• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.78-91
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• 2002

Objective : This study was designed to investigate the anti-cancer effects of bee venom on melanoma in C57BL mice. Materials and Methods : For the induction of melanoma, C57BL mice were treated by DMBA(7, 12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene). Each group of C57BL mouse was treated with DMBA $50{\mu}g$, $75{\mu}g$, $100{\mu}g$ respectively once a week for 15 weeks. Tumor generation in each group of 10 mice was observed. Cumulative curves were showed in the density and frequency of skin tumor generation. To know the effects of pre-treatment of bee venom on tumor generation by DMBA treatment(frequency of tumor generation), Each group of C57BL mouse was pretreated and treated with bee venom $5{\mu}{\ell}$, $25{\mu}{\ell}$, $50{\mu}{\ell}$ respectively once a week for 3 weeks, whereafter each mouse was treated with DMBA $100{\mu}g$ once a week for 15 weeks. Results and Conclusion (1) There was chemotherapeutic effect, but not chemopreventive effect. (2) Cpp32 activity was increased by $50{\mu}{\ell}$ bee venom treatment. (3) Bee venom treatment inhibited expression of cell-cycle regulating, growth-promoting genes such as c-Jun, c-Fos, and Cyclin Dl, and increased tumor suppressors p53 and p21/Wafl. (4) Bee venom treatment activated expression of a representative apoptosis-inducing gene Bax.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.137-138
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• 2001

There has been accumulating evidence for the association of inflammatory tissue damage with the process of cancer development. Cyclooxygenase (COX), an important enzyme involved in mediating the inflammation, catalyzes the formation of prostaglandins (PGs) from arachidonic acid. There are two isoforms of COX, designated as COX-l and COX-2. COX-l is a housekeeping enzyme which is constitutively expressed and is thought to be involved in maintaining physiological functions.(omitted)

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.123-129
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• 1996

Chemical carcinogenesis is associated with the increase of intracellular polyamine levels, and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced mouse epidermal ODC activity are essential to skin tumor promotion by TPA. Therefore, for the discovery of new cancer chemopreventive agents, we have evaluated about 73 kinds of natural products to study inhibitory effects against ODC activity induced by TPA in T24 cell culture system. The total methanol extracts of plants fractionated into three layers (hexane, ethyl acetate and water layer) were tested and the hexane fraction of Angelica gigas $(root\;bark,\;IC_{50}:\;7.4\;{\mu}g/ml)$ and the ethyl acetate fraction of Corydalis ternata $(root,\;IC_{50}:\;7.5\;{\mu}g/ml)$ were the most effective on the inhibition of TPA-induced ODC activity, These active fractions are under investigation with further sequential fractionation using column chromatography.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.35 no.4 s.139
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• pp.324-329
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• 2004

SKT is consisted of skullcap radix, knope-sedge radix and trametes mushroom. SKT mixture extract has been used for curing breast cancer and cervical cancer as a folk medicine without any kind of experimental evidence to support the rationales for its clinical use. This study was undertaken to investigate the antitumor effects and toxicity of SKT. Tumor was induced by implantation of B16F10 melanoma cells $(1{\times}10^6\;cells/mouse)$ into abdominal skin in ICR mice and SKT application (5 mg/mouse, p.o.) was initiated 4 days prior to tumor induction and lasted for 42 days. SKT significantly inhibited not only tumor growth but also metastasis of i.v. implanted melanoma cells into lung and showed prolonged life span of tumor bearing mice. The combined theraphy of SKT with doxorubicin was more effective against tumor metastasis into lung. SKT almostly recovered serum SGPT to normal level of galactosamine/LPS-induced hepatitis mice. High dose of SKT did not show any acute side effects. But, in vitro SKT did not inhibit the growth of melanoma cells, which suggests that the antitumor effects of SKT might be menifested by indirect mechanisms.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.35-44
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• 1999

Dendritic cells(DC) are a system of highly efficient antigen-presenting cells that initiate the primary immune response. There are two kinds of dendritic cells in the skin, Langerhans cell in the epidermis and dermal dendritic cell in the dermis. The knowledge of DC, which are very important in the immune reponse of cancer, autoimmune disease, transplantation and infection, has been known through the study about Langerhans cells. In this paper, the role of Langerhans cell in the contact hypersensitivity and atopic dermatitis is discussed and culture methods of mouse Langerhans cells and human U from pheripheral blood monocytes are described.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.71-76
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• 2010

Skin irritation caused by retinol and retinoic acid results in mild erythema called as retinoid dermatitis. To develop compounds modulating the retinoid dermatitis, we tried to establish the screening method for retinoid dermatitis. At first we examined the inflammatory cytokine profile in neonatal human dermal fibroblasts which are known to be one of main site of retinoid action. As a result, interleukin-8 (IL-8) and monocytes chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) were significantly produced by all trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and all trans retinol (ATROL) in dermal fibroblasts. Especially the production of MCP-1 was more than that of IL-8. The production of MCP-1 by retinoid was dose-dependently increased, continuing up to 24 hrs. After then using ethacrynic acid (ECA) known to reduce mouse ear edema induced by ATRA, we checked whether ECA suppressed the production of MCP-1. As a result, ECA effectively suppressed the production of MCP-1 in the ATRA- or ATROL-treated-fibroblasts. These results suggested that screening method effectively reflects the in vivo anti-inflammatory activity of ECA. It was reported that citral inhibited the enzyme involved in the conversion of ATROL to ATRA. We showed that citral suppressed the production of MCP-1 in ATROL-treated fibroblasts. We expect these finding might be helpful to find useful compounds modulating the side effects of retinoid or retinoid dermatitis.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.20 no.2 s.33
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• pp.47-67
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• 2007

Objective : As a result of increasing amount of ultraviolet ray, skin problems including sunburn, rapid skin aging, melanoma, and even skin cancer continue to rise. In the present study, the effect of oriental herbal extract, Daehwanggo(大黃膏,DH) and Daehwanggogasnagbakpi(大黃膏加桑白皮,DS), as external application, on the skin damage, was investigated. Methods : 30 mice were equally distributed into 3 groups : control, UVB-control and UVB-irradiated and DS-treated group. Also mouse melanoma cell lines were cultured. Tyrosinase inhibition was measured to analyze the UN-protection effect. Melanogenesis in the UV-irradiated melanoma cell lines was compared in DS-treated cell line and control cell line. Sample skin from the ear tissue of the 3 groups were analyzed to observe the inflammatory response, T cell differentiation, apoptosis of keratinocytes. Results : The tyrosinase was more significantly inhibited in the DS group compared to DH group. Antioxidative effects was more prominent in DS group when superoxide dismutase was measured. Both the DS- and DH-treated cell lines showed significantly reduced melanogenesis. The reduction of external skin damage including erythematous papule, eczema, keratinocyte, pyopoiesis was observed in the DS- and DH-treated sample cells. In terms of the effect on the skin damage, sunburn cell, activated skin mast cells, secretion of IL-12, manifestation of HSP70, hyperplasia of epithelial cells, MMP-9 and destruction of the collagen were all significantly improved in the DS-treated sample cells. Melanin cells and the apoptosis in the melanoma cell line were decreased. Conclusion : DH and DS were traditionally applied externally for the scald in the oriental medicine. The present study elucidated the possibility of herbal extracts to be used as ultraviolet protectives. Further investigations are needed to assure the clinical application.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.20-29
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• 2019

Soy isoflavones have been reported to possess many physiological activities such as antioxidant activity and inhibition of cancer cell proliferation. This study investigated the photoprotective effects of soybean extract in human fibroblast cell line and hairless mice model. Human fibroblast was treated with soybean extract before and after ultraviolet B (UVB; 290-302 nm) irradiation. In the soybean extract treated group, the cells showed better resistance to ultraviolet (UV) than control group. The amount of type I collagen recovered from the soybean treated group was higher than the vehicle group exposed to UV-induced damage. Moreover, increased expression of metalloproteinases-1 as a result of UV irradiation was suppressed by the soybean extract. Female mice were orally administered soybean extract and irradiated with UVB light for 8 weeks. The effects of the soybean extract on the skin appearance, collagen deposition and epidermal thickness in the UV-damaged mouse skin were analyzed using histopathological methods. In soybean extract treated group, the skin had a better morphology than that of the control group. Furthermore, the amount of type I collagen was increased and overexpression of MMP-1 was reduced in the soybean extract group compared to vehicle group. Additionally, up-regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines induced by UV irradiation was suppressed by dietary soybean extract treatment. It appears that soybean extract had a photoprotective effect, including anti-aging and anti-inflammatory effect, from UV-induced damage in not only human fibroblast, but also hairless mice. We confirmed that these effects were possibly due to promotion of collagen synthesis and inhibition of MMP-1 expression.

• BMB Reports
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.296-301
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• 2023

Retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor α (RORα) plays a vital role in various physiological processes, including metabolism, cancer, circadian rhythm, cerebellar development, and inflammation. Although RORα is expressed in the skin, its role in skin physiology remains poorly elucidated. Herein, Rorα was expressed in the basal and suprabasal layers of the epidermis; however, keratinocyte-specific Rorα deletion did not impact normal epidermal formation. Under pathophysiological conditions, Rorα-deficient mice exhibited alleviated psoriasis-like symptoms, including relatively intact epidermal stratification, reduced keratinocyte hyperproliferation, and low-level expression of inflammatory cytokines in keratinocytes. Unexpectedly, the splenic population of Th17 cells was significantly lower in keratinocyte-specific RORα deficient mice than in the control. Additionally, Rorα-deficiency reduced imiquimod-induced activation of nuclear factor-κB and STAT3 in keratinocytes. Therefore, we expect that RORα inhibitors act on immune cells and keratinocytes to suppress the onset and progression of psoriasis.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.73-82
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• 2018

Cancer preventive activities of green tea and its main constituent, (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) have been extensively studied by scientists all over the world. Since 1983, we have studied the cancer chemopreventive effects of EGCG as well as green tea extract and underlying molecular mechanisms. The first part of this review summarizes groundbreaking topics with EGCG and green tea extract: 1) Delayed cancer onset as revealed by a 10-year prospective cohort study, 2) Prevention of colorectal adenoma recurrence by a double-blind randomized clinical phase II trial, 3) Inhibition of metastasis of B16 melanoma cells to the lungs of mice, 4) Increase in the average value of Young's moduli, i.e., cell stiffness, for human lung cancer cell lines and inhibition of cell motility and 5) Synergistic enhancement of anticancer activity against human cancer cell lines with the combination of EGCG and anticancer compounds. In the second part, we became interested in cancer stem cells (CSCs). 1) Cancer stem cells in mouse skin carcinogenesis by way of introduction, after which we discuss two subjects from our review on human CSCs reported by other investigators gathered from a search of PubMed, 2) Expression of stemness markers of human CSCs compared with their parental cells, and 3) EGCG decreases or increases the expression of mRNA and protein in human CSCs. On this point, EGCG inhibited self-renewal and expression of pluripotency-maintaining transcription factors in human CSCs. Human CSCs are thus a target for cancer prevention and treatment with EGCG and green tea catechins.