• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3909-3919
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• 2013

The aim of the present investigation was to evaluate the effect of A ferruginea extract on Dalton's lymphoma ascites (DLA) induced tumours in BALB/c mice. Experimental animals received A ferruginea extract (10 mg/kg.b.wt) intraperitoneally for 14 consecutive days after DLA tumor challenge. Treatment with extract significantly increased the life span, total white blood cell (WBC) count and haemoglobin (Hb) content and decreased the level of serum aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma glutamyl transferase (${\gamma}$-GT) and nitric oxide (NO) in DLA bearing ascites tumor models. In addition, administration of extract significantly decreased the tumour volume and body weight in a DLA bearing solid tumor model. The levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-${\alpha}$), interleukin-1 beta (IL-$1{\beta}$), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and granulocyte monocyte-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), as well as pro-angiogenic growth factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) were elevated in solid tumour controls, but significantly reduced by A ferruginea administration. On the other hand, the extract stimulated the production of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon-gamma (IFN-${\gamma}$) in animals with DLA induced solid tumours. Increase in $CD4^+$ T-cell population suggested strong immunostimulant activity for this extract. GC/MS and LC/MS analysis showed quinone, quinoline, imidazolidine, pyrrolidine, cyclopentenone, thiazole, pyrazole, catechin and coumarin derivatives as major compounds present in the A ferruginea methanolic extract. Thus, the outcome of the present study suggests that A ferruginea extract has immunomodulatory and tumor inhibitory activities and has the potential to be developed as a natural anticancer agent.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.127-135
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• 1987

In vitro sensitivity testing was performed for 21 kinds putative anticancer drugs selected from references and information. Cellular damage of P815 mastocytoma cells following exposure to water extracts of drugs was evaluated by colony formation assay. Highly effective drugs with more than 50% inhibition of colony formation were seven (Houttuyniae Herba, Sanguisorbae Radix, Nepetae Herba, Manitis Squama, Lonicerae Flos, Amomi Semen, Polyporus), though not more effective than BCNU. According to the results of $^3H-thymidine$ incorporation assay for determination of selective cytotoxicity, 3 of these drugs (Houttuyniae Herba, Polyporus, Manitis Squama) were found to be low cytotoxic to normal mouse lymphoid cells. These findings suggest that the above 3 drugs may be used for effective anticancer drugs in vivo.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.236-243
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• 1993

Immunologic potential of DA-125, a new anthracycline antitumor antibiotic, was investigated using guinea pigs and mice. In antigenicity experiments, guinea pigs were sensitized subcutaneously with DA-125 or DA-125 incorporated in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) once a week for three weeks. No systemic anaphylaxis was induced by intravenous injection of DA-125 or DA-125 incubated with guinea pig serum after 3 weeks from the last sensitization. None of sera of these animals showed any passive cutaneous anaphylactic reaction (PCA) when DA-125 or DA-125 incubated with guinea pig serum was used as a challenging antigen in homologous PCA experiment. On the other hand the treatment of guinea pigs with ovalbumin Incorporated in CFA induced systemic anaphylactic reaction when challenged by intravenous injection of 5 mg/body of ovalbumin. Immunodiffusion test revealed no precipitating antibodies as detected in guinea pigs sensitized with DA-125. In 24-hour heterologous PCA reaction with sera of C57BL/6 mice immunized with DA-125 or DA-125 mixed with aluminum hydroxide gel (Alum), None of sera showed positive reaction when DA-125 or DA-125 incubated with rat serum was used as a challenging antigen. Sera of animals immunized with a mixture of ovalbumin and alum showed positive PCA reaction when 5 mg/body of ovalbumin was injected as a challenging antigen. In lymphocyte proliferation tests, spleen lymphocyte proliferation to PHA and LPS was similarly impaired by 12 mg/kg of DXR or 36 mg/kg of DA-125, and the immunodepressive activity of DA-125 showed a dose-dependent manner. From these results, it could be concluded that immunosupression of DA-125 would be comparable to that of DXR and that DA-125 would not induce systemic allergic reaction in its clinical use.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.159-167
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• 2014

Curcumin is a widely used flavoring agent in food, and it has been reported to inhibit cell growth, to induce apoptosis, and to have antitumor activity in many cancers. Cisplatin is one of the most potent known anticancer agents and shows significant clinical activity against a variety of solid tumors. This study was undertaken to investigate the synergistic apoptotic effects of co-treatment with curcumin and cisplatin on human tongue SCC25 cells. To investigate whether the co-treatment efficiently reduced the viability of the SCC25 cells compared with the two treatments separately, an MTT assay was conducted. The induction and the augmentation of apoptosis were confirmed by DNA electrophoresis, Hoechst staining, and an analysis of DNA hypoploidy. Western blot, MMP and immunofluorescence tests were also performed to evaluate the expression levels and the translocation of apoptosis-related proteins following the co-treatment. In this study, following the co-treatment with curcumin and cisplatin, the SCC25 cells showed several forms of apoptotic manifestation, such as nuclear condensation, DNA fragmentation, reduction of MMP, increased levels of Bax, decreased levels of Bcl-2, and decreased DNA content. In addition, they showed a release of cytochrome c into the cytosol, translocation of AIF and DFF40 (CAD) to the nuclei, and activation of caspase-7, caspase-3, PARP, and DFF45 (ICAD). In contrast, separate treatments of $5{\mu}M$ of curcumin or $4{\mu}g/ml$ of cisplatin, for 24 hours, did not induce apoptosis. Therefore, our data suggest that combination therapy with curcumin and cisplatin could be considered as a novel therapeutic strategy for human oral squamous cell carcinoma.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2016

Molecular targeting for the altered signaling pathways has been proven to be effective for the treatment of many types of human cancer, including colorectal cancer (CRC). The dual phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor BEZ235 has shown to exhibit potent antitumor activity against solid tumors. Autophagy is a cellular lysosomal catabolic process to maintain metabolic homeostasis, which has been known to be induced in response to many therapeutic agents in cancer cells. This process is negatively regulated by mTOR and often acts as prosurvival or prodeath mechanism following cancer therapeutics. The current study was designed to investigate the antiproliferation activity of BEZ235 and to evaluate the role of autophagy induced by BEZ235 using HCT15 CRC cells bearing ras oncogene mutation. We found that BEZ235 decreases cell viability, which was mostly dependent on $G_1$ arrest of cell cycle via suppression of cyclin A expression. BEZ235 affects PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway by increasing the phosphorylation of AKT at $Ser^{473}$ and RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway by decreasing the phosphorylation of ERK at $Tyr^{204}$. BEZ235 also stimulated autophagy induction as evidenced by the increased expression of LC3-II and abundant acidic vesicular organelles (AVOs) in the cytoplasm. In addition, the combination of BEZ235 with autophagy inhibitor chloroquine, a known antagonist of autophagy, counteracted the antiproliferation effect of BEZ235. Thus, our study indicates that autophagy induced in response to BEZ235 treatment appears to act as cell death mechanism in HCT15 CRC cells.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.35 no.2 s.137
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• pp.164-170
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• 2004

The flavonoids are a very large and important group of polyphenolic natural products, which are united by their derivatization from the heterocycle, flavone. They are distributed in higher plants and occur widely in the fruits and vegetables that make up the human diet. They exhibit a wide range of biological properties, including antitumor, antiinflammatory, hepatoprotective, antimicrobial, insecticidal and estrogenic activities. They are also major components of many plant drugs and it is possible that they contribute to the curative properties. For the purpose of developing anticancer agent of natural origin, we have evaluated forty four kinds of naturally occurring flavonoids for the inhibitory activity upon the proliferation of cultured human tumor cells such as A549 (non small cell lung), SK-OV-3 (ovary), SK-MEL-2 (melanoma), XF498 (central nerve system) and HCT-15 (colon) in vitro.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.591-598
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• 2018

Epigenetic silencing is considered to be a major mechanism for loss of activity in tumor suppressors. Reversal of epigenetic silencing by using inhibitors of DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) or histone deacetylases (HDACs) such as 5-Aza-CdR and FK228 has shown to enhance cytotoxic activities of several anticancer agents. This study aims to assess the combinatorial effects of genesilencing reversal agents (5-Aza-CdR and FK228) and oxaliplatin in gastric cancer cells, i.e., Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-negative SNU-638 and EBV-positive SNU-719 cells. The doublet combinatorial treatment of 5-Aza-CdR and FK228 exhibited synergistic effects in both cell lines, and this was further corroborated by Zta expression induction in SNU-719 cells. Three drug combinations as 5-Aza-CdR/FK228 followed by oxaliplatin, however, resulted in antagonistic effects in both cell lines. Simultaneous treatment with FK228 and oxaliplatin induced synergistic and additive effects in SNU-638 and SNU-719 cells, respectively. Three drug combinations as 5-Aza-CdR prior to FK228/oxaliplatin, however, again resulted in antagonistic effects in both cell lines. This work demonstrated that efficacy of doublet synergistic combination using DNMT or HDACs inhibitors can be compromised by adding the third drug in pre- or post-treatment approach in gastric cancer cells. This implies that the development of clinical trial protocols for triplet combinations using gene-silencing reversal agents should be carefully evaluated in light of their potential antagonistic effects.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.552-557
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• 2009

Objective : Interferon-$\beta$, (IFN-$\beta$) has been used in the treatment of cancers. Inhibition of the enzyme cyclooxygenase (COX) with celecoxib had a significantly suppressive effect on tumor growth, angiogenesis, and metastasis in a variety of tumors. The aim of this study was to elucidate the antiglioma effect of combined treatment with IFN-$\beta$ and celecoxib in U87 glioma model. Methods : The in vitro effects of IFN-$\beta$ (50-1,000 IU/mL) and celecoxib ($50-250\;{\mu}M$) alone or combination of both on the proliferation and apoptosis of U87 cells were tested using MTT assay, FACS analysis and DNA condensation. To determine the in vivo effect, nude mice bearing intracerebral U87 xenograft inoculation were treated with IFN-$\beta$ intraperitoneally ($2{\times}10^5\;IU/day$ for 15 days), celecoxib orally (5, 10 mg/kg) or their combination. Results : IFN-$\beta$ or celecoxib showed an inhibitory effect on the proliferation of U87 cells. When U87 cells were treated with IFN-$\beta$ and celecoxib combination, it seemed that IFN-$\beta$ interrupted the antiproliferative and apoptotic activity of celecoxib. No additive effect was observed on the survival of the tumor bearing mice by the combination of IFN-$\beta$ and celecoxib. Conclusion : These results suggest that IFN-$\beta$ seems to inhibit the antiglioma effect of celecoxib, therefore combination of IFN-$\beta$ and celecoxib may be undesirable in the treatment of glioma.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.17
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• pp.109-115
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• 2001

Abrus agglutinin was purified from the kernels of Abrus precatorius by Sepharose 4B affinity column chromatography followed by Sephadex G-100 gel filtration column chromatography. About 1.25 g of abrus agglutinin was obtained from 1 kg of the kernels. The LD$_{50}$ of abrus agglutinin is 5 mg/kg of body weight, which is less toxic than that of abrin, 20$\mu\textrm{g}$/kg body weight. The amino acid sequence of abrus agglutinin was determined by protein sequencing techniques and deduced from the nucleotide sequence of a cDNA clone encoding full length of abrus agglutinin. There are 258 residues, 2 residues and 267 residues in the A-chain, the linker peptide and the B-chain of abrus agglutinin, respectively. Abrus agglutinin had high homology to abrin-a (77.8%). The 13 amino acid residues involved in catalytic function, which are highly conserved among abrin and ricin, were also conserved within abrus agglutinin. The protein synthesis inhibitory activity of abrus agglutinin ($IC_{50}$/ = 3.5 nM) was weaker than that of abrin-a (0.05 nM). By molecular modeling followed by site-directed mutagenesis showed that Pro199 of abrus agglutinin A-chain located in amphipathic helix H and corresponding to Asn200 of abrin A-chain, can induce bending of helix H. This bending would presumably affect the binding of abrus agglutinin A-chain to its target sequence GpApGpAp, in the tetraloop structure of 285 r-RNA subunit and this could be one of major factors contributing to the relatively weak protein synthesis inhibitory activity and toxicity of abrus agglutinin.n.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.69-76
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• 1998

Cis-diamminedichloroplatinum II (cisplatin), an effective antitumor agent, induces acute renal failure by unknown mechanisms. To investigate direct toxic effects of cisplatin in the renal proximal tubular transport system, OK cell line was selected as a cell model and $Na^+/H^+$ antiport activity was evaluated during a course of cisplatin treatment. The cells grown to confluence were treated with cisplatin for 1 hour, washed, and incubated for up to 48 hours. At appropriate intervals, cells were examined for $Na^+/H^+$ antiport activity by measuring the recovery of intracellular pH (pHi) after acid loading. Cisplatin of less than 50 ${\mu}M$ induced no significant changes in cell viability in 24 hours, but it decreased the viability markedly after 48 hours. In cells exposed to 50 ${\mu}M$ cisplatin for 24 hours, the $Na^+-dependent$ pHi recovery (i.e., $Na^+/H^+$ antiport) was drastically inhibited with no changes in the $Na^+-independent$ recovery. Kinetic analysis of the $Na^+-dependent$ pHi recovery indicated that the Vmax was reduced, but the apparent Km was not altered. The cellular $Na^+$ and $K^+$ contents determined immediately before the transport measurement appeared to be similar in the control and cisplatin group, thus, the driving force for $Na^+-coupled$ transport was not different. These results indicate that cisplatin exposure impairs the $Na^+/H^+$ antiport capacity in OK cells. It is, therefore, possible that in patients treated with a high dose of cisplatin, proximal tubular mechanism for proton secretion (hence $HCO_3^-$ reabsorption) could be attenuated, leading to a metabolic acidosis (proximal renal tubular acidosis).