• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.3-7
• /
• 2009

Background and Objectives : Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer is a medical plant that has been widely utilized as a tonic and nutritional agent since ancient times in Korea. Ginseng has anti-metastatic property of cancer and immunomodulating activity. The novel acidic polysaccharide compound(MB40) was isolated from the leaves of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer. To determine immunomodulating activities of MB40, we evaluate anti-cancer and anti-metastatic effects of MB40 in tumor bearing immune competent mice. Material and Methods : C3H mice were divided into three equal groups(Cisplatin treatment group, MB40 treat-ment group, Cisplatin and MB40 treatment group) and were transplanted SCC(Squamous Cell Carcinoma) cells(2${\times}$106) to the lateral side of abdomen. From day 4 after transplantation, MB40 was administrated at dose of 10mg/kg, respectively, every other day by intratumoral injection. Cisplatin was systemically administrated at doses of 1mg/kg, respectively, every week by intraperitoneal injection. Results : 5 days after administration, tumors can be palpated in every mice group. After 13 days of administration, the mice group to which MB40 were administrated exhibited reduction in tumor size respectively, compared to cisplatin group. Overall status of mice such as body weight and activity were superior in MB40 group than cisplatin group. Conclusion : The result of this study indicates MB40 may have significant therapeutic effect and decreases complications induced by systemic chemotheraphy. MB40 may be developed as a novel and potent immunotropics to improve the cell immune system and anti-cancer drug for the treatment of cancer patients in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.287-294
• /
• 2023

Healthy adipose tissue is critical for preventing obesity by maintaining metabolic homeostasis. Adipose tissue plays an important role in energy homeostasis through glucose and lipid metabolism. Depending on nutritional status, adipose tissue expands to store lipids or can be consumed by lipolysis. The role of adipose tissue as an endocrine organ is emerging, and many studies have reported that there are various adipose tissue hormones that communicate with other organs and tissues through metabolic signaling. For example, leptin, a representative peptide hormone secreted from adipose tissues (adipokine), circulates and targets the central nervous system of the brain for appetite regression. Furthermore, adipocytes secrete inflammatory cytokines to target immune cells in adipose tissues. Not surprisingly, adipocytes can secrete fatty acid-derived hormones (lipokine) that bind to their specific receptors for paracrine and endocrine action. To understand organ crosstalk by adipose tissue hor- mones, specific metabolic signaling in adipocytes and other communicating cells should be defined. The dysfunction of metabolic signaling in adipocytes occurs in unhealthy adipose tissue in overweight and obese conditions. Therapy targeting novel adipose metabolic signaling could potentially lead to the development of an effective anti-obesity drug. This review summarizes the latest updates on adipose tissue hormone and metabolic signaling in terms of obesity and metabolic diseases.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.75-81
• /
• 1989

The levels of the serum and colostral total protein and immunoglobulins of the Korean native cows immediately after parturition and colostrum-conferred passive immune status of the Korean native calves were studied, and the results obtained were summerized as follows: The mean total protein, total immunoglobulin, IgG, IgM, and IgA concentrations in sera of 10 Korean native cows immediately after parturition were $6.8{\pm}0.4g/dl$, $24.39{\pm}3.41mg/ml$, $19.49{\pm}2.70mg/ml$, $4.56{\pm}1.14mh/ml$, and $0.35{\pm}0.08mg/ml$ respectively. And the mean total protein, total immunoglobulin, IgG, IgM, and IgA concentrations in colostrum were $15.0{\pm}1.1g/dl$, $116.13{\pm}23.07mg/ml$, $101.51{\pm}22.59mg/ml$, $9.46{\pm}1.99mg/ml$, and $5.17{\pm}1.59mg/ml$ respectively. The mean concentrations of total protein and immunoglobulins in colostrum were 2.1 times to 14.8 times higher than those in serum. The mean concentrations of total protein, total immunoglobuln, IgG, IgM, and IgA in sera from 211 Korean native calves at 2 days old were $6.7{\pm}0.9g/dl$, $35.74{\pm}9.56mg/ml$, $29.06{\pm}8.07mg/ml$, $4.91{\pm}2.99mg/ml$, and $1,9{\pm}0.99mg/ml$ respectively. Although the calves had been suckled the dam's colostrum, each of calves was considerably various in levels of serum total protein and immunoglobulins and 16.1 percent of the calves were in a state of hypoglobulinemia.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.116-119
• /
• 2007

Patients with primary immunodeficiencies often have symptoms of their disease for months or years before diagnosis and treatment. This is partly because these disorders are relatively uncommon and the infections typical of immunodeficienciey, for example otitis, sinusitis, and pneumonia, are common. We report a case of agammaglobulinemia in an 8-year-old boy with recurrent and severe infection. He was first seen in our hospital for bacterial meningitis in 2006. His immune status revealed panhypogammaglobulinemia and deficiency in mature B lymphocyte. His elder brother also showed deficiency in mature B lymphocyte but mild hypogammaglobulinemia. Some X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) cases may remain undiagnosed because they only show mild hypogammaglobulinemia and they lack repeated infections in childhood.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.9
• /
• pp.4545-4548
• /
• 2012

Background: MMP-3 is a proteolytic enzyme of the matrix metalloproteinase family. Protein degradation which is their fundamental action regulates different activities of tumor cell such as their growth, differentiation, apoptosis, migration, invasion, angiogenesis as well as their resistance to the immune system. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine MMP-3 serum levels in patients with OSCC and investigate if they correlate with clinicopathological features. Method and materials: Using an ELISA kit, we assessed and compared the circulating levels of MMP-3 in blood serum of 45 oral squamous cell carcinoma patients with 45 healthy control samples. Results: The serum MMP-3 level in OSCC patients was significantly higher ($9.45{\pm}4.6$ ng/ml) than healthy controls ($5.9{\pm}3.6$ ng/ml, p<0.001), especially in females and in older patients. However, there was no apparent correlation in serum MMP-3 concentration with the clinico-pathological features such as tumor location, stage, tumor size, nodal status, distant metastasis, histological grade and smoking. Discussion: This result suggests that the measurement of serum MMP-3 concentration might be helpful to diagnose OSCC but not to predict prognosis.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.14-25
• /
• 2002

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Aurothiomalate acupuncture containing Sodium Aurothiomalate on Type II collagen-induced arthritic DBA/1 mice. Methods : The mice were divided into three groups, one control group and two test groups. The control group was injected with saline on Choksamni(ST36) and the two test groups were injected either with Aurothiomalate acupuncture into Choksamni(AT1 group), or with Aurothiomalate acupuncture into Hwando(G30, AT2 group). We measured the incidence of arthritis, the mean index of arthritis, the number of arthritic limbs for the clinical examination and evaluation. We also examined the changes in the level of TNF-$\alpha$ and IL-$1{\beta}$. Results : 1. The incidence of arthritis in mice of the AT1 and AT2 groups were significantly lower than that of the control group. 2. The mean indices of arthritis in mice of the AT1 and AT2 groups were significantly lower than that of the control group. 3. The mean number of arthritic limbs in mice of the AT1 and AT2 groups were significantly lower than that of the control group. 4. The levels of TNF-$\alpha$ of the mice in the AT1 and AT2 groups were significantly different from that of the control group. 5. The levels of IL-$1{\beta}$ of the mice in the AT1 and AT2 groups were not significantly different from that of the control group. Conclusion : These results indicate that the treatment with Aurothiomalate acupuncture could improve the clinical status of Arthritis by suppressing immune responses in the mice of Type II collagen-induced arthritic.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.54-65
• /
• 2014

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent, with the ability to differentiate into different cell types. Additionally, the immunomodulatory activity of MSCs can downregulate inflammatory responses. The use of MSCs to repair injured tissues and treat inflammation, including in neuroimmune diseases, has been extensively explored. Although MSCs have emerged as a promising resource for the treatment of neuroimmune diseases, attempts to define the molecular properties of MSCs have been limited by the heterogeneity of MSC populations. We recently developed a new method, the subfractionation culturing method, to isolate homogeneous human clonal MSCs (hcMSCs). The hcMSCs were able to differentiate into fat, cartilage, bone, neuroglia, and liver cell types. In this study, to better understand the properties of neurally differentiated MSCs, gene expression in highly homogeneous hcMSCs was analyzed. Neural differentiation of hcMSCs was induced for 14 days. Thereafter, RNA and genomic DNA was isolated and subjected to microarray analysis and DNA methylation array analysis, respectively. We correlated the transcriptome of hcMSCs during neural differentiation with the DNA methylation status. Here, we describe and discuss the gene expression profile of neurally differentiated hcMSCs. These findings will expand our understanding of the molecular properties of MSCs and contribute to the development of cell therapy for neuroimmune diseases.

• Genomics & Informatics
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.205-210
• /
• 2016

Interleukin-10 (IL10) plays an important role in initiating and maintaining an appropriate immune response to non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Previous studies have revealed that the transcription of IL10 mRNA and its protein expression may be infl uenced by several single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter and intron regions, including rs1800896, rs1800871, and rs1800872. However, the impact of polymorphisms of the IL10 gene on NHL prognosis has not been fully elucidated. Here, we investigated the association between IL10 polymorphisms and NHL prognosis. This study involved 112 NHL patients treated at the National Cancer Center, Korea. The median age was 57 years, and 70 patients (62.5%) were men. Clinical characteristics, including age, performance status, stage, and extra-nodal involvement, as well as cell lineage and International Prognostic Index (IPI), were evaluated. A total of four polymorphisms in IL10 with heterozygous alleles were analyzed for hazard ratios of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma was the most common histologic type (n = 83), followed by T-cell lymphoma (n = 18), mantle cell lymphoma (n = 6), and others (n = 5). Cell lineage, IPI, and extra-nodal involvement were predictors of prognosis. In the additive genetic model results for each IL10 polymorphism, the rs1800871 and rs1800872 polymorphisms represented a marginal association with OS (p = 0.09 and p = 0.06) and PFS (p = 0.05 and p = 0.08) in B-cell lymphoma patients treated with rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP). These findings suggest that IL10 polymorphisms might be prognostic indicators for patients with B-cell NHL treated with R-CHOP.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.35 no.5
• /
• pp.661-670
• /
• 2006

Selenium (Se) obtained from dietary sources including cereals, grains and vegetables is an essential micronutrient for normal function of the body. Plants convert Se into selenomethionine and incorporate it into proteins in place of methionine, while higher animals synthesize selenoproteins containing selenocysteine. Excessive Se in the body is methylated stepwise to methylated selenium metabolites from selenide. Both inorganic and organic forms of selenium can be the nutritional sources in human, and they are transformed to selenide and then the amino acid selenocysteine attached to a specific $tRNA^{ser(sec)}$. The selenocysteine (Sec) is incorporated into selenoprotein sequences by the UGA codon. The decoding of UGA as Sec requires specific mechanisms because UGA is normally read as a stop codon: cis-acting sequences in the mRNA (the selenocysteine insertion sequence, SECIS, within the 3'untranslated region) and trans -acting factors dedicated to Sec incorporation are required for incorporation of Sec during translation of selenoprotein mRNAs. Approximately 25 selenoproteins have been identified in mammals. Several of these, including glutathione peroxidases, thioredoxin reductases and selenoprotein P, have been purified or cloned, allowing further characterization of their biological function. The antioxidant properties of selenoproteins help prevent cellular damage from free radicals which may contribute to the development of chronic disease such as cancer and heart disease. Other selenoproteins have important roles in regulation of thyroid function and play a role in the immune system. Daily selenium iatake was reported to be $42.0{\pm}16.9{\mu}g/day$ in Korean adult women. This review focuses on the metabolism and biological functions of selenium, and the nutritional status of selenium in the Korean population.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.277-282
• /
• 1992

Pneumocystis carinii (Pc) is an important opportunistic pathogen of immune compromised hosts, and is known to infect various animals. The present study observed the infection status of 6 mammals and 3 strains of albino rats with Pc after suppression of their immunity. Methyl-prednisolone was injected once a week and tetracycline was supplied with water for 5 to 21 weeks. Hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, dogs, cats and pigs were negative by impression smear, and only the rats were found infected by Pc. All of the three strains of rats, Sprague-Dawley(SD), Wistar(W) and Fisher(F), were infected by Pc but W rats showed heavier degree of infection in earlier period than F or SD rats. The present findings suggest that W rat is the best among the animals used in the present study for production of Pc.