• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.49-56
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• 2022

Mitophagy, the selective degradation of damaged or surplus mitochondria using core autophagy machinery, plays an essential role in maintaining cellular mitochondrial function. Impaired mitophagy is closely linked to various human diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cancers and kidney disease. Defective mitophagy induces the accumulation of damaged mitochondria and thereby results in a decline in cellular survival and tissue function. Accordingly, enhancement of mitophagy has been proposed as a novel strategy for the treatment of human diseases closely linked to mitochondrial dysfunction. Recent studies showing that the stimulation of mitophagy has a therapeutic effect on several disease models highlight the possibility of disease treatment using mitophagy. The development of mitophagy inducers with toxicity and the identification of molecular mechanisms will enable the clinical application of mitophagy-based treatments.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.62 no.3
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• pp.263-269
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• 2024

Sparganosis is one of the common zoonotic diseases caused by infection with the larval plerocercoids (spargana) of the cestode genus Spirometra. While this parasite distributes globally in canine and feline hosts, human infection is predominantly reported in East Asia, especially China, Korea, Japan, and Thailand. Maybe related to the behavior and food culture, this zoonotic disease is rather rare in South Asia to the Middle East. In these areas, sporadic case reports have been appeared mostly in the local medical journals. To draw a solid picture of sparganosis in these non-endemic areas of Asia, we made an extensive literature survey to gather sparganosis cases in the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.442-453
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• 2022

Various animal models have been used to study the efficacy and action mechanisms of human diseases and medicines. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is increasingly and successfully used as a model in translational research on human diseases. We obtained necessary information from original peer reviewed articles published in scientific 54 journals, such as Pubmed, Google Scholar, Scopus scince their inception until Dec, 2020 using the following terms: zebrafish animal models, herbal medicine, in vivo screening. In this review, we discuss the recent contributions of the various zebrafish disease models to study of herbal medicines. We focused on cancer, eye diseases, vascular diseases, diabetes and its complications, and cosmetic dermatology. We also highlight the molecular action mechanisms of medicines against these disease, demonstrated using zebrafish embryo. Zebrafish can be pivotal in bridging the gap from lab to clinical bedside. It is used as a model to understand human diseases pathogenies with further scope for drug development. Furthermore, zebrafish can reduce rat and mouse animals in biomedical research.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.103-103
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• 2020

• BMB Reports
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.194-199
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• 2018

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown great potential in treating bone deficiency. Human adipose-derived stem cells (HASCs) are multipotent progenitor cells with multi-lineage differentiation potential. Human amnion-derived mesenchymal stem cells (HAMSCs) are capable of promoting osteogenic differentiation of MSCs. In this study, we investigated the effect of HAMSCs on HASCs by a transwell co-culture system. HAMSCs promoted proliferation, osteogenic differentiation, angiogenic potential and adiponectin (APN) secretion of HASCs. Moreover, the positive effect of HAMSCs was significantly inhibited by U0126, a highly selective inhibitor of extracellular signaling-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. These observations suggested that HAMSCs induced bone regeneration in HASCs via ERK1/2 MAPK signaling pathway.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.5-9
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• 2013

Rhomboids were identified as the first intramembrane serine proteases about 10 years ago. Since then, the study of the rhomboid protease family has blossomed. Rhomboid domain containing 1 (RHBDD1), highly-expressed in human testis, contains a rhomboid domain with unknown function. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that RHBDD1 was associated with proliferation and apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma using recombinant lentivirus-mediated silencing of RHBDD1 in HepG2 cells. Our results showed that down-regulation of RHBDD1 mRNA levels markedly suppressed proliferation and colony formation capacity of HepG2 human hepatoma cancer cells in vitro, and induced cell cycle arrest. We also found that RHBDD1 silencing could obviously trigger HepG2 cell apoptosis. In summary, it was demonstrated that RHBDD1 might be a positive regulator for proliferative and apoptotic characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.499-504
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• 2006

Objectives : The aim of the study was to estimate the annual socioeconomic cost of diseases in Korea. Methods : We estimate both the direct and indirect costs of diseases in Korea during 2003 using a prevalence-based approach. The direct cost estimates included medical expenditures, traffic costs and caregiver's cost, and the indirect costs, representing the loss of production, included lost workdays due to illness and lost earnings due to premature death, which were estimated based on the human capital theory. The cost estimates were reported at three different discount rates (0, 3 and 5%). Results : The cost of diseases in Korea during 2003 was 38.4 trillion won based on 0% discount rate. This estimate represents approximately 5.3% of GDP The direct and indirect costs were estimated to be 22.5 trillion (58.5% of total cost) and 15.9 trillion won (41.5%), respectively. It was also found that the cost for those aged $40\sim49$ accounted for the largest proportion (21.7%) in relation to age groups. The cost of diseases for males was 23.5% higher than that for females. For major diseases, the total socioeconomic costs were 16.0, 13.4, 11.3 and 11.19% for neoplasms, and diseases of the digestive, respiratory and circulatory systems, respectively. Conclusions : This study can be expected to provide valuable information for determining intervention and funding priorities, and for planning health policies.

• BMB Reports
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• v.51 no.7
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• pp.327-337
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• 2018

Lamin A and its alternative splicing product Lamin C are the key intermediate filaments (IFs) of the inner nuclear membrane intermediate filament. Lamin A/C forms the inner nuclear mesh with Lamin B and works as a frame with a nuclear shape. In addition to supporting the function of nucleus, nuclear lamins perform important roles such as holding the nuclear pore complex and chromatin. However, mutations on the Lamin A or Lamin B related proteins induce various types of human genetic disorders and diseases including premature aging syndromes, muscular dystrophy, lipodystrophy and neuropathy. In this review, we briefly overview the relevance of genetic mutations of Lamin A, human disorders and laminopathies. We also discuss a mouse model for genetic diseases. Finally, we describe the current treatment for laminopathies.

• Journal of mucopolysaccharidosis and rare diseases
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.11-13
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• 2018

In Malaysia, diagnosis and treatment of patients with mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) is mainly localized at Hospital Kuala Lumpur, which is the national referral center for rare diseases. To date there are 83 patients diagnosed with MPS in our center, with MPS II being the commonest. The Malaysian National Medicines Policy second edition has a specific section on the orphan drugs which includes recombinant human enzyme for enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) in MPS. So far, National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency Malaysia has approved recombinant human enzyme for MPS types I (Loranidase), II (idursulfase), IVA (elosulfase alfa), and VI (Galsufase). Access to Idursulfase beta (another recombinant human enzyme for MPS II) and vestronidase alfa-vjbk (MPS VII) required special authorization on named patient basic. Currently there are 25 patients receiving ERT, 70% of the funding are from Ministry of Health (MOH), the remaining 30% are from various charitable funds and humanitarian programs. Thirteen newly diagnosed patients have to queue for an additional fund. Four patients have been treated with Hematopoietic stem cell transplant. MOH has also published guidelines regarding the patient selection criteria for ERT and treatment monitoring schedule.

• Journal of Obesity & Metabolic Syndrome
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.223-232
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• 2018

Vitamin D, a free sunshine vitamin available for mankind from nature, is capable to avert many health-related critical circumstances. Vitamin D is no more regarded as a nutrient involved in bone metabolism alone. The presence of vitamin D receptor in a number of tissues implies that vitamin D has various physiological roles apart from calcium and phosphorus metabolism. Low serum vitamin D has been found to be associated with various types of metabolic illness such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, insulin resistance, cardiovascular diseases including hypertension. Various studies reported that vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency in linked with metabolic syndrome risk. This review focuses on various metabolic diseases and its relationship with serum vitamin D status.