• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.124-129
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• 2008

Background: The immunomodulatory effects of Korean mistletoe (Viscum album Coloratum) on the innate immune responses of eel (Anguilla japonica) were studied. Methods: Mistletoe, Freund’s complete adjuvant (FCA), or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) as a control was injected into eel peritoneal cavities. Results: Nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT)-positive cells in the head kidney of eel were significantly augmented by the second day post-injection of mistletoe. Reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) were more produced in mistletoe-injected fish kidney leucocytes than in FCA-injected ones. The level of lysozyme activity in the serum of fish 2 days after injection with mistletoe was also significantly higher than that in the serum of the control fish. The optimal concentration of mistletoe in inducing the highest serum lysozyme activity was revealed to 500${\mu}$g/200 g of fish. In phagocytic activity assay, mistletoe-sensitized eel kidney phagocytes captured more zymosan than did the control fish. Conclusion: Korean mistletoe appeared to be a good activator of the non-specific immune responses of eel.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.120-128
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• 2008

Purpose: Mistletoe extract was widely used for cancer treatment as complementary or alternative therapy in European area from early twenty century. It is currently used as alternative anti-cancer remedy by piecemeal in domestic medical group, however, the anti-cancer mechanism of mistletoe extract was not known precisely until now. In this study the effect of mistletoe extract on gastric cancer was studied vis cell line experiments. Materials and Methods: The SNU719 gastric cancer cell line was used, and ABNOBAviscum-Q and ABNOBAviscum-F were treated to cells as mistletoe extract, or 5-FU and cisplatin were used with mistletoe extract. The cell viability and cell death rate were estimated by CCK-8 assay kit and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay kit in each. Caspase 3 assay kit was used to measure caspase 3 activity. The protein expression amounts of Bcl2, p53, and PTEN were estimated through Western blot analysis. Results: The co-treatments of mistletoe extract Q/F and 5-FU/cisplatin decreased lesser cell viability than only mistletoe treat. Caspase 3 activity was increased 4~6 times in co-treatment of mistletoe extracts and 5-FU than control. Bcl2 protein expression was reduced by mistletoe extracts or anti-cancer drugs, further more, the co-treatment of mistletoe extracts and 5-FU/cisplatin diminished more the expression than only mistletoe treatment. Mistletoe extracts did not affect the protein expressions of p53 and PTEN. Conclusion: It was concluded that the anti-cancer mechanism of mistletoe extracts was made by caspase 3 activation and lowered Bcl2 expression, and this apoptosis inducing mechanism was independent to p53.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.77-89
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• 2009

Objectives : Mistletoe extracts have been in use for around 85 years, predominantly in the area of cancer therapy. Today mistletoe preparations are among the most prescribed drugs in cancer medicine, thus constituting a standard biological therapy in the area of oncology. The purpose of this study is to analyze the practical implications of mistletoe cancer therapy, their clinical status, their preparation techniques and companies. Contents : Mistletoe therapy for cancer has been developed within the context of anthroposophical medicine. One major effect of mistletoe extract is that it stimulates the immune system and cancer defences. In Germany, a total of eight different mistletoe preparations are available, five developed by Anthroposophic Medicine and three evolved from research in phytotherapy. Therapy always consists of an introductory phase in order to test the patient's tolerance, find the right dosage and choose the most suitable preparation. This paper covers the background of mistletoe medical plant materials, mistletoe therapy for cancer, the anthroposophical medicine and clinical research, the practical regulation of treatment, preparation of mistletoe drugs. Result & suggestion : Mistletoe extracts are a complementary teratment of cancer, widely used in intergrative cancer care. The study of the integration of korean mistletoe extracts to oriental cancer medicine, its development and feasibility in Korea are urgently needed. The products, substances, compositions of european mistletoe drugs are very similar to those of oriental medicine theory. Applying the mistletoe cancer therapy and its preparation techniques to oriental medicine, the herbal acupuncture preparation should be modernized and korean mistletoe products are to be developed. To this end, government and herbal acupuncture society need to interact each other for the development of oriental mistletoe cancer medicine.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.204.2-204.2
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• 2003

The aqueous extract of European mistletoe (Viscum album, L.) has been used in cancer therapy. The purified mistletoe lectins, main components of mistletoe, have demonstrated cytotoxic and immune-system-stimulating activities. Korean mistletoe (Viscum album L. coloratum), a subspecies of European mistletoe, has also been reported to possess anticancer and immunological activities. A galactose- and N-acetyl-D-galactosamine- specific lectin (Viscum album L. coloratum agglutinin, VCA) with Mr 60 kDa was isolated from Korean mistletoe. (omitted)

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.1090-1097
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• 2015

Traditionally, mistletoe is known as an effective anti-cancer medicinal plant, and lectin is recognized as a major component with cytotoxic and immuno-stimulant activity in mistletoe. A Korean mistletoe lectin (KML) has specificity to galactose and galactosamine and is distinguish from European mistletoe lectin (EML). When we examined the concentration of lectin in mistletoe originated from five different types of host trees, the result indicate that the lectin concentration is variable depending on the host tree. Noticeably, mistletoe from chestnut tree contains ten folds higher lectins than that of an oak tree. We also tested the concentration of KML and crude extract (KM-110) of Korean mistletoe that shows 90% cytotoxicity in L5178Y-ML25 lymphoma cell. In addition, the cells show 90% and 70% viability by the treatment of two neutralizing antibodies of KML, 9H7-D10 and 8B11-2C5 neutralization effect with two monoclonal antibodies of KML, 9H7-D10 and 8B11-2C5. Therefore, the result expected that the mistletoe contain some other cytotoxic components except lectin. Finally, the production of $TNF-{\alpha}$ and IL-6 by RAW 264.7 cells stimulated with lectin free-crude extract (LFKM-110) following neutralization by 9H7-D10 monoclonal antibody shows higher than that of lectin containing-crude extract (KM-110). These results suggest that the Korean mistletoe lectin ha a great potential to be developed as therapeutic agent of cancer.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.244-250
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• 2005

The copper-containing enzyme, tyrosinase, catalyzes the oxidation of tyrosine into dihydroxy phenylalanine (DOPA) and subsequently DOPAquinone. It is responsible, not only for the pigment melanin biosynthesis in human skin, but also for browning in foods. In the present study, tyrosinase inhibitory and antioxidant activities of Korean mistletoe extract and its fractions were investigated. As a result, both water and methanol (MeOn) extracts inhibited the tyrosinase activity. Among the fractions, the fraction eluted with $95\%$ MeOn significantly inhibited the tyrosinase activity. The fraction was further purified, and the purified fraction C strongly inhibited the enzyme activity up to $92\%$. In addition, water and methanol extracts exerted radical scavenging effects. The fractions eluted with $70\%\;MeOn\;and\;95\%$ Me on showed high radical scavenging activities. In conclusion, these results suggest that Korean mistletoe extract and its fractions might be useful for the treatment of various dermatological disorders such as epidermal hyperpigmentation and for improving food quality.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.152-154
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• 2002

The methanol extract of Viscum album var. coloratum, Korean mistletoe, showed potent prolongation effects on the bleeding time in rats in vivo, and whole blood clotting time and plasma recalcification time in rats ex vivo. The prolongation effect on the bleeding time of Korean mistletoe is comparable to that of Viscum album L., European mistletoe, 185.6% and 176.5%, respectively. However, the water extracts of the both plants did not show any prolongation effects. Platelet activating factor (PAF) receptor binding assay was carried out to elucidate the action mechanisms of the extracts, and both of the methanol extracts did not show any inhibitory activity. The $LD_{50}$ of the methanol extracts of both mistletoes are more than 2 g/kg. These results suggest that the mehtanol extract of Korean mistletoe might be a potential candidate to develop new drug to improve microcirculation.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.34 no.3 s.134
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• pp.218-222
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• 2003

The mistletoe lectins are major active components in the extrct of Viscum album var. coloratum. This study was performed to investigate the anti- skin cancer effect of Korean mistletoe extract intensified with mistletoe lectin (KI 2103S). B16F10 melanoma cells were allografted in C57BL/6 mice and F344 rats. The effect of KI 2103S on melanoma was measured by monitoring tumor index. The KI 2103S was injected intra-tumorally and tumor index was decreased in dose dependent manner.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.1594-1600
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• 2004

Effects of mistletoe (Viscum album) extract and pueraria (Pueraria radix) extract on cellular NF-$textsc{k}$B activity were evaluated in human malignant keratinocytes (SCC-13) to elucidate the possible correlation of NF-$textsc{k}$B with antioxidant activity. The antioxidant activities of these natural extracts were examined in four different evaluation methods, i.e., lipid peroxidation value (POV) evaluation test, I,l-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH), nitric oxide (NO) scavenging test, and reducing power assay. Pueraria extract (0.5 mg) and mistletoe extract (5 mg) downregulated the cellular NF-$textsc{k}$B activation up to 35% and 10% compared to the control, respectively, although their effects were lower than the known NF-$textsc{k}$B downregulator, vitamin C (8.8 mg, 53%) in a cell-based NF-$textsc{k}$B activity assay system. In the POV test, relative antioxidant activities of mistletoe extract (86%) and pueraria extract (75%) were significantly higher than the known antioxidant, vitamin C (48%) at the same concentration (10 mg) and the degree of activity increased in a dose-dependent manner. Pueraria extract showed more potential radical scavenging activities than those of mistletoe extract evaluated in both DPPH and NO test. Especially, the NO radical scavenging activity of pueraria extract ($SC_{50}$/, 88 $\mu$g) was comparable to that of vitamin C ($SC_{50}$/, 77 $\mu$g). Even pueraria extract possessed a much less reducing power compared to vitamin C, it also revealed higher reducing power than that of mistletoe extract. These results indicate that mistletoe extract and pueraria extract may serve as an useful natural antioxidant agents, and led to suggest the hypothesis that compounds having an antioxidant activity, i.e., radical scavenging activity or reducing power may be correlated with the downregulation of NF-$textsc{k}$B activation in human keratinocytes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.697-702
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• 2001

This study was done to investigate effects of Korean mistletoe extract and lectin on serum GOT, GPT and $\alpha$-L-fucosidase activities and the preneoplastic lesion in chemically induced rat hepatocarcinogenesis. To attain the above objectives weanling Sprangue-Dawley male rats were fed modified AIN-76 diets containing 10% corn oil for 9 weeks. One week after feeding rats were intraperitonealy injected twice with a dose of diethylnitrosamine (DEN, 50 mg/kg body weight(BW)) and were provided 0.05% phenobarbita (PB) with drinking water from one week after DEN treatment until the end of experiment. For the same period as PB treatment, rats were injected mistletoe extract (10 $\mu\textrm{g}$/kg BW European mistletoe, 10 $\mu\textrm{g}$/kg BW and 100 $\mu\textrm{g}$/kg BW Korean mistletoe) and lectin(1 ng/kg BW, 10 ng/kg BW) twice a week. At the end of 9th week rats were sacrificed and the formation of hepatic glutthione S-transferase placental form positive (GST-P+) foci serum GOT, GPT and $\alpha$-L-fucosidase activities were determined. By treatment of mistletoe extract or lectin there were no significant effects on serum GOP, GPT and $\alpha$-L-fucosidase activities whereas those activities showed a tendency to increase by DEN treatment. The formation of GST-P+ foci was significantly decreased by mistletoe extract or lectin treatment especially in group of 100$\mu\textrm{g}$/kg BW Korean mistletoe. These results suggest that Korean mistletoe extract and lectin have a possibility to inhibit hepatocarcinogenesis of animals.