• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2013

Elevated blood triglyceride (TG) levels correlate with development of atherosclerosis suggesting that TG may promote the development of this disease. During atherosclerosis, TG is taken up by tissue macrophages which result in dramatic changes in various secreted factors. One such factor is the family of matrix metalloproteases (MMP) which are involved in tissue remodeling during both physiological and pathological processes. In this study, we examined the MMP expression profile in PMA-differentiated THP-1 macrophages treated with TG. We found that TG-treated THP-1 macrophages showed decreased expression of MMP-3, MMP-7, MMP-8 and MMP-9 in a time- and dose-dependent manner. In contrast, expression of MMP-1, MMP-2, and MMP-10 remained relatively unchanged after TG treatment. In addition, we found that expression of select MMPs was affected by various inhibitors of signaling pathways. In particular, expression of MMP-3 was slightly recovered by cRAF and PLC signaling pathway inhibitors. These data suggests a possible role of MMPs in macrophages during TG-induced atherosclerosis.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.684-694
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• 2018

This study describes the successful establishment of a cryopreservation protocol for Citrus limon cultivars: 'Frost Eureka limon' and 'Cook Eureka limon', using a droplet-vitrification method. The shoot tips that were excised from in vitro grown seedlings of the two cultivars were preserved in liquid nitrogen (LN) and successfully regenerated into whole plants. Excised shoot tips were pre-cultured for 1 or 2 days in 0.3 M and 0.5 M sucrose solutions at $25^{\circ}C$ and incubated in a loading solution (LS) composed of 17.5% glycerol + 17.5% sucrose in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium for 40 min at $25^{\circ}C$. Prior to direct immersion in LN for 1 h, the shoot tips were dehydrated with plant vitrification solution 2 (PVS2) at $0^{\circ}C$ or PVS3 at $25^{\circ}C$. The frozen shoot tips were re-warmed and unloaded with 1.2 M sucrose in $\text\tiny{^1/_2}$ MS for 30 min at $25^{\circ}C$. Shoot tips were post-cultured overnight on survival medium and then micrografted onto 'trifoliate orange' (Poncirus trifoliate (L.) Raf. seedling rootstocks for recovery and to produce whole plants. The highest regrowth rates were 53.5% and 50.3% for cryopreserved shoot tips of 'Frost Eureka limon' and 'Cook Eureka limon', respectively, when pre-cultured in 0.3 M and 0.5 M sucrose concentrations in a sequencing manner, with LS and treated with PVS2 for 60 min at $0^{\circ}C$. We also investigated whether the ammonium ion concentration on post-culture medium affected the viability of the cryopreserved Citrus shoot tips. The viability of cooled samples, following culturing on woody plant media (WPM) containing $\text\tiny{^1/_4}$ ammonium nitrate overnight before micrografting, was the highest (70.3%) in 'Frost Eureka limon'. The study described here is a cost-effective and safe method to conserve Citrus fruit cultivars, for the improvement and large-scale multiplication of fruit plants and for breeding disease resistance.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2016

Molecular targeting for the altered signaling pathways has been proven to be effective for the treatment of many types of human cancer, including colorectal cancer (CRC). The dual phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor BEZ235 has shown to exhibit potent antitumor activity against solid tumors. Autophagy is a cellular lysosomal catabolic process to maintain metabolic homeostasis, which has been known to be induced in response to many therapeutic agents in cancer cells. This process is negatively regulated by mTOR and often acts as prosurvival or prodeath mechanism following cancer therapeutics. The current study was designed to investigate the antiproliferation activity of BEZ235 and to evaluate the role of autophagy induced by BEZ235 using HCT15 CRC cells bearing ras oncogene mutation. We found that BEZ235 decreases cell viability, which was mostly dependent on $G_1$ arrest of cell cycle via suppression of cyclin A expression. BEZ235 affects PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway by increasing the phosphorylation of AKT at $Ser^{473}$ and RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway by decreasing the phosphorylation of ERK at $Tyr^{204}$. BEZ235 also stimulated autophagy induction as evidenced by the increased expression of LC3-II and abundant acidic vesicular organelles (AVOs) in the cytoplasm. In addition, the combination of BEZ235 with autophagy inhibitor chloroquine, a known antagonist of autophagy, counteracted the antiproliferation effect of BEZ235. Thus, our study indicates that autophagy induced in response to BEZ235 treatment appears to act as cell death mechanism in HCT15 CRC cells.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.101-115
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• 2001

Objective : To characterize the antitumorigenic potential of Apamin, one of the major components of bee venom, its effects on cell proliferation and the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signal transduction pathway were characterized using the human melanoma cell line SK-MEL-2. Methods & Results : Cell counting analysis for cell death demonstrated that consistent with a previous results, SK-MEL-2 cells treated with $0.5-2.0{\mu}g/ml$ of Apamin showed no recognizable cytotoxic effect whereas detectable induction of cell death was identified at concentrations over $5.0{\mu}g/ml$. [3H]thymidine incorporation assay for cell proliferation demonstrated that DNA replication of SK-MEL-2 cells is inhibited by Apamin in a dose- and time-dependent manner. To explore whether Apamin-induced growth suppression is associated with the MAPK signaling pathway, phosphorylation of Erk, a function mediator of MAPK growth-stimulating signal, was examined Western blot assay using a phospho-specific Erkl/2 antibody. A significant increase of Erkl/2 phosphorylation level was observed in Apamin-treated cells compared with untreated control cells. Qantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed that Apamin inhibit expression of MAPK downstream genes such as c-Jun, c-Fos, and cyclin D1 but not expression of MAPK pathway component genes including Ha-Ras, c-Raf-1, MEK1, and Erk. Conclusion : It is strongly suggested that the antitumorigenic activity of Apamin might result in part from its inhibitory effect on the MAPK signaling pathway in human melanoma cells SK-MEL-2.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.11 no.1_2
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• pp.1-10
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• 1996

A decrease in stratospheric ozone probably caused by chloroflurocarbons (CFCs) emissions, has been observed large parts of-the globe. It is generally accepted that if ozone levels in the stratosphere are depleted, greater amounts of shortwave ultraviolet radiationB (UVB) will reach the earth's surface, resulting in increased incidence of nonmelanoma skin cancer. In this study, we evaluated several mathematical models, such as a power and an exponential model, and a geometric model considering the surface area of a human body part and ages for the prediction of Skin cancer incidence caused by exposure to the UVB radiation. These models basically estimated the risk of skin cancer based on those measurements of the local ozone in stratosphere and UVB. Both were measured at a part of Seoul with a Dobson ozone spectrometer and Robertson-Berger UV Biometer for 1995. As a result, we calculated the point estimation applying a biological amplification factor (BAF), UVB radiation and other factors. We used a Monte-Carlo simulation technique with assumption on the distribution of each considered factor. The sensitivity analysis of model by there components conducted using Gaussian sensitivity method. The annual integral of UVB radiation was 2275 MED (minimal erythema dose)/yr. Also, an estimate of the annual amount of UVB reaching the earth's surface at a korea's latitude and altitude was 3328 MED/yr. The values of the radiation amplification factor (RAF) were ranged from 0.9 to 1.5 in Seoul. To give the effective factors required to model the prediction of skin cancer incidence caused by exposure to the UVB radiation in Korea, we studied the pros and cons of above mentioned models with the application of those parameters measured in Seoul, Korea.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.57-64
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• 2009

This study was carried out to investigate expression of apoptosis-related differentially expressed gene (DEG) in ovaries of Korean cattle with follicular and luteal cysts and to identify the relationship between cyst and apoptosis using microarray, real-time PCR, TUNEL staining, and Western blot analysis. Microarray data showed that PIK3R2 and AKT1 were significantly up-regulated in follicular cyst, and TNF-RAF2, PRLR, FOXL2, STK4, and COL4A3 were up-regulated whereas INHA, CIDEB, BCL10, and FASLG were down-regulated in luteal cyst. Real-time PCR was performed to validate DEGs altered in luteal cyst. Of nine DEGs, four DEGs down-regulated in luteal cyst showed a positive corelation between microarray data and real-time PCR data. In this study, we focused on INHA, among many DEGs, which was highly down-regulated in both follicular and luteal cysts. Real-time PCR and micro array data showed that INHA was down-regulated by 12.3-fold and by 1.4-fold, respectively, in the bovine follicular cyst. TUNEL assay and Western blot analysis for ERK, JNK, p38, PI3K, and Akt, which were used to detect whether apoptosis is occurred, showed no significant changes in cystic ovaries (p>0.05). In the expression and activity of caspase-3, Bax, Bel-2, and Bel-xL, there was no significant changes between follicular cystic ovary and normal ovary. Rather, the expression levels of PI3K and p-Akt were decreased in follicular cystic ovary. These results suggest that deficiency of apoptosis in cystic ovary is associated with decreased expression of apoptotic effectors.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5599-5603
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• 2012

Background: The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a potential therapeutic target for breast cancer treatment; however, its use does not lead to a marked clinical response. Studies of non-small cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer showed that mutations of genes in the PIK3CA/AKT and RAS/RAF/MEK pathways, two major signalling cascades downstream of EGFR, might predict resistance to EGFR-targeted agents. Therefore, we examined the frequencies of mutations in these key EGFR pathway genes in Chinese breast cancer patients. Methods: We used a high-throughput mass-spectrometric based cancer gene mutation profiling platform to detect 22 mutations of the PIK3CA, AKT1, BRAF, EGFR, HRAS, and KRAS genes in 120 Chinese women with breast cancer. Results: Thirteen mutations were detected in 12 (10%) of the samples, all of which were invasive ductal carcinomas (two stage I, six stage II, three stage III, and one stage IV). These included one mutation (0.83%) in the EGFR gene (rs121913445-rs121913432), three (2.50%) in the KRAS gene (rs121913530, rs112445441), and nine (7.50%) in the PIK3CA gene (rs121913273, rs104886003, and rs121913279). No mutations were found in the AKT1, BRAF, and HRAS genes. Six (27.27%) of the 22 genotyping assays called mutations in at least one sample and three (50%) of the six assays queried were found to be mutated more than once. Conclusions: Mutations in the EGFR pathway occurred in a small fraction of Chinese breast cancers. However, therapeutics targeting these potential predictive markers should be investigated in depth, especially in Oriental populations.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.288-293
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• 2014

The present study was conducted to evaluate the hair growth-promoting effect of Clitocybin A from mushroom Clitocybe aurantiaca with dermal papilla cells (DPCs), which play important roles in the regulation of hair cycle. Clitocybin A significantly increased the proliferation of immortalized rat vibrissa DPCs. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that Clitocybin A promoted cell-cycle progression through G0/G1 to S phase in immortalized rat vibrissa DPCs. In addition, Clitocybin A increased the level of cell cycle proteins such as cyclin D1, phospho-pRB, and phospho-CDK2. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms of Clitocybin A on the proliferation of DPCs, we examined the activation of wnt/${\beta}$-catenin signaling which is known to regulate hair follicle development, differentiation and hair growth. Clitocybin A activated wnt/${\beta}$-catenin signaling via the increase of phospho(ser552)-${\beta}$-catenin, phospho(ser675)-${\beta}$-catenin and phospho(ser9)-$GSK3{\beta}$. Furthermore, Clitocybin A markedly increased the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK). These results suggest that the Clitocybin A may induce hair growth by proliferation of DPCs via cell-cycle progression as well as the activation of Wnt/${\beta}$-catenin signaling and ERK pathway.

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.118-123
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• 2005

Nicotine has been implicated as a potential factor in the pathogenesis of human lung cancer, however its mechanism of action in the development of lung cancer remains largely unknown. To explore the role of nicotine in the development of lung cancer, we first investigated the effects of nicotine on the expression of tumor associated genes by treating Sprague-Dawley rats with nicotine (10 mg/kg) by gavage once daily for 10 days. We determined the expression of proteins and mRNAs of the ras, raf, myc, jun, fos oncogenes and p53, Rb tumor suppressor genes by Western and Northern blotting, respectively. We did not detect any changes on the levels of proteins and mRNAs of these tumor associated genes in the lung of Sprague-Dawley rats from 3 days to 12 weeks after the last treatment of nicotine, indicating that nicotine appears to have no effect on expression of these oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes at an early stage in multistage chemical carcinogenesis. In a second experiment, we investigated the possibility that 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) could be formed endogenously by treating with nicotine and sodium nitrite. We treated groups of Fischer 344 rats with nicotine ($60{\mu}mol/kg$) and sodium nitrite ($180{\mu}mol/kg$), nicotine, sodium nitrite and NNK (120 nmol/kg) alone by gavage once daily for 7 days, respectively and determined the 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), as an indicator of NNK formation, in the lungs of rats 24 hours and 48 hours after the last treatment by HPLC/ECD method. We detect increased level of 8-OHdG in the lungs of rats treated with NNK, but in the case of nicotine plus sodium nitrite, nicotine and sodium nitrite alone we could not detected any changes of 8-OHdG, respectively.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.133-142
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• 2018

Patients with type II diabetes mellitus are more susceptible to colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence than non-diabetics. The anti-diabetic drug metformin is most commonly prescribed for the treatment of this disease and has recently shown antitumor effect in preclinical studies. The aberrant mutational activation in the components of RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK and PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway is very frequently observed in CRC. We previously reported that metformin inhibits the phosphorylation of ERK and BEZ235, a dual inhibitor of PI3K and mTOR, has anti-tumor activity against HCT15 CRC cells harboring mutations of KRAS and PIK3CA. Therefore, we hypothesized that simultaneous inhibition of two pathways by combining metformin with BEZ235 could be more effective in the suppression of proliferation than single agent treatment in HCT15 CRC cells. Here, we investigated the combinatory effect of metformin and BEZ235 on the cell survival in HCT15 CRC cells. Our study shows that both of the two signaling pathways can be blocked by this combinational strategy: metformin suppressed both pathways by inhibiting the phosphorylation of ERK, 4E-BP1 and S6, and BEZ235 suppressed PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway by reducing the phosphorylation of 4E-BP1 and S6. This combination treatment synergistically reduced cell viability. The combination index (CI) values ranged from 0.44 to 0.88, indicating synergism for the combination. These results offer a preclinical rationale for the potential therapeutic option for the treatment of CRC.