• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.47-56
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• 2016

Objectives : This study examined the effects of Bee venom on apoptosis in NCI-H157 human lung cancer cells and for promoting the apoptosis effects of Natural killer cell. Methods : Bee venom and Natural killer-92 cells were cultured either separately from or together with NCI-H157 cells for 24 hours. To figure out whether Bee venom enhances the cytotoxic effect of Natural Killer-92 cells, a cell viability assay was conducted. To observe the changes in Death receptors, apoptotic regulatory proteins and Nuclear $Factor-{\kappa}B$, western blot analysis was conducted. To observe the effect of Bee venom through an extrinsic mechanism, a transfection assay was conducted. Results : 1. Natural killer-92 cells and Bee venom significantly inhibited the growth of NCI-H157 cells and co-culture had more inhibitory effect than the separate culture. 2. Expressions of Fas, DR3, DR6, Bax, caspase-3, caspase-8, cleaved caspase-3, cleaved caspase-8 were increased, and expressions of Bcl-2 and cIAP were decreased. More efficacy was observed in co-culture than in separate culture. 3. Nuclear $Factor-{\kappa}B$ activation was clearly decreased. And co-culture showed much less activation than separate culture. 4. As a result of treatment for DR-siRNA, the reduced cell viability of NCI-H157 cells and the activity of Nuclear $Factor-{\kappa}B$ were increased. With this, it can be seen that Bee venom and Natural killer-92 cells have an effect on the cancer cells through the extrinsic mechanism. Conclusion : Bee venom is effective in inhibiting the growth of human lung cancer cells. Furthermore Bee venom effectively enhances the functions of Natural killer cells.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.211-222
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• 1996

The conceptus which are resulted by mating between two genetically non-identical partners can be considered to be an allograft to the mother science which is not rejected by the mother's immunological attack. The present studies have been, therefore, attempted in order to elucidate the mechanism by which protection of the fete-placental allograft, between the C3H/HeJ female mouse and DBA/2 male mouse occurred. For this purpose, firstly systemic immunity was investigated by measuring T and B lymphocytes subsets. Natural killer cell activity in maternal splenic tissue and by observing the effects of pregnancy serums, progesterone and hCG on immune systems. Secondly, local immunity also investigated by measuring T lymphocytes subsets, natural killer cell activity in lymph nodes draining the uterus. The subsets of Thy-1.2$^+$ cells and L 3T4$^+$ cells decreased slightly while the subsets of Ly2$^+$ cell increased significantly compared with those of the control group beyond the mid-gestational stage. The subsets of B cell gradually in-creased from the mid-gestational stage untill delivery. The natural killer cell activity in the maternal splenic tissue significantly increased during the period of 5th to 8th day of gestation. The natural killer cell activity was significantly suppressed by the pregnancy serums and non-pregnant serums compared with those of serum-free group. The treatment of hCG significantly suppressed natural killer cell activity in the dose dependent manner (1 unit/ml-1000 unit/ml) while pro-gesterone increased the natural killer cell activity at phamarcological dose only. In the lymph nodes draining the uterus, the subsets of Thy-1.2$^+$ cells significantly increased during the period of implantation and L3T4$^+$ cell subsets slightly increased during the mid-gestational stage. The subsets of Ly2$^+$ cell increased significantly during the mid-gestational stage, but decreasing slightly be-fore delivery. The natural killer cell activity was significantly elevated after the implantation period in the lymph nodes draining the uterus. The natural killer cell activity of the lymph nodes draining the uterus was higher than those of splenic tissue during the same periods of gestation. It is therefore, concluded that during the pregnancy, the phenomena which the fete-placental allograft has not been rejected and rather protected from the maternal immunological attack might be due to local immune suppression in fete-maternal interface tissues rather than systemic immune suppression. And the subsets of Thy-1.2$^+$ cells and L3T4$^+$ cells mainly contribute to accepting allograft in early stage of pregnancy, while the subsets of Ly2$^+$ cell and the subsets of B cell increased significantly compared with those of the control group beyond the mid-gestational stage, so their role in systemic immunity and local immunity gradually increased from the mid-gestational stage until delivery.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.87-96
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• 2012

Aim : Natural killer (NK) cells are cytotoxic lymphocytes that lyse certain tumor- and virus-infected cells without any prior stimulation or immunization. This article aims to review the significance of evaluating peripheral blood NK cells to predict anti-tumor immune function and prognosis in cancer patients. Methods : PubMed was used to create a database for this review. Search words of cancer, natural killer cell, prognosis were used to retrieve related articles. References of the collected articles were also reviewed. Results : Current evidence indicates that decreased or absent NK cell count or activity is mostly associated with the development or progression of cancer. In patients with various types of cancer, NK cell activity was mostly associated with the cancer prognosis and survival despite some conflicting results. Conclusion : The data shows the evaluation of anti-tumor immunity in cancer patients through natural killer cell measurement still remains a controversial matter. However, it is clear that the NK cell activity plays an important role in cancer and is associated with prevention of both early stage and metastatic cancer.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.206-210
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• 2022

Calystegia dahurica (Herb.) Choisy is a natural product that has not been studied for efficacy or active ingredients. The purpose of this study is to investigate the activation effect of natural killer cells using a natural extract composition based on Calystegia dahurica (Herb.) Choisy extract (CDCE). We evaluated the activity of natural killer cells in natural products using PBMCs from healthy participants. All natural products were extracted with 50% ethanol. Based on the results of the cell viability assay, PBMCs of healthy participants were treated with extracts at various concentrations. Then, analysis was performed using flow cytometry to measure the cd107a surface expression of natural killer cells. As a result, treatment with a single extract of PBMCs increased the expression of cd107a in a concentration-dependent. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the treatment of the extract composition showed the highest expression of cd107a. In conclusion, it is expected that the extract composition containing CDCE according to this study can be used for prevention or treatment of cancer cells, tumor cells, and immune diseases.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.53-62
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• 2020

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphocytes that play an essential role in preventing cancer development by performing immune surveillance to eradicate abnormal cells. Since ex vivo expanded NK cells have cytotoxic activity against various cancers, including breast cancers, their clinical potential as immune-oncogenic therapeutics has been widely investigated. Here, we report that the pyrazole chemical XRP44X, an inhibitor of Ras/ERK activation of ELK3, stimulates NK-92MI cells to enhance cytotoxic activity against breast cancer cells. Under XRP44X stimulation, NK cells did not show notable apoptosis or impaired cell cycle progression. We demonstrated that XRP44X enhanced interferon gamma expression in NK-92MI cells. We also elucidated that potentiation of the cytotoxic activity of NK-92MI cells by XRP44X is induced by activation of the c-JUN N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway. Our data provide insight into the evaluation of XRP44X as an immune stimulant and that XRP44X is a potential candidate compound for the therapeutic development of NK cells.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.178-183
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• 2023

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate cytotoxic lymphoid cells that actively prevent neoplastic development, growth, and metastatic dissemination in a process called cancer immunosurveillance. Regulation of the cytotoxic activity of NK cells relies on integrated interactions between inhibitory receptors and numerous activating receptors that act in tandem to eliminate tumor cells efficiently. Conventional chemotherapy is designed to produce an anti-proliferative or cytotoxic effect on early tumor cell division. Therapies designed to kill cancer cells and simultaneously maintain host anti-tumor immunity are attractive strategies for controlling tumor growth. Depending on the drug and dose used, several chemotherapeutic agents cause DNA damage and cancer cell death through apoptosis, immunogenic cell death, or other forms of non-killing (i.e., mitotic catastrophe, senescence, autophagy). Among stress-induced immunostimulatory proteins, changes in the expression levels of NK cell activating and inhibitory ligands and tumor cell death receptors play an important role in the detection and elimination by innate immune effectors including NK cells. Therefore, we will address how these cytotoxic lymphocytes sense and respond to high and low concentrations of drug-induced stress to the drug cisplatin, among the various types of drugs that contribute to their anticancer activity.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.193-197
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• 2008

The influence of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) on the bone marrow (BM) natural suppressor (NS) cells of intact Ehrlich carcinoma -bearing CBA mice was studied. Bone marrow NS cells were fractionated into three fractions by isopycnic centrifugation on percoll gradients: NS1 (${\rho}$=1.080 g/ml), NS2 (${\rho}$=1.090 g/ml) and NS3 (1.100> ${\rho}$ > 1.090 g/ml). These fractions were highly different in their sensitivity to known NS cell inductors (interleukin (IL)-2, IL-3 or histamine). None of the NS fractions isolated from the intact mice spontaneously produced antiproliferative activity, however, they showed a high level of NS (antiproliferative and natural killer cell inhibitory) activity under the influence of AFP. A single injection of AFP to intact mice led to an increase of spontaneous NS activity and the inhibition of natural killer cell activity. NS activity, especially NS2, was increased in when tumor cells were subcutaneously inoculated three days after AFP injection. In the AFP-treated mice, the tumor mass at 14 days was 60% larger than that in the untreated mice. Our data confirmed that AFP is a tumor marker that can inhibit cancer immunity and plays a role in cancer pathogenesis.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.20-29
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• 1992

Effects of squalene on cellular and non-specific immune responses and antitumor activity in mice were investigated. Cellular and non-specific immunological assay parameters adopted in the present study were delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction and resette forming cells (RFC) for cellular immunity, activities of natural killer (NK) cells and phagocyte for non-specific immunity. Squalene resulted in marked increases of cellular and non-specific immune functions and enhancement of host resistance to tumor challenge in dose-dependent manner.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.293-299
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• 1998

The effects of Buthus martensi Karsch (BMK) on natural killer (NK) cell activity in mouse spleen were studied. Water extracted solution of BMK was orally administrated to Balb/c mice for 2 weeks. Among splenic cells, T cell fractions were separated by Nylon wool column. Furthermore, NK cell purification was performed 4.5% percoll gradients methods. The cytotoxcity of NK cell to K562 cell was determined by lactic acid dehydrogenase and $[^3H]-thymidine $ incorporation methods. And the cytotoxicity of effector cell was most effectively induced in a ration of 50:1 (effector/target cell). As a result, cytotoxicity of NK cells was significantly increased compared with control group both in vivo and in vitro systems. The similar cytotoxic effect was shown in $[^3H]-thymidine $ incorporation methods. This suggests that when BMK is administrated to mice with malignant tumors, an increase in NK cell activity may occur and affect K562 tumor cells.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.101-112
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• 1992

The natural killer cell activity of splenocytes and TBC, active NK cells, recycling capacity of natural killer cells were observed by means of both the 51Cr-release cytotoxicity assay and single cell cytotoxicity assay against YAC-1. CSH/HeJ mice were infected intranasally with $1{\times}10^4{\;}or{\;}1{\times}10^5$ trophosoites of pathogenic Acanthamoeba culbertsoni. The infected mice showed mortality rate of 34% in $1{\times}10^4$ group and 65% in 1{\times}10^5 group, and mean survival time was $16.40{\pm}3.50$ {\;}and{\;}3.20{\pm}4.09$ days respectively. The cytotoxic activity of natural killer cells of the 2 groups was significantly higher than that of non-infected mice from the 12th hour to the 2nd day after infection, showing the highest on the first day. On the l0th day after infection, the cytotoxic activity of natural killer cells was significantly suppressed as compared with that of the control. There was no significant difference in NK cell cytotoxicity between two infected groups. The targetbinding capacity and active NK cells of natural killer cells in $1{\times}10^5$ trophosoite infected mice was significantly increased on the 12th hour and the first day after infection as compared with the control group. Maximal recycling capacity (MRC) was not changed during the observation period. The present results indicated that the elevation of natural killer cell activity in the mice infected with A. culbertsoni was due to elevation of target.binding capacity and increased active NK cells of natural killer cells, and not due to the maximal recycling capacity of the individual NK cell, and there was no difference between two experimental dose groups.