• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.93-101
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• 2002

The extract of European mistletoe ( Viscum album, L) has been used in adjuvant chemotherapy of cancer and mistletoe lectins are considered to be major active components. The present work was performed to investigate the effects of Korean mistletoe lectin (Viscum album L. coleratum agglutinin, VCA) on proliferation and apoptosis of human hepatoma cells as well as the underlying mechamisns for these effects. We showed that VCA induced atoptosis in both SK-Hep-1 and Hep 3B (p53-negative) cells through p53- and p21 -independent pathways. VCA induced apoptosis by down-regulation of Bcl-2 and by up-regulation of Bax functioning upstream of caspase-3 in both cell lines. In addition, we observed down-regulation of telomerase activity in both VCA-treated cells. Our results provide direct evidence of the anti-tumor potential of this biological response which comes from inhibition of telomerase and consequent inducing apoptosis. VCA-induced apoptosis is regulated by mitochondria controlled pathway independently of p53. These findings are important for the therapy with preparation of mistletoe because they show that telomerase-dependent mechanism can be targeted by VCA in human hepatocarcinoma. Taken together, our results suggest that the VCA, considered as a telomerase-inhibitor, can be envisaged as a candidate for enhancing sensitivity of conventional anticancer drugs.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.168.1-168.1
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• 2003

We show that panaxadiol (PD), a ginseng saponin with a dammarane skeleton, selectively interferes with the cell cycle in human cancer cell lines. PD inhibited DNA synthesis in a dose-dependent manner with $IC_{50}$ values ranging from 0.8 $\mu$M-1.2 $\mu$M in SK-HEP-1 cells and HeLa cells. PD-treated cells were arrested at G1/S phase, shich coincided well with decreases in Cyclin A-Cdk2 activity, but not in Cyclin E-Cdk2 and Cdc2 activities. The intracellular levels of $p21^{WAF1/CIP1}$ were significantly and selectively elevated in a dose and time-dependent manners in PD-treated HeLa cells. (omitted)

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2014

Panax ginseng is a medicinal herb that is used worldwide. Its medicinal effects are primarily attributable to ginsenosides located in the root, leaf, seed, and flower. The flower buds of Panax ginseng (FBPG) are rich in various bioactive ginsenosides, which exert immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory activities. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of 18 ginsenosides isolated from steamed FBPG on the transcriptional activity of NF-${\kappa}B$ and the expression of tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$)-stimulated target genes in liver-derived cell lines. Noticeably, the ginsenosides $Rk_3$ and $Rs_4$ exerted the strongest activity, inhibiting NF-${\kappa}B$ in a dose-dependent manner. SF and $Rg_6$ also showed moderately inhibitory effects. Furthermore, these four compounds inhibited the TNF-${\alpha}$-induced expression of IL8, CXCL1, iNOS, and ICAM1 genes. Consequently, ginsenosides purified from steamed FBPG have therapeutic potential in TNF-${\alpha}$-mediated diseases such as chronic hepatic inflammation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.397-404
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• 2022

Natural killer (NK) cell activity is more attenuated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients than normal. Hypoxic-inducible factor (HIF)-1α is highly expressed in tumors to maintain their metabolism in a hypoxic environment. The expression of HIF-1α in cancers can lead to cell growth, proliferation, invasion/metastasis and immune escape. Although apigenin, a flavonoid, is known to have various biological activities, it has not been demonstrated in NK cell immune activity in HCC cells. In this study, NK-92 cells were directly cocultured with HCC SK-Hep1 cells for 24 h to evaluate NK cell activity in HCC cells or HCC cells expressing HIF-1α by apigenin. NK cell cytotoxicity to HCC cells expressing HIF-1α was significantly increased, and NK cell-activating receptors, NKG2D, NKp30 and NKp44 were highly expressed. The activating effect of apigenin on NK cells substantially induced apoptosis in HCC cells expressing HIF-1α through high expression of CD95L on the surface of NK-92 cells. Moreover, apigenin excellently inhibited the level of TGF-β1 in a coculture of NK cells and HCC cells. In conclusion, apigenin seems to be a good compound that increases NK cell cytotoxicity to HCC cells by controlling HIF-1α expression.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.200-207
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• 2015

Various natural products or their derivatives, mostly originating from plants, fungi, and bacteria, have been exploited as therapeutic drugs to treat various human diseases. In addition to previously explored organisms, research on natural compounds has now expanded into unexamined living organisms in order to identify novel bioactive substances. Here, we determined whether or not the larval form of the mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor, a species of darkling beetle, contains cytotoxic substances that exclusively affect cancer cell viability. Ethanol extract and its solvent partitioned fractions, hexane and ethyl acetate fractions, showed anticancer effects against various human cancer cells derived from the prostate (PC3 and 22Rv1), cervix (HeLa), liver (PLC/PRF5, HepG2, Hep3B, and SK-HEP-1), colon (HCT116), lung (NCI-H460), breast (MDA-MB231), and ovary (SKOV3). Cell death induced by the fractions was a mix of apoptosis, necrosis, and autophagy. The hexane fraction was administered intraperitoneally to nude mice bearing a hepatocellular carcinoma SK-HEP-1 and showed inhibition of tumor growth in vivo. Therefore, we concluded that worm extracts contain cytotoxic substances, which can be enriched by proper fractionation protocols, and further separation and purification could lead to the identification of novel molecules to treat human cancers.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.263-269
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• 2007

Chitosan is a depolymerized and partially deacetylated derivative of chitin. We investigated the cytotoxicity of chitosan in cancer cell lines, such as P388, L1210, HCT-15, SK-HepG-1 and mouse splenocytes as a normal cell by MTT assay. To clarify whether chitosan enhances cytotoxicity of anticancer drugs, we also examined the cytotoxicity of combined treatment with chitosan and anticancer drugs, such as cisplatin, mitomycin C, and 5-fluorouracil in cancer cell lines in vitro. Chitosan ($37.5\;{\mu}g/mL,\;75\;{\mu}g/mL,\;112.5\;{\mu}g/mL,\;and\;150\;{\mu}g/mL$) showed concentration-dependent cytotoxicity in the cancer cell lines. In addition, chitosan showed relatively lower cytotoxicity in normal cells than in the cancer cell lines. Particularly, this trend was significant at high doses of chitosan, i.e. $112.5\;{\mu}g/mL,\;and\;150\;{\mu}g/mL$. Thus, these results suggest that chitosan may selectively induce the growth inhibition in cancer cell lines, compared to normal cells. Furthermore. the co-treatment of chitosan and anticancer drugs exhibited an apparant synergistic cytotoxicity in murine lymphoma cell lines, i.e. P388 and L1210 at $37.5\;{\mu}g/mL$ of chitosan rather than at $75\;{\mu}g/mL$ of chitosan, but such phenomenon could not be observed in solid tumor cell lines, i.e. HCT-15 and SK-HepG-1. However, chitosan did'nt reduced the cytotoxicity against normal mouse splenocytes induced by anticancer drugs. Therefore, it is concluded that the combination of chitosan and anticancer drugs might be useful for the cancer chemotherapy.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.211-216
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• 2011

Herbal medicines are widely used in many countries for the treatment of many diseases. Although the use of herb extracts as alternative medicine is growing, their toxicological properties have not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, we have investigated the effects of water and ethanol extracts of 18 herbs on the hepatic lipid metabolism and steatogenic hepatotoxicity. Ethanol extracts of Cirsium japonicum, Carthamus tinctorius, Rehmanniae glutinosa (preparata), Polygala tenuifolia, Foeniculum vulgare, Polygonum multiflorum, and Acorus gramineus and water extracts of Polygonum multiflorum and Rehmanniae glutinosa induced lipid accumulation in Sk-hep1 human hepatoma cells as determined by Nile red staining. These extracts increased the luciferase activity of sterol regulatory element (SRE) and decreased that of peroxisome proliferator response element (PPRE), indicating the possibilities of enhanced fatty acid synthesis and decreased fatty acid oxidation. To identify the components responsible for the fat accumulation, we tested 50 chemicals isolated from the nine herbs. Apigenin, luteolin, pectolinarin and lupeol from Cirsium japonicum, 8-methoxypsoralen and umbelliferone from Foeniculum vulgare and pomonic acid and jiocerebroside from Rehmanniae glutinosa significantly increased the accumulation of lipid droplets. These results suggest that ethanol extracts of Cirsium japonicum, Carthamus tinctorius, Rehmanniae glutinosa (preparata), Polygala tenuifolia, Foeniculum vulgare, Polygonum multiflorum, and Acorus gramineus and water extracts of Polygonum multiflorum and Rehmanniae glutinosa can cause fatty liver disease by decreasing ${\beta}$-oxidation of fatty acid and increasing lipogenesis.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.561-567
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• 2015

This study aims to evaluate the antitumor effect of Adonis multiflora, one of the plants in the Ranunculaceae, on mice to which hepatoma cells were transplanted and to suggest its possibility as a candidate natural substance to replace antitumor drugs. We performed the MTT assay to assess the extract had a decrease in the growth rate of hepatoma cells depending on concentration. In particular, 100 ㎍/㎖ of the extract showed 40% of growth retardation rate. We assessed the autophagy activity to identify the inhibitory autophagy mechanism of tumor cells in the extract. This proved that the activity increases more as the concentration of the extract is higher. We conducted the Western blot test to confirmed the expression of two proteins LC3 and p62. The expression of p62 was in inverse proportion to the concentration of the extract whereas LC3-Ⅱ increased more as the concentration of the extract was higher. This showed that an increase in the autophagy relies on the conentration of the extract. We performed a test to discover the influence of the extracts on hepatoma cells transplanted to mice. The test proved that the extract triggers a significant decrease in the growth rate of tumor cells. Compared to the start of the test, the size of tumor cells with 50, 100 and 200 ㎎/㎏ of the extract respectively increased by 4, 3.7 and 3.5 times whereas in the controlling group by 6.3 times. The size of tumor cells in benign tumor controlling group increased by 3.1 times. This showed a significant decrease in the growth rate of tumor cells compared to the controlling group. We carried out the experiment of influence of the extract on the expression of two proteins LC3 and p62 in the tumor tissue transplanted into mice. The experiment showed that LC3-II increases more as the concentration of the extract is higher. However, there was a rapid decrease in p62 with 200 ㎎/㎏ of the extract compared to the controlling group. In this study, we proved that the autophagy activity of Adonis multiflora extract inhibits the growth of hepatoma cells by in vitro and in vivo experiments. In conclusion, the inhibitory autophagy mechanism of tumor cells in the extract can be used as a new treatment of antitumor.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.71.1-71.1
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• 2003

We show that Cdc6, an essential initiation factor for DNA replication, undergoes caspase-3-mediated cleavage in the early stages of apoptosis in HeLa cells and SK-HEP-1 cells induced by etoposide, paclitaxel, ginsenoside Rh2, or TRAIL. The cleavage occurs at the SEVD$\^$442//G motif and generates an N-terminal truncated Cdc6 fragment (p49-tCdc6) that lacks the carboxy-terminal nuclear export sequence (NES). Cdc6 is known to be phosphorylated by cyclin A-Cyclin A-dependent kinase 2 (Cdk2), an event that promotes its exit from the nucleus and probably blocks it from initiating inappropriate DNA replication. (omitted)

• THE JOURNAL OF KOREAN ORIENTAL ONCOLOGY
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.61-75
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• 2001

The purpose of this study is to prove the angiogenesis effects of WhaYoungJiTongTang (hereinafter referred to as the 'WYJTT'). For the study, by utilizing liver cancer cell line; SK-HEP-1, lung cancer cell line: A549, stomach cancer cell line: AGS and bovine capillary endothelial cell: BCE, the effects of the WYJTT on toxicity and proliferation ability of cells and the effects on anti-angiogenesis of bovine capillary endothelial cell and of mice's aorta were studied. 1. Cell viability assay In comparison with the control group, when $100{\mu}g/ml$ of WYJTT was injected, the viability was reduced in SK-Hep-1, $400{\mu}g/ml$ in A549 and $200{\mu}g/ml$ in AGS. 2. Cell proliferation assay In comparison with the control group, when $600{\mu}g/ml$ of WYITT was injected, DNA synthesis was reduced to 35.1% in the SK-Hep-1, 56.0% in A549, and 25.8% in BCE (bovine capillary endothelial cell); and when $400{\mu}g/ml$ was injected, DNA synthesis was reduced to 12.1 in AGS. 3. Tube formation assay In the event that BCE is injected with WYJTT in each of its content gradient, the anti-angiogenesis was effective in amounts of $400{\mu}g/ml$ with 6 hours of the treatment. 4. Aortic ring assay In comparison with the control group, the angiogenesis was restricted to the remarkable degree in amount of $200{\mu}g/ml$: 10% in $400{\mu}g/ml$; and fully inhibited in each of $800{\mu}g/ml$ and $1600{\mu}g/ml$. As a result of the experiments mentioned above, WYJTT showed its anti-angiogenesis effects against cancer cell line.