• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.78-88
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• 2017

Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels, plays an important role in tumor growth and metastasis; therefore, it has become an important target in cancer therapy. Novel anticancer pharmaceutical products that have relatively few side effects or are non-cytotoxic must be developed, and such products may be obtained from traditional herbal medicines. Coptis chinensis Franch. is an herb used in traditional medicine for the treatment of inflammatory diseases and diabetes. However, potential antiangiogenic effects of C. chinensis water extract (CCFWE) have not yet been studied. The purpose of this study was to determine the antiangiogenic effect of CCFWE in order to evaluate its potential for an anticancer drug. We found that the treatment with CCFWE inhibited the major steps of the angiogenesis process, such as the endothelial cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and capillary-like tube formation in response to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and also resulted in the growth inhibition of new blood vessels in an ex vivo rat aortic ring assay. We also observed that CCFWE treatment arrested the cell cycle at the G0/G1 phase, preventing the G0/G1 to S phase cell cycle progression in response to VEGF. In addition, the treatment reduced the VEGF-induced activation of matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9. Taken together, these findings indicate that CCFWE should be considered a potential anticancer therapy against pathological conditions where angiogenesis is stimulated during tumor development.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.4549-4553
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• 2015

Background: Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is one of the major causes of cancer death worldwide. Data from the literature indicate differences between the proliferation rate of endothelial cells relative to the morphology growth type, possibly due to origin of specimens (autopsy material, surgery fragments) or quantification methods. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a factor that stimulates the proliferation of endothelial cells. It is expressed in more than 90% of cases of metastatic CRC. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the endothelial cell proliferation and VEGF expression in primary tumors and corresponding liver metastases. Materials and Methods: Our study included 24 recent biopsies of primary tumors and corresponding liver metastases of CRC cases. CD34/Ki67 double immunostaining and RNA scope assay for VEGF were performed. Results: In the primary tumors analysis of VEGFmRNA expression indicated no significant correlation with differentiation grade, proliferative and non-proliferative vessels in the intratumoral and peritumoral areas. In contrast, in the corresponding liver metastases, VEGFmRNA expression significantly correlated with the total number of non-proliferative vessels and total number of vessels. CD34/Ki67 double immunostaining in the cases with poorly differentiated carcinoma indicated a high number of proliferating endothelial cells in the peritumoral area and a low number in the intratumoral area for the primary tumor. Moderately differentiated carcinomas of colon showed no proliferating endothelial cells in the intratumoral area in half of the cases included in the study, for both, primary tumor and liver metastasis. In well differentiated CRCs, in primary tumors, a high proliferation rate of endothelial cells in the intratumoral area and a lower proliferation rate in the peritumoral area were found. A low value was found in corresponding liver metastasis. Conclusions: The absence of proliferative endothelial cells in half of the cases for the primary tumors and liver metastases in moderately differentiated carcinoma suggest a vascular mimicry phenomenon. The mismatch between the total number of vessels and endothelial proliferation in primary tumors indicate that a functional vascular network is already formed or the existence of some mechanisms influenced by other angiogenic factors.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1998.11a
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• pp.95-98
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• 1998

Ginseng (the root of Panax ginseng C. A. MEYER, Araliaceae) has been used for traditional medicine in China, Korea, Japan and other Asian countries for the treatment of various diseases including psychiatric and neurologic diseases as well as diabetes mellitus. So far, ginseng saponins (ginsenosides) have been regarded as the principal components responsible for the pharmacological activities of ginseng. Ginsenosides are glycosides containing an aglycone (protopanaxadiol or protopanaxatriol) with a dammarane skeleton and have been shown to possess various biological activities including the enhancement of cholesterol biosynthesis, stimulation of serum protein synthesis, immuno- modulatory effects and anti-inflammatory activity. Several studies using ginsenosides have also reported anti-tumor effects, particularly the inhibition of tumor-induced angiogenesis, tumor invasion and metastasis, and the control of phenotypic expression and differentiation of tumor cells.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.656-662
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• 2001

Angiogenesis is known as a crucial process in the growth and spreading of tumor cells. Accordingly, the effective inhibition of this process would appear to be a promising way to cure angiogenesis-related diseases, including cancer. This study demonstrates that acalycixenolide E (AX-E) from the marine organism Acalycigorgia inermis exhibits a potent anti-angiogenic activity both in vitro and in vivo. AX-E inhibits the bFGF-induced proliferation of HUVECs in a dose dependent manner, along with the bFGF-induced migration, invasion, and tube formation of HUVECs. Moreover, AX-E potently inhibits the in vivo neovascularization of the chorioallantoic membranes (CAMs) of growing chick embryos. interestingly, AX-E suppresses the expression of metalloproteases 2 and 9, yet shows no effect on their activities. The novel chemical structure and potent anti-angiogenic activity of AX-E will be of great value in elucidating the molecular mechanism of angiogenesis as well as in the development of a novel anti-angiogenic drug.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.84-89
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• 2020

Cancer cells secrete angiogenic factors, and nearby vasculatures make new blood vessels essential for cancer development and metastasis in response to these soluble factors. Many efforts have been made to elucidate cancer-endothelial cell interactions in vitro. However, not much is known due to the lack of a suitable co-culture platform. Here, we introduce a 3D printing-based microfluidic system that mimics the in vivo-like cancer-endothelial cell interactions. The tumoroids and endothelial cells are co-cultured, physically separated by porous fibrin gel, allowing communication between two cell types through soluble factors. Using this microfluidic system, we were able to visualize new vessel formation induced by tumoroids of different origins, including liver, breast, and ovary. We confirmed that the ovarian tumoroids most induced angiogenesis while the other two cancer types suppressed it. Utilization of the proposed co-culture platform will help the researchers unveil the underlying mechanisms of the dynamic interplay between tumor and angiogenesis.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.135-142
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• 2004

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate for prognostic significance of VEGF expression and tumor angiogenesis in papillary carcinomas of the thyroid. Materials and Methods: The materials were 79 cases of papillary thyroid carcinomas, and age, sex, tumor size, multiplicity of tumor, capsular invasion, lymph node metastasis, recurrence, TNM stage, DeGroot stage and AMES scale were evaluated. An immunohistochemical stains for CD 34 to estimate microvessel density (MVD), and VEGF were done. MVD was defined as an average count of vessels per ${\times}400$ power field in the most vascularized area. VEGF expression was interpreted as 1+ and 2+ according to staining intensity and percentages of positive cells. Results: Mean score of MVD was $39.7{\pm}16.9.$ MVD were significantly higher in cases with capsular invasion (p=0.0001), lymph node metastasis (p=0.0001), TNM stage III (p=0.0022), DeGroot stage III (p=0.0163) and high risk group by AMES scale (p=0.0001). VEGF 2+ expression rate was significantly increased in cases with capsular invasion and lymph node metastasis (p=0.0006, p=0.0013), and in cases with TNM stage III, DeGroot stage III and high risk group by AMES scale (p=0.0236, p=0.0003, p=0.0293). In VEGF 2 + expression group, MVD was significantly higher than in VEGF 1 + group (p=0.0008), and MVD showed positive relation to VEGF 2 + expression (r=0.4616). Conclusion: VEGF expression and high MVD were significantly correlated to capsular invasion, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage III, DeGroot stage III and high risk group by AMES scale. The expression of VEGF and high MVD could be considered to be one of prognostic factor in papillary thyroid carcinomas.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.158-164
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• 2012

Inhibiting the bioactivities of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) results in significant inhibition of neovessel formation during tumor angiogenesis. To investigate the potential effect of phloroglucinol as an EPC inhibitor, we performed several in vitro functional assays using $CD34^+$ cells isolated from human umbilical cord blood (HUCB). Although a high treatment dose of phloroglucinol did not show any cell toxicity, it specifically induced the cell death of EPCs under serum free conditions through apoptosis. In the EPC colony-forming assay (EPC-CFA), we observed a significant decreased in the small EPC-CFUs for the phloroglucinol group, implying that phloroglucinol inhibited the early stage of EPC commitment. In addition, in the in vitro expansion assay using $CD34^+$ cells, treatment with phloroglucinol was shown to inhibit endothelial lineage commitment, as demonstrated by the decrease in endothelial surface markers of EPCs including $CD34^+$, $CD34^+/CD133^+$, $CD34^+/CD31^+$ and $CD34^+/CXCR4^+$. This is the first report to demonstrate that phloroglucinol can inhibit the functional bioactivities of EPCs, indicating that phloroglucinol may be used as an EPC inhibitor in the development of biosafe anti-tumor drugs that target tumor angiogenesis.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.1363-1369
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• 2005

Previously we have shown that shikonin has strong anti-tumor activities via inducing apoptosis and suppressing metastasis on LLC cells in vivo and in vitro. Here we have investigated anti-angiogenic potential of shikonin and its possible mechanism of action in HSE cells. Shikonin inhibited the proliferation of HSE cells in a concentration-dependent manner. It was shown that this proliferation inhibition was caused by apoptosis induced by shikonin via BrdU incorporation and Western blotting analysis. Shikonin treatment was caused that decrease of activation of caspases and cleavage of PARP. And shikonin induced that the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), such as extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38. Moreover, shikonin showed anti-angiogenic activities inhibiting tube-like formation of HSE cells in vitro and vascular formation of LLC cells in vivo. These findings suggest that shikonin may a possible candidate not only anti-metastatic agent but also anti-angiogenic agent.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.359.2-359.2
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• 2002

In the previous study, we reported that 2'-hydroxy-4'-methxoychalcone, synthetic chalcone inhibited PGE2 production in TPA- stimulated rat peritoneal macrophages by inhibiting the induction of COX-2 protein. The present study was carried out to clarify whether 2'-hydroxy-4'-methoxychalcone inhibit angiogenesis by the experimental methods in vitro and in vivo. 2'-Hydroxy-4'-methoxychalcone decreased angiogenesis of both chick embryos in the chorioallantoic membrane assay and basic fibroblast growth factor-induced vessel formation inthe mouse Martigel plug assay. (omitted)

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.40-46
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• 2005

2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) displays high toxicity in animals and has been implicated in human carcinogenesis. Although the mechanism of carcinogenesis by TCDD is unclear, it is considered to be a non-genotoxic compound and tumor promoter. In our experiment, we investigated the effects of TCDD on gene expression in mouse skin carcinogenesis. We used cDNA microarray to detect the differential gene expression in tumors induced in hairless mouse skin by MNNG plus TCDD protocol. We found that erb-2, c-ets2 and p27$^{kip1}$ were significantly up-regulated, but TNFR2, AKT-l, integrin $\beta$l, maspin, IGF-l, c-raf-l, Rb were significantly down-regulated, in tumor region, respectively. We also found that the expression of 53 genes involved in cen cycle, signal transduction, apoptosis, adhesion molecule, angiogenesis, and invasion, were changed two fold more, in tumor surrounding region. These data suggest that TCDD alters the expression of a large array of genes involved in apoptosis, cytokine production and angiogenesis in mouse skin carcinogenesis.