• Laboratory Medicine Online
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2016

Background: The cell cycle-dependent enzyme thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) is known to increase during cancer cell proliferation and has been reported as a prognostic marker for various hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. This study aimed to determine the reference interval in Korean healthy controls and to evaluate the usefulness of TK1 as a biomarker for aggressive clinical behavior in B-cell lymphoma patients. Methods: We enrolled 72 previously untreated patients with B-cell lymphoma and 143 healthy controls. Serum TK1 levels were measured by chemiluminescence immunoassay ($Liaison^{(R)}$, DiaSorin, USA). We established the reference intervals in healthy controls. The diagnostic performance of serum TK1 was studied using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, and the correlation between the cutoff level for serum TK1 and clinical characteristics of B-cell lymphoma was evaluated. Results: The reference range (95th percentile) of serum TK1 in healthy controls was 5.4-21.8 U/L. There was a clear difference in TK1 levels between patients with B-cell lymphoma and healthy controls ($40.6{\pm}68.5$ vs. $11.8{\pm}4.4U/L$, P <0.001). The area under the curve of serum TK1 for the diagnosis of B-cell lymphoma was 0.73 (cutoff, 15.2 U/L; sensitivity, 59.7%; specificity, 83.2%). An increased TK1 level (${\geq}15.2U/L$) correlated with the advanced clinical stage (P <0.001), bone marrow involvement (P =0.013), international prognostic index score (P =0.001), lactate dehydrogenase level (P =0.001), low Hb level (<12 g/dL) (P =0.028), and lymphocyte count (P =0.023). Conclusions: The serum TK1 level could serve as a useful biomarker for aggressive clinical behavior in B-cell lymphoma patients.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.45-52
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• 2001

Background: Many types of cancer become resistant to current chemotherapeutic and radiotherapeutic intervention. To overcome this situation application of gene therapy by the introduction of suicide genes followed by their prodrugs may be promising. A viral enzyme, Herpes simplex thymidine kinase (HSV-tk), which converts ganciclovir from an inactive prodrug to a cytotoxic agent by phosphorylation, are being actively investigated for use in gene therapy for cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine whether combining prodrug-activating gene therapy and irradiation might result in enhanced antitumor effects. Methods: The HSV-tk gene was cloned into the retroviral vector, pLXSN and established the clones producing retroviruses carrying the HSV-tk gene. The carcinoma cell line, HCT116 and Huh-7 were transduced with high-titer recombinant retroviruses. These cell lines were treated with ganciclovir before or after irradiation for the defining combinational effect of suicide gene therapy and radiotherapy. Results: The titers of cloned PA3 17 amphotropic retroviruses ranged from 4 to 6 X $10^6CFU/ml4$. After selectional periods, the expression of HSV-tk was confirmed by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The growth of cells expressing HSV-tk was inhibited as increase of GCV dose after 48 hr and the growth inhibitory effect of GCV was much higher after 72 hr. When the cells transduced with HSV-tk gene were exposed to radiation, the growth inhibitory effect of GCV was significantly increased, as compared with non-transduced parental cells. Conclusions: The results suggest that the addition of HSV-tk gene therapy to standard radiation therapy may improve the effectiveness of treatment for solid tumors.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.102-109
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• 2002

Purpose : In gene therapy, tumor cells expressing the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase are sensitive to prodrugs. Potential prodrugs IVDU and IVFRU were synthesized and radiolabeled with radioiodine for noninvasive imaging of herpes simplex virus type 1 gene expression. Material and Methods : 5-(2-trimethysilyl) vinyl-2'-deoxyuridine and 5-(2-trimethylsilyl)vinyl-2'-fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine, precursors of 5-(2--iodo)viny l-2'-deoxy uridine(IVDU) and 5-(2-iodo)-2'-vinyl-2'-deoxy-2'-fluororibofuranosyl uracil(IVFRU), were synthesized from reaction of trans-1-trimethylsillyl-2-tri-n-butylstannylethylene with 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine and 5-iodo-2'-fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine, respectively, on the condition of Pd catalyst. These precursors were separated from reaction mixture by silica gel column chromatography method. Each precursor was radioiodinated with radioiodine by mixing with ICI oxidizing agent. These radioiodinated compounds were purified with HPLC. Radiohalogen exchange has been shown to be effective for the synthesis of products with lower specific activity. Similarly, carrier-added and high specific activity products have been isolated in respectable radiochemical yields using ICI method. Results : Synthetic yield of precursors, IVDU and IVFRU were 43% and 18%, respectively. Radiochemical purity of both compunds was over 98%. Conclusion : We synthesized precursors of IVDU and IVFRU for monitoring of HSV1-tk gene expression. Radiotracers were radioiodinated with high radiolabeling yield by ICI method.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.82-82
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• 2004

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.157-165
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• 2002

화학물질의 안전성확보를 위한 여러 노력들이 경주되고 있다. 최근에 들어 이러한 안전성평가기법은 고전적인 안전성평가기법으로부터 분자생물학 기술의 발전에 힘입어 세포, 분자 독성학(Cellular and Molecular Toxicology) 으로 발전되어오고 있다. 여기에서는 최근에 이루어지고 있는 이러한 발전에 따라 국제적으로 널리 사용되고 있는 진보된 안전성평가 기법들을 중심으로 소개하고자 한다.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.185-188
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• 2001

We have developed a synthetic method for dTDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-glucose with four enzyme system. We have used crude extracts from cultures of Escherichia coli BL21 strains harboring plasmids containing different sources. dTDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-glucose was synthesized by the combination of thymidine-monophosphate kinase, acetate kinase, dTDP-glucose synthase and dTDP-D-glucose 4,6-dehydratase in a batch system, starting the reaction with dTMP. The enzymatic synthesis strategy allowed a dTMP conversion with a 95%.

• BMB Reports
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.503-506
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• 2004

Glucose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase from E. coli K12 was used to convert uridine-5'-triphosphate and glucose-1-phosphate to UDP-D-glucose. The conversion was efficient and completed within 5 minutes under the employed conditions. In addition, thymidine-5'-monophosphate kinase and acetate kinase were proven to be non-specific, converting udridine-5'-monophosphate to uridine-5'-triphosphate with 55% conversion after 6 h, which was much slower than the production of TTP under the same conditions (complete conversion within one hour). Since these two reactions could proceed under the same conditions, a one-pot synthesis of UDP-D-glucose with ATP regeneration was designed from easily available starting materials, and conversion up to 40% by HPLC peak integration was achieved given a reaction time of 4 h.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.267-272
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• 2003

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) thymidine kinase (TK) has been widely used for suicidal gene therapy in combination with nucleoside analogs such as ganciclovir (GCV). The use of HSV-TK is limited due to the side effect of GCV at high concentrations. Previous studies showed that stable transfectants of mutant HSV-TK with enhanced affinity to GCV were killed at lower GCV concentrations. In this study, we tested whether mutant HSV-TK can provide enhanced suicidal effect when transiently transfected with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-based plasmid. EBV-based plasmid which contains OriP and EBNA-1 sequence is well known for a stable episomal maintenance in human cells. Optimal transfection condition was assessed for SNU-638 gastric cancer cell line using polyetylnimine (PEI). Maximum transfection efficiency was achieved when DNA:PEI was 1:3 (w/v). Cytotoxicities of mutant and wild type HSV-TK were compared before and after partially selecting transfected cells. The cells were sensitive to $100\;{\mu}g/ml$ hygromycin. Following GCV treatment, more cells were killed after hygromycin selection than before selection. The mutant HSV-TK showed enhanced cytotoxicity compared with the wild type HSV-TK. Our results suggest that the EBV-based plasmid encoding mutant HSV-TK may be useful to treat the diseases caused by uncontrolled cell proliferation such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.114-121
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• 2014

Refractoriness of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells to chemotherapeutics represents a major clinical barrier. Suicide gene therapy for cancer has been attractive but with limited clinical efficacy. In this study, we investigated the potential application of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase/ganciclovir (HSV-TK/GCV) based system to inhibit chemoresistant AML cells. We first generated Ara-C resistant K562 cells and doxorubicin-resistant THP-1 cells. We found that the HSV-TK/GCV anticancer system suppressed drug resistant leukemic cells in culture. Chemoresistant AML cell lines displayed similar sensitivity to HSV-TK/GCV. Moreover, HSV-TK/GCV killing of leukemic cells was augmented to a mild but significant extent by all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) with concomitant upregulation of Connexin 43, a major component of gap junctions. Interestingly, HSV-TK/GCV killing was enhanced by expression of vesicular stomatitis virus G glycoprotein (VSV-G), a fusogenic membrane protein, which also increased leukemic cell fusion. Co-culture resistant cells expressing HSV-TK and cells stably transduced with VSV-G showed that expression of VSV-G could promote the bystander killing effect of HSV-TK/GCV. Furthermore, combination of HSV-TK/GCV with VSV-G plus ATRA produced more pronounced antileukemia effect. These results suggest that the HSV-TK/GCV system in combination with fusogenic membrane proteins and/or ATRA could provide a strategy to mitigate the chemoresistance of AML.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.3 s.39
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• pp.94-104
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• 1999

Objectives: Hepatoma is a very serious disease in Korea and worldwide. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has proved the most significant cause of hepatoma. We carried out this study to investigate the effect of Injinchunggan-tang (Yinchenqinggan -tang) on inhibiting cell proliferation and DNA synthesis in HepG2.2.15 cell lines and on inhibiting phosphorilation of oncogene (MAP kinase) in NIT /3T3-HEx cells. Methods: First we confinned the Hepatitis B virus producing ability of HepG2.2.15 cells. To investigate the anti-cancer effect of Injinchunggan-tang (Yinchenqinggan-tang), we did the NTS/PMS assay, [3H]-thymidine incorporation assay and transfection of pcDNA-X. We also measured the gene expression through western blotting. Results: Injinchunggan-tang (Yinchenqing gan tang) showed the suppressing effect of HepG2.2.l5 increase in the MTS/PMS assay and the inhibiting effect of DNA synthesis of HepG2.2.15 in the [3H] thymidine incorporation assay. Injinchunggan-tang (Yinchenqinggan-tang) also showed the inhibiting phosphorilation effect of MAP kinase in HBV -X genes. Conclusions: From the above Injinchunggan-tang (Yinchenqinggan-tang) is thought to have an anti-cancer effect on the hepatoma from HBV. It is suggested that further studies on this prescription would give us a better medicine with an anti-cancer effect.