• 대한의생명과학회지
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.53-62
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• 2002

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제21권5호
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• pp.323-331
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• 2013

TGF-${\beta}$ pathway is being extensively evaluated as a potential therapeutic target. The transforming growth factor-${\beta}$ (TGF-${\beta}$) signaling pathway has the dual role in both tumor suppression and tumor promotion. To design cancer therapeutics successfully, it is important to understand TGF-${\beta}$ related functional contexts. This review discusses the molecular mechanism of the TGF-${\beta}$ pathway and describes the different ways of tumor suppression and promotion by TGF-${\beta}$. In the last part of the review, the data on targeting TGF-${\beta}$ pathway for cancer treatment is assessed. The TGF-${\beta}$ inhibitors in pre-clinical studies, and Phase I and II clinical trials are updated.

• Toxicological Research
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.177-193
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• 2016

After more than half of century since the Warburg effect was described, this atypical metabolism has been standing true for almost every type of cancer, exhibiting higher glycolysis and lactate metabolism and defective mitochondrial ATP production. This phenomenon had attracted many scientists to the problem of elucidating the mechanism of, and reason for, this effect. Several models based on oncogenic studies have been proposed, such as the accumulation of mitochondrial gene mutations, the switch from oxidative phosphorylation respiration to glycolysis, the enhancement of lactate metabolism, and the alteration of glycolytic genes. Whether the Warburg phenomenon is the consequence of genetic dysregulation in cancer or the cause of cancer remains unknown. Moreover, the exact reasons and physiological values of this peculiar metabolism in cancer remain unclear. Although there are some pharmacological compounds, such as 2-deoxy-D-glucose, dichloroacetic acid, and 3-bromopyruvate, therapeutic strategies, including diet, have been developed based on targeting the Warburg effect. In this review, we will revisit the Warburg effect to determine how much scientists currently understand about this phenomenon and how we can treat the cancer based on targeting metabolism.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• 제26권11호
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• pp.892-897
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• 2003

Anticancer drugs have serious side effects arising from their poor malignant cells selectivity, Since insulin receptors highly express on the cytomembrane of some kind of tumor cells, using insulin as the vector was expected to reduce serious side effects of the drugs. The objective of this study was to evaluate the tumor targeting effect of the newly synthesized mitoxantrone-insulin conjugate (MIT-INS) with the drug loading of 11.68%. In vitro stability trials showed MIT-INS were stable in buffers with different pH (2-8) at $37^{\circ}C$ within 120 h (less than 3% of free MIT released), and were also stable in mouse plasma within 48 h (less than 1 % of free MIT released). In vivo study on tumor-bearing mice showed that, compared with MIT [75.92 $\mu g \cdot$ h/g of the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) and 86.85 h of mean residence time (MRT)], the conjugates had better tumor-targeting efficiency with enhanced tumor AUC of 126.53 1l9 h/g and MTR of 151.95 h. The conjugate had much lower toxicity to most other tissues with targeting indexes ($TI^c$) no larger than 0.3 besides good tumor targeting efficiency with $TI^c$ of 1.67. The results suggest the feasibility to promote the curative effect in ca.ncer chemotherapy by using insulin as the vector of anti-cancer drugs.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.46-50
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• 2018

Cancer, a leading mortality disease following cardiovascular disease worldwide, has high incidence as one out of every four adults in Korea. It was known to be caused by several reasons including somatic mutation, activation of oncogene and chromosome aneuploidy. Cancer cells show a faster growth rate and have metastatic and heterogeneous cell populations compared to normal cells. Cancer stem cells, the most invested field in cancer biology, is a theory to explain heterogeneous cell populations of cancer cells among several characteristics of cancer cells, which is providing the theoretical background for incidence of cancer and treatment failure by drug resistance. Cancer stem cells initially explain heterogeneous cell populations of cancer cells based on the same markers of normal stem cells in cancer, in which only cancer stem cells showed heterogeneity of cancer cells and tumor initiating ability of leukemia. Based on these results, cancer stem cells were reported in various solid cancers such as breast cancer, liver cancer, and lung cancer. Breast cancer stem cells were first reported in solid cancer which had tumor initiating ability and further identified as anti-cancer drug resistance. There were several identification methods in breast cancer stem cells such as specific surface markers and culture methods. The discovery of cancer stem cells not only explains heterogeneity of cancer cells, but it also provides theoretical background for targeting cancer stem cells to complete elimination of cancer cells. Many institutes have been developing new anticancer drugs targeting cancer stem cells, but there have not been noticeable results yet. Many researchers also reported a necessity for improvement of current concepts and methods of research on cancer stem cells. Herein, we discuss the limitations and the perspectives of breast cancer stem cells based on the current concept and history.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.377-381
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• 2012

The aim of this study was to screen for polypeptides binding specifically to LoVo human colorectal cancer cells using a phage-displayed peptide library as a targeting vector for colorectal cancer therapy. Human normal colorectal mucous epithelial cells were applied as absorber cells for subtraction biopanning with a c7c phage display peptide library. Positive phage clones were identified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunofluorescence detection; amino acid sequences were deduced by DNA sequencing. After 3 rounds of screening, 5 of 20 phage clones screened positive, showing specific binding to LoVo cells and a conserved RPM motif. Specific peptides against colorectal cancer cells could be obtained from a phage display peptide library and may be used as potential vectors for targeting therapy for colorectal cancer.

• BMB Reports
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• 제47권1호
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• pp.39-44
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• 2014

Increasing data shows miR-29a is a key regulator of oncogenic processes. It is significantly down-regulated in some kind of human tumors and possibly functionally linked to cellular proliferation, survival and migration. However, the mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we report miR-29a is significantly under-expressed in gastric cancer compared to the healthy donor. The microvessel density is negatively related to miR-29a expression in gastric cancer tissues. The ectopic expression of miR-29a significantly inhibits proliferation and invasion of gastric cancer cells. Furthermore, western blot combined with the luciferase reporter assays demonstrate that vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) is direct target of miR-29a. This is the first time miR-29a was found to suppress the tumor microvessel density in gastric cancer by targeting VEGF-A. Taken together, these results suggest that miR-29a is a tumor suppressor in gastric cancer. Restoration of miR-29a in gastric cancer may be a promising therapeutic approach.

• 한양메디칼리뷰
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• 제33권1호
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• pp.59-64
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• 2013

Cancer remains the leading cause of death worldwide despite intense efforts in developing innovative treatments. Current approaches in cancer therapy are mainly directed to a selective targeting of cancer cells to avoid potential side effects associated with conventional therapy. In this respect, Natural killer (NK) cells have gained growing attention and are now being considered as promising therapeutic tools for cancer therapy owing to their intrinsic ability to rapidly recognize and kill cancer cells, while sparing normal healthy cells. NK cells play a key role in the first line of defense against transformed and virus-infected cells. NK cells sense their target through a whole array of receptors, both activating and inhibitory. Functional outcome of NK cell against target cells is determined by the balance of signals transmitted from diverse activating and inhibiting receptors. Despite significant progress made in the role of NK cells attack as a pivotal sentinel in tumor surveillance, the molecular has been that regulate NK cell responses remain unclear, which restricts the use of NK cells as a therapeutic measure. Accordingly, current efforts for NK cell-based cancer therapy have largely relied on the strategies that are based on the manipulation of inhibitory receptor function. However, if we better understand the mechanisms governing NK cell activation, including those mediated by diverse activating receptors, this knowledge can be applied to the development of optimal design for cancer immunotherapy by targeting NK cells.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제19권9호
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• pp.1070-1076
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• 2009

Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), which prolongs the replicative life span of cells, is highly upregulated in 85-90% of human cancers, whereas most normal somatic tissues in humans express limited levels of the telomerase activity. Therefore, TERT has been a potential target for anticancer therapy. Recently, we described a new approach to human cancer gene therapy, which is based on the group I intron of Tetrahymena thermophila. This ribozyme can specifically mediate RNA replacement of human TERT (hTERT) transcript with a new transcript harboring anticancer activity through a trans-splicing reaction, resulting in selective regression of hTERT-positive cancer cells. However, to validate the therapeutic potential of the ribozyme in animal models, ribozymes targeting inherent transcripts of the animal should be developed. In this study, we developed a Tetrahymena-based trans-splicing ribozyme that can specifically target and replace the mouse TERT (mTERT) RNA. This ribozyme can trigger transgene activity not only also in mTERT-expressing cells but hTERT-positive cancer cells. Importantly, the ribozyme could selectively induce activity of the suicide gene, a herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene, in cancer cells expressing the TERT RNA and thereby specifically hamper the survival of these cells when treated with ganciclovir. The mTERT-targeting ribozyme will be useful for evaluation of the RNA replacement approach as a cancer gene therapeutic tool in the mouse model with syngeneic tumors.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제14권6호
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• pp.265-276
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• 2014

The interactions between B7 molecules and CD28-family receptors are crucial in the regulation of adaptive cellular immunity. In cancer, the aberrant expression of co-inhibitory B7 molecules has been attributed to reduced anti-tumor immunity and cancer immune evasion, prompting the development of cancer therapeutics that can restore T cell function. Murine tumor models have provided significant support for the targeting of multiple immune checkpoints involving CTLA-4, PD-1, ICOS, B7-H3 and B7-H4 during tumor growth, and clinical studies investigating the therapeutic effects of CTLA-4 and PD-1 blockade have shown exceptionally promising results in patients with advanced melanoma and other cancers. The expression pattern of co-inhibitory B7 ligands in the tumor microenvironment has also been largely correlated with poor patient prognosis, and recent evidence suggests that the presence of several B7 molecules may predict the responsiveness of immunotherapies that rely on pre-existing tumor-associated immune responses. While monotherapies blocking T cell co-inhibition have beneficial effects in reducing tumor burden, combinatorial immunotherapy targeting multiple immune checkpoints involved in various stages of the anti-tumor response has led to the most substantial impact on tumor reduction. In this review, we will examine the contributions of B7- and CD28-family members in the context of cancer development, and discuss the implications of current human findings in cancer immunotherapy.