• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.402-410
• /
• 2010

Although the overproduction of prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$) in intestinal epithelial cells has been considered to be highly correlated with the colorectal carcinogenesis, the precise mechanism of action remains poorly elucidated. Accumulating evidence suggests that the PGE receptor (EP)-mediated signal transduction pathway might play an important role in this process. In the present study, we investigated the mechanism of action underlying $PGE_2$-mediated cell proliferation and the effect of resveratrol on the proliferation of human colon cancer cells in terms of the modulating $PGE_2$-mediated signaling pathway. $PGE_2$ stimulated the proliferation of several human colon cancer cells and activated growth-stimulatory signal transduction, including Akt and ERK. $PGE_2$ also increased the phosphorylation of GSK-$3{\beta}$, the translocation of ${\beta}$-catenin into the nucleus, and the expressions of c-myc and cyclin D1. Resveratrol, a cancer chemopreventive phytochemical, however, inhibited $PGE_2$-induced growth stimulation and also suppressed $PGE_2$-mediated signal transduction, as well as ${\beta}$-catenin/T cell factor-mediated transcription in human colon cancer cells. These findings present an additional mechanism through which resveratrol affects the regulation of human colon cancer cell growth.

• Natural Product Sciences
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.354-362
• /
• 2011

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by abnormalities in T cell immunoregulation and hyperreactivity of B cells, leading to autoantibody production and multiorgan injuries. We investigated the effect of baicalin on aberrant immunoregulation in pristane-induced lupus mice. Mice received i.p. a single injection of 0.5 ml of pristane or PBS, and approximately 3 months later, were used as a pristane-induced lupus model or healthy controls. The pristane-induced lupus mice and healthy mice were randomly divided into three groups: healthy mouse group (healthy control), pristane-primed lupus control group (lupus control), and baicalin (BAC)-treated pristane-primed lupus mouse group (BAC-treated lupus). The pristane-induced lupus mice and healthy mice were administrated orally with BAC 50 mg/kg or PBS once in a day for 10 ds. These results demonstrated that levels of serum IL-6, LPS-induced production of IL-6, $PGE_2$ and NO by macrophages, $PGE_2$-stimulated production of IL-6 by macrophages and IFN-${\gamma}$ by thymocytes, and an overexpression of splenic NKT cells and CD69+CD4+ T cells were downregulated in BAC-treated lupus compared to lupus control, while reduced apoptosis of splenic CD4+ T cells were upregulated. Therefore, these findings suggest that BAC may attenuate autoimmunity and disease activity in lupus via downregulation of aberrant activation of T cells and inhibition of overproduction of IL-6 and $PGE_2$ in pristane-induced lupus mice.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.571-579
• /
• 1997

For the overproduction of pectate lyase (PL), the recombinant plasmid pl2BS fl which has strong promoter from alkali-tolerent Bacillus sp. YA-14 was used. In order to overexpress the pectate lyase by the action of overlapping strong promoter in pl2BS$\Delta$fl, 1.6 kb of PL gene was inserted into pl2BS$\Delta$fl to form pl2BS$\delta$f1-PL and the enzyme was expressed. But decreased expression efficiency of the PL gene was observed and it was due to the presence of the transcription terminator region on the upstream of the PL gene. The transcription terminator of the PL gene in pl2BS$\delta$f1-PL was removed and the resulting plasmid p12BS$\Delta$fl$\Delta$PL was formed. Bacillus subtilis 207-25 harboring the recombinant plasmid, p12BS$\Delta$fl$\Delta$PL, revealed increased expression efficiency with chloramphenicol induction when cat-86 was used as a reporter gene.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.14 no.5
• /
• pp.914-918
• /
• 2004

This study was carried out to analyze the metabolic flux of W. kimchii sk10 on pyruvate and ethanol as a carbon source. The sk10 grown on ethanol produced acetate under aerobic conditions rather than under anaerobic conditions. The lactate and acetate were produced on ethanol plus pyruvate by the sk10 grown under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, respectively. The resting cell of sk10 produced 99.1 mM acetate and 17.3 mM lactate under aerobic conditions and 51.1 mM acetate and 62.4 mM lactate under anaerobic conditions from ethanol plus pyruvate, respectively. This result is thought to be due to the difference in the $NADH/NAD^+$ ratio depending on the growth conditions. The 11-fold overproduction of NADH peroxidase results in a low $NADH/NAD^+$ratio under aerobic growth conditions. At the low $NADH/NAD^+$ ratio, the metabolic flux of pyruvate toward lactate has to be shifted to a flux toward acetate without NADH oxidation to $NAD^+$, and ethanol oxidation to acetate coupled to $NAD^+$ reduction to NADH has to be activated.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.24 no.9
• /
• pp.1238-1244
• /
• 2014

Dephosphocoenzyme A (CoaE) catalyzes the last step in the biosynthesis of the cofactor coenzyme A. In this study, we report the identification and application of CoaE from Stretomyces peucetius ATCC27952. After expression of coaE, the protein was found to have a molecular mass of 28.6 kDa. Purification of the His-tagged fused CoaE protein was done by immobilized metal-affinity chromatography, and then in vitro enzymatic coupling assay was performed. The increasing NADH consumption with time shed light on the phosphorylating activity of CoaE. Furthermore, the overexpression of coaA and coaE independently under the $ermE^*$ promoter in the doxorubicin -producing wild type strain, resulted in 1.4- and 1.5-fold enhancements in doxorubicin production, respectively. In addition, the overexpression of both genes together showed a 2.1-fold increase in doxorubicin production. These results established a positive role for secondary metabolite production from Streptomyces peucetius.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.24 no.9
• /
• pp.1226-1231
• /
• 2014

The rare actinomycete Pseudonocardia autotrophica was previously shown to produce a solubility-improved toxicity-reduced novel polyene compound named $\underline{N}ystatin$-like $\underline{P}seudonocardia$ $\underline{P}olyene$ (NPP). The low productivity of NPP in P. autotrophica implies that its biosynthetic pathway is tightly regulated. In this study, $wblA_{pau}$ was isolated and identified as a novel negative regulatory gene for NPP production in P. autotrophica, which showed approximately 49% amino acid identity with a global antibiotic down-regulatory gene, wblA, identified from various Streptomycetes species. Although no significant difference in NPP production was observed between P. autotrophica harboring empty vector and the S. coelicolor wblA under its native promoter, approximately 12% less NPP was produced in P. autotrophica expressing the wblA gene under the strong constitutive $ermE^*$ promoter. Furthermore, disruption of the $wblA_{pau}$ gene from P. autotrophica resulted in an approximately 80% increase in NPP productivity. These results strongly suggest that identification and inactivation of the global antibiotic down-regulatory gene wblA ortholog are a critical strategy for improving secondary metabolite overproduction in not only Streptomyces but also non-Streptomyces rare actinomycete species.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.246-254
• /
• 2018

Enzyme fermentation is a type of food processing technique generally used to improve the biological activities of food and herbal medicines. In this study, a Syzygii Flos (clove) extract was fermented using laccase derived from Trametes versicolor (LTV). The fermented clove extract showed greater neuroprotective effects against glutamate toxicity on HT22 than the non-fermented extract did. HPLC analysis revealed that the eugenol (1) and dehydrodieugenol (2) contents had decreased and increased, respectively, after fermentation. The content of 2 peaked at 1 h after fermentation to $103.50{\pm}8.20mg/g_{ex}$ (not detected at zero time), while that of 1 decreased to $79.54{\pm}4.77mg/g_{ex}$ ($185.41{\pm}10.16mg/g_{ex}$ at zero time). Compound 2 demonstrated promising HT22 neuroprotective properties with inhibition of $Ca^{2+}$ influx, the overproduction of intracellular reactive oxygen species, and lipid peroxidation. In addition, LTV showed the best fermentation efficacy compared with laccases derived from Pleurotus ostreatus and Rhus vernicifera.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.1085-1091
• /
• 2014

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of zinc dependent extracellular matrix (ECM) remodelling endopeptidases having the ability to degrade almost all components of extracellular matrix and implicated in various physiological as well as pathological processes. Carcinogenesis is a multistage process in which alteration of the microenvironment is required for conversion of normal tissue to a tumour. Extracellular matrix remodelling proteinases such as MMPs are principal mediators of alterations observed in the microenvironment during carcinogenesis and according to recent concepts not only have roles in invasion or late stages of cancer but also in regulating initial steps of carcinogenesis in a favourable or unfavourable manner. Establishment of relationships between MMP overproduction and cancer progression has stimulated the development of inhibitors that block proteolytic activity of these enzymes. In this review we discuss the MMP general structure, classification, regulation roles in relation to hallmarks of cancer and as targets for therapeutic intervention.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.37 no.6
• /
• pp.455-463
• /
• 2004

Flavonoids contained in grapes are potent antioxidants that may protect against oxidative stress and reduce the risk of chronic diseases related with free radical damage. In this study we investigated the effect of daily grape juice supplementation on blood pressure (BP), plasma lipid profiles and the generation of free radicals in 67 healthy volunteers (29 smoker, 38 nonsmokers). The daily 480 ml of grape juice supplementation for 8 weeks resulted in a significant decrease in diastolic BP by 6.5％ in smokers and systolic and diastolic BP by 11.2 and 3.7％ in non-smokers. Plasma total cholesterol, HDL- and LDL-cholesterollevels in smokers and total cholesterol in non-smokers were significantly increased after the intervention. Plasma triglycerides and conjugated dienes were not affected by grape juice supplementation. Levels of free radical determined by reading the lucigenin-perborate ROS generating sources, decreased significantly by 18％ compared to the beginning of the study. The results indicated that the consumption of grape juice may reduce BP and free radical generation in smokers, which was possibly exerted by flavonoids. Our findings suggested that the grape juice has protective effect on chronic disease due to the overproduction of free radical in smokers.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.59-69
• /
• 2020

This study investigates the influence of individual blockholder on accounting quality. Prior studies investigating Korean blockholders' influence focus on the influence of controlling shareholders or institutional investors; however, they rarely examine individual blockholders' influence. This paper investigates how individual blockholders in Korean stock markets affect accounting quality of firms listed in Korean Stock Exchange. I analyze individual blockholders' influence on proxies of accounting quality using multivariate regression with hand-collected individual blockholder data. Korean law requires public firms to disclose the list of shareholders having no less than 5% of ownership. From the list of blockholders, individuals who have no explicit personal relation with controlling shareholders were classified as individual blockholders. My empirical results show that firms having individual blockholder(s) use more income-decreasing accruals than those having no individual blockholder. Furthermore, accounting information of firms having individual blockholders(s) is more conservative than that of firms having no individual blockholders. However, the presence of individual blockholder increases the tendency of loss avoidance and earnings management using overproduction and reduction of discretionary expenditure. This paper contributes to the literature by presenting the first evidence of the monitoring role of an individual blockholder on financial reporting of firms listed in the Korean stock markets.