• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.107-111
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• 2022

In 2019, coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which originated in Wuhan, has spread worldwide. In most people, COVID-19 symptoms are not severe. However, the mortality rate and severity were high in risk groups such as in older people and patients with underlying diseases. As patients with cancer are one of the risk groups, the vaccination for COVID-19 is emphasized in these patients. However, COVID-19 vaccines are not tested enough in special groups such as in patients with cancer because these vaccines are developed at an unprecedented speed. This causes confusion about whether patients undergoing chemotherapy should be vaccinated or not. In this study, international guidelines and studies were reviewed. Most of the studies recommended vaccination. No evidences of any negative effects for the efficacy or safety were recorded in patients undergoing cytotoxic, targeted, and immune agents. However, in critical conditions such as cytopenia, vaccination must be decided according to the patient's condition. COVID-19 vaccines were also recommended for patients on surgery or radiation therapy. If possible, vaccine is given before surgery to avoid confusion between surgical complications and side effects of the vaccine. The radiation recall phenomenon after vaccination has been reported in some cases of radiation therapy. Clinicians should consider these situations before vaccinating each patient. We hope that clearer guidelines will be established by accumulating verified data.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.5.1-5.22
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• 2022

The approval of immunotherapies such as checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs), adoptive cell therapies and cancer vaccines has revolutionized the way cancer treatment is approached. While immunotherapies have improved clinical outcome in a variety of tumor types, some cancers have proven harder to combat using single agents, underscoring the need for multi-targeted immunotherapy approaches. Efficacy of CPIs and cancer vaccines requires patients to have a competent immune system with adequate cell numbers while the efficacy of adoptive cellular therapy is limited by the expansion and persistence of cells after infusion. A promising strategy to overcome these challenges is combination treatment with common gamma-chain cytokines. Gamma-chain cytokines play a critical role in the survival, proliferation, differentiation and function of multiple immune cell types, including CD8 T-cells and NK cells, which are at the center of the anti-tumor response. While the short halflife of recombinant cytokines initially limited their application in the clinic, advancements in protein engineering have led to the development of several next-generation drug candidates with dramatically increased half-life and bioactivity. When combining these cytokines with other immunotherapies, strong evidence of synergy has been observed in preclinical and clinical cancer settings. This promising data has led to the initiation of 70 ongoing clinical trials including IL-2, IL-7, IL-15 and IL-21. This review summarizes the recent advancements of common gamma-chain cytokines and their potential as a cancer immunotherapy.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.3139-3145
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• 2016

Cancer is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, characterized by irregular cell growth. Cytotoxicity or killing tumor cells that divide rapidly is the basic function of chemotherapeutic drugs. However, these agents can damage normal dividing cells, leading to adverse effects in the body. In view of great advances in cancer therapy, which are increasingly reported each year, we quantitatively and qualitatively evaluated the papers published between 1981 and December 2015, with a closer look at the highly cited papers (HCPs), for a better understanding of literature related to cytotoxicity in cancer therapy. Online documents in the Web of Science (WOS) database were analyzed based on the publication year, the number of times they were cited, research area, source, language, document type, countries, organization-enhanced and funding agencies. A total of 3,473 publications relevant to the target key words were found in the WOS database over 35 years and 86% of them (n=2,993) were published between 2000-2015. These papers had been cited 54,330 times without self-citation from 1981 to 2015. Of the 3,473 publications, 17 (3,557citations) were the most frequently cited ones between 2005 and 2015. The topmost HCP was about generating a comprehensive preclinical database (CCLE) with 825 (23.2%) citations. One third of the remaining HCPs had focused on drug discovery through improving conventional therapeutic agents such as metformin and ginseng. Another 33% of the HCPs concerned engineered nanoparticles (NPs) such as polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendritic polymers, PTX/SPIO-loaded PLGAs and cell-derived NPs to increase drug effectiveness and decrease drug toxicity in cancer therapy. The remaining HCPs reported novel factors such as miR-205, Nrf2 and p27 suggesting their interference with development of cancer in targeted cancer therapy. In conclusion, analysis of 35-year publications and HCPs on cytotoxicity in cancer in the present report provides opportunities for a better understanding the extent of topics published and may help future research in this area.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.102-106
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• 2006

Magnetic nanoparticles can be used for a variety of biomedical applications. They can be used in the targeted delivery of therapeutic agents in vivo, in the hyperthermic treatment of cancers. in magnetic resonance (MR) imaging as contrast agents and in the biomagnetic separations of biomolecules. We have synthesized magnetite $(Fe_3O_4)$ nanoparticles using chemical coprecipitation technique with sodium oleate as surfactant. Nanoparticle size can be varied from 2 to 8nm by controlling the sodium oleate concentration. Magnetite phase nanoparticles could be observed from X-ray diffraction. Magnetic colloid suspensions containing particles with sodium oleate and chitosan have been prepared. Nanoparticles, both oleate-coated and chitosan-coated, have been characterized by several techniques. Atomic farce microscope (AFM) was used to image the coated nanoparticles. Magnetic hysteresis measurement were performed using a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer at room temperature to investigate the magnetic properties of the magnetite nanoparticles. The SQUID measurements revealed superparamagnetism of nanoparticles.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.1653-1668
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• 2005

Assembly of hybrid mesophases through the combination of amphiphilic block copolymers, acting as structuredirecting agents, and silicon sources using low acid catalyst concentration regimes is a versatile strategy to produce large quantities of high-quality ordered large-pore mesoporous silicas in a very reproducible manner. Controlling structural and textural properties is proven to be straightforward at low HCl concentrations with the adjustment of synthesis gel composition and the option of adding co-structure-directing molecules. In this account, we illustrate how various types of large-pore mesoporous silica can easily be prepared in high phase purity with tailored pore dimensions and tailored level of framework interconnectivity. Silica mesophases with two-dimensional hexagonal (p6mm) and three-dimensional cubi (Fm$\overline{3}$m, Im$\overline{3}$m and Ia$\overline{3}$d) symmetries are generated in aqueous solution by employing HCl concentrations in the range of 0.1−0.5 M and polyalkylene oxide-based triblock copolymers such as Pluronic P123 $(EO_{20}-PO_{70}-EO_{20})$ and Pluronic F127 $(EO_{106}-PO_{70}-EO_{106})$. Characterizations by powder X-ray diffraction, nitrogen physisorption, and transmission electron microscopy show that the mesoporous materials all possess high specific surface areas, high pore volumes and readily tunable pore diameters in narrow distribution of sizes ranging from 4 to 12 nm. Furthermore, we discuss our recent advances achieved in order to extend widely the phase domains in which single mesostructures are formed. Emphasis is put on the first synthetic product phase diagrams obtained in $SiO_2$-triblock copolymer-BuOH-$H_2O$ systems, with tuning amounts of butanol and silica source correspondingly. It is expected that the extended phase domains will allow designed synthesis of mesoporous silicas with targeted characteristics, offering vast prospects for future applications.

• 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.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.99-103
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• 2010

The Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rat, a model of spontaneous type 2 diabetes (T2D), develops hyperglycemic obesity with hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance after the age of 25 weeks, similar to patients with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (DM). In the present study, we determined whether there are differences in the pattern of gene expression related to glucose and lipid metabolism between OLETF rats and their control counterparts, Long-Evans Tokushima (LETO) rats. The experiment was done using 35-week-old OLETF and LETO rats. At week 35 male OLETF rats showed overt T2D and increases in blood glucose, plasma insulin, plasma triglycerides (TG) and plasma total cholesterol (TC). Livers of diabetic OLETF and LETO rats also showed differences in expression of mRNA for glucose and lipid metabolism related genes. Among glucose metabolism related genes, GAPDH mRNA was significantly higher and FBPase and G6Pase mRNA were significantly lower in OLETF rats. For lipid metabolism related genes, HMGCR, SCD1 and HL mRNA were substantially higher in OLETF rats. These results indicate that gluconeogenesis in OLETF rats is lower and glycolysis is higher, which means that glucose metabolism might be compensated for by a lowering of the blood glucose level. However, lipid synthesis is increased in OLETF rats so diabetes may be aggravated. These differences between OLETF and LETO rats suggest mechanisms that could be targeted during the development of therapeutic agents for diabetes.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.185-193
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• 2010

Histone deacetylation and demethylation are epigenetic mechanisms implicated in cancer. Studies regarding the role of modulation of gene expression utilizing the histone deacetylase inhibitor scriptaid and the demethylating agent 5-azacytidine in HL-60 leukemia cells have been limited. We studied the possibility of recovering epigenetically silenced genes by scriptaid and 5-azacytidine in human leukemia cells by DNA microarray analysis. The first group was leukemia cells that were cultured with 5-azacytidine. The second group was cultured with scriptaid. The other group was cultured with both agents. Two hundred seventy newly developed genes were expressed after the combination of 5-azacytidine and scriptaid. Twenty-nine genes were unchanged after the combination treatment of 5-azacytidine and scriptaid. Among the 270 genes, 13 genes were differed significantly from the control. HPGD, CPA3, CEACAM6, LOC653907, ETS1, RAB37, PMP22, FST, FOXC1, and CCL2 were up-regulated, and IGLL3, IGLL1, and ASS1 were down-regulated. Eleven genes associated with oncogenesis were found among the differentially expressed genes: ETS1, ASCL2, BTG2, BTG1, SLAMF6, CDKN2D, RRAS, RET, GIPC1, MAGEB, and RGL4. We report the results of our leukemia cell microarray profiles after epigenetic combination therapy with the hope that they are the starting point of selectively targeted epigenetic therapy.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.40 no.spc
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• pp.75-82
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• 2010

Specific diseases like cancer and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) occur at various organs including lymphatics and spread through lymphatic system. Thus, if therapeutic agents for such diseases are more distributed or targeted to lymphatic system, we can obtain several advantages like reduction of systemic side effect and increase of efficacy. For these reasons, much interest has been focused on the nature of lymphatics and a lot of studies for lymphatic delivery of drugs have been carried out. Because lymphatics consist of single layer endothelium and have high permeability compared with blood capillaries, especially, the studies using nano-sized carriers have been performed. Polymeric nano-particle, liposome, and lipid-based vehicle have been adopted for lymphatic delivery as carriers. According to the administration route and the kind of carrier, the extent of lymphatic delivery efficiency of nano-sized carriers has been changed and influenced by several factors such as size, charge, hydrophobicity and surface feature of carrier. In this review, we summarized the key factors which affect lymphatic uptake and the major features of carriers for achieving the lymphatic delivery. Lymphatic delivery of drug using nano-sized carriers has many fold improved ability of lymphatic delivery compared with that of conventional dosage forms, but it has not shown whole lymph selectivity yet. Even though nano-sized carriers still have the potential and worth to study as lymphatic drug delivery technology as before, full understanding of delivery mechanism and influencing factors, and setting of pharmacokinetic model are required for more ideal lymphatic delivery of drug.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1101-1108
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• 2008

Geldanamycin and its analogs are important anticancer agents that inhibit the newly targeted heat-shock protein (Hsp) 90, which is a chaperone protein in eukaryotic cells. To resolve which geldanamycin biosynthetic genes are responsible for particular post-polyketide synthase (PKS) processing steps and in which order the reactions occur, we individually inactivated candidate genes in Streptomyces hygroscopicus subsp. duamyceticus JCM4427 and isolated and elucidated the structures of intermediates from each mutant. The results indicated that gel7 governs at least one of the benzoquinone ring oxidation steps. The gel16 was found to be involved in double-bond formation between C-4 and C-5 of 4,5-dihydrogeldanamycin, which confirmed our previous findings that this double bond is reduced during the post-PKS modification of the polyketide assembly. In addition, pro-geldanamycin, which does not possess a double bond at C-4/5, was purified from the gel7 and gel8 double-gene-inactivated mutant.