• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2017

Dental caries is the most common chronic disease in the dental field. Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) is the most important bacteria in the formation of dental plaque and dental caries. In a previous study, we confirmed that the essential oil of Chrysanthemum boreale has antibacterial activity against S. mutans. Alpha-pinene is one of the major chemical components of Chrysanthemum boreale essential oil. In the present study, we investigated the inhibitory effects of ${\alpha}-pinene$ on cariogenic properties such as growth, acid production, biofilm formation, and bactericidal activity on S. mutans. Alpha-pinene at a concentration range of 0.25-0.5 mg/mL significantly inhibited the growth of S. mutans and acid production of S. mutans. Biofilm formation was significantly inhibited at > 0.0625 mg/mL ${\alpha}-pinene$, similar to the data from scanning electronic microscopy. Under confocal laser scanning microscopy, the bacterial viability was decreased by ${\alpha}-pinene$ in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggested that ${\alpha}-pinene$ may be a useful agent for inhibiting the cariogenic properties of S. mutans.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.414-420
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• 2015

Antifungal activities of crude extractum of Nanshancha Seed Cake (NSC), to inactivate postharvest pathogens were investigated. Highest inhibitory rate was found against C. musae, C. gloeosporioides and C. papaya P.Henn, which was much stronger than that by tea saponin. Compared to tea saponin, effects of NSC extractum was relatively weak and similar on C. gloeosporioides Penzig and P. italicum. In an in vivo study, best controlling effects by NSC extractum was found with banana anthracnose disease development, which showed no inhibitory effects by tea saponin. NSC extractum controlled in vitro C. musae growth through directly inhibiting germination rate and germ tube elongation, and causing distortation, rupture and indentation of C. musae mycelium. In banana fruit subject to C. musae inoculation, higher PAL, POD, GLU and CHT activity was observed in banana fruit treated with crude NSC extractum than that of water control fruits. Current study proved the best controlling effects of crude NSC extractum in C. musae in vitro and in vivo development, which through direct inhibition of C. musae growth and increasing defense system of the banana fruit.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.80-84
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• 2008

Beneficial effects of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) supplement on age-associated chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and diabetes, have been reported. However, its mechanism of action in hepatocellular carcinoma in vivo has not been investigated in detail. We have previously shown that during hepatocellular carcinogenesis, DHEA treatment decreases formation of preneoplastic glutathione S-transferase placental form-positive foci in the liver and has antioxidant effects. Here we aimed to determine the mechanism of actions of DHEA, in comparison to vitamin E, in a chemically-induced hepatocellular carcinoma model in rats. Sprague-Dawley rats were administered with control diet without a carcinogen, diets with 1.5% vitamin E, 0.5% DHEA and both of the compounds with a carcinogen for 6 weeks. The doses were previously reported to have anti-cancer effects in animals without known toxicities. With DHEA treatment, cytosolic malate dehydrogenase activities were significantly increased by ${\sim}5$ fold and glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase activities were decreased by ${\sim}25%$ compared to carcinogen treated group. Activities of Se-glutathione peroxidase in the cytotol was decreased siguificantly with DHEA treatment, confirming its antioxidative effect. However, liver microsomal cytochrome P-450 content and NADPH-dependent cytochrome P-450 reductase activities were not altered with DHEA treatment. Vitamin E treatment decreased cytosolic Se-glutathione peroxidase activities in accordance with our previous reports. However, vitamin E did not alter glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase or malate dehydrogenase activities. Our results suggest that DHEA may have decreased tumor nodule formation and reduced lipid peroxidation as previously reported, possibly by increasing the production of NADPH, a reducing equivalent for NADPH-dependent antioxidant enzymes. DHEA treatment tended to reduce glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase activities, which may have resulted in limited supply for de novo synthesis of DNA via inhibiting the hexose monophophaste pathway. Although both DHEA and vitamin E effectively reduced preneoplastic foci in this model, they seemed to fimction in different mechanisms. In conclusion, DHEA may be used to reduce hepatocellular carcinoma growth by targeting NADPH synthesis, cell proliferation and anti-oxidant enzyme activities during tumor growth.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.219-227
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• 2024

Bladder cancer remains the 10th most common cancer worldwide. In recent years, metformin has been found to have potential anti-bladder cancer activity while high concentration of IC₅₀ at millimolar level is needed, which could not be reached by regular oral administration route. Thus, higher efficient agent is urgently demanded for clinically treating bladder cancer. Here, by conjugating artesunate to metformin, a novel artesunate-metformin dimer triazine derivative AM2 was designed and synthesized. The inhibitory effect of AM2 on bladder cancer cell line T24 and the mechanism underlying was determined. Anti-tumor activity of AM2 was assessed by MTT, cloning formation and wound healing assays. Decreasing effect of AM2 on lipogenesis was determined by oil red O staining. The protein expressions of Clusterin, SREBP1 and FASN in T24 cells were evaluated by Western blotting. The results show that AM2 significantly inhibited cell proliferation and migration at micromolar level, much higher than parental metformin. AM2 reduced lipogenesis and down-regulated the expressions of Clusterin, SREBP1 and FASN. These results suggest that AM2 inhibits the growth of bladder cancer cells T24 by inhibiting cellular lipogenesis associated with the Clusterin/SREBP1/FASN signaling pathway.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.427-436
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• 2012

Targeted therapy has been a very promising strategy of drug development research. Many molecular mechanims of diseases have been known to be regulated by abundance of proteins, such as receptors and hormones. Chemoprevention for treatment and prevention of diseases are continuously developed. Pre-clinical and clinical studies in chemoprevention field yielded many valuable data in preventing the onset of disease and suppressing the progress of their growth, making chemoprevention a challenging and a very rational strategy in future researches. Natural products being rich of flavonoids are those fruits belong to the genus citrus. Ethanolic extract of Citrus reticulata and Citrus aurantiifolia peels showed anticarcinogenic, antiproliferative, co-chemotherapeutic and estrogenic effects. Several examples of citrus flavonoids that are potential as chemotherapeutic agents are tangeretin, nobiletin, hesperetin, hesperidin, naringenin, and naringin. Those flavonoids have been shown to possess inhibition activity on certain cancer cells' growth through various mechanisms. Moreover, citrus flavonoids also perform promising effect in combination with several chemotherapeutic agents against the growth of cancer cells. Some mechanisms involved in those activities are through cell cycle modulation, antiangiogenic effect, and apoptosis induction.Previous studies showed that tangeretin suppressed the growth of T47D breast cancer cells by inhibiting ERK phosphorylation. While in combination with tamoxifen, doxorubicin, and 5-FU, respectively, it was proven to be synergist on several cancer cells. Hesperidin and naringenin increased cytotoxicitity of doxorubicin on MCF-7 cells and HeLa cells. Besides, citrus flavonoids also performed estrogenic effect in vivo. One example is hesperidin having the ability to decrease the concentration of serum and hepatic lipid and reduce osteoporosis of ovariectomized rats. Those studies showed the great potential of citrus fruits as natural product to be developed as not only the source of co-chemotherapeutic agents, but also phyto-estrogens. Therefore, further study needs to be conducted to explore the potential of citrus fruits in overcoming cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.4453-4458
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• 2012

Angiogenesis plays a significant role in colorectal cancer (CRC) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) appears to be involved with multiple aspects of CRC angiogenesis. Our aim was to investigate the inhibitory effects of Tan II-A (Tanshinone II-A, Tan II-A) on tumor growth in mice, as well as alteration of expression of COX-2 and VEGF in CRC. We established the mice xenograft model of C26 CRC cell line, and injected 0.5, 1, 2mg/kg of Tan II-A and 1mg/kg of 5-FU in respectively in vivo. Then, we assayed tumor weight and volume, and evaluated microvascular density and expression of VEGF. COX-2 promoter and COX-2 plasmids were transfected into HCT-116 cells, followed by detection of COX-2 promoter activity by chemiluminescence, and detection of COX-2 mRNA expression by fluorescence quantitative PCR. Taken together, the results showed Tan II-A could inhibit tumor growth and suppress the VEGF level in vivo. HCT-116 cell experiments showed marked inhibitory effects of Tan II-A on COX-2 and VEGF in a dose-dependent manner. The results indicate that Tan II-A can effectively inhibit tumor growth and angiogenesis of human colorectal cancer via inhibiting the expression level of COX-2 and VEGF.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.625-633
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• 1996

Crude extracts of 4 Allium SPP. such as welsh onion, onion, chinese chives and garlic were purified by paper chromatography and these activities were bio-assayed with rice seedlings. The stem and leaf slices of Allium spp. were treated and rice seedlings were planted in the soil to know the effect of its application on rice growth. The weak acidic fraction of Allium SPP. enhanced the growth and rooting of rice seedlings and had greater activity in promoting than in inhibiting the growth on rice seedling. Elongation of the second leaf sheath of the rice seedlings were not influenced by the extracts of Allium SPP. The stem and leaf application 10 days before transplanting, increased the number of effective tiller remarkably. Especially, the application of 50~400g welsh onion and 50~200g onions increased the number of spikelets per panicle compared to standard fertilization. But, in application of larger amounts, the-death rate of the rice seedlings after transplanting was higher in the stem and leaf application 10 days before transplanting than the one applied on the transplanting day. In particular, treatments of chinese chives and garlic showed higher death rate than those of welsh onion or onion. The stem and leaf application of Allium SPP. resulted in high yield than standard fertilization.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.167-174
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• 2014

Tumor angiogenesis, growth and metastasis are three closely related processes. We therefore investigated the effects of barbigerone on all three in the B16F10 tumor model established in both zebrafish and mouse models, and explored underlying molecular mechanisms. In vitro, barbigerone inhibited B16F10 cell proliferation, survival, migration and invasion and suppressed human umbilical vascular endothelial cell migration, invasion and tube formation in concentration-dependent manners. In the transgenic zebrafish model, treatment with $10{\mu}M$ barbigerone remarkably inhibited angiogenesis and tumor-associated angiogenesis by reducing blood vessel development more than 90%. In vivo, barbigerone significantly suppressed angiogenesis as measured by H and E staining of matrigel plugs and CD31 staining of B16F10 melanoma tumors in C57BL/6 mice. Furthermore, it exhibited highly potent activity at inhibiting tumor growth and metastasis to the lung of B16F10 melanoma cells injected into C57BL/6 mice. Western blotting revealed that barbigerone inhibited phosphorylation of AKT, FAK and MAPK family members, including ERK, JNK, and p38 MAPKs, in B16F10 cells mainly through the MEK3/6/p38 MAPK signaling pathway. These findings suggested for the first time that barbigerone could inhibit tumor-angiogenesis, tumor growth and lung metastasis via downregulation of the MEK3/6/p38 MAPK signaling pathway. The findings support further investigation of barbigerone as a potential anti-cancer drug.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.371-376
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• 1985

We investigated the growth parameters of Candida parapsilosis isolated from spoiled red ginseng extract. The optimum pH range for C. parapsilosis was 6.0, whereas the minimum and maximum pH values that permitted growth were 3.0 and 11.0, respectively. For cells grown in PG medium plus 0 and 60％ sucrose, the optimum water activity(Aw) values were 0.98 and 0.97, respectively. The optimum temperature for C. parapsilosis were 3$0^{\circ}C$ at an Aw of 0.90 in 4.8％ potato dextrose broth with 18％ sucrose (PGS). Cations inhibiting the growth of C parapsilosis were L $i^{+}$ $Ca^{2+}$, $Mg^{+2}$, $K^{+}$ in decreasing order, while anions were S $O_4$$^{2-}$, N $O_3$$^{[-10]}$ , C $l^{[-10]}$ .TEX> .

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.452-458
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• 2005

Cordyceps militaris is a medicinal fungus, which has been used for patient suffering from cancer in Oriental medicine. It was reported previously that C. militaris extracts are capable of inhibiting tumor growth, however, the anti-poliferative effects of human cancer cells have not been poorly understood. In this study, to elucidate the growth inhibitory mechanisms of human cancer cells by treatment of aqueous extract of C. militaris (AECM) we investigated the anti-proliferative effects of AECM in human leukemia U937 cell line. AECM treatment inhibited the growth of U937 cells and induced the apoptotic cell death in a concentration-dependent manner, which was associated with morphological changes. We observed the up-regulation of cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor p21(WAF1/CIP1) by p53-independent manner and activation of caspase-3 in AECM-treated U937 cells, however, the activity of caspase-9 was remained unchanged. Additionally, AECM treatment caused a dose-dependent inhibition of the expression of telomere regulatory gene products such as human telomere reverse transcriptase (hTERT) and telomerase-associated protein-1 (TEP-1). Taken together, these findings suggest that AECM-induced inhibition of human leukemic cell proliferation is associated with the induction of apoptotic cell death via modulation of several major growth regulatory gene products, and C. militaris may have therapeutic potential in human lung cancer.