• Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.135-143
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• 2016

Background: Fraxetin (7,8-dihydroxy-6-methoxy coumarin), a coumarin derivative, has been reported to possess antioxidative, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects. A number of recent observations suggest that the induction of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) inhibits inflammation and tumorigenesis. In the present study, we determined the effect of fraxetin on HO-1 expression in HaCaT human keratinocytes and investigated its underlying molecular mechanisms. Methods: Reverse transcriptase-PCR and Western blot analysis were performed to detect HO-1 mRNA and protein expression, respectively. Cell viability was measured by the MTS test. The induction of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) by fraxetin was evaluated by 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescin diacetate staining. Results: Fraxetin upregulated mRNA and protein expression of HO-1. Incubation with fraxetin induced the localization of nuclear factor-erythroid-2-related factor-2 (Nrf2) in the nucleus and increased the antioxidant response element-reporter gene activity. Fraxetin also induced the phosphorylation of Akt and AMP-activated protein kinase $(AMPK){\alpha}$ and diminished the expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog, a negative regulator of Akt. Pharmacological inhibition of Akt and $AMPK{\alpha}$ abrogated fraxetin-induced expression of HO-1 and nuclear localization of Nrf2. Furthermore, fraxetin generated ROS in a concentration-dependent manner. Conclusions: Fraxetin induces HO-1 expression through activation of Akt/Nrf2 or $AMPK{\alpha}/Nrf2$ pathway in HaCaT cells.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.66
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• pp.128-137
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• 2023

Transcriptome analysis revealed that the sinR gene encoding a transition-state regulator of Bacillus pumilus, genetically close to B. subtilis, was expressed at high levels during growth. The sinR gene is the second gene of the sinIR operon consisting of three promoters and two structural genes in B. subtilis. This study used the sinIR promoter of B. subtilis DB104 to construct a recombinant protein expression system. First, the expression ability depending on the number of sinIR promoter was investigated using enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP). The expression level of eGFP was slightly higher when using two promoters (Psin2) than using original promoters. The Psin2 promoter was further engineered by modifying the repressor binding site and -35 and -10 regions. Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence of the sinI gene was modified to the consensus sequence. Finally, combining the engineered Psin2 promoter with the modified SD sequence increased the expression level of eGFP by about 13.4-fold over the original promoter. Our results suggest that the optimized sinIR promoter could be used as a novel tool for recombinant protein expression in B. subtilis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.19-24
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• 2006

Mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 4 (SMAD4) is a tumor suppressor gene associated with gastrointestinal carcinogenesis. The aim of the present study was to characterize more precisely its role in the development and progression of human gastric carcinoma. In this study, using tissue microarray analysis of 283 gastric cancers and related lesions, we found loss of SMAD4 protein expression in the cytoplasm (36/114, 32%) and in the nucleus (46/114, 40%) of gastric cancer cells. The loss of nuclear SMAD4 expression in primary tumors correlated significantly with poor survival, and was an independent prognostic marker in multivariate analysis. We also found a substantial decrease in SMAD4 expression at both the RNA and protein level in several human gastric carcinoma cell lines. To identify the genetic and/or epigenetic mechanisms of altered SMAD4 expression in gastric carcinoma, loss of heterozygosity (LOH), promoter hypermethylation, and exon mutations were examined. We found that LOH (20/70, 29%) and promoter hypermethylation (4/73, 5%) were associated with the loss of SMAD4 expression. SMAD4 protein levels wore also affected in certain gastric carcinoma cell lines following incubation with Mc132, a proteasome inhibitor. Taken together, our results indicate that the loss of SMAD4, especially loss of nuclear SMAD4 expression, is involved in gastric cancer progression. The loss of SMAD4 in gastric carcinomas is due to several mechanisms, including LOH, hypermethylation, and proteasome degradation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7203-7206
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• 2013

Recent studies suggested that the ovarian cancers with negative excision repair cross-complementation group 1 enzyme (ERCC1) expression have a better response to platinum-based chemotherapy than those with positive ERCC1 expression. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether ERCC1 expression is associated with response to platinum-based chemotherapy in ovarian cancers. MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science and CNKI databases were used for searching studies relating to ERCC1 protein expression and response to platinum-based chemotherapy in ovarian cancers. Statistical analysis was based on the method for a fixed effects meta-analysis. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals for ERCC1 protein expression and response to platinum-based chemotherapy were generated. Publication bias was investigated with Begg's test. Five studies involving 306 patients with ovarian cancer were included. Compared to patients with positive ERCC1 expression, those with negative ERCC1 expression had a better response to platinum-based chemotherapy. The pooled OR was 5.264 (95% CI: 2.928-9.464, P < 0.001) and publication bias was not found (P = 0.904). The result was similar in both in Asians and Caucasians (P < 0.001 and P = 0.028, respectively). ERCC1 protein expression status is significantly associated with response to platinum-based chemotherapy in ovarian cancers.

• BMB Reports
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.205-210
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• 1997

p53 tumor suppressor plays an important role in the regulation of cellular proliferation. To identify proteins regulating the expression of p53 in rat liver, we analyzed p53 promoter by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) and DNase I footprinting assay. We found that a protein binds the sequence CACGTG, bHLH consensus sequence in rat p53 promoter. Southwestern blotting analysis with oligonucleotides containing this sequence shows that the molecular weight of the protein is 100 kDa. This size is not compatible with the bHLH family such as USF or c-Myc/Max which is known to regulate the expression of the human and mouse p53 gene. Therefore this 100 kDa protein may be a new protein regulating basal transcription of rat p53. We purified this 100 kDa protein through sequence-specific DNA affinity chromatogaphy.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.20-26
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• 2006

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic and systemic inflammatory disease that is characterized by invasive synovial hyperplasia, leading to progressive joint destruction. Recent studies have described that RA is caused by virus, bacteria or outside material. Approximately 2 to 20% of RA cases arc reported to be associated with infected hepatitis C virus (HCV). However, the mechanisms underlying virus-induced RA are still unknown. Moreover, few molecular studies have addressed the inflammatory aspects of HCV-associated autoimmune RA. In this study, we aimed to determine whe ther or not another HCV core protein transactivates the IL-8 gene expression, prototypic chemokine, in synovial cell. Methods: To establish the HCV core expressing stable synovial cell line, pCI-neo-core, a plasmid encoding HCV core protein, were transfected to HIG-82 cell line that is an established cell line from rabbit periaricular soft tissue. We examined the morphological changes and cell cycle distribution of HIG-82 cells with expression of HCV core protein by inverted microscopy and flow cytometry analysis, respectively. Also, we determined the mRNA levels of Interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8 related to the inflammation by RT-PCR and then analyzed regulation of IL-8 expression by the NF-${\kappa}B$ pathway. Results: Our study showed no significant differences in morphology and cell cycle between HIG-82 control cell line and HIG-82 expressing HCV core protein. However, expression of HCV core protein induces the IL-8 mRNA expression in HIG-82 core cells via activated NF-${\kappa}B$ pathway. Conclusion: These results suggest that HCV core protein can lead to enhanced IL-8 expression. Such a proinflammatory role may contribute to the etiologic pathogenesis in RA patients with HCV infection.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2023

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effect of Tanghwajitongsan(THJTS) through inhibition of NF-κB and MAPK. Methods : We evaluated cell survival rate by MTT assay, NO production by nitrite content in the culture medium. We quantified TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and PGE₂ of the cultured supernatant by ELISA. And we evaluated the effect of THJTS on protein expression of NF-κB, MAPK, iNOS and COX-2 by Western blot analysis. THJTS ameliorates LPS-activated alterations in protein expression of NF-κB, p-38, iNOS and COX-2 and production of NO, pro-inflammatory cytokines and PGE₂. Also, THJTS ameliorates LOX, PGN and FLA-activated alterations in protein expression of NO, iNOS. THJTS ameliorates only PGN-activated alterations in protein expression of COX-2. Results : THJTS ameliorates LPS-activated alterations in protein expression of NF-κB, p-38, iNOS and COX-2 and production of NO, pro-inflammatory cytokines and PGE₂. Also, THJTS ameliorates LOX, PGN and FLA-activated alterations in protein expression of NO, iNOS. THJTS ameliorates only PGN-activated alterations in protein expression of COX-2. Conclusions : This study can provide scientific evidence for the anti-inflammatory effects and underlying mechanisms of THJTS.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1515-1521
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• 2016

Anethole and garlic have an immune modulatory effects on avian coccidiosis, and these effects are correlated with gene expression changes in intestinal epithelial lymphocytes (IELs). In this study, we integrated gene expression datasets from two independent experiments and investigated gene expression profile changes by anethole and garlic respectively, and identified gene expression signatures, which are common targets of these herbs as they might be used for the evaluation of the effect of plant herbs on immunity toward avian coccidiosis. We identified 4,382 and 371 genes, which were differentially expressed in IELs of chickens supplemented with garlic and anethole respectively. The gene ontology (GO) term of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from garlic treatment resulted in the biological processes (BPs) related to proteolysis, e.g., "modification-dependent protein catabolic process", "proteolysis involved in cellular protein catabolic process", "cellular protein catabolic process", "protein catabolic process", and "ubiquitin-dependent protein catabolic process". In GO analysis, one BP term, "Proteolysis", was obtained. Among DEGs, 300 genes were differentially regulated in response to both garlic and anethole, and 234 and 59 genes were either up- or down-regulated in supplementation with both herbs. Pathway analysis resulted in enrichment of the pathways related to digestion such as "Starch and sucrose metabolism" and "Insulin signaling pathway". Taken together, the results obtained in the present study could contribute to the effective development of evaluation system of plant herbs based on molecular signatures related with their immunological functions in chicken IELs.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.161-172
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• 2011

Angiogenesis is regulated by a large number of molecules and complex signaling mechanisms. The G protein $G{\alpha}_{13}$ is a part of this signaling mechanism as an endothelial cell movement regulator. Gene expression analysis of $G{\alpha}_{13}$ knockout mouse embryos was carried out to identify the role of $G{\alpha}_{13}$ in angiogenesis signaling during embryonic development. Hypoxia-inducible response factors including those acting as regulators of angiogenesis were over expressed, while genes related to the cell cycle, DNA replication, protein modification and cell-cell dissociation were under expressed. Functional annotation and network analysis indicate that $G{\alpha}_{13}{^{-/-}}$ embryonic mice were exposed to hypoxic conditions. The present analysis of the time course highlighted the significantly high levels of disorder in the development of the cardiovascular system. The data suggested that hypoxia-inducible factors including those associated with angiogenesis and abnormalities related to endothelial cell division contributed to the developmental failure of $G{\alpha}_{13}$ knockout mouse embryos.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.601-608
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• 2007

2 Dimensional Gel Electrophoresis(2DGE) is an essentialmethodology for analysis on the expression of various proteins. For example, information for the location, mass, expression, size and shape of the proteins obtained by 2DGE can be used for diagnosis, prognosis and biological progress by comparison of patients with the normal persons. Protein spot matching for this purpose is comparative analysis of protein expression pattern for the 2DGE images generated under different conditions. However, visual analysis of protein spots which are more than several hundreds included in a 2DGE image requires long time and heavy effort. Furthermore, geometrical distortion makes the spot matching for the same protein harder. In this paper, an iterative algorithm is introduced for more efficient spot matching. Proposed method is first performing global matching step, which reduces the geometrical difference between the landmarks and the spot to be matched. Thus, movement for a spot is defined by a weighted sum of the movement of the landmark spots. Weight for the summation is defined by the inverse of the distance from the spots to the landmarks. This movement is iteratively performed until the total sum of the difference between the corresponding landmarks is larger than a pre-selected value. Due to local distortion generally occurred in 2DGE images, there are many regions in whichmany spot pairs are miss-matched. In the second stage, the same spot matching algorithm is applied to such local regions with the additional landmarks for those regions. In other words, the same method is applied with the expanded landmark set to which additional landmarks are added. Our proposed algorithm for spot matching empirically proved reliable analysis of protein separation image by producing higher accuracy.