• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.2265-2268
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• 2013

Several lines of evidence indicate that cancer is a multistep process. To survey the mechanisms involving gene alteration and miRNAs in adrenocortical cancer, we focused on transcriptional factors as a point of penetration to build a regulatory network. We derived three level networks: differentially expressed; related; and global. A topology network ws then set up for development of adrenocortical cancer. In this network, we found that some pathways with differentially expressed elements (genetic and miRNA) showed some self-adaption relations, such as EGFR. The differentially expressed elements partially uncovered mechanistic changes for adrenocortical cancer which should guide medical researchers to further achieve pertinent research.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.48 no.8
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• pp.576-586
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• 2010

Recent advancement in molocular biology enhanced further understanding of the carcinogenesis of oral cancer and its relation with various genetic backgrounds. Familial risk factors includes similar habits of the family and polymorphic variations of the genes. Recently, human papilloma virus has been suggested to be linked with oral cancer progression. Enhancement of understanding of the damage or alteration in molecular pathway in various cellular response of oral cancer progression would lead the targeted therapy or precise early diagnosis of the oral cancer.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 1994

During the last decade enzyme reaction in organic solvent has been studied to show that specificity in buffer is different from that in organic solvent. The specificity of restriction enzyme was effected by various factors such as ionic strength, salt organic solvent and temperature. In this study, restriction enzyme PvuII which is used most frequently in genetic engineering and the substrate was vector pGEM3 whose sequence was already known were used. As a result the recognition sequence site was changed in the presence of organic solvents whose Log P are -1.5∼0. Their specificities were contrast with activities were contrasted. Specificities were not changed in organic solvent easily in inactivating enzyme. We think that the enzyme recognition site was not changed randomly but by preferential order. A recombinant vector which does not contain typical cleavage site CAG↓CTG was cleaved in 20% ethanol solution. This result might show that restriction enzyme could be used to cleave at unusual sites by changing the reaction conditions.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.93-97
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• 2005

Nasal obstruction may cause or aggravate sleep disordered breathing but exact pathogenesis is not clear. The possible mechanism could be combination of alteration in upper airway aerodynaimcs, loss of nasal reflex or sensation, effect of mouth opening, and a genetic predisposition. Anatomical narrowing of nasal airway cause more rapid airflow and induce more negative inspiratory air pressure. So, it increases collapsibility of pharyngeal airway. Loss of nasal sensation to airflow block nasal reflex. Mouth opening decreases the activity of pharyngeal airway dilator muscles and narrowing the pharyngeal airway may occur. The treatment of nasal obstruction should be done according to the cause. The causes of nasal obstruction are various from problems of external nasal opening to nasopharynx. Relief of nasal obstruction may not cure sleep disordered breathing always. In some mild obstructive sleep apnea patients, treatment of nasal obstruction only may cure sleep disordered breathing. In some severe sleep apnea patients, treatment of nasal obstruction may increase compliance of continous nasal positive airway pressure.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.40-48
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• 1996

We have examined the chromatin structure of the HMRE/HSP82 and HMRa/HSP82 allels using three complementary approaches : DNase I chromating footprinting, micrococcal nuclease (MNase) nucleosome-protected ladder assay, and an in vivo E. coli dam methylase accessibility assay. The footprinting results indicate that the promoter and silencer sequences are assembled into nucleoprotein complexes which exhibit no detectable change in structure, despite a 70-fold range in expression levels. In addition, the promoter region of the HMRa/HSP82 allele is cleaved randomly by MNase in all cases, indicating the absence of anonical nucleosomes over this region irrespective of SIR4 or heat-shock. Finally, no discernible difference in the accessibility of the HMRE/HSP82 locus to dam methylase in SIR4 vs. sir4 cells was seenm which again suggests that the chromatin structure of HMRE/HSP82 allele is identical regardless of SIR4. Altogether, our results indicate that in contrast to other observations of the silent mating-type loci, no discernible structural alteration is detected at either HMR/HSP82 allele regardless of SIR genetic background or transcriptional state of the gene.

• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.6
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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.

• Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.22 no.4
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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.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.911-920
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• 2007

Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, continues to be one of the leading infectious diseases to humans. It is urgent to discover novel drug targets for the development of antitubercular agents. The 2-C-methyl-Derythritol-4-phosphate (MEP) pathway for isoprenoid biosynthesis has been considered as an attractive target for the discovery of novel antibiotics for its essentiality in bacteria and absence in mammals. MEP cytidyltransferase (IspD), the third-step enzyme of the pathway, catalyzes MEP and CTP to form 4-diphosphocytidyl-2-C-methylerythritol (CDP-ME) and PPi. In the work, ispD gene from M. tuberculosis H37Rv (MtIspD) was cloned and expressed. With N-terminal fusion of a histidine-tagged sequence, MtIspD could be purified to homogeneity by one-step nickel affinity chromatography. MtIspD exists as a homodimer with an apparent molecular mass of 52 kDa. Enzyme property analysis revealed that MtIspD has high specificity for pyrimidine bases and narrow divalent cation requirements, with maximal activity found in the presence of CTP and $Mg^{2+}$. The turnover number of MtIspD is $3.4 s^{-1}$. The Km for MEP and CTP are 43 and $92{\mu}M$, respectively. Furthermore, MtIspD shows thermal instable above $50^{\circ}C$. Circular dichroism spectra revealed that the alteration of tertiary conformation is closely related with sharp loss of enzyme activity at higher temperature. This study is expected to help better understand the features of IspD and provide useful information for the development of novel antibiotics to treat M. tuberculosis.

• BMB Reports
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.241-247
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• 1996

The Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome is the single most intensively studied chromosome alteration characterizing a human malignancy. The specific genetic alteration of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is the formation of the BCR/abl fusion gene in leukemic cells. The presence of the BCR/abl gene has important diagnostic and prognostic implications in CML. The detection of BCR/abl transcripts by reverse transcriptase based polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was investigated in patients with CML in whom the Ph chromosome abnormality was documented by cytogenetic analysis. In a total of 68 CML patient cases, the Ph chromosome was found in 53 cases (77.9%) by cytogenetic analysis. On the other hand, sixty two cases (91.2%) were detected to have BCR/abl gene rearrangement Of these, b3a2 was 44 cases (64.7%) and b2a2 was 17 cases (25,0%). There was one case with both b3a2 and b2a2 (1.5%). Of the fifteen cases of Ph chromosome negative by cytogenetic anlaysis, the BCR/abl gene was observed in nine cases, The results of BCR/abl fusion gene confirmed by the direct sequencing method correlated well with PCR analysis, The amplified PCR products were detected by $1{\times}10^{-5}$ dilutions. In conclusion, PCR technique is sensitive, rapid and relatively simple for a laboratory test in detecting the BCR/abl fusion gene with CML regardless of the result of cytogenetic analysis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.3009-3013
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• 2012

Background: The clinical course of individual chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is highly variable and clinical staging systems do not help us to predict if and at what rate there will be disease progression in an individual patient diagnosed with early stage disease. Recently, several important observations related to other prognostic factors including lymphocyte doubling time (LDT), ${\beta}_2$-microglobulin (${\beta}_2$-MG), and percent of smudge cell in peripheral blood smears, cytogenetic and molecular analysis have been made. The aim of this study was to evaluate a range of prognostic factors in our CLL patients. Design and methods: Seventy patients with CLL were enrolled. Prognostic factors of disease including Binet staging, LDT, ${\beta}_2$-MG, ESR, LDH, percent of smudge cell in peripheral blood smear, absolute lymphocyte count, and conventional cytogenetic (CC) analysis were evaluated at diagnosis, and the patients were followed up to determine their outcome. We compared factors with each other and with Binet staging and prognosis. Results: Enrolled patients aged 37-85 years at diagnosis or during follow up. There was no relationship between serum LDH level (P=0.3), ESR (P=0.11), percent of smudge cells in peripheral blood smear (P=0.94), and absolute lymphocyte count (P=0.18) with the stage of disease and prognosis, but the ${\beta}_2$ macroglobulin level (p<0.0001), LDT (p<0.001) had direct and significant relation with staging and outcome. In 19% of patients cytogenetic alteration were seen. Conclusion: The detection of cytogenetic alteration only using the CC method is not sufficient and we need to use FISH, but because FISH study is an expensive method not available in all areas, instead we believe that ${\beta}_2$ MG can be applied in its place as a good prognostic factor for CLL at diagnosis and during follow up. We suggest to add it to Binet staging for prognostic subgrouping of CLL.