The expression of microphthalmia- associated transcription factor (MITF), a key factor in the synthesis of melanin, was also decreased by pLTA. Further, we showed that pLTA activated melanogenesis signaling, such as extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinse (PI3K)/AKT. In addition, the expression of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 (hnRNP A1) and HuR, which are important RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), was reduced. pLTA likely degrades MITF via regulation of melanogenic signaling and RNA stability of melanogenic proteins, resulting in the reduction of melanin. Thus, our data suggest that pLTA has therapeutic potential for treating hyperpigmentation disorders and can also be used as a cosmetic whitening agent.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• 제43권1호
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• pp.95-104
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• 2019

Background: Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) causes vascular endothelial cell inflammatory response and apoptosis and plays an important role in the development and progression of atherosclerosis. Ginsenoside compound K (CK), a metabolite produced by the hydrolysis of ginsenoside Rb1, possesses strong anti-inflammatory effects. However, whether or not CK protects ox-LDL-damaged endothelial cells and the potential mechanisms have not been elucidated. Methods: In our study, cell viability was tested using a 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2yl-)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Expression levels of interleukin-6, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$, intercellular adhesion molecule-1, and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blotting. Mitochondrial membrane potential (${\Delta}{\Psi}m$) was detected using JC-1. The cell apoptotic percentage was measured by the Annexin V/ propidium iodide (PI) assay, lactate dehydrogenase, and caspase-3 expression. Apoptosis-related proteins, nuclear factor $(NF)-{\kappa}B$, and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) signaling pathways protein expression were quantified by Western blotting. Results: Our results demonstrated that CK could ameliorate ox-LDL-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) inflammation and apoptosis, $NF-{\kappa}B$ nuclear translocation, and the phosphorylation of p38 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). Moreover, anisomycin, an activator of p38 and JNK, significantly abolished the anti-apoptotic effects of CK. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that CK prevents ox-LDL-induced HUVECs inflammation and apoptosis through inhibiting the $NF-{\kappa}B$, p38, and JNK MAPK signaling pathways. Thus, CK is a candidate drug for atherosclerosis treatment.

• Animal Bioscience
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.61-73
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• 2024

Objective: The main objective of this study was to define molecular mechanisms associated with thermal stress responses of chickens from commercial broilers (BR, Ross 308), Thai native chickens (NT) and crossbreeds between BR×NT (H75). Methods: Twenty days before reaching specific market age, chickens from each breed were divided into control and thermal-stressed groups. The stressed groups were exposed to a cyclic thermal challenge (35℃±1℃ for 6 h, followed by 26℃±1℃ for 18 h) for 20 days. Control group was raised under a constant temperature of 26℃±1℃. Pectoralis major (n = 4) from each group was collected for transcriptome analysis using HiSeq Illumina and analysis of glycogen and lactate. Gene expression patterns between control and thermal-stressed groups were compared within the same breeds. Results: Differentially expressed transcripts of 65, 59, and 246 transcripts for BR, NT, and H75, respectively, were revealed by RNA-Seq and recognized by Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes database. Pathway analysis underlined altered glucose homeostasis and protein metabolisms in all breeds. The signals centered around phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling, focal adhesion, and MAPK signaling in all breeds with slight differences in molecular signal transduction patterns among the breeds. An extensive apoptosis was underlined for BR. Roles of AMPK, MAPK signaling and regulation of actin cytoskeleton in adaptive response were suggested for H75 and NT chickens. Lower glycogen content was observed in the breast muscles of BR and NT (p<0.01) compared to their control counterparts. Only BR muscle exhibited increased lactate (p<0.01) upon exposure to the stress. Conclusion: The results provided a better comprehension regarding the associated biological pathways in response to the cyclic thermal stress in each breed and in chickens with different growth rates.