• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.262-268
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• 2014

Rutaecarpine is one of the major alkaloids present in the fruits of Evodia rutaecarpa. In this study, rutaecarpine was evaluated, both in vitro and in vivo, for its hepatoprotective properties against thioacetamide (TAA)-induced hepatic fibrosis. The results showed that rutaecarpine inhibited TAA-induced cytotoxicity, reduced the expression of the fibrogenic cytokine transforming growth factor ${\beta}1$ ($TGF-{\beta}1$), and induced the expression of bcl-2. To evaluate its in vivo effects, animal models with TAA-induced hepatic fibrosis were utilized. Levels of liver tissue injury-associated enzymes, including alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were monitored. $TGF-{\beta}1$ and the ${\alpha}$-smooth muscle actin (${\alpha}$-SMA) were measured as markers of the protective effects on hepatic fibrosis. The AST and ALT levels in blood were greatly enhanced by TAA and completely blunted by rutaecarpine. Rutaecarpine led to the down-regulation of $TGF-{\beta}$ and Bax mRNA expression, as well as the up-regulation of Bcl-2 and $Bcl-X_L$ mRNA levels. In conclusion, rutaecarpine inhibited TAA-induced hepatic fibrosis and apoptosis by inducing the expression of Bcl-2 while blocking $TGF-{\beta}1$ in our TAA-intoxicated model.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.215-221
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• 2019

Inflammation is the crucial biological process of immune system which acts as body's defense and protective response against the injuries or infection. However, the systemic inflammation devotes the adverse effects such as multiple inflammation associated diseases. One of the best ways to treat this entity is by blocking the tumor necrosis factor alpha ($TNF-{\alpha}$) and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) to avoid the proinflammation cytokines production. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the potency of Sambucus bioactive compounds as anti-inflammation through in silico approach. In order to assess that, molecular docking was performed to evaluate the interaction properties between the $TNF-{\alpha}$ or TRAIL with the ligands. The 2D structure of ligands were retrieved online via PubChem and the 3D protein modeling was done by using SWISS Model. The prediction results of the study showed that caffeic acid (-6.4 kcal/mol) and homovanillic acid (-6.6 kcal/mol) have the greatest binding affinity against the $TNF-{\alpha}$ and TRAIL respectively. This evidence suggests that caffeic acid and homovanillic acid may potent as anti-inflammatory agent against the inflammation associated diseases. Finally, this study needs further examination and evaluation to validate the potency of Sambucus bioactive compounds.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2024

Glutamate-mediated oxidative stress causes neuronal cell death by increasing intracellular Ca²⁺ uptake, reactive oxidative species (ROS) generation, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation, and translocation of apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) to the nucleus. In the current study, we demonstrated that corydaline exerts potent neuroprotective effects against glutamate-induced neurotoxicity. Treatment with 5 mmol/L glutamate increased cellular Ca²⁺ influx, ROS generation, MAPK activation, and AIF translocation. In contrast, corydaline treatment decreased cellular Ca²⁺ influx and ROS generation. Western blot analysis revealed that glutamate-mediated MAPK activation was attenuated by corydaline treatment. We further demonstrated that corydaline treatment inhibited the glutamate-mediated translocation of AIF to the nucleus. We propose that corydaline is a promising lead structure for the development of safe and effective neuroprotectants.

• BMB Reports
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• v.57 no.7
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• pp.318-323
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• 2024

Regulation of cell fate and lung cell differentiation is associated with Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARS)-interacting multifunctional protein 2 (AIMP2), which acts as a non-enzymatic component required for the multi-tRNA synthetase complex. In response to DNA damage, a component of AIMP2 separates from the multi-tRNA synthetase complex, binds to p53, and prevents its degradation by MDM2, inducing apoptosis. Additionally, AIMP2 reduces proliferation in TGF-β and Wnt pathways, while enhancing apoptotic signaling induced by tumor necrosis factor-α. Given the crucial role of these pathways in tumorigenesis, AIMP2 is expected to function as a broad-spectrum tumor suppressor. The full-length AIMP2 transcript consists of four exons, with a small section of the pre-mRNA undergoing alternative splicing to produce a variant (AIMP2-DX2) lacking the second exon. AIMP2-DX2 binds to FBP, TRAF2, and p53 similarly to AIMP2, but competes with AIMP2 for binding to these target proteins, thereby impairing its tumor-suppressive activity. AIMP2-DX2 is specifically expressed in a diverse range of cancer cells, including breast cancer, liver cancer, bone cancer, and stomach cancer. There is growing interest in AIMP2-DX2 as a promising biomarker for prognosis and diagnosis, with AIMP2-DX2 inhibition attracting significant interest as a potentially effective therapeutic approach for the treatment of lung, ovarian, prostate, and nasopharyngeal cancers.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2021

Interferon regulatory factors (IRFs) are a family of transcription factors essential to the control of antiviral immune response, cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis. IRF10 of zebrafish (Danio rerio) was negative regulation of the interferonΦ1 and 3 response in vitro. In this study, we analyze the induction of in vivo immune response activation from the IRF10 gene of zebrafish and the protective effect against VHSV. As the results, the group inoculated with IRF10 expression vectors, there was no expression of IFNΦ1, suggestion that IRF10 may function as a negative regulator of IRF3, which binds to the IFNΦ1 promoter. And other types of interferon genes (IFNΦ2-4) are thought to have been activated, inducing to the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine and Mx genes. As the results of challenge test performed at 14 days after inoculation of the expression vectors, the maximum survival rate [50% (1㎍ DNA) and 42.5% (10㎍ DNA)] for IRF10 group were recorded. Meanwhile, the survival rates of pcDNA3.1 and PBS as the control groups were 10% and 15%, respectively. This study suggests that the possibility that activation of IRF10 molecule could be exploited as a VHS control method.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.207-221
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• 2018

Objectives : Present study investigated hepatoprotective effect of Haegan-jeon extract (HE) and tried to elucidate molecular mechanism involved. According to molecular mechanism, present study optimized herbal composition of HE (op-HE) and compared in vitro and in vivo hepatoprotective effects of op-HE to HE. Methods : For in vitro experiments, HepG2 cells were exposed to arachidonic acid (AA, $10{\mu}M$) and iron ($5{\mu}M$) for inducing oxidative stress. Cell viability, GSH contents, $H_2O_2$ production, mitochondrial membrane potential, immunoblot and reporter gene assay were performed to investigate cytoprotective effects and responsible molecular mechanisms. For in vivo experiments, hepatoprotective effect of HE and op-HE were assessed on $CCl_4-induced$ liver injury mice model. Results : HE pretreatment prevented AA+iron-mediated hepatocytes apoptosis. In addition, AA+iron-induced mitochondrial dysfunction, $H_2O_2$ production, glutathione depletion were reduced by HE pretreatment. In addition, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) phosphorylation, antioxidant response element (ARE)-driven reporter gene activity, and antioxidant genes expression were increased by HE. Based on reporter gene and MTT assays, we found that op-HE consisting three medicinal herbs also significantly increased transactivation of Nrf2 and reduced the AA+iron-mediated cytotoxicity. Moreover, in $CCl_4-induced$ liver injury mice model, HE-op had an ability to ameliorate $CCl_4-mediated$ increases in serum alanine transferase and aspartate aminotransferase activity, hepatic degeneration, inflammatory cell infiltration, and collagen deposition. Hepatoprotective effects of op-HE were comparable to those of HE. Conclusions : Present study suggests that op-HE as well as HE exhibit hepatoprotective effect against oxidative stress-mediated liver injury via Nrf2 activation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.721-727
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• 2014

Mushroom-derived ${\beta}$-glucan, a polysaccharide (GLP) isolated from the mycelium of Ganoderma lucidum, was previously shown to have inhibitory effects against tumor-bearing mice in vivo. We investigated the apoptotic effect of mushroom-derived ${\beta}$-glucan in a sarcoma-180 tumor cell- bearing mice model using an ELISA to determine the levels of tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$) in the mice. The morphology of the tumor cells was assessed with transmission electron microscopy (TEM). GLP was injected into the tumor-bearing mice at a dose (i.p.) of 20 mg/kg for 10 days. After 30 days, the tumor mass from the inguinal region was collected, weighed, and assayed using TEM and a TNF-${\alpha}$ ELISA kit. The tumors that developed in the mice treated with GLP were 71.4% smaller than those in the control group, showing the ability of GLP to inhibit tumor growth. The levels of TNF-${\alpha}$ in the serum of the sarcoma-180 bearing mice were 12 times greater than in the serum of the nonbearing tumor mice. An ultrastructural study demonstrated that the GLP-treated sarcoma-180 tumor cells were condensed, with rearranged chromatin. In addition, the marginated chromatin in nucleus induced the nuclear compartment, and there were many vacuolization in the cell. GLP could be an effective apoptosis-inducing compound in sarcoma-type cancers.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.295-302
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• 2019

Liquiritigenin (LG) is a chiral flavonoid isolated from the roots of licorice. It exhibits multiple biological activities including anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory effects. In particular though, the anti-cancer activity of LG in oral squamous cell carcinoma has yet to be elucidated, and LG-induced apoptosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma remains poorly understood. In the present study, we tested the role of LG in inducing apoptosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma cells. LG treatment of HN22 cells resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of cell viability as detected by a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. The induction of apoptosis in terms of Annexin V/7-Aminoactinomycin D staining, sub-G1 population, and multi-caspase activity were assessed with a $Muse^{TM}$ Cell Analyzer. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that LG treatment resulted in G2/M arrest in cell cycle progression and downregulation of cyclin B1 and CDC2 expression in a concentration-dependent manner. It also resulted in significant upregulation of p27. In addition, LG was seen to trigger the generation of reactive oxygen species and induce CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein homologous protein and 78-kDa glucose-regulated protein in concentration-dependent upregulation. The LG treatment of HN22 cells led to a loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (${\Delta}{\Psi}m$); it also reduced the levels of anti-apoptotic protein and increased the expression of apoptotic protease activating factor-1, cleaved poly (ADP-ribose)polymerase and Bax. Overall, our results indicate that the pro-apoptotic effects of LG in HN22 cells depend on the activation of both intrinsic and extrinsic signaling pathways. Thus, our results suggest that LG constitutes a natural compound with a potential role as an anti-tumor agent in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.1073-1080
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• 2009

A number of studies have demonstrated that the regular use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can reduce the risks of colorectal, oesophageal and lung cancers. NSAIDs have been shown to exert their anti-cancer effects through inducing apoptosis in cancer cells. The susceptibility of tumor cells to anti-tumor drug-induced apoptosis appears to depend on the balance between pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic programs such as nuclear factor kB (NF-kB), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-Akt/protein kinase B (PKB) and MEK1/2-ERK1/2 pathways. We examined the effects of pro-survival PI3K and ERK1/2 signal pathways on cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in response to NSAIDs including sulindac sulfide and NS398. We show that simultaneous inhibition of the Akt/PKB and ERK1/2 signal cascades could synergistically enhance the potential pro-apoptotic activities of sulindac sulfide and NS398. Similar enhancement was observed in cells treated with sulindac sulfide or NS398 and 100 ${\mu}$M genistein, an inhibitor of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) that are upstream of PI3K and MEK1/2 signaling. We further demonstrate that NAG-1 is induced and plays a critical role(s) in apoptosis by NSAIDs-based combined treatment. In sum, our results show that combinatorialtreatment of sulindac sulfide or NS398 and genistein results in a highlysynergistic induction of apoptotic cell death to increase the chemopreventive effects of the NSAIDs, sulindac sulfide and NS398.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.147-155
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• 2014

Homeostatic imbalance between cell proliferation and death in gastric mucosal epithelia may lead to gastritis and gastric cancer. Despite abundant gastrokine 1 (GKN1) expression in the normal stomach, the loss of GKN1 expression is frequently detected in gastric mucosa infected with Helicobacter pylori, as well as in intestinal metaplasia and gastric cancer tissues, suggesting that GKN1 plays an important role in gastric mucosal defense, and the gene functions as a gastric tumor suppressor. In the stomach, GKN1 is involved in gastric mucosal inflammation by regulating cytokine production, the nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ signaling pathway, and cyclooxygenase-2 expression. GKN1 also inhibits the carcinogenic potential of H. pylori protein CagA by binding to it, and up-regulates antioxidant enzymes. In addition, GKN1 reduces cell viability, proliferation, and colony formation by inhibiting cell cycle progression and epigenetic modification by down-regulating the expression levels of DNMT1 and EZH2, and DNMT1 activity, and inducing apoptosis through the death receptor-dependent pathway. Furthermore, GKN1 also inhibits gastric cancer cell invasion and metastasis via coordinated regulation of epithelial mesenchymal transition-related protein expression, reactive oxygen species production, and PI3K/Akt signaling pathway activation. Although the modes of action of GKN1 have not been clearly described, recent limited evidence suggests that GKN1 acts as a gastricspecific tumor suppressor. This review aims to discuss, comment, and summarize the recent progress in the understanding of the role of GKN1 in gastric cancer development and progression.