• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.186-189
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• 2002

Many of the adverse effects of solar UV exposure appear to be directly attributable to damage to epidermal DNA. In particular, cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPD) may initiate mutagenic changes as well as induce signal transduction responses that lead to a loss of skin immune surveillance and micro-destruction of skin structure. Our approach is to reverse the DNA damage using prokaryotic DNA repair enzymes delivered into skin using specially engineered liposomes. T4 endonuclease V encapsulated in liposomes (T4N5 liposome lotion) enhanced DNA repair by shifting repair of CPD from the nucleotide excision to the base excision repair pathway. Following topical application to humans, increased repair limited UV-induction of cytokines, many of which are immunosuppressive. In a recent clinical study, topical treatment of UV-irradiated human skin with T4N5 liposome lotion reduced the suppression of the nickel sulfate contact hypersensitivity response. Similarly, the photoreactivating enzyme enhances repair by directly reversing CPDs after absorbing activating light. Here also treatment of UV-irradiated human skin with photoreactivating enzyme in liposomes and photoreactivating light restored the response to the contact allergen nickel sulfate. These findings confirm in humans the observation in mice that UV induced suppression of contact hypersensitivity is caused in part by CPDs. We have tested the ability of T4N5 liposome lotion to prevent UV-induced skin cancer in patients with xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), who have an elevated incidence of skin cancer resulting from a genetic defect in DNA repair. Daily use of the lotion for one year in a group of 20 XP patients reduced the average number of actinic keratoses by 68% and basal cell cancers by 30% compared to 9 patients in the placebo control group. Delivery of DNA repair enzymes to skin is a promising new approach to photoprotection.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.47-50
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• 2004

The defenses against free radical damage include specialized repair enzymes that correct oxidative damages in DNA, and detoxification systems such as superoxide dismutases. These defenses may be coordinated genetically as global responses. We hypothesized that the expression of the SOD and the DNA repair genes would inhibit DNA damage under oxidative stress. Therefore, the protection of E. coli mutants deficient in SOD and DNA repair genes $(sod^-\;xth^-\;and\;nfo^-)$ was demonstrated by transforming the mutant strain with a plasmid pYK9 which encoded Photobacterium leiognathi CuZnSOD and human AP endonuclease. The results show that survival rates were increased in $sod^+\;xth^-\;nfo^+$ cells compared to $sod^-\;xth^-\;ap^+,\;sod^-\;xth^-\;ap^-,\;and\;sod^+\;xth^-\;ap^-$ cells under oxidative stress generated from 0.1 mM Paraquat or 3 mM $H_2O_2$. The data suggested that, at least, SOD and DNA repair enzymes may have collaborate protection and repair of the damaged DNA. Additionally, both enzymes are required for protection against free radicals.

• Proceedings of the Korea Crystallographic Association Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.8-8
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• 2001

• BMB Reports
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.66-72
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• 1997

A mammalian DNA repair enzyme, UV endonuclease III which also functions as a ribosomal protein S3 (rpS3), was purified from mouse cells and characterized. UV endonuclease III was previously cloned and known to yield a peptide of 32 kDa upon expression in E. coli [Kim et al., (1995) J. Bioi. Chem. 270, 13620-13629]. However, biochemically purified UV endonuclease III, which has a sedimentation coefficient of 3.25, appears to have an additional peptide of 28 kDa. It appears that two bands were derived from one complex, judging from the comparison of the nuclease activity on the native and SDS-gel electrophoreses. UV endonuclease III becomes non-specific upon purification and this phenomenon is more significant in the case of pure fractions of the enzyme. Non-specific activity was not influenced by pH or any salt conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korea Crystallographic Association Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.11-11
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• 2003

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.315.1-315.1
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• 2002

DNA topoisomerases I (topo I) and II are essential enzymes that relax DNA supercoiling and relieve torsional strain during DNA processing. including replication. transcription. and repair. Topo I relaxes DNA by cleaving one strand of DNA by attacking a backbone phosphale with a catalytic lyrosine (Tyr723. human topo I). This enzyme has recently been investigated as a new target for antineoplastic drugs. Inhibitors to the enzyme intercalate between the DNA base pairs. interfering religation of cleaved DNA, therefore inhibit the activity of topo I. (omitted)

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 1990

The regulation of DNA repair genes expression was investigated using fused genes, in which the promoter of repair genes was hybridized with the lacZ structural gene. The activities of beta-galactosidase expressed from the fused gense were highly increased when the host cells were exposed to methylating agents, such as methyl methansulfonate (MMS), N-methyl-N'-nitro-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) and methyl nitrosourea (MNU). On the other hand, the enzyme activities from the fused genes were not induced when the cells were treated with ethylating or nonalkylating agents, such as ethyl methansulfonate (EMS), 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO), Bleomycin, and Benzo(a)pyrene (BP).

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.48-55
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• 2001

When an elongating RNA polymerase encounters DNA damage on the template strand of a transcribed gene it can either be arrested by or be transcribed through the lesion. Lesions that arrest RNA polymerases are thought to be subject to transcription-coupled repair, whereas that damage that is bypassed can cause miscoding, resulting in mutations in the transcript (transcriptional mutagenesis). We have developed a technique using a plasmid-based luciferase reporter assay to determine the extent to which a particular type of DNA base modification is capable of causing transcriptional mutagenesis in vivo. The system uses Escherichia coli strains with different DNA repair backgrounds and is designed to detect phenotypic changes caused by transcriptional mutageneis under nongrowth conditions. In addition, this method is capable of indicating the extent to which a particular DNA repair enzyme (or pathway) suppresses the occurrence of transcriptional mutagenesis. Thus, this technique provides a tool with which the effects of various genes on non-replication-dependent pathways resulting in the generation of mutant proteins can be gauged.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.451-455
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• 1997

The effects of nalidixic acid, mitomycin C, and cadmium chloride $(CdCI_2)$ on the activity of 8-hydroxyguanine $(oh^8Gua)$ endonuclease, a DNA repair enzyme for oxidatively modified guanine, $(oh^8Gua$ were studied. Nalidixic acid and mitomycin C, typical inducers of the S0S DNA repair response in E. coli, showed different effects. Nalidixic acid raised the activity of this enzyme, but mitomycin C did not show such an effect. Cadmium chloride also induced the enzyme activity, These results show that the expression of $oh^8$ Gua endonuclease is regulated by multiple factors and can be induced under stressful conditions. In an attempt to demonstrate the importance of this enzyme in defense against DNA damage and mutagenesis, we also characterized mutM mutant for its oh8 Gua endonuclease activity. The mutM mutant showed no detectable $oh^8$ Gua endonuclease activity, unlike its wild type showing high activity. In addition, paraquat, a superoxide producing compound, failed to elevate $oh^8Gua$ endonuclease activity in this mutant. These results suggest that the mutM gene is identical to the $oh^8Gua$ endonuclease gene of E. coli. Taken together with previous reports, these results suggest that $oh^8Gua$ endonuclease plays a crucial role in the protection of aerobically growing organisms from threats of oxidative DNA damage and mutation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1995.04a
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• pp.80-80
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• 1995

T4 Endonuclease V (Mw 16,000) acts as a repair enzyme for UV induced pyrimidine dimers in DNA. Many researchers have studied the biochemical characteristics of the enzyme. However the precise action mechanism of T4 endo V has not fully elucidated yet. In our laboratory NMR spectroscopy technique is being used for the structural study of T4 endo V. Because of its low temperature stability and high content of ${\alpha}$-helix, the conventional $^1$H NMR technique was inapplicable. Therefore we utilized stable isotope labeling technique and so far prepared about 10 amino acid specific labeled proteins. The HSQC spectra of amino acid specific labeled proteins will help us to interpret the triple resonance 3D, 4D data which are under processing, We also studied the behaviors of specific amino acid residues whose roles might be critical. When the enzyme labeled by $\^$15/N-Thr was mixed with the substrate oligonucleotide (semispecific -TT- sequence), one crosspeak in its HSQC spectrum was completely desappeared, which means that one of seven Thr residues is in the binding site of the enzyme with DNA, This result is well consistent with previous report that implicated the Thr 2 residue in the activity of the enzyme. Similar studies were carried on the behaviors of Arg and Tyr residues.