• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.206-210
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• 2011

Natural Killer (NK) cells are the lymphocytes that are derived from hematopoietic stem cells, developed in the bone marrow from hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) by sequential acquisition of functional surface receptors, and express the repertoire of inhibitory and activating receptors. Recently, Osteopontin (OPN) has been identified as a critical factor for differentiation of natural killer cells. However, the detailed mechanism of OPN-induced NK differentiation has been still to be elucidated. Here, we determined the signaling pathway and possible receptor for OPN in NK differentiation. OPN induced expression of Bcl-2 and activation of Erk kinase. Inhibition of Erk pathway decreased the effect of OPN on NK differentiation. In addition, the expression of integrin ${\alpha}9$ was significantly increased by OPN during NK differentiation, suggesting the possible role of a major signaling molecule for OPN- induced NK differentiation.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.42 no.12
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• pp.884-892
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• 2019

Piperlongumine (PL), a natural alkaloid compound isolated from long pepper (Piper longum), can selectively kill cancer cells, but not normal cells, by accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The objective of this study was to investigate functional roles of expression of SETDB1 and FosB during PL treatment in MCF7 breast cancer cells. PL downregulates SETDB1 expression, and decreased SETDB1 expression enhanced caspase 9 dependent-PARP cleavage during PL-induced cell death. PL treatment generated ROS. ROS inhibitor NAC (N-acetyl cysteine) recovered SETDB1 expression decreased by PL. Decreased SETDB1 expression induced transcriptional activity of FosB during PL treatment. PARP cleavage and positive annexin V level were increased during PL treatment with FosB overexpression whereas PARP cleavage and positive annexin V level were decreased during PL treatment with siFosB transfection, implying that FosB might be a pro-apoptotic protein for induction of cell death in PL-treated MCF7 breast cancer cells. PL induced cell death in A549 lung cancer cells, but molecular changes involved in the induction of these cell deaths might be different. These results suggest that SETDB1 mediated FosB expression may induce cell death in PL-treated MCF7 breast cancer cells.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.7
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• pp.632-644
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• 2020

The molecular mechanism underlying autophagy impairment in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) in dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is not yet clear. Based on the causative role of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) in RPE necrosis, this study examined whether PARP1 is involved in the autophagy impairment observed during dry AMD pathogenesis. We found that autophagy was downregulated following H₂O₂-induced PARP1 activation in ARPE-19 cells and olaparib, PARP1 inhibitor, preserved the autophagy process upon H₂O₂ exposure in ARPE-19 cells. These findings imply that PARP1 participates in the autophagy impairment upon oxidative stress in ARPE-19 cells. Furthermore, PARP1 inhibited autolysosome formation but did not affect autophagosome formation in H₂O₂-exposed ARPE-19 cells, demonstrating that PARP1 is responsible for impairment of late-stage autophagy in particular. Because PARP1 consumes NAD⁺ while exerting its catalytic activity, we investigated whether PARP1 impedes autophagy mediated by sirtuin1 (SIRT1), which uses NAD⁺ as its cofactor. A NAD⁺ precursor restored autophagy and protected mitochondria in ARPE-19 cells by preserving SIRT1 activity upon H₂O₂. Moreover, olaparib failed to restore autophagy in SIRT1-depleted ARPE-19 cells, indicating that PARP1 inhibits autophagy through SIRT1 inhibition. Next, we further examined whether PARP1-induced autophagy impairment occurs in the retinas of dry AMD model mice. Histological analyses revealed that olaparib treatment protected mouse retinas against sodium iodate (SI) insult, but not in retinas cotreated with SI and wortmannin, an autophagy inhibitor. Collectively, our data demonstrate that PARP1-dependent inhibition of SIRT1 activity impedes autophagic survival of RPE cells, leading to retinal degeneration during dry AMD pathogenesis.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.236-250
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• 2020

Currently, many available anti-cancer therapies are targeting apoptosis. However, many cancer cells have acquired resistance to apoptosis. To overcome this problem, simultaneous induction of other types of programmed cell death in addition to apoptosis of cancer cells might be an attractive strategy. For this purpose, we initially investigated the inhibitory role of TRIP-Br1/XIAP in necroptosis, a regulated form of necrosis, under nutrient/serum starvation. Our data showed that necroptosis was significantly induced in all tested 9 different types of cancer cell lines in response to prolonged serum starvation. Among them, necroptosis was induced at a relatively lower level in MCF-7 breast cancer line that was highly resistant to apoptosis than that in other cancer cell lines. Interestingly, TRIP-Br1 oncogenic protein level was found to be very high in this cell line. Up-regulated TRIP-Br1 suppressed necroptosis by repressing reactive oxygen species generation. Such suppression of necroptosis was greatly enhanced by XIAP, a potent inhibitor of apoptosis. Our data also showed that TRIP-Br1 increased XIAP phosphorylation at serine87, an active form of XIAP. Our mitochondrial fractionation data revealed that TRIP-Br1 protein level was greatly increased in the mitochondria upon serum starvation. It suppressed the export of CypD, a vital regulator in mitochondria-mediated necroptosis, from mitochondria to cytosol. TRIP-Br1 also suppressed shikonin-mediated necroptosis, but not TNF-α-mediated necroptosis, implying possible presence of another signaling pathway in necroptosis. Taken together, our results suggest that TRIP-Br1/XIAP can function as onco-proteins by suppressing necroptosis of cancer cells under nutrient/serum starvation.

• BMB Reports
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• v.52 no.10
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• pp.619-624
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• 2019

The primary cilium is a microtubule-based structure projecting from a cell. Although the primary cilium shows no motility, it can recognize environmental stimuli. Thus, ciliary defects cause severe abnormalities called ciliopathies. Ciliogenesis is a very complex process and involves a myriad of components and regulators. In order to excavate the novel positive regulators of ciliogenesis, we performed mRNA microarray using starved NIH/3T3 cells. We selected 62 murine genes with corresponding human orthologs, with significantly upregulated expression at 24 h after serum withdrawal. Finally, calpain-6 was selected as a positive regulator of ciliogenesis. We found that calpain-6 deficiency reduced the percentage of ciliated cells and impaired sonic hedgehog signaling. It has been speculated that this defect might be associated with decreased levels of ${\alpha}-tubulin$ acetylation at lysine 40. This is the first study to report a novel role of calpain-6 in the formation of primary cilia.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.228-232
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• 2019

Five secondary metabolites, including a new isopimarane derivative xylaroisopimaranin A (1), were isolated from the endophytic fungus Xylaralyce sp. (HM-1), and their structures were elucidated by 1D, 2D NMR, MS and CD spectra. Their bioactivities were performed to antibacterial, Hep G2 cells cytotoxicity and brine shrimp inhibition. The biological evaluation results showed that the xylaroisopimaranin A (1), xylabisboein B (2), griseofulvin (3), 5-methylmellein (4) and mellein-5-carboxlic acid (5) displayed no significant Hep G2 cells cytotoxicity and antibacterial acitivity, but they inhibited the brine shrimp with $IC_{50}$ from 0.5 to $25{\mu}mol/mL$.

• Proceedings of the Zoological Society Korea Conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.136.1-136
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• 1996

No Abstract, See Full Text

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.1452-1459
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• 2007

The Dps protein, which is overexpressed in harsh environments, is known to playa critical role in the protection of DNA against oxidative stresses. In this study, the roles of Fur in the expression of the dps gene in Salmonella and the protection mechanisms against oxidative stress in Salmonella cells preexposed to iron-stress were investigated. Two putative Fur boxes were predicted within the promoter region of the S. typhimurium dps gene. The profile of dps expression performed by the LacZ reporter assay revealed growth-phase dependency regardless of iron-status under the culture conditions. The fur mutant, $_X4659$, evidenced a reduced level of ${\beta}$-galactosidase as compared to the wild-type strain. The results observed after the measurement of the Dps protein in various Salmonella regulatory mutants were consistent with the results acquired in the reporter assay. This evidence suggested that Fur performs a function as a subsidiary regulator in the expression of dps. The survival ability of Salmonella strains after exposure to oxidative stress demonstrated that the Dps protein performs a pivotal function in the survival of stationary-phase S. typhimurium against oxidative stress. Salmonella cells grown in iron-restricted condition required Dps for full protection against oxidative stress. The CK24 (${\Delta}dps$) cells grown in iron-replete condition survived at a rate similar to that observed in the wild-type strain, thereby suggesting the induction of an unknown protection mechanism(s) other than Dps in this condition.

• BMB Reports
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.483-492
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• 2000

The Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) strain F glycoprotein H (gH) gene in the pHLB-4 plasmid was recombinated into a baculovirus expression vector (lacZ-HcNPV) to construct a recombinant virus GH-HcNPV expressing gH. The sequences of gH and its expression were analyzed. The gH gene was located in the 6.41 kb BglII fragment. The open reading frame (ORF) of the gH gene was 2,517 bp and codes 838 amino acid residues. Insect cells infected with this recombinant virus synthesized a high level of the matured and gX-gH fusion protein with approximately 112 kDa. The fusion gH protein was localized on the membrane of the insect cells as seen by using immunofluorescence assay and accumulated in the cultured media by the SDS-PAGE and immunoprecipitation assays. The amino acid sequence presents additional characteristics compatible with the structure of a viral glycoprotein: signal peptide, putative glycosylation sites and a long C-terminal transmembrane sequence. Antibodies raised in mice to this recombinant protein recognized viral gH and neutralized the infectivity of HSV-1 in vitro. These results demonstrate that it is possible to produce a mature protein by gene transfer in eukaryotic cells, and indicate the utility of the HcNPV-insect cell system for producing and characterizing eukaryotic proteins. Furthermore, the neutralizing antibodies would appear to protect mice against HSV; accordingly, this particular recombinant protein may be useful in the development of a subunit vaccine.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2020.08a
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• pp.77-77
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• 2020

Purple loosestrife-Lythrum anceps (Koehne) Makino is a herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the Lythraceae family. It has been used for centuries in Korea and other Asian traditional medicine. It has been showed pharmacological effects, including anti-oxidant and anti-microbial effects. However, the mechanisms underlying its anti-cancer mechanisms are not yet understood. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of apoptosis signaling pathways by ethanol extract of Lythrum anceps (Koehne) Makino (ELM) in human leukemia U937 cells. Treatment with ELM significantly inhibited cell growth in a dose-dependent manner by inducing apoptosis, as evidenced by the formation of apoptotic bodies (ApoBDs), DNA fragmentation and increased populations of sub-G1 ratio. Induction of apoptosis by ELM was connected with up-regulation of death receptor (DR) 4 and DR5, pro-apoptotic Bax protein expression and down-regulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein, and inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family proteins (XIAP, cIAP-1, survivin), depending on dosage. This induction was associated with Bid truncation, mitochondrial dysfunction, proteolytic activation of caspases (-3, -8 and -9) and cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase protein. Therefore, our data indicate that ELM suppresses U937 cell growth by activating the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis pathways, and thus may have applications as a potential source for an anti-leukemic chemotherapeutic agent.