• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1074-1081
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• 2016

Mistletoes are hemi-parasitic plant growing on different host tree and shrubs. They are traditionally used in folkloric medicine for the treatment of diarrhea, cough, diabetes, hypertension, cancer and skin infection. The purpose of this study was to determine the contents of phenolics and antioxidant activity of 70% ethanol, 100% methanol and hot water extracts of Jeju camellia mistletoe (Korthalsella japonica Engl.). Ethanol was most effective in extracting total phenols (7,427 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/100 g) and flavonoid (1,777 mg rutin equivalent (RE)/100 g). The free radical scavenging activity, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) (EC₅₀ = 7.8 mg/ml) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) (EC₅₀ = 1.4 mg/ml), and the capacity for chelating metal ions (EC₅₀ = 8.0 mg/ml) and reducing power (EC₅₀ = 14.9 mg/ml) of the samples also higher in ethanolic extracts. The strong correlation (r² = −0.996～−0.881) between antioxidant capacities and the phenolic contents implied that phenolic compounds are a major contributor to the antioxidant activity of the ethanolic extracts of Jeju camellia mistletoe. As conclusions, Jeju camellia mistletoe contains bioactive substances with a potential for reducing the physiological as well as oxidative stress and this could explain the suggested cancer preventive effect of these plants as well as their protective role on other major diseases.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.782-787
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• 2002

This study was done to investigate the effects of Korean mistletoe water extract and lectin on the apoptosis and preneoplastic lesion in chemically induced rat hepatocarcinogenesis. To attain the above objectives, weanling Sprague-Dawley male rats were fed modified AIN-76 diets containing 10% corn oil for 9 weeks. One week after feeding starts, rats were intraperitoneally injected twice with a dose of diethylnitrosamine (DEN, 50 mg/kg body weight (BW). Rats were provided with 0.05% phenobarbital (PB) in drinking water from one week after DEN treatment until the end of experiment. During the period of PB treatment, rats were injected with mistletoe extract (100 $\mu\textrm{g}$/kg BW) and lectin (10 $\mu\textrm{g}$/kg BW) twice a week. At the end of 9th week, rats were sacrificed and the formation of hepatic glutathione S-transferase placental form positive (GST-P$^{+}$) foci, apoptosis, DNA fragmentation and apoptosis related proteins were determined respectively. The formation of GST-P$^{+}$foci was significantly decreased by mistletoe extract or lectin treatment. Although there was no effect on apoptosis and DNA fragmentation in hepatic tissue by mistletoe extract or lectin treatment, caspase-9 and fas-L were increased. These results suggest that Korean mistletoe extract and lectin have a potential to inhibit hepatocarcinogenesis by increasing apoptosis.sis.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2000

This experiment was accomplished to investigate antioxidative activity of Korean mistletoe by organic solvents partitioning of methanol extact of 3 Korean mistletoes, fractionationing on column chromatography, and evaluation the reduction of a free radical ${\alpha}$,${\alpha}$-diphenyl-${\beta}$-picrylhydrazyl. Butanol partition of Loranthus yadoriki MeOH extract showed higher electron donating ability than ${\alpha}$-tocopherol. It was thought phenolic compounds including gallic acid account for antioxidative activity, on execution sub-fractionation, electron donating ability evaluation, and GC/MS analysis, but further studies on what are major actives must be investigated exactly.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.167-173
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• 2007

Purpose: Mistletoe (Viscum album L.) extract is one of the most widely used agents in alternative cancer therapeutic regimens in Europe. This study was conducted to determine the effect of mistletoe extract on immune function in gastric cancer patients. Materials and Methods: Ten patients that had undergone a curative gastrectomy were enrolled in the prospective study. ABNOBAviscum $Q^{(R)}$ was injected subcutaneously three times a week from postoperative-day 7 to week 16 with an increasing dose. All of the patients simultaneously received chemotheraphy with mitomycin, oral 5-FU and a cisplatin regimen. The WBC count, differential count, lymphocyte/WBC ratio and the level of cytokines (IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-2, IL-6, IFN-$\gamma$, TNF-$\alpha$) were checked in the peripheral blood preoperatively, at postoperative week 8 and at postoperative week 16. Results: The WBC and neutrophil counts significantly decreased after treatment on week 8 and week 16 (P=0.001), but the total eosinophil count was slightly increased (P=0.15). The total lymphocyte count also decreased during treatment but the lymphocyte/WBC ratio was slightly increased without statistical significance (P=0.91). The cytokine levels did not significantly change during treatment. Conclusion: It is somewhat difficult to determine the direct effect of mistletoe therapy on immune function as the effect may be compromised by the concurrent chemotherapy. It can be assumed that the slightly increased lymphocyte/WBC ratio and eosinophil count may be a result of the immunomodulatory effect of the mistletoe extract.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.148.2-149
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• 2003

The inhibitory effect of the lectins (KML-C) isolated from Korean mistletoe (KM; Viscum album coloratum), on tumor metastases produced by highly metastatic murine tumor cells, B 16-BL6 melanoma, colon 26-M3.1 carcinoma and L5178Y-ML25 lymphoma cells, was investigated in syngeneic mice. (omitted)

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.31-45
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• 2013

Objectives : Gokgisaeng (Korean mistletoe) is used for the treatment of inflammatory and cancer diseases in traditional Korean medicine and its major component lectins have been reported to induce nitric oxide (NO) in RAW 264.7 macrophages, and also induce apoptosis of various types of cancer cells, although its modulatory effects on cancer cell migration and macrophage activation is poorly understood. The aim of this study is to clarify molecular mechanisms of action responsible for the anti-inflammatory and antitumor migration potentials of Korean mistletoe extract (KME). Methods : We investigated the anti-inflammatory activity of KME on NO production and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in both RAW 264.7 macrophages and rat C6 glioma cells, and also evaluated inhibitory efficacy on glioma cell growth and migration. For assessment, XTT assay, nitrite assay, RT-PCR, scratch-wound and Boyden chamber assay, and western blot analysis were performed. Results : Previously reported, unlike the efficacy of Gokgisaeng lectin, KME inhibited NO production and iNOS expression, and suppressed pro-inflammatory mediators including IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-6, COX-2, iNOS in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Furthermore, KME suppressed tumor cell growth and migration, and it also inhibited LPS-induced NO release and iNOS activation by down-regulating expression of protein kinase C (PKC) and phosphorylation of ERK in C6 glioma cells. Conclusions : Our research findings provide evidence that KME can play a significant role in blocking pro-inflammatory reaction and malignant progression of tumors through the suppression of NO/iNOS by down-regulating of inflammatory signaling pathways, PKC/ERK.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.109.2-109.2
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• 2000

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.164.1-164.1
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• 2001

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.275-281
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• 2010

To evaluate the immunomodulatory activity of a water extract (KMF-WE) of Korean mistletoe (Viscum album var. coloratum) fruit, we examined its ability to induce humoral and cellular immune response against keyhole limpet hemocyanine (KLH). Immunized mice with KLH admixed with KMF-WE (KLH/KMF-WE) showed significant induction of KLH-specific antibodies compared to mice immunized with KLH alone. The assay for determining isotypes of antibodies revealed that KMFWE augmented KLH-specific-IgG1 and -IgG2a production. In vitro T lymphocyte proliferation analysis against KLH revealed that the splenocytes of mice immunized with KLH/KMF-WE showed a significantly higher proliferative ability than those from mice immunized with KLH alone. The culture supernatants of splenocytes, which were harvested from mice immunized with KLH/KMF-WE, showed higher levels of both Th-1 type (IL-2, IFN-${\gamma}$) and Th-2 type (IL-4) cytokines in response to KLH stimulation compared to those from mice immunized with KLH alone. Also, in delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) assay, mice immunized with KLH/KMF-WE showed a significantly higher reaction to KLH than mice treated with KLH alone. These results suggest that KMF-WE possess immunoadjuvant activity to enhance both antigen-specific humoral and cellular immune responses against protein antigens (KLH).

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.134-140
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• 2015

The present study aims to investigate the effect of methanol extract of Korean mistletoe (KM; Viscum album var. coloratum), on amyloid $\beta$ protein ($A\beta$) (25-35), a synthetic 25-35 amyloid peptide, -induced neurotoxicity in cultured rat cerebral cortical neurons and memory impairment in mice. Exposure of cultured neurons to $10{\mu}M$ $A\beta$ (25-35) for 24 h induced a neuronal cell death, which was measured by a 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and Hoechst 33342 staining. KM (10, 30 and $50{\mu}g/ml$) significantly inhibited the $A\beta$ (25-35)-induced apoptotic neuronal death. KM ($50{\mu}g/ml$) inhibited 10 μM Aβ (25-35)-induced elevation of intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca²⁺]_i), which was measured by a fluorescent dye, Fluo-4 AM. Glutamate release into medium and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by $10{\mu}M$ $A\beta$ (25-35) were also inhibited by KM (10, 30 and $50{\mu}g/ml$). These results suggest that KM may mitigate the $A\beta$ (25-35)-induced neurotoxicity by interfering with the increase of [Ca²⁺]_i and then inhibiting glutamate release and generation of ROS in cultured neurons. In addition, orally administered KM (25 and 50 mg/kg, 7 days) significantly prevented memory impairment induced by intracerebroventricular injection of $A\beta$ (25-35) (8 nmol). Taken together, it is suggested that anti-dementia effect of KM is due to its neuroprotective effect against $A\beta$ (25-35)-induced neurotoxicity and that KM may have therapeutic role in prevention of the progression of Alzheimer's disease.