• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.101-109
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• 2004

Spatholobus suberectus belonging the family Leguminosae has been used for promoting blood circulation, removing blood stasis, tonifying the blood, relaxing tendons, stopping internal bleeding and eliminating dampness in oriental traditional medicine. This study investigates whether the water extracts of S. suberectus induce apoptotic cell death in Jurkat T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells. Jurkat cells were increased inhibitions of cell viability in a concentration-dependent manner by S. suberectus, as measured by cell morphology. The capability of S. suberectus to induce apoptosis was associated with proteolytic cleavage of specific target protein such as poly (ADP­ribose)polymerase protein suggesting the possible involvement of caspases. The purpose of the present study is also to investigate the effect of S. suberectus on cell cycle progression. G1 checkpoin related gene products tested (cyclin D1, cyclin dependent kinase 4, retinoblastoma, E2Fl) were decreased in their protein levels in a dose-dependent manners after treatment of the extract. These results indicate that the increase of apoptotic cell death by S. suberectus may be due to the inhibition of cell cycle progression in wild type p53-lacking Jurkat cells.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.73-78
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• 2014

Cell death and survival are tightly controlled through the highly coordinated activation/inhibition of diverse signal transduction pathways to insure normal development and physiology. Imbalance between cell death and survival often leads to autoimmune diseases and cancer. Death receptors sense extracellular signals to induce caspase-mediated apoptosis. Acting upstream of CED-3 family proteases, such as caspase-3, Bcl-2 prevents apoptosis. Using short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs), we suppressed Bcl-2 expression in Jurkat T cells, and this increased TCR-triggered AICD and enhanced TNFR gene expression. Also, knockdown of Bcl-2 in Jurkat T cells suppressed the gene expression of FLIP, TNF receptor-associated factors 3 (TRAF3) and TRAF4. Furthermore, suppressed Bcl-2 expression increased caspase-3 and diminished nuclear factor kappa B (NF-${\kappa}B$) translocation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1989-1996
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• 2015

Ice-binding proteins (IBPs) can inhibit ice recrystallization (IR), a major cause of cell death during cryopreservation. IBPs are hypothesized to improve cell viability after cryopreservation by alleviating the cryoinjury caused by IR. In our previous studies, we showed that supplementation of the freezing medium with the recombinant IBP of the Arctic yeast Glaciozyma sp. (designated as LeIBP) could reduce post-thaw hemolysis of human red blood cells and increase the survival of cryopreserved diatoms. Here, we showed that LeIBP could improve the viability of cryopreserved mammalian cells. Human cervical cancer cells (HeLa), mouse fibroblasts (NIH/3T3), human preosteoblasts (MC3T3-E1), Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO-K1), and human keratinocytes (HaCaT) were evaluated. These mammalian cells were frozen in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)/fetal bovine serum (FBS) solution with or without 0.1 mg/ml LeIBP at a cooling rate of -1℃/min in a -80℃ freezer overnight. The minimum effective concentration (0.1 mg/ml) of LeIBP was determined, based on the viability of HeLa cells after treatment with LeIBP during cryopreservation and the IR inhibition assay results. The post-thaw viability of mammalian cells was examined. In all cases, cell viability was significantly enhanced by more than 10% by LeIBP supplementation in 5% DMSO/5% FBS: viability increased by 20% for HeLa cells, 28% for NIH/3T3 cells, 21% for MC3T3-E1, 10% for CHO-K1, and 20% for HaCaT. Furthermore, addition of LeIBP reduced the concentrations of toxic DMSO and FBS down to 5%. Therefore, we demonstrated that LeIBP can increase the viability of cryopreserved mammalian cells by inhibiting IR.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.251-258
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• 2021

Flos magnoliae (FM), the dry flower buds of Magnolia officinalis or its related species, is a traditional herbal medicine commonly used in Asia for symptomatic relief of and treating allergic rhinitis, headache, and sinusitis. Although several studies have reported the effects of FM on store-operated calcium entry (SOCE) via the ORAI1 channel, which is essential during intracellular calcium signaling cascade generation for T cell activation and mast cell degranulation, the effects of its isolated constituents on SOCE remain unidentified. Therefore, we investigated which of the five major constituents of 30% ethanoic FM (vanillic acid, tiliroside, eudesmin, magnolin, and fargesin) inhibit SOCE and their physiological effects on immune cells. The conventional whole-cell patch clamp results showed that fargesin, magnolin, and eudesmin significantly inhibited SOCE and thus human primary CD4+ T lymphocyte proliferation, as well as allergen-induced histamine release in mast cells. Among them, fargesin demonstrated the most potent inhibitory effects not only on ORAI1 (IC50 = 12.46 ± 1.300 μM) but also on T-cell proliferation (by 87.74% ± 1.835%) and mast cell degranulation (by 20.11% ± 5.366%) at 100 μM. Our findings suggest that fargesin can be a promising candidate for the development of therapeutic drugs to treat allergic diseases.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.473-478
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• 2010

Objectives: This study was performed to investigate the biocompatibility of newly introduced Bioaggregate on human pulp and PDL cells. Materials and Methods: Cells were collected from human pulp and PDL tissue of extracted premolars. Cell culture plate was coated either with Bioaggregate or white MTA, then the same number of cells were poured to cell culture dishes. Cell attachment and growth was examined under a phase microscope after 1,3 and 7 days of seeding. Cell viability was measured and the data was analyzed using Student t-test and one way ANOVA. Results: Both types of cells used in this study were well attached and grew healthy on Bioaggregate and MTA coated culture dishes. No cell inhibition zone was observed in Bioaggregate group. There was no statistical difference of viable cells between bioaggreagte and MTA groups. Conclusions: Bioaggregate appeared to be biocompatible compared with white MTA on human pulp and PDL cells.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.514-517
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• 2001

In order to find potent virus-cell fusion inhibitory components from Korean edible clams, thirteen prepared polysaccharides were introduced to syncytia formation inhibition assay, which is based on the interaction between the HIV-1 envelope protein gp 120/41 and the cellular membutane protein CD4 of T lymphocytes. Among them, Meretrix petechialis showed a potent viruscell fusion inhibitory activity. Fusion index (F1) and percent (%) fusion inhibition of the polysaccharide of this clam were $0.21{\pm}0.02$, and $67.52{\pm}4.09$ at 100781m1, respectively. It exhibited almost equivalent virus-cell fusion inhibitory activity to that of dextran sulfate which was used as a standard control.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.9.1-9.23
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• 2022

In the past few decades, biological drugs and small molecule inhibitors targeting inflammatory cytokines, immune cells, and intracellular kinases have become the standard-of-care to treat autoimmune diseases. Inhibition of TNF, IL-6, IL-17, and IL-23 has revolutionized the treatment of autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and psoriasis. B cell depletion therapy using anti-CD20 mAbs has shown promising results in patients with neuroinflammatory diseases, and inhibition of B cell survival factors is approved for treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus. Targeting co-stimulatory molecules expressed on Ag-presenting cells and T cells is also expected to have therapeutic potential in autoimmune diseases by modulating T cell function. Recently, small molecule kinase inhibitors targeting the JAK family, which is responsible for signal transduction from multiple receptors, have garnered great interest in the field of autoimmune and hematologic diseases. However, there are still unmet medical needs in terms of therapeutic efficacy and safety profiles. Emerging therapies aim to induce immune tolerance without compromising immune function, using advanced molecular engineering techniques.

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 1996

Aragonite is one of polymorphs of calcium carbonate of which main form is calcite. We found that white precipitate is formed in much amount by boiling underwater of Inchon, Korea and confirmed that it is aragonite. This study is to evaluate the dimensional characteristics, solubility, acid resistance of aragonite and the cytotoxicity, cell division disturbance and cell transforming ability of it on BALB/3T3 cells. The results are as follows: Lengths of the aragonite were reduced to the 72.7% and 22.7% respectively after 5 months and 7 months of intrapleurai injection to the Sprague-Dawley rat. Strong acid such as 1M HCl dissolved the aragonite instantly but weaker acid pH 2.0 or more could not dissolved aragonite easily. The result of cell growth inhibition showed that cell numbers were decreased as log-doses of treatment of the aragonite were increased 24 hours, 48 hours, and 72 hours later. Cell plating efficiency after the aragonite treatment also showed dose-dependent decrease. Multinuclear giant cell formation was increased in the aragonite treated cells until ID$_{50}$ and after the dose the multinucleate cells were decreased, but remained much higher than negative control cells. Morphological transformation assay showed that the aragonite did not induce transformation in all treated doses.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.355-358
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• 2003

Various Trichoderma spp. were evaluated for the development of biofungicides to control soilborne pathogen, Rhiztonia solani, Various Trichoderma spp. were initially tested for their ability to inhibit growth of R. solani by inhibition zone test. Inhibition zones of 3∼5 mm toward R. solani were detected on PDA agar plates. The parasitic activity of strains, the activities of cell-wall-degrading enzymes such as glucanases and chitinases, were also evaluated. Highest activities of glucanase and chitinase were 3.5 U/ml and 0.9 U/ml, respectively, Isolated Trichoderma spp. also exhibited good growth with currently used agrochemicals, which represents that the isolated biofungicides can be mutually used with agrochemicals.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.151-167
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• 2003

Melanin biosynthesis is a human defense mechanism to protect skin from UV irradiation and also determines colors of hair and skin. However, as a interest on skin-whitening increases, researches to prevent pigmentation and hypersynthesis of melanin in skin are being actively in progress. Active components used as a whitening agent in cosmeceuticals are kojic acid, arbutin, vitamin C and hydroquinone. However, until now, because comparison researches among them in the aspect of both melanin formation and cellular toxicity have not been performed, we can't exactly estimate merits and defects of them as a whitening agent. To this end, we performed experiments to compare their effects on cell viability and melanin formation. As a first step, in vitro tyrosinase inhibition assay was done. While kojic acid and hydroquinone showed strong inhibition activities(their IC$\_$50/s are all < 100uM), arbutin and vitamin C showed weak activities. IC$\_$50/s of arbutin and vitamin C are 100uM and 400∼500uM, respectively. In B16BL6 melanoma cells, like in vitro tyrosinase inhibition assay, arbutin and kojic acid showed more strong inhibition effect on melanin synthesis than vitamin C. And unlike arbutin, vitamin C and kojic acid induced cell death at high concentration. Although arbutin showed no cytotoxicity, it has side effect to induce morphological change at high concentration.. In this paper, we suggest both kojic acid and arbutin have stronger ability to inhibit melanogenesis than vitamin C. And they also have side effect, that is, kojic acid induces cell death like vitamin C and arbutin changes cell morphology respectively.