• Title/Summary/Keyword: translational research

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Identification and Antifungal Susceptibility Profiles of Cyberlindnera fabianii in Korea

  • Park, Ji-Hyun;Oh, Junsang;Sang, Hyunkyu;Shrestha, Bhushan;Lee, Hyeyoung;Koo, Jehyun;Cho, Sung-Il;Choi, Ji Seon;Lee, Min-Ha;Kim, Jayoung;Sung, Gi-Ho
    • Mycobiology
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    • v.47 no.4
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    • pp.449-456
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    • 2019
  • Invasive fungal infections caused by Cyberlindnera fabianii have recently increased. However, biochemical kits such as API 20 C AUX and Vitek-2C have misidentified this species as other Candida spp. such as C. pelliculosa or C. utilis due to no information of Cy. fabianii in yeast database. During our 2016-2017 surveys, eleven isolates of Cy. fabianii were obtained in International St. Mary's Hospital in Korea. Here, we describe its morphological and molecular characteristics and tested its antifungal susceptibility against nine antifungal agents. The sequences of the ITS region and the D1/D2 region of LSU revealed 100% identity with the sequences of Cy. fabianii. In comparison with the results from MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, we found that Cy. fabianii can be distinguished from other species. In antifungal susceptibility test, voriconazole and echinocandins exhibited good antifungal activities against the majority of Cy. fabianii isolates despite the absence of standard criteria.

Selective blockade of spinal D2DR by levo-corydalmine attenuates morphine tolerance via suppressing PI3K/Akt-MAPK signaling in a MOR-dependent manner

  • Dai, Wen-Ling;Liu, Xin-Tong;Bao, Yi-Ni;Yan, Bing;Jiang, Nan;Yu, Bo-Yang;Liu, Ji-Hua
    • Experimental and Molecular Medicine
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    • v.50 no.11
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    • pp.6.1-6.12
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    • 2018
  • Morphine tolerance remains a challenge in the management of chronic pain in the clinic. As shown in our previous study, the dopamine D2 receptor (D2DR) expressed in spinal cord neurons might be involved in morphine tolerance, but the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated. In the present study, selective spinal D2DR blockade attenuated morphine tolerance in mice by inhibiting phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K)/serine-threonine kinase (Akt)-mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling in a ${\mu}$ opioid receptor (MOR)-dependent manner. Levo-corydalmine (l-CDL), which exhibited micromolar affinity for D2DR in D2/CHO-K1 cell lines in this report and effectively alleviated bone cancer pain in our previous study, attenuated morphine tolerance in rats with chronic bone cancer pain at nonanalgesic doses. Furthermore, the intrathecal administration of l-CDL obviously attenuated morphine tolerance, and the effect was reversed by a D2DR agonist in mice. Spinal D2DR inhibition and l-CDL also inhibited tolerance induced by the MOR agonist DAMGO. l-CDL and a D2DR small interfering RNA (siRNA) decreased the increase in levels of phosphorylated Akt and MAPK in the spinal cord; these changes were abolished by a PI3K inhibitor. In addition, the activated Akt and MAPK proteins in mice exhibiting morphine tolerance were inhibited by a MOR antagonist. Intrathecal administration of a PI3K inhibitor also attenuated DAMGO-induced tolerance. Based on these results, l-CDL antagonized spinal D2DR to attenuate morphine tolerance by inhibiting PI3K/Akt-dependent MAPK phosphorylation through MOR. These findings provide insights into a more versatile treatment for morphine tolerance.

Expression of Proteasome Activator REGγ in Human Laryngeal Carcinoma and Associations with Tumor Suppressor Proteins

  • Li, Li-Ping;Cheng, Wei-Bo;Li, Hong;Li, Wen;Yang, Hui;Wen, Ding-Hou;Tang, Yue-Di
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.13 no.6
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    • pp.2699-2703
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    • 2012
  • The functional significance of the proteasome activator $REG{\gamma}$ in the regulation of cell proliferation and apoptosis has been recognized. However, pathological contributions to tumor development remain to be elucidated. Both oncogenic proteins and tumor suppressors are targeted by $REG{\gamma}$ for proteasomal degradation. It has been proposed that the role of the $REG{\gamma}$ in the pathogenesis of cancer is cell- and context-specific. In this study, we aimed to explore the potential involvement of $REG{\gamma}$ in laryngeal carcinomas, comparing protein expression in tumor and adjacent tissues by immunohistochemical staining and Western blot analysis. We also characterized the correlation between the expression of $REG{\gamma}$ and the previously identified substrates p53 and p21. We showed that $REG{\gamma}$ was abnormally highly expressed in cancer tissues. Statistical analysis revealed that there was a positive relationship between the level of $REG{\gamma}$ and the expression of p53 and p21. Our study suggests that $REG{\gamma}$ overexpression can facilitate the growth of laryngeal cancer cells.

Photoperiodic Proteins in Plant Cells (식물세포의 일주기성 단백질)

  • Hwang, Hee-Youn;Bhoo, Seong-Hee
    • Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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    • v.53 no.3
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    • pp.121-125
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    • 2010
  • In the past 10 years, a lot of plant circadian rhythm researches have published in molecular biology and biochemistry. We discussed with published molecular studies of circadian clock and rhythmic genes in Arabidopsis, rice and algae. However past this studies are not sufficient to explain the whole rhythmic metabolism. Recently many researchers have concerned post-transcriptional, translational and post-translational modification of rhythmic proteins. From the view point of the high-throughput study, we could suggest the proteomic analysis with 2-DE gel electrophoresis and MS/MS techniques for the identification of modified proteins.

Symmetry Exploitation of Diffraction Gratings to Enhance the Spectral Resolution

  • Lee, Eun-Seong;Lee, Jae-Yong
    • Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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    • v.15 no.3
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    • pp.216-221
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    • 2011
  • A diffraction grating is a highly symmetric optical element with a physical structure that is invariant under translational spatial movements. The translational symmetry is reflected in the fields that are diffracted from the grating. Here, we introduce a plane-parallel mirror pair onto the grating, which translates the fields through double reflections, and we describe a method of exploiting the symmetry to enhance the spectral resolution of a diffraction grating beyond the limit that is set by the number of grooves. The mirror pair creates another virtual grating beside the original one, effectively doubling the number of grooves. Addition of more mirror pairs can further increase the effective number of grooves despite the increased complexity and difficulty of experimental implementation. We experimentally demonstrate the spectral linewidth reduction by a factor of four in a neon fluorescence spectrum. Even though the geometrical restriction on the mirror deployment limits our method to a certain range of the whole spectrum, as a practical application example, a bulky spectrometer that is nearly empty inside can be made compact without sacrificing the resolution.

Effect of 1-palmitoyl-2-linoleoyl-3-acetyl-rac-glycerol on Immune Functions in Healthy Adults in a Randomized Controlled Trial

  • Hwang, Hee-Jin;Sohn, Ki-Young;Han, Yong-Hae;Chong, Saeho;Yoon, Sun Young;Kim, Young-Jun;Jeong, Jinseoun;Kim, Sang-Hwan;Kim, Jae Wha
    • IMMUNE NETWORK
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    • v.15 no.3
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    • pp.150-160
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    • 2015
  • We previously reported that 1-palmitoyl-2-linoleoyl-3-acetyl-rac-glycerol (PLAG) accelerates hematopoiesis and has an improving effect on animal disease models such as sepsis and asthma. The effects of PLAG supplementation on immune modulation were assessed in healthy men and women. The objective was to evaluate the effects of PLAG supplementation on immune regulatory functions such as activities of immune cells and cytokine production. A randomized double blind placebo-controlled trial was conducted. Seventy-five participants were assigned to one of two groups; all participants had an appropriate number of white blood cells on the testing day. The PLAG group (n=27) received oral PLAG supplements and the control group (n=22) received oral soybean oil supplements. IL-4 and IL-6 production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were lower (p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively) with PLAG than with soybean oil. However, the production of IL-2 and IFN-$\gamma$ by PBMC was unaltered with PLAG supplementation. The B cell proliferation decreased significantly in the PLAG group compared to the soybean oil control (p<0.05). The intake of PLAG in healthy adults for 4 weeks was deemed safe. These data suggest that PLAG has an immunomodulatory function that inhibits the excessive immune activity of immunological disorders such as atopic and autoimmune diseases. PLAG could improve the condition of these diseases safely as a health food supplement.