• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.47-55
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• 2012

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the preventive effect of red ginseng (RG) on 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-induced side effects focusing on myelosuppression. Methods: Rats (n = 50) were divided into five groups, nave, control (ip, 5-FU injection of 150 mg/kg), and RG pre-treatment (po, 25, 50 and 100 mg/kg for 5 days before 5-FU injection). On the $7^{th}$ day after 5-FU injection, we evaluated the effects using peripheral hematological parameters, colony-forming assay, cytokine levels and histopathological finding. Results: The peripheral white blood cell and the differential count were dramatically suppressed by 5-FU, while RG (50 and 100 mg/kg) treatment significantly improved total white blood cell, neutrophil, lymphocyte and platelet counts. Also, RG (100 mg/kg) pre-treatment significantly increased the number of CFU-GM colony compared with the control group. RG pre-treatment also ameliorated the histopathological damage in bone marrow, spleen, stomach and small intestine tissue. Conclusions: These results demonstrate that Korean RG has preventive effects against 5-FU-induced myelotoxicity and gastrointestinal damage.

• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.331-336
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• 2012

The retinoid-related orphan nuclear receptor gamma ($ROR{\gamma}$) plays critical roles in regulation of development, immunity and metabolism. As transcription factor usually forms a protein complex to function, thus capturing and dissecting of the $ROR{\gamma}$ protein complex will be helpful for exploring the mechanisms underlying those functions. After construction of the recombinant tandem affinity purification (TAP) plasmid, pMSCVpuro $ROR{\gamma}$-CTAP(SG), the nuclear localization of $ROR{\gamma}$-CTAP(SG) fusion protein was verified. Following isolation of $ROR{\gamma}$ protein complex by TAP strategy, seven candidate interacting proteins were identified. Finally, the heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) and receptor-interacting protein 140 (RIP140) were confirmed to interplay with $ROR{\gamma}$ by co-immunoprecipitation. Interference of HSP90 or/and RIP140 genes resulted in dramatically decreased expression of CYP2C8 gene, the $ROR{\gamma}$ target gene. Data from this study demonstrate that HSP90 and RIP140 proteins interact with $ROR{\gamma}$ protein in a complex format and function as co-activators in the $ROR{\gamma}$-mediated regulatory processes of HepG2 cells.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.1621-1628
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• 2015

Chlamydia possesses a conserved 7.5 kb plasmid that is known to play an important role in chlamydial pathogenesis, since some chlamydial organisms lacking the plasmid are attenuated. The chlamydial transformation system developed recently required the use of plasmid-free organisms. Thus, the generation and identification of plasmid-free organisms represent a key step in understanding chlamydial pathogenic mechanisms. A tricolor immunofluorescence assay for simultaneously detecting the plasmid-encoded Pgp3 and whole organisms plus DNA staining was used to screen C. muridarum organisms selected with novobiocin. PCR was used to detect the plasmid genes. Next-generation sequencing was then used to sequence the genomes of plasmid-free C. muridarum candidates and the parental C. muridarum Nigg strain. We generated five independent clones of plasmid-free C. muridarum organisms by using a combination of novobiocin treatment and screening plaque-purified clones with anti-Pgp3 antibody. The clones were confirmed to lack plasmid genes by PCR analysis. No GlgA protein or glycogen accumulation was detected in cells infected with the plasmid-free clones. More importantly, whole-genome sequencing characterization of the plasmid-free C. muridarum organism and the parental C. muridarum Nigg strain revealed no additional mutations other than loss of the plasmid in the plasmid-free C. muridarum organism. Thus, the Pgp3-based immunofluorescence assay has allowed us to identify authentic plasmid-free organisms that are useful for further investigating chlamydial pathogenic mechanisms.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.627-636
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• 2016

The causative agent of pandemic cholera, Vibrio cholerae, infects the anaerobic environment of the human intestine. Production of cholera toxin (CT), a major virulence factor of V. cholerae, is highly induced during anaerobic respiration with trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) as an alternative electron acceptor. However, the molecular mechanism of TMAO-stimulated CT production is not fully understood. Herein, we reveal that CT production during anaerobic TMAO respiration is affected by glucose fermentation. When the seventh pandemic V. cholerae O1 strain N16961 was grown with TMAO and additional glucose, CT production was markedly reduced. Furthermore, an N16961 Δcrp mutant, devoid of cyclic AMP receptor protein (CRP), was defective in CT production during growth by anaerobic TMAO respiration, further suggesting a role of glucose metabolism in regulating TMAO-mediated CT production. TMAO reductase activity was noticeably decreased when grown together with glucose or by mutation of the crp gene. A CRP binding region was identified in the promoter region of the torD gene, which encodes a structural subunit of the TMAO reductase. Gel shift assays further confirmed the binding of purified CRP to the torD promoter sequence. Together, our results suggest that the bacterial ability to respire using TMAO is controlled by CRP, whose activity is dependent on glucose availability. Our results reveal a novel mechanism for the regulation of major virulence factor production by V. cholerae under anaerobic growth conditions.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.1728-1735
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• 2014

Scrub typhus, caused by infection with Orientia tsutsugamushi, is a mite-borne zoonotic disease endemic to the Asian-Pacific region. In Korea, the incidence of this disease has increased with climate changes, and over 10,000 cases of infection were reported in 2013. Although this infection is treatable with antibiotics such as doxycycline and azithromycin, an effective prophylactic vaccine against O. tsutsugamushi would be more desirable for preventing scrub typhus in endemic areas. In this study, we investigated the 56-kDa type-specific antigen (TSA56), which is a major outer membrane protein of O. tsutsugamushi, as a vaccine candidate. Intranasal immunization of recombinant TSA56 (rec56) induced a higher level of TSA56-specific IgG than that induced by intramuscular immunization of tsa56-expressing DNA (p56). Both types of immunization induced a cell-mediated immune response to TSA56, as demonstrated by the splenic cell proliferation assay. Mice immunized with p56, followed by rec56 plus heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit from E. coli, had a stronger protection from a homologous challenge with the O. tsutsugamushi Boryong strain than with other combinations. Our preliminary results suggest that an effective human vaccine for scrub typhus can include either recombinant TSA56 protein or tsa56-expressing DNA, and provide the basis for further studies to optimize vaccine performance using additional antigens or different adjuvants.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.727-733
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• 2009

Heat shock protein 70 kDa (hsp70), a molecular chaperone involved in folding of nascent proteins, has been studied for its ability to activate innate and specific immunity. High purity hsp70 preparation is generally required for immunization experiments, because endotoxins and other immunologically active contaminants may affect immune responses independently of hsp70. We have developed a novel modification of E. coli-expression medium that enabled a simple two-step production and purification method for endotoxin-free recombinant hsp70. During Ni-NTA-based affinity purification of hsp70, a contaminating protein from host E. coli cells, L-glutamine-n-fructose-6-phosphate aminotransferase (GFAT), was identified. By testing various compounds, supplementation of growth medium with a GFAT metabolite,N-acetylglucosamine, was found to reduce GFAT expression and increase the total hsp70 yield five times. The new protocol is based on column purification of His-tagged hsp70 protein produced by E. coli with the modified medium, followed by endotoxin removal by Triton X-114 extraction. This approach yielded hsp70 with high purity and minimal endotoxin contamination, making the final product acceptable for immunization experiments. In summary, a simple modification of growth medium allowed production of recombinant mouse hsp70 in high yield and purity, thus compatible with immunological studies. This protocol may be useful for production of other Histagged proteins expressed in E. coli.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.4271-4274
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• 2014

The epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a key step during embryonic morphogenesis and plays an important role in drug resistance and metastasis in diverse solid tumors. We previously reported that 48 h treatment of anti-cancer drug doxorubicin could induce EMT in human gastric cancer BGC-823 cells. However, the long term effects of this transient drug treatment were unknown. In this study we found that after 48 h treatment with $0.1{\mu}g/ml$ doxorubicin, most cells died during next week, while a minor population of cells survived and formed colonies. We propagated the surviving cells in drug free medium and found that these long term cultured drug survival cells (abbreviated as ltDSCs) retained a mesenchymal-like cell morphology, and expressed high levels of EMT-related molecules such as vimentin, twist and ${\beta}$-catenin. The expression of chromatin reprogramming factors, Oct4 and c-myc, were also higher in ltDSCs than parental cells. We further demonstrated that the protein level of p300 was upregulated in ltDSCs, and inhibition of p300 by siRNA suppressed the expression of vimentin. Moreover, the ltDSCs had higher colony forming ability and were more drug resistant when compared to parental cells. Our results suggested that an epigenetic mechanism is involved in the EMT of ltDSCs.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.277-283
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• 2012

Vitamin C is an essential water-soluble nutrient which primarily exerts its effect on host defense mechanisms and immune homeostasis, but the mechanism related to immune-potentiation is poorly understood. Since dendritic cells (DCs) are known as a potent antigen presenting cell (APC) that could enhance the antigen specific immune responses, we investigate the effects of vitamin C on activation of DCs and its related mechanism by using dendritic cell lines, DC-1. First, we found that there was no damage on DC-1 by 2.5 mM of vitamin C. In the presence of vitamin C, the expression of CD80, CD86, and MHC molecules was increased, but it was decreased by the pre-treatment of SB203580, p38 MAPK-specific inhibitor. We confirmed the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK was increased by the treatment of vitamin C. Taken together, these results suggest that vitamin C could enhance the activity of dendritic cells via the up-regulation of the expression of CD80, CD86, and MHC molecules and the activation of p38 MAPK is related to this process.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.104-108
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• 2010

CD137 (4-1BB/tnfrsf9) has been shown to co-stimulate T cells. However, agonistic anti-CD137 monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatment can suppress $CD4^+$ T cells, ameliorating autoimmune diseases, whereas it induces activation of $CD8^+$ T cells, resulting in diverse therapeutic activity in cancer, viral infection. To investigate the CD137-mediated T cell suppression mechanism, we examined whether anti-CD137 mAb treatment could affect $CD11b^+Gr-1^+$ myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Intriguingly, anti-CD137 mAb injection significantly increased $CD11b^+Gr-1^+$ cells, peaking at days 5 to 10 and continuing for at least 25 days. Furthermore, this cell population could suppress both $CD8^+$ T cells and $CD4^+$ T cells. Thus, this study demonstrated that, for the first time, anti-CD137 mAb treatment could induce $CD11b^+Gr-1^+$ MDSCs under normal conditions, suggesting a possible relationship between myeloid cell induction and CD137-mediated immune suppression.

• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.311-316
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• 2012

Sulforaphane (1-isothiocyanato-4-(methylsulfinyl)-butane), belonging to a family of natural compounds that are abundant in broccoli, has received significant therapeutic interest in recent years. However, the molecular basis of its effects remains to be elucidated. In this study, we attempt to determine whether sulforaphane regulates the inflammatory response in an ovalbumin (OVA)-induced murine asthma model. Mice were sensitized with OVA, treated with sulforaphane, and then challenged with OVA. Sulforaphane administration significantly alleviated the OVA-induced airway hyperresponsiveness to inhaled methacholine. Additionally, sulforaphane suppressed the increase in the levels of SOCS-3 and GATA-3 and IL-4 expression in the OVA-challenged mice. Collectively, our results demonstrate that sulforaphane regulates Th2 immune responses. This sutdy provides novel insights into the regulatory role of sulforaphane in allergen-induced Th2 inflammation and airway responses, which indicates its therapeutic potential for asthma and other allergic diseases.