• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.185-193
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• 2014

Cancers are based upon an array of orchestrated genetic changes and the identification of changes causally related to the carcinogenic process. To elucidate the mechanism of cancer carcinogenesis, it is necessary to reconstruct these molecular events at each level. Microarray technologies have been extensively used to evaluate genetic alterations associated with cancer onset and progression in clinical oncology. The clinical impact of the genomic alterations identified by microarray technologies are growing rapidly and array analysis has been evolving into a diagnostic tool to better identify high-risk patients and predict patient outcomes from their genomic profiles. Here, we discuss the state-of-the-art microarray technologies and their applications in clinical oncology, and describe the potential benefits of these analysis in the clinical implications and biological insights of cancer biology.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.307-310
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• 2010

Apoptosis is an important significance in the pathogenesis of cancer. Caspase 3 and p53 have been identified as important members of the apoptosis related proteins. This study was performed to define roles of caspase 3 expression and its relationship with p53 expression in endometrial cancers by immunohistochemistry. Immunoreactivity for caspase 3 was found in 13 (65.0%) out of 20 endometrial hyperplasia cases and 8 (36.4%) out of 22 endometrial cancers. Seven (87.5%) of the 8 cases with a positive caspase 3 immunoreactivity showed a positive p53 expression in 22 endometrial cancers. There were no significant associations between caspase 3 and p53 expressions. These findings suggest that caspase 3 expression might be associated with carcinogenesis of endometrial cancers. Further studies are needed to define the relationship between caspase 3 and p53 and apoptosis for examining the mechanisms of tissue-specific apoptosis related protein.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.331-339
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• 2010

This study aims to evaluate the effect of Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus with high-level mupirocin resistance (Hi-Mup MRSA). To examine the antimicrobial effect of photogem-mediated PDT against Hi-Mup MRSA, CFU quantifications, bacteria cell viability tests, and disk diffusion antimicrobial susceptibility tests were evaluated. In addition, one of PDT mechanisms was investigated by accumulating photogem ($10\;{\mu}g/ml$) in Hi-Mup MRSA. Photogem-mediated PDT properly inhibited the colony formation of Hi-Mup MRSA. Viable bacteria decreased greatly after a PDT application with photogem $10\;{\mu}g/ml$ at energy density $15\;J/cm^2$. The diameter of the inhibition zone around susceptible disks increased after PDT. In addition, we confirmed the accumulation of photogem in bacteria through fluorescent images. These results demonstrated that excellent photosensitization of Hi-Mup MRSA can be achieved using photogem with 630 nm LED irradiation. Thus, PDT may make survival Hi-Mup MRSA inactive.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.207-212
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• 2010

Archivillin, a muscle-specific isoform of supervillin, is a component of the costameric cytoskeleton of muscle cells. The purpose of this study was to determine which protein in the skeletal muscle collaborates with archvillin C-terminus. For this purpose, a yeast two-hybrid screening of human skeletal muscle cDNA library was performed using the C-terminal region of archvillin as bait. This study shows that seven human skeletal muscle proteins, namely, nebulin, xeplin, archvillin, GAPDH, TOX4, PITRM1, and YME1L1 interact with archvillin C-terminus. Especially, xeplin is a newly discovered protein interacts with archvillin C-terminus. These results indicate that archvillin C-terminus acts as a bridge between nebulin and xeplin at costameres. Archvillin C-terminal region interacts with nebulin C-terminal region at Z-discs and interacts with xeplin at the vicinity of sarcolemma. I propose that these interactions may contribute to formation of costameric structure and muscle contraction.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.259-264
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• 2010

This study was designed to investigate the effects of nitric oxide on the neuronal activity of rat cerebellar Purkinje cells. Sprague-Dawley rats aged 14 to 16 days were decapitated under ether anesthesia. After treatment with pronase and thermolysin, the dissociated Purkinje cells were transferred into a chamber on an inverted microscope. Spontaneous action potentials and potassium current were recorded by standard patch-clamp techniques under current and voltage-clamp modes respectively. 15 Purkinje cells revealed excitatory responses to $20\;{\mu}M$ of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and 4 neurons (20%) did not respond to SNP. Whole potassium currents of Purkinje cells were decreased by SNP (n=10). Whole potassium currents of Purkinje cells were also decreased by L-arginine, substrate of nitric oxide (n=10). These experimental results suggest that nitric oxide increases the neuronal activity of Purkinje cells by altering the resting membrane potential and after hyperpolarization.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.265-269
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• 2010

Puer tea is a traditional beverage originating from Yunnan area of China. We have analyzed 11 different commercial tea brands provided by Daboo Culture and Art Center. This study was carried out to evaluate the contents of polyphenols, antibacterial activity, antioxidantive ability and physiological activities of extracts from Puer tea. The electron donating ability was ranged from 57.26~99.16% and SOD-like activity was ranged from 1.4~10.4%. The inhibitory effect on the growth of cancer cell lines was examined by MIT assay. The Puer tea extract exhibited the greatest inhibitory effect at the concentration of 2% for all cancer cells tested.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.271-277
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• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate the biological activities of Areca catechu L. The antioxidative, fibrinolytic, thrombin inhibitory, and ${\alpha}$-glucosidase inhibitory activities of Areca catechu L extracted with hexane, $CHCl_3$, ethyl acetate, butanol, and water were measured. The water fraction showed the highest extraction yield at 3.65% (w/w). The butanol, $CHCl_3$, water, and ethyl acetate fractions showed strong antioxidative activities at 81.6%, 87.1%, 88.0%, and 89.5%, respectively. The fibrinolytic activity was strong only in the ethyl acetate fraction at 0.84 plasmin units/ml. The 100-fold dilution of the water fraction had the strongest thrombin inhibitory activity at 59.2%. The 100-fold dilution of butanol fraction displayed the strongest ${\alpha}$-glucosidase inhibitory activity at 88.6%. In conclusion, the extracts of Areca catechu L hold promise for use in the development of biofunctional foods to prevent cardiovascular diseases.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.136-148
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• 2020

A bispecific antibody (BsAb) is an artificial protein containing two kinds of specific antigen binding sites. BsAb can connect target cells to functional cells or molecules, and thus stimulate a directed immune response. Last several decades a wide variety of bsAb formats and production technologies have been developed. BsAbs are constructed either chemically or biologically, exploiting techniques like cell fusion and recombinant DNA technologies. There are over 100 different formats of bsAb so far developed, but they could be classified into the two main categories such as Fc-based (with a Fc region) bsAbs and fragment-based (without a Fc region) bsAbs. BsAb has a broad application prospect in tumor immunotherapy and drug delivery. Here, we present a brief introduction to the structure of antibody, pharmacological mechanisms of antibodies and the trend in the production technologies of therapeutic antibodies. In addition, we address a review on the current status of various bsAb format development and their production technologies together with global situation in the clinical studies of bsAb.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.179-185
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• 2020

Adenine, a purine base, is a structural component of essential biomolecules such as nucleic acids and adenine nucleotides. Its physiological roles have been uncovered. Adenine suppresses IgE-mediated allergy and LPS-induced inflammation. Although adenine is known to inhibit lymphocyte proliferation, the effect of adenine to melamoma cells is not reported. Here, we investigated the growth inhibitory effects of adenine on B16-F10 mouse melanoma cells. Adenine suppressed the proliferation of B16-F10 cells in dose-dependent manner with the maximal inhibitory dose of 2 mM. Adenine treatment induced cell death molecular markers such as PARP and caspase 3 cleavages. Pan-caspase inhibitor z-VAD dramatically rescued the cell death molecular markers, cell proliferation recovered marginally. These results provide the possibility of adenine to be used as an anti-tumor agent.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.217-225
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• 2020

Scuttle fly which moves abruptly after standing for a while and stop suddenly to rush off again, is a fly species in the Phoridae family. This species like rotten organic materials and it is known to proliferate even in the industrial materials including organic solvents. These characteristic behaviors of the scuttle fly seem to be related to muscular and nervous system or neurotransmitters. Thus, we focused at the neurotransmitter, corazonin (Crz) that is known to be related to resistance to stress and investigated the developmental process of the neurons in the scuttle fly. Corazonin is a neuropeptide being expressed in the central nervous system (CNS) and is known to control mainly physiological functions and behaviors. Its many functions that have been proposed are still in controversy. In this studies, we found that there are three groups of corazoninergic neurons in the larval CNS of the scuttle fly and these neurons undergo distinguishable changes through metamorphic process compared to different fly species. Larva has 3 pairs of Crz neurons at the dorsolateral area of the brain, 1 pair at the dorsomedial brain and 8 pairs at the ventral nerve cord.