• Journal of Life Science
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• 제30권6호
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• pp.513-521
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• 2020

B-cell-specific Moloney murine leukemia virus integration site 1 (Bmi1) is a polycomb group protein and a core component of polycomb repressive complex 1. Initial research into Bmi1 has focused on its role in tumorigenesis, and it is generally accepted that it is important for the proliferation and survival of cancer cells. However, more recent studies have revealed that Bmi1 is downregulated in brains with neurodegenerative disease and that it regulates the function of mitochondria and reactive oxygen species levels. In this study, we tested the therapeutic potential of Bmi1 in pilocarpine-induced seizures in Bmi1-knockout mice. Bmi1 expression transiently increased in the hippocampal CA1 and CA3 and the dentate gyrus following pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus (SE). In terms of seizure behavior, SE induction was 43.14% and 53.57% for Bmi1^+/+ and Bmi1^+/- mice, respectively. However, there was no significant difference in mortality or hippocampal damage between the two groups. Two months after SE induction, the frequency of epileptic seizures in the Bmi1^+/- mice was 50% lower than in the control group, although the difference was not statistically significant. In addition, mossy fiber outgrowth in the Bmi1^+/- mice was significantly higher than in their wild-type littermates. Taken together, these data indicate that reduced Bmi1 activity increases pilocarpine-induced seizure probability and mossy fiber outgrowth.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• 제34권10호
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• pp.1509-1513
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• 2005

To develop a new functional food material, edible crude saponin was isolated from soybean cake using HP-20 resin and its anticancer effect and immune-activity were investigated. The saponin significantly inhibited the growth of cancer cells such as A549, MCF-7 and SW480 at a concentration of 1,000 $\mu$g/mL. Morphological changes was observed in the AS49 cells surface treated with the saponin of 1,000 $\mu$g/mL concentration. The proliferation of mouse spleen cells treated with saponin was increased in a dose-dependent manner compared with untreated control cells until the concentration of 1 $\mu$g/mL but decreased at higher concentrations than that. The NO production in marcrophage cell lines (RAW 264.7) treated with saponin was increased in a dosedependent manner compared with untreated control cells.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• 제34권9호
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• pp.1367-1374
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• 2005

Amino acid transporters play an important role in supplying nutrition to normal and cancer cells for cell proliferation. Amino acid transport system L is a major nutrient transport system responsible for the $Na^+$-independent transport of neutral amino acids including several essential amino acids. The system L is divided into two major subgroups, the L-tyre amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1) and the L-type amino acid transporter 2 (LAT2). In the present study, we have examined the expression and functional characterization of system L amino acid transporters in FOB human osteoblast cells. RT-PCR and western blot analysis have revealed that the FOB cells expressed LAT1, LAT2 together with their associating protein 4F2hc. The uptakes of $[^{14}C]_L$-leucine by FOB cells are $Na^+$-independent and almost completely inhibited by system L amino acid transporter selective inhibitor, 2-aminobicyclo-(2,2,1)-heptane-2-carboxylic acid (BCH). These results suggest that the transport of neutral amino acids including several essential amino acids for cellular nutrition into the FOB human osteoblast cells is mediated by system L amino acid transporters.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• 제31권5호
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• pp.7-13
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• 2016

Objectives : Camellia sinensis (Theaceae) possesses a various beneficial effects such as free radical-scavenging, inactivation of urokinase in cancer cell proliferation, antibacterial, and hypotensive. Dental caries is one of the most common oral infectious disease in a human. Oral microorganisms play a significant role in the etiology of dental caries. An aberration to this ecology due to dietary habits, improper oral hygiene or systemic factors lead to an increase in cariogenic microorganisms. Cariogenic microorganisms like Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus encourage the accumulation and adherence of plaque biofilm by metabolizing sucrose into glucans. The purpose of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial activity of phenolic compounds of Camellia sinensis and R-carvone, monoterpenes, is can be found naturally in numerous essential oils, on Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus .Methods : The antimicrobial activity of these compounds was determined by the broth microdilution method and checkerboard dilution assay to investigate the potential synergistic effects of each five compounds of Camellia sinensis (C. sinensis) and R-carvone.Results : C. sinensis-isolated compounds and R-carvone were determined with MIC of more than 1,000 ㎍/mL. However, the combination test showed significant synergism against S. mutans and S. sobrinus, implicated in the lowered MICs.Conclusions : These results suggest that combinatory application of phenolic five compounds (theophyllin, l-theanine, epicatechin, epicatechin gallate, and caffeine) from C. sinensis and R-carvone has a potential synergistic effect and thus may be useful as a mouthrinse in helping control cariogenic microorganism.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• 제45권1호
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• pp.85-91
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• 2005

Much of the interest on the chemopreventive properties of herbs and plants has been raised, whereas little is regarding to anti-tumor effect of farming and aquatic products. In the present study, the anti-tumor effect of hot-water extract of a seaweed, BLC (Sargassum fulvellum) and BLC/HEN egg was investigated using MCF-7 cells in vitro and in vivo systems. We found that the BLC extract and BLC/HEN egg inhibited cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner, which might be mediated through up-regulation of p53. Furthermore, this test compound can directly induce apoptosis in MCF-7 cells, which might be mediated through up-regulation of a pro-apoptotic Bax protein and down-regulation of a anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein, not by immune system. Nude mice bearing established breast tumors (with exogenous estradiol) were treated with BLC extract and BLC/HEN egg. Treatment BLC extract and BLC/HEN egg caused a 42% and 71% inhibition of tumor growth, respectively. Both agents caused a significant inhibition of volume and weight growth of estrogen independent human breast tumors established from MCF-7 cells. Our results suggested that BLC extract and BLC/HEN egg have the efficacious effect of human breast cancer not only in vitro but also in vivo.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• 제13권5호
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• pp.649-654
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• 2006

To enhance beneficial effects of citron fruits, anticancer and antioxidant activities of citron fruits extracts were assessed with or without ascorbic acid. Total phenolic acids and flavonoids of fruits peels and flesh extracts were determined. Fruits peels contained more phenolic acids and flavonoids than those detected in flesh extracts. Scavenging activities of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radicals and reducing powers were increased depending on the concentration. The antioxidant activities on oxidation of linoleic acid emulsion incubated at $50^{\circ}C$ were increased but the effect was small to that of butylated hydroxy toluene and ascorbic acid. The anti-tumorigenic effect of these compounds were investigated. They were shown to inhibit the in vitro proliferation of four human tumorigenic cell lines, HT-29, MCF-7, DU-145 and HepG2, in a doso-dependent manner. This study demonstrated that the antioxidant and anticancer activities of citron fruits extracts were derived from their phenols and flavonoids.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• 제1권2호
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• pp.63-70
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• 2006

Natural product compounds are the source of numerous therapeutic agents. The marine environment produces natural products from a variety of structural classes exhibiting activity against numerous disease targets including anticancer agents. Among these, pectenotoxin-2 (PTX-2), which was first identified as a cytotoxic entity in marine sponges, which depolymerizes actin filaments, was found to be highly effective and more potent to activate an intrinsic pathway of apoptosis in p53-deficient tumor cells compared to those with functional p53 both in vitro and in vivo. However, the anti-proliferative mechanism of the compound at non-cytotoxic concentrations has not yet been explored. In the current study, we sought to investigate anti-proliferation and apoptosis of PTX-2 against U937 human leukemic cells and its underlying molecular mechanism. Exposure of U937 cells to PTX-2 resulted in growth inhibition and induction of apoptosis in dose- and time-dependent manner as measured by MTT assay, fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometric analysis. The anti-proliferative effect of PTX-2 was associated with a marked increase in the expression of cyclin-dependent kinase p21 (WAF1/CIP1) mRNA which was tumor suppressor p53-independent. The increase in apoptosis was connected with a time-dependent down-regulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-XL and inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) family such as XIAP and cIAP-2. Though additional studies are needed, these findings suggested that PTX-2-induced inhibition of U937 cells was associated with the induction of apoptotic cell death and the results provided important new insights into the possible molecular mechanisms of the anti-cancer activity of PTX-2.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• 제39권1호
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• pp.29-37
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• 2015

Background: Panax ginseng (i.e., ginseng) root is extensively used in traditional oriental medicine. It is a modern pharmaceutical reagent for preventing various human diseases such as cancer. Ginsenosidesd-the major active components of ginsengd-exhibit immunomodulatory effects. However, the mechanism and function underlying such effects are not fully elucidated, especially in human monocytes and dendritic cells (DCs). Methods: We investigated the immunomodulatory effect of ginsenosides from Panax ginseng root on $CD14^+$ monocytes purified from human adult peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and on their differentiation into DCs that affect $CD4^+$ T cell activity. Results: After treatment with ginsenoside fractions, monocyte levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-10 increased through phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), but not p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). After treatment with ginsenoside fractions, TNF-${\alpha}$ production and phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and JNK decreased in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-sensitized monocytes.We confirmed that DCs derived from $CD14^+$ monocytes in the presence of ginsenoside fractions (Gin-DCs) contained decreased levels of the costimulatory molecules CD80 and CD86. The expression of these costimulatory molecules decreased in LPS-treated DCs exposed to ginsenoside fractions, compared to their expression in LPS-treated DCs in the absence of ginsenoside fractions. Furthermore, LPS-treated Gin-DCs could not induce proliferation and interferon gamma (IFN-${\gamma}$) production by $CD4^+$ T cells with the coculture of Gin-DCs with $CD4^+$ T cells. Conclusion: These results suggest that ginsenoside fractions from the ginseng root suppress cytokine production and maturation of LPS-treated DCs and downregulate $CD4^+$ T cells.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• 제38권1호
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• pp.93-97
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• 2014

Biodegradable drug-eluting stent has dual functions of supporting the lumen and treating internal tumor preventing the restenosis by releasing drug. In this study, the polycaprolactone (PCL) based three dimensional (3D) mesh loaded with paclitaxel (PTX) was presented by rapid prototyping (RP) technique of solid freeform fabrication (SFF) for biodegradable drug-eluting stent application. PCL has many advantageous properties such as good biocompatibility, good mechanical properties, and good drug permeability. PTX is widely used in the cancer treatment by inhibiting tumor cell proliferation. Analytical methods of HPLC and NMR were used for simultaneous quantification of PTX. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was performed to observe the architecture and morphologies of 3D mesh. The cytotoxicity assay results indicated released PTX's biological activity. This study provided that PCL based 3D mesh loaded with PTX by RP technique has great potential for biodegradable drug-eluting stent application.

• Journal of Life Science
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• 제31권7호
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• pp.686-697
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• 2021

Propolis is a resinous substance produced by honeybees, which they use to protect their hives. Honeybees produce propolis by mixing exudates from the various trees and plants with saliva and beeswax. It has been used since around 300 B.C. as a folk medicine to cure wounds. Propolis contains many physiologically active components, such as flavonoids, phenolic compounds, and beeswax. Because of its functional components, propolis has a wide spectrum of biological applications. The compounds in propolis and its biological activity can vary according to the location of nectar source and extraction method. Propolis is most commonly known for its anti-microorganism activity against bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Artepillin C and caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) have been identified as regulatory compounds that reduce inflammation and exert immunosuppressive reactions on T lymphocytes. Through its anti-inflammatory activity, propolis exhibits anti-tumor activity, including the inhibition of cancer cell proliferation, the blocking of tumor signaling cascades, and antiangiogenesis. However, for the more apply of propolis its analysis of nectar source, identifying of propolis compound, the molecular mechanism of propolis and the investigation of compounds synergistic effects are essential. In this study, we described the physiological activity of propolis isolated from honeybees.