• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.123-128
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• 2008

Glehnia littoralis (Umbelliferae), a perennial herb distributed along the coastline of northern Pacific countries, is the medicinal plant used traditionally for treatment of various diseases. This review focuses on the various pharmacological activities of Glehnia littoralis for understanding about its traditional medicinal applications, medicinal uses in the modern society, and potentials for drug development Glehnia littoralis was reported to have anti-oxidant, anti-tumor, anti-amnesic, blood circulation-promoting, immunomodulatory, anti-microbial, and allelopathic activities. However, their mechanisms remain to be clarified. Because Glehnia littoralis has been prescribed in traditional Oriental medicine as a tonic herb, Glehnia littoralis can be better than other chemical drugs and medicines which exert the equal pharmacological activities. Although the activities of Glehnia littoralis are not specifically high-potent with unique mode of action, it may turn out that it can be beneficial to exert multiple pharmacological activities. In view of low toxicity, relative cheapness, presence in the diet, and occurrence in various herbal remedies of Glehnia littoralis, it needs to be prudent to evaluate its properties and applications further.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.237-250
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• 2018

Objectives : This study is a pharmacological network approach, aimed to identify the potential active compounds contained in Curcumae Radix, and their associated targets, to predict the various bio-reactions involved, and finally to establish the cornerstone for the deep-depth study of the representative mechanisms. Methods : The active compounds of Curcumae Radix have been identified using Traditional Chinese Medicine System Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform. The UniProt database was used to collect each of information of all target proteins associated with the active compounds. To find the bio-metabolic processes associated with each target, the DAVID6.8 Gene Functional classifier tool was used. Compound-Target and Target-Pathway networks were analyzed via Cytoscape 3.40. Results : The target information from 32 potential active compounds of Curcumae Radix was collected through TCMSP analysis. The active compounds interact with 133 target genes engaging in total of 885 biological pathways. The most relevant pathway was the lipid-related metabolism, in which 3 representative active compounds were naringenin, oleic acid, and ${\beta}-sitosterol$. The mostly targeted proteins in the lipid pathway were ApoB, AKT1 and PPAR. Conclusions : The pharmacological network analysis is convenient approach to predict the overall metabolic mechanisms in medicinal herb research, which can reduce the processes of various experimental trial and error and provide key clues that can be used to validate and experimentally verify the core compounds.

• BMB Reports
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.335-340
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• 2020

Since cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide, there is an urgent need to understand the mechanisms underlying cancer progression and the development of cancer inhibitors. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is a major transcription factor that regulates the proliferation and survival of various cancer cells. Here, dual-specificity phosphatase 3 (DUSP3) was identified as a regulator of STAT3 based on an interaction screening performed using the protein tyrosine phosphatase library. DUSP3 interacted with the C-terminal domain of STAT3 and dephosphorylated p-Y705 of STAT3. In vitro dephosphorylation assay revealed that DUSP3 directly dephosphorylated p-STAT3. The suppressive effects of DUSP3 on STAT3 were evaluated by a decreased STAT3-specific promoter activity, which in turn reduced the expression of the downstream target genes of STAT3. In summary, DUSP3 downregulated the transcriptional activity of STAT3 via dephosphorylation at Y705 and also suppressed the migratory activity of cancer cells. This study demonstrated that DUSP3 inhibits interleukin 6 (IL-6)/STAT3 signaling and is expected to regulate cancer development. Novel functions of DUSP3 discovered in IL-6/STAT3 signaling regulation would help expand the understanding of cancer development mechanisms.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.361-367
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• 2019

Panax ginseng, known as Koran ginseng, one of the most commonly used traditional plants, has been demonstrated to show a wide range of pharmacological applications. Ginsenosides are the major active ingredients found in ginseng and are responsible for the biological and pharmacological activities, such as antioxidation, antiinflammation, vasorelaxation, and anticancer actions. Existing studies have mostly focused on identifying and purifying single ginsenosides and investigating pharmacological activities and molecular mechanisms in cells and animal models. However, ginsenoside studies based on clinical trials have been very limited. Therefore, this review aimed to discuss the currently available clinical trials on ginsenosides and provide insights and future directions for developing ginsenosides as efficacious and safe drugs for human disease.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2022

Kidney disease is becoming a global public health issue. Acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) have serious adverse health outcomes. However, there is no effective therapy to treat these diseases. Lactoferrin (LF), a multi-functional glycoprotein, is protective against various pathophysiological conditions in various disease models. LF shows protective effects against AKI and CKD. LF reduces markers related to inflammation, oxidative stress, apoptosis, and kidney fibrosis, and induces autophagy and mitochondrial biogenesis in the kidney. Although there are no clinical trials of LF to treat kidney disease, several clinical trials and studies on LF-based drug development are ongoing. In this review, we discussed the possible kidney protective mechanisms of LF, as well as the pharmacological and therapeutic advances. The evidence suggests that LF may become a potent pharmacological agent to treat kidney diseases.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.122-128
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• 2024

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a chronic liver disease characterized by hepatic fat accumulation, while nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is an advanced form of NAFLD characterized by hepatic inflammation, fibrosis, and liver injury, resulting in liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Given the evidence that ginseng and its major bioactive components, ginsenosides, have potent anti-adipogenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, and anti-fibrogenic effects, the pharmacological effect of ginseng and ginsenosides on NAFLD and NASH is noteworthy. Furthermore, numerous studies have successfully demonstrated the protective effect of ginseng on these diseases, as well as the underlying mechanisms in animal disease models and cells, such as hepatocytes and macrophages. This review discusses recent studies that explore the pharmacological roles of ginseng and ginsenosides in NAFLD and NASH and highlights their potential as agents to prevent and treat NAFLD, NASH, and liver diseases caused by hepatic steatosis and inflammation.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2008

Immunity is responsible for the defense mechanism of the body but in case of autoimmune diseases, its role gets diverted. Like so many other diseases, asthma is also considered as one of the most common autoimmune diseases to be occurring in community. Asthma is defined as a chronic inflammatory airway disease that is characterized by airway hyper reactivity and mucus hypersecretion that result in intermittent airway obstruction. The incidence of allergic asthma has almost doubled in the past two decades. Although, precise causative mechanism of asthma is unknown, but several mechanisms have been proposed that is immunological, pharmacological and genetic mechanisms, and airway and neurogenic inflammation. The inflammatory process observed in the asthmatic patients is the final result of a complex network of interactions between various immunological cell lineages, its mediators and secreted substances. Thus, among the mechanisms proposed, the immunological one plays a key role. Through this article, we have tried to provide some insight into immunological mechanisms in pathogenesis of asthma.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.307-312
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• 2013

Quetiapine is an atypical or second-generation antipsychotic agent and has been a subject of a series of case report and suggested to have the potential for misuse or abuse. However, it is not a controlled substance and is not generally considered addictive. In this study, we examined quetiapine's dependence potential and abuse liability through animal behavioral tests using rodents to study the mechanism of quetiapine. Molecular biology techniques were also used to find out the action mechanisms of the drug. In the animal behavioral tests, quetiapine did not show any positive effect on the experimental animals in the climbing, jumping, and conditioned place preference tests. However, in the head twitch and self-administration tests, the experimental animals showed significant positive responses. In addition, the action mechanism of quetiapine was found being related to dopamine and serotonin release. These results demonstrate that quetiapine affects the neurological systems related to abuse liability and has the potential to lead psychological dependence, as well.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.343-349
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• 2018

Although drugs such as barbiturates and benzodiazepines are often used for the treatment of insomnia, they are associated with various side effects such as habituations, tolerance and addiction. Alternatively, natural products with minimal unwanted effects have been preferred for the treatment of acute and/or mild insomnia, with additional benefits of overall health-promotion. Basic and clinical researches on the mechanisms of action of natural products have been carried out so far in insomnia treatments. Recent studies have been focusing on diverse chemical components available in natural products, with an interest of developing drugs that can improve sleep duration and quality. In the last 15 years, our co-workers have been actively looking for candidate substances from natural products that can relieve insomnia. This review is, therefore, intended to bring pharmacological data regarding to the effects of natural products on sleep duration and quality, mainly through the activation of $GABA_A$ receptors. It is imperative that phytochemicals will provide useful information during electroencephalography (EEG) analysis and serve as an alternative medications for insomnia patients who are reluctant to use conventional drugs.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.22-31
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• 2021

Atherosclerosis (AS) is a leading cause of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and it results in a high rate of death worldwide, with an increased prevalence with age despite advances in lifestyle management and drug therapy. Atherosclerosis is a chronic progressive inflammatory process, and it mainly presents with lipid accumulation, foam cell proliferation, inflammatory response, atherosclerotic plaque formation and rupture, thrombosis, and vascular calcification. Therefore, there is a great need for reliable therapeutic drugs or remedies to cure or alleviate atherosclerosis and reduce the societal burden. Ginsenosides are natural steroid glycosides and triterpene saponins obtained mainly from the plant ginseng. Several recent studies have reported that ginsenosides have a variety of pharmacological activities against several diseases including inflammation, cancer and cardiovascular diseases. This review focuses on describing the different pharmacological functions and underlying mechanisms of various active ginsenosides (Rb1,-Rd, -F, -Rg1, -Rg2, and -Rg3, and compound K) for atherosclerosis, which could provide useful insights for developing novel and effective anti-cardiovascular drugs.