• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.72-78
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• 1993

Since the 'promoter/enhancer region of the major immediate early (IE) ~ene of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) contains the cyclic AMP (cAMP) response element (CRE) consensus sequence, it was reasonable to hypothesize that cAMP might affect HCMV replication. Cyclic AMP modulating drugs such as 8-bromoadenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (BrA), and papaverine were used to affect the intracellular levels of cAMP, and the effects of the drugs on HCMV replication were studied. While papaverine effectively inhibited HCMV multiplication and DNA synthesis, BrA exerted little effect on the production of infectious HCMV yields. The synthesis of DNA in HCMV-infected cells appeared to be stimulated by BrA In order to understand the effect of cAMP on the expression of HCMV major IE gene, plasmid (pCMVIE/CAT) containing a reporter gene driven by HCMV IE promoter was transfected into either permissive human embryo lung (HEL) cells or nonpermissive cells. PL,Javerine, which has been reported to block the HCMV-induced increase in cAMP, reduced the expression of pCMVIE/CA T in permissive HEL cells. Treatment of transfected cells with BrA increased the expression of HCMV major IE promoter not only in HEL cells, but also in nonpermissive HeLa and Vero cells. Therefore, it seems that the expression of HCMV major IE gene is regulated by cAMP.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.1007-1021
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• 2018

Cancer represents one of the most significant threats to human health on a global scale. Hence, the development of effective cancer prevention strategies, as well as the discovery of novel therapeutic agents against cancer, is urgently required. In light of this challenge, this research aimed to evaluate the effects of several potent bioactive peptides and proteins contained in crocodile white blood cell extract (cWBC) against LU-1, LNCaP, PC-3, MCF-7, and CaCo-2 cancer cell lines. The results demonstrate that 25, 50, 100, and $200{\mu}g/ml$ cWBC exhibits a strong cytotoxic effect against all investigated cell lines ($IC_{50}$ $70.34-101.0{\mu}g/ml$), while showing no signs of cytotoxicity towards noncancerous Vero and HaCaT cells. Specifically, cWBC treatment caused a significant reduction in the cancerous cells' colony forming ability. A remarkable suppression of cancerous cell migration was observed after treatment with cWBC, indicating potent antimetastatic properties. The mechanism involved in the cancer cell cytotoxicity of cWBC may be related to apoptosis induction, as evidenced by typical apoptotic morphology features. Moreover, certain cWBC concentrations induced significant overproduction of ROS and significantly inhibited the $S-G_2/M$ transition in the cancer cell. The molecular mechanisms of cWBC in apoptosis induction were to decrease Bcl-2 and XIAP expression levels and increase the expression levels of caspase-3, caspase-8, and p53. These led to a decrease in the expression level of the cell cycle-associated gene cyclin-B1 and the arrest of cell population growth. Consequently, these findings demonstrate the prospect of the use of cWBC for cancer therapy.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.219-224
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• 1983

This experiment was undertaken to investigate the effect of black pepper (BP) added to food on a living body and to determine the growth rate, digestibility, weight of organs, composition of blood and liver in the rat. Fifty-six male rats of Sprague-Dawley strain, weight $120{\pm}10g$, were divided into 4 groups and were fed ad libitum for 8 weeks. Experimental diets were divided into 4 groups. Each groups were separately added 0%, 0.5%, 2.0% and 5.0% of BP level. The results obtained are summarized as follows. The highest net weight of liver and heart generally increased according to increasing amount of BP and that of spleen and lung were not significantly different. Kidney weight was significantly higher in the group of containing 5.0% BP. Serum GOT and GPT were not significant, serum glucose was significantly lower in the group of containing 5.0% BP, and serum cholesterol was significantly higher in the group of containing 5.0% BP. Total serum protein decreased gradually as the amount of BP increased, but albumin and globulin were nor affect. Serum Na and K were not significant, but serum Ca and P were decreased as the amount of BP was increased. Liver crude lipid and crude protein were not affect. In fatty acid composition, arachidonic acid was significantly lower in the group of containing 5.0% BP.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.525-529
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• 2018

Objective : To evaluate the efficacy of fractionated stereotactic radiosurgery (FSRS) performed using the Novalis $Tx^{(R)}$ system (BrainLAB AG, Feldkirchen, Germany; Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA, USA) for brain metastases. Methods : Between March 2013 and July 2016, 23 brain metastases patients were admitted at a single institute. Twenty-nine lesions too large for single session stereotactic radiosurgery or located in the vicinity of eloquent structures were treated by FSRS. Based on the results obtained, we reviewed the efficacy and toxicity of FSRS for the treatment of brain metastases. Results : The most common lesion origin was lung (55%) followed by breast (21%). Median overall survival was 10.0 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.9-15.0), and median progression-free survival was 10.0 months (95% CI, 2.1-13.9). Overall survival rates at 1 and 2 years were 58.6% and 36.0%, respectively. Local recurrence and neurological complications affecting morbidity each occurred in two cases. Conclusion : FSRS using the $Novalis-Tx^{(R)}$ system would appear to be an effective, safe noninvasive treatment modality for large and eloquently situated brain metastases. Further investigation is required on a larger number of patients.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.397-403
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• 2011

The proliferation, migration, cytokine release, and contraction of airway smooth muscle cells are key events in the airway remodeling process that occur in lung disease such as asthma, chronic obstruction pulmonary disease, and cancer. These events can be modulated by a number of factors, including cigarette smoke extract (CSE). CSE-induced alterations in the viability, migration, and contractile abilities of normal human airway cells remain unclear. This study investigated the effect of CSE on cell viability, migration, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$ secretion, and contraction in normal human bronchial smooth muscle cells (HBSMCs). Treatment of HBSMCs with 10% CSE induced cell death, and the death was accompanied by the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). CSE-induced cell death was reduced by N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC), an ROS scavenger. In addition, CSE reduced the migration ability of HBSMCs by 75%. The combination of NAC with CSE blocked the CSE-induced reduction of cell migration. However, CSE had no effect on TNF-${\alpha}$ secretion and NF-${\kappa}B$ activation. CSE induced an increase in intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ concentration in 64% of HBSMCs. CSE reduced the contractile ability of HBSMCs, and the ability was enhanced by NAC treatment. These results demonstrate that CSE treatment induces cell death and reduces migration and contraction by increasing ROS generation in normal HBSMCs. These results suggest that CSE may induce airway change through cell death and reduction in migration and contraction of normal HBSMCs.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.9-13
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• 2006

Diesel exhausted particles (DEP), a kind of fine particles with aerodynamic diameters less than $2.5{\mu}m$ (PM2.5), is of great concern to human health because they remain in atmosphere for long periods, invade an indoor air environment, and can be breathed most deeply into lung and reached the alveoli because of their small size ($0.1{\sim}0.4\;{\mu}m$ in diameter). Epidemiological and experimental studies suggested that DEP may play an active role in the increased respiratory mortality and morbidity. In addition to their physical characteristics, the chemical components including polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) are regarded as a carcinogen causing pulmonary tumors. PLD plays an important role in cell proliferation with various physiological phenomena and affects other enzymes by activating signal transduction pathway. We investigated the cytotoxic mechanism of DEP on RAW 264.7 cells focusing on the role in activation of PLD. Our results suggested DEP induced PLD activity through a specific signaling pathway involving phospholipase $A_2$, PLC, PKC and $Ca^{2+}$ mobilization.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.151-159
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• 2008

Rhus verniciflua Stokes(RVS), one of traditional medicinal plants in Asia, was found to have pharmacological activities such as antioxidative and antiapoptotic effects, raising the possibility for the development of a novel class of anti-cancer drugs. Thus, potential genotoxic effects of RVS in three short-term mutagenicity assays were investigated, which included the Ames assay, in vitro Chromosomal aberration test, and the in vivo Micronucleus assay. In Ames test, the addition of RVS water extracts at doses from 313 up to 5000 mg/plate induced an increase more than 2-fold over vehicle control in the number of revertant colonies in TA98 and TA1537 strains for detecting the frame-shift mutagens. The similar increase in reversion frequency was observed after the addition of RVS ethanol extracts. To assess clastogenic effect, in vitro chromosomal aberration test and in vivo micronucleus assay were performed using Chinese hamster lung cells and male ICR mice, respectively. Both water and ethanol extracts from RVS induced significant increases in the number of metaphases with structural aberrations mostly at concentrations showing the cell survival less than 60% as assessed by in vitro CA test. Also, there was a weak but statistically significant increase in number of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes(MNPCEs) in mice treated with water extract at 2000 mg/kg while ethanol extracts of RVS at doses of up to 2000 mg/kg did not induce any statistically significant changes in the incidence of MNPCEs. Therefore, our results lead to conclusion that RVS acts as a genotoxic material based on the available in vitro and in vivo results.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2016

Rutin (3,3',4',5,7-pentahydroxyflavone-3-rhamnoglucoside) is a bioactive flavonoid from the plant kingdom. Rutin has been studied as potential anticancer agent due to its wide range of pharmacological properties including antioxidative, anti-inflammatory and anticancer. Autophagy is a conserved intracellular catabolic pathway to maintain cell homeostasis by formation of autophagosome. Processing of autophagy involves various molecules including ULK1 protein kinase complex, Beclin-1-Vps34 lipid kinase complex, ATG5, ATG12, and LC3 (light chain 3). Cargo-carried autophagosomes fuse with lysosomes resulting in autophagolysosome to eliminate vesicles and degrade cargo. However, the actions of rutin on autophagy are not clearly understood. In this study, we analyzed the effect of rutin on autophagy and inflammation in cancer cell lines. Interestingly, rutin induced autophagy in leukemia (THP-1), oral (CA9-22), and lung (A549) cell lines. TNF-${\alpha}$, key modulator of inflammation, was upregulated by inhibition of rutin-induced autophagy. Taken together, these data indicated that rutin induced autophagy and consequently suppressed TNF-${\alpha}$ production.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.718-726
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• 2007

There are many varieties of asbestos: chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, tremolite, actinolite, and anthophylite. These are widely used in construction materials, brake lining, textile, and so on. Even though non-asbestos fibers such as glassfiber and rockwool have manufactured because asbestos causes asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma, etc., some bad effects of non-asbestos have been also reported. PCM (phase contrast microscopy) and PLM (polarized light microscopy) have been used to qualitatively analyze asbestoses. These techniques have serious drawbacks when identifying and separating various asbestoses. Recently scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) has been known as an useful tool to analyze airborne particle since it provides physical and chemical information simultaneously. The purpose of the study was to classify both asbestos and non-asbestos fibers and finally to develop their source profiles by using the SEM/EDX. The source profiles characterized by 6 different types of asbestos fibers and 2 types of non-asbestos fibers had been developed by analyzing a total of 380 fibers. Analytical parameters used in this study were length, width, aspect ratio, and shape as physical information, and Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, and Cu as chemical information. All the parameters were intensively reviewed.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.153-159
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• 2000

A novel serine/threonine protein phosphatase with EF-hand motif, which belongs to PPEF family was partially cloned from rat brain cDNA by employing RT-PCR method. The size of the amplified clone was 1.6kbp. The amplified DNA was subcloned into pGEM-T-Easy vector and the resulting plasmid was maned as pGEM-rPPEF2. The nucleuotide sequence is shared by 88% with that of mouse PPEF-2 cDNA, and the deduced amino acid sequence reveal 92% homology with that of mouse PPEF-2 cDNA. The N-terminal region of the cloned rat brain PPEF contains a putative phosphatase catalytic domain (PP domain) and the C-terminal region contains multiple $Ca^{2+}$ binding sites (EF region). The putative catalytic domin (PP) and the EF-hand motif (EF) regions were subcloned into pGEX4T-1 and were overexpressed in E. coli DH5 as glutathione-S-transferase (GST) fusion proteins. Expression of the desired fusion protein was identified by SDS-PAGE and also by immunoblot analysis using monoclonal antibody against GST. The recombinant proteins were purified by glutathione-agarose chromatography. This report is first to demonstrate the cloning of PPEF family from rat brain tissues. The clone reported here would be invaluable for the investigation of the role of this new type-phosphatase in rat brain.