• BMB Reports
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• 제44권6호
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• pp.359-368
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• 2011

Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is a common genetic disorder in which extensive epithelial-lined cysts develop in the kidneys. In previous studies, abnormalities of polycystin protein and its interacting proteins, as well as primary cilia, have been suggested to play critical roles in the development of renal cysts. However, although several therapeutic targets for PKD have been suggested, no early diagnosis or effective treatments are currently available. Current developments are active for treatment of PKD including inhibitors or antagonists of PPAR-${\gamma}$, TNF-${\alpha}$, CDK and VEGF. These drugs are potential therapeutic targets in PKD, and need to be determined about pathological functions in human PKD. It has recently been reported that the alteration of epigenetic regulation, as well as gene mutations, may affect the pathogenesis of PKD. In this review, we will discuss recent approaches to PKD therapy. It provides important information regarding potential targets for PKD.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.394-407
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• 2011

Better understanding of the complex factors leading to human diseases will be necessary for both long term prevention and for managing short and long-term health problems. The underlying causes, leading to a global health crisis in both acute and chronic diseases, include finite global health care resources for sustained healthy human survival, the population explosion, increased environmental pollution, decreased clean air, water, food distribution, diminishing opportunities for human self-esteem, increased median life span, and the interconnection of infectious and chronic diseases. The transition of our pre-human nutritional requirements for survival to our current culturally-shaped diet has created a biologically-mismatched human dietary experience. While individual genetic, gender, and developmental stage factors contribute to human diseases, various environmental and culturally-determined factors are now contributing to both acute and chronic diseases. The transition from the hunter-gatherer to an agricultural-dependent human being has brought about a global crisis in human health. Initially, early humans ate seasonally-dependent and calorically-restricted foods, during the day, in a "feast or famine" manner. Today, modern humans eat diets of caloric abundance, at all times of the day, with foods of all seasons and from all parts of the world, that have been processed and which have been contaminated by all kinds of factors. No longer can one view, as distinct, infectious agent-related human acute diseases from chronic diseases. Moreover, while dietary and environmental chemicals could, in principle, cause disease pathogenesis by mutagenic and cytotoxic mechanisms, the primary cause is via "epigenetic", or altered gene expression, modifications in the three types of cells (e.g., adult stem; progenitor and terminally-differentiated cells of each organ) during all stages of human development. Even more significantly, alteration in the quantity of adult stem cells during early development by epigenetic chemicals could either increase or decrease the risk to various stem cell-based diseases, such as cancer, later in life. A new concept, the Barker hypothesis, has emerged that indicates pre-natal maternal dietary exposures can now affect diseases later in life. Examples from the studies of the atomic bomb survivors should illustrate this insight.

• 문화기술의 융합
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• 제5권2호
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• pp.45-52
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• 2019

인간 유전자 게놈 프로젝트가 1990-2003년까지 30억 달러를 들여 인간유전자 99%를 해독했다. 그런데, 유전자에 대한 많은 연구가 진행됨에 따라 유전자에 구조적인 변질이 오지 않고도 질병이 발생하는 경우가 많다는 사실이 밝혀지고 있다. 최신 학문인 후성유전자학이 이 문제에 대한 답을 내놓고 있다. 1670-1795년까지 제주를 덮친 흉년과 제주도민이 외부로 출도금지령 200년간의 고통, 그리고 1948년 4.3사건으로 도민이 삼분에 일이 죽임을 당하는 수난이 후성유전현상으로 자손대에 비만과 질병으로 발현될 수 있음을 세계역사속의 과학으로 보였다. 5G 기반의 헬스케어 IoT 기술을 이용하면 이러한 현상에 대한 후성유전학적 분석이 가능해져 비만 치료에 이용될 수 있다.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제43권1호
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• pp.1-9
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• 2020

The first step in treating lung cancer is to establish the stage of the disease, which in turn determines the treatment options and prognosis of the patient. Many factors are involved in lung cancer staging, but all involve anatomical information. However, new approaches, mainly those based on the molecular biology of cancer, have recently changed the paradigm for lung cancer treatment and have not yet been incorporated into staging. In a group of patients of the same stage who receive the same treatment, some may experience unexpected recurrence or metastasis, largely because current staging methods do not reflect the findings of molecular biological studies. In this review, we provide a brief summary of the latest research on lung cancer staging and the molecular events associated with carcinogenesis. We hope that this paper will serve as a bridge between clinicians and basic researchers and aid in our understanding of lung cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제17권6호
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• pp.2757-2760
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• 2016

Gastric cancer (GC) is the fourth most prevalant cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. As in other cancers gastric carcinogenesis is multifactorial involving environmental, genetic and epigenetic components. Epigenetic silencing due to hypermethylation of tumour suppressor genes is one of the key events in gastric carcinogenesis. This study was aimed to analyse the hypermethylation status of the E-Cadherin (CDH1) gene promoter in GCs in the ethnic Kashmiri population. In this study a total of 80 GC patients were recruited. Hypermethylation in tumour tissue was detected by methylation specific PCR (MS-PCR). Hypermethylation of CDH1 promoter was observed in 52 (65%) of gastric carcinoma cases which was significantly much higher than adjacent normal tissue [$p{\leq}0.0001$]. Further the frequency of CDH1 promoter methylation was significantly different with intestinal and diffuse types of gastric cancer [55.7% vs 82.1%; p<0.05]. Moreover females and cases with lymph node invasion had higher frequencies of CDH1 hypermethylation [$P{\leq}0.05$]. Thus the current data indicate a vital role of epigenetic alteration of CDH1 in the causation and development of gastric cancer, particularly of diffuse type, in our population.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제25권6호
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• pp.724-731
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• 2015

중간엽줄기세포는 성체줄기세포의 한 종류로, 자기재생산능력(self-renwal)과 다분화능(multipotency)을 가지고 있고, 다양한 자양인자(trophic factors)들을 분비한다. 뿐만 아니라, 중간엽줄기세포는 골수, 지방, 탯줄과 같은 조직에서 쉽게 얻을 수 있기 때문에 줄기세포치료에 좋은 도구로 이용되고 있다. 하지만, 줄기세포치료의 효율성을 높이기 위해 추출한 세포의 개체 수를 늘리는 과정에서 중간엽줄기세포는 점차적인 노화를 겪게 되고, 이는 줄기세포 자체의 기능적인 감소를 야기한다. 인체 내에서, 노화된 줄기세포는 조직 내의 항상성 유지에 부정적인 영향 을 미치게 되고, 이러한 상태가 지속되면 대표적인 노인성 질환인 퇴행성 질환의 원인이 된다. 최근 연구들에 의하면 중간엽줄기세포가 노화를 겪을 때, 노화 관련된 DNA 메틸화 패턴의 변화와 히스톤의 변형이 일어남을 확인하였다. 또한, 중간엽줄기세포의 노화에 있어서 DNA 메틸화효소(DNA methyltransferase) 억제제와 히스톤 아세틸화효소(histone deacetylase) 억제제가 부분적으로 노화를 개선하는 효과를 관찰한 연구사례들이 있다. 본 총설에서는, 노화에 따른 후생유전학적인 변화에 의해, 조절되는 노화 관련 유전자들과 중간엽줄기세포의 노화에 대한 연구사례들을 분석하여 서술하고자 한다.

• 한국발생생물학회지:발생과생식
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.117-124
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• 2008

지구상의 모든 생명체들은 자신의 생존과 종의 영속성을 보장하기 위해 우호적이지 않은 환경 변화에 대응하기 위한 효과적인 전략을 발전시켜왔다. 그 결과, 생명체들은 환경요인들의 변화에도 불구하고 체내 생리적 환경의 역동적인 평형, 즉 항상성(homeostasis)을 유지해 나간다. 스트레스는 항상성을 위협하는 정서적 그리고 물리적 반응이다. 스트레스는 일시적일 뿐만 아니라 거의 영구적인 영향을 개체에 줄 수 있는데, 특히 출생전 스트레스는 유전 코드의 변경없이 성체의 기능과 구조를 바꿀 수 있는 '후생학적 프로그래밍'을 할 수 있음이 최근의 연구들에 의해 알려졌다. 본 논문에서는 출생 전 스트레스를 받은 수컷 흰쥐에서 나타나는 생식과 연관된 일련의 사건들, 예를 들어 성적 이형현상을 보이는 뇌 지역의 변화, 신경전달물질 대사의 수정, 생식내분비 상태의 변화, 그리고 마지막으로 성행동의 이상들을 소개한다. 태아의 뇌는 출생전 프로그래밍에 극히 민감한데, 특히 글루코코티코이드는 강력한 뇌-프로그래밍 능력을 갖고 있다. 모체 스트레스에 의해 유도된 글루코코티코이드 입력에 의한 태아 뇌의 지속적인 과도 활성은 신경 가소성을 증가시키는 새로운 프로그램을 제공할 것이다. 그리고 증가한 신경 가소성은 환경 도전 속에서 개체가 더 잘 적응하도록 하는 증가된 표현형의 가소성에 대한 기초가 될 것이다. 결론적으로, '혹독한' 환경을 태아기에 경험한 개체는 미래에 자신의 생존 가능성을 높이기 위해 번식능력을 일부 포기하도록 후생학적으로 (재)프로그램하는 것으로 추정된다.

• Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제22권4호
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• pp.203-210
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• 2017

After transcription, RNAs are always associated with RNA binding proteins (RBPs) to perform biological activities. RBPs can interact with target RNAs in sequence- and structure-dependent manner through their unique RNA binding domains. In development and progression of carcinogenesis, RBPs are aberrantly dysregulated in many human cancers with various mechanisms, such as genetic alteration, epigenetic change, noncoding RNA-mediated regulation, and post-translational modifications. Upon deregulation in cancers, RBPs influence every step in the development and progression of cancer, including sustained cell proliferation, evasion of apoptosis, avoiding immune surveillance, inducing angiogenesis, and activating metastasis. To develop therapeutic strategies targeting RBPs, RNA interference-based oligonucleotides or small molecule inhibitors have been screened based on reduced RBP-RNA interaction and changed level of target RNAs. Identification of binding RNAs with high-throughput techniques and integral analysis of multiple datasets will help us develop new therapeutic drugs or prognostic biomarkers for human cancers.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제83권1호
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• pp.1-13
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• 2020

For the past three decades, more than a thousand of genetic studies have been performed to find out the genetic variants responsible for the risk of asthma. Until now, all of the discovered single nucleotide polymorphisms have explained genetic effects less than initially expected. Thus, clarification of environmental factors has been brought up to overcome the 'missing' heritability. The most exciting solution is epigenesis because it intervenes at the junction between the genome and the environment. Epigenesis is an alteration of genetic expression without changes of DNA sequence caused by environmental factors such as nutrients, allergens, cigarette smoke, air pollutants, use of drugs and infectious agents during pre- and post-natal periods and even in adulthood. Three major forms of epigenesis are composed of DNA methylation, histone modifications, and specific microRNA. Recently, several studies have been published on epigenesis in asthma and allergy as a powerful tool for research of genetic heritability in asthma albeit epigenetic changes are at the starting point to obtain the data on specific phenotypes of asthma. In this presentation, we mainly review the potential role of DNA CpG methylation in the risk of asthma and its sub-phenotypes including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory exacerbated respiratory diseases.

• 대한세포병리학회지
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.126-135
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• 2008

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is a highly lethal neoplasm arising in pleura and the peritoneum and a rapid and accurate diagnosis is crucial for treatment of the disease. However, the sensitivity of cytological analysis using pleural or ascitic fluid is relatively low, yielding an accurate diagnosis in only $32{\sim}79%$ of cases. We tested the diagnostic value of epigenetic alterations in body fluid cytology as a supplement to conventional methods. Paraffin-embedded tissue blocks from 21 MM patients and associated body fluid cytology slides considered no evidence of malignancy were used to test for epigenetic alteration. Using methylation-specific PCR, we detected methylation of RASSF1A and p16 in 47.6% (10/21) of both surgically resected tumor samples, respectively. Body fluid samples of MM also showed abnormal methylation of RASSF1A and p16INK4a genes in 38.1% (8/21) and 33.3% (7/21) of cases. The concordance in the rates of RASSF1A and p16INK4a gene-methylation abnormalities determined from cytology samples and tissue samples were 61.9% (13/21) and 66.7% (14/21), respectively. Combining both genes increases the sensitivity of the test to 57.1 % (12 of 21) of cases. Our results suggest that testing for methylation abnormalities in selected individual genes or gene combinations has diagnostic value as an alternative or adjunct method to conventional cytological diagnosis.