• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.467-477
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• 2020

Doenjang is a major fermented soy-based food in Korea. Recent investigations have shown that fermented soybean foods have immunity-enhancing, anti-cancer, anti-obesity and anti-diabetic effects. Several studies also have reported that genistein and daidzein, which are easily absorbed in the body are produced in larger quantities in aged doenjang. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the variations in the anti-cancer effects of commercialized doenjang as it ages. Four groups were formed for this study according to aging periods of doenjang, namely short (under 5 years, S group), mid (under 10 years, M group), long (under 15 years, L group) and very long (over 15 years, E group). The anti-cancer effects of doenjang were determined by cell cytotoxicity assays in A549, YAC-1, and HepG2 cancer cell lines. Also, NK cell activity and splenocyte proliferation were assayed for cancer immunotherapy. The quantities of phenolic compounds in doenjang at different ages were also measured. The results showed that the anti-cancer effects increased in the S and M groups for all three cancer cell lines. Interestingly, similar to this result, splenocyte proliferation and NK activity were also the highest in the S and M groups. In contrast, the E group showed significantly reduced splenocyte proliferation. The quantity of phenolic compounds was similar to that of the anti-cancer results. Collectively, these results suggest that the fermentation period of doenjang plays a very important role in determining its anti-cancer effects.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.2503-2509
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• 2012

Considerable research has been conducted concerning galectin-9 and carcinomas, but little information is available about any relation with the hepatocellular carcinoma. In this study, we employed a small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting galectin-9 to down-regulate the expression in HepG2 cells. As a result, after galectin-9 expression was reduced, cell aggregation was suppressed, while other behaviour such as the proliferation, adhesion and invasion to ECM, cell-endothelial adhesion and transendothelial invasion of the cells were markedly enhanced. When tumors of 200 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were tested for galectin-9 expression by immunohistochemistry, binding levels demonstrated intimate correlations with the histopathologic grade, lymph node metastasis, vascular invasion and intrahepatic metastasis (P<0.05). Moreover, survival analysis indicated that patients with galectin-9 expression had much longer survival time than those with negative lesions, and the Log-rank test indicated that this difference was statistical significant (P<0.0001). The Cox proportional hazards model suggested that negative galectin-9 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma represented a significant risk factor for patient survival. We propose that galectin-9 might be a new prognostic factor with antimetastatic potential in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.318-325
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• 2006

Ultrasonified extracts from seawater-based cultures of the microalga Spiyulina platensis were obtained using water and ethanol at 60 and 100$^{\circ}C$. The yield of the aqueous fraction of S. platensis extracted using ultrasonification was about 33.46%. The cytotoxicity against HEK293 and inhibition ratios of the cancer cell lines A549, AGS, MCF7, and Hep3B were measured using the sulforhodamine-B (SRB) assay. The cytotoxicity of all extracts at 1.0 mg/mL was below 26%. The cytotoxicity of the ultrasonified extracts from the seawater-based culture of the microalga Spirulina platensis was about 4% less than that of Spirulina platensis without ultrasonification. The inhibition ratio of cancer cell growth was approximately 80% for 1.0 mg/mL extracts. The inhibitory effect on cancer cell growth was greater for seawater containing ultrasonified Spirulina platensis extracts than for extracts without ultrasonification. The differentiation ratio of HL-60 cells was 160.9%. Densitometric analysis of Bcl-2 revealed that the ultrasonified extracts had greater anticancer activity than the extracts without ultrasonification.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.153-158
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• 2012

In order to develop as a natural source of anticancer materials of Cudrania tricuspidata, the cytotoxicity of methanol extracts by harvesting parts and times against 8 cell lines including 293 (normal kidney cells) and A-431 (epidermoid carcinoma cells) were investigated using MTT assay. All harvesting parts had hardly cytotoxicity against 293. And methanol extracts of stem bark and root bark showed very high cytotoxicities against 7 cancer cell lines. The cytotoxicity was the highest against HeLa (cervix adenocarcinoma cells) and followed by MCF-7 (breast adenocarcinoma cells), AGS (stomach adenocarcinoma cells), HT-29 (colon adenocarcinoma cells), HepG2 (hepatoblastoma cells), A549 (lung carcinoma cells) and A-431. By the way, leaf extract had a cytotoxicity against only AGS and ripe fruit extract had no cytotoxicity. Among harvesting times, the cytotoxicity of root bark were high from April to September but that of stem bark showed a little difference. These results showed that anticancer activities of Cudrania tricuspidata extracts were eventful changes by harvesting parts and times.

• BMB Reports
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.508-514
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• 1998

We studied the effects of ASC-17D rat Sertoli cell-conditioned media (rSCCM) on the proliferation of the DU145 prostate cancer cells. rSCCM was prepared from ASC-17D cells cultured in DMEM/F-12 serum-free media at a nonpermissive temperature of $40^{\circ}C$, which is the condition for the high expression of c1usterin. We found that rSCCM could inhibit the proliferation of DU145 cells by arresting the cell cycle in the G1 phase in a dose-dependent manner. This growth arresting activity was abolished by boiling rSCCM for 5 min. The G1 growth-inhibiting activity of rSCCM was also detected in other prostate-originated cancer cells examined (i.e., LNCaP and PC-3) but not in other cells (ASC-17D, HepG2, SK-N-SH, and NIH3T3). Western blot analysis of partially purified growth inhibiting fractions with the clusterin antibody showed that the cytostatic factor in rSCCM was not c1usterin. This cytostatic factor was semi purified by DEAE-Sepharose, ammonium sulfate precipitation, and Phenyl-Sepharose column chromatography, and was estimated to have a molecular weight of 88 kDa by Sephacryl S-300 gel filtration.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.173-180
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• 1995

We investigated levels and distribution of genetic variation in Korean populations of Calystegia soldanella and C. japonica, clonally reproducing herbaceous perennials. Calystegia soldanella is one ofecologically important beach plants growing only on sand and beach dunes in Europe, East Asia, the Pacific Islands, and the west coast of North America. In contrast, C. japonica usually grows on small mounds of paddy fields, roadsides, and waste places with patchy distribution. Starch gel electrophoresis was conducted on leaves collected from 13 populations of C. soldanella and eight populations of C. japonica. The levels of genetic variation of the two species are very comparable; means of expected heterozygosity (Hep) were 0.100 and 0.099 for C. soldanella and C. japonica, respectively. These values were also very similar to those for species with similar life-history and ecological traits. However, the proportion of total genetic diversity partitioned among populations (GST) of C. soldanella (0.146) was considerably lower than that of C. japonica (0.383). In addition, means of Nei's genetic identity (Ⅰ) for C. soldanella and C. japonica were 0.985 and 0.900, respectively, which supports a restricted gene flow resulting from obligate clonal reproduction of C. japonica. Significant differences in allele frequency were detected among populations at eight and nine of nine polymorphic loci for C. soldanella and C. japonica (P<0.01), respecitvely. Considering the ecological importance of C. soldanella, the isolated beach populations coupled with present destruction of natural habitats of the species may result in erosion of genetic diversity in the near future. In this respect, conservation efforts should be focused on those populations that currently maintain the most genetic diversity such as those populations in the eastern and southeastern Korean Peninsula and Hamduck Beach, Cheju Island.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.159-166
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• 2017

Through this study, the authors investigated the anti-steatosis effects of the Amomum cardamomum ethyl acetate fraction in free fatty acids (FFAs)-induced human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. The ethyl acetate fraction of Amomum cardamomum (ACEA) was extracted with 70% ethanol and then the extract was evaporated using a rotary evaporator prior to sequential fractionation. Human hepatocellular carcinoma were treated with different concentrations of ACEA in the presence and absence of FFAs. To demonstrate the reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging activity, DCFDA level was analyzed by using in vitro assay system. Cell viability, lipid accumulation, intracellular triglycerides, malondialdehyde (MDA), liver steatosis related signaling molecules and inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-6, 8, tumor necrosis factor-alpha ($TNF-{\alpha}$) were also investigated. As results, ACEA inhibited the FFAs-induced ROS, lipid accumulation, intracellular triglycerides, and MDA in a dose dependent manner. Treatment of human hepatocellular cells with ACEA induced the phosphorylation of 5' adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and carnitine palmitoyltransferase I (CPT1) expression using western blot analysis. ACEA also potently suppressed the FFAs-induced inflammatory cytokines including IL-6, IL-8 and $TNF-{\alpha}$. These results suggest that the ethyl acetate fraction of Amomum cardamoum extract own inhibitory effects of liver steatosis by inhibiting ROS, lipid accumulation, intracellular triglycerides, MDA through AMPK signaling and anti-inflammatory actions.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.609-614
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• 2013

This study was carried out in order to investigate the functional properties of methanol extracts from two parts (root and fruit) of Xanthium strumarium by means of measuring the contents of total polyphenols and flavonoid as well as determining $ABTS{\cdot}^+$, DPPH radical scavenging activity, hydroxyl radical scavenging activity (OH${\cdot}$) and anticancer activity. The examination of physiologically active substances in the two parts revealed that the Xanthium strumarium fruit had high total polyphenol, flavonoid contents, $ABTS{\cdot}^+$ DPPH and hydroxyl radical scavenging activity. The Xanthium strumarium fruit has higher activities of anticancer activities on prostate cell lines compared to other cancer cell lines.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.3109-3116
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• 2013

The majority of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients have a poor prognosis with current therapies, and new approaches are urgently needed. We have developed a novel therapeutic cancer vaccine platform based on tumor cell derived autophagosomes (DRibbles) for cancer immunotherapy. We here evaluated the effectiveness of DRibbles-pulsed dendritic cell (DC) immunization to induce anti-tumor immunity in BALB/c mouse HCC and humanized HCC mouse models generated by transplantation of human HCC cells (HepG2) into BALB/c-nu mice. DRibbles were enriched from H22 or BNL cells, BALB/c-derived HCC cell lines, by inducing autophagy and blocking protein degradation. DRibbles-pulsed DC immunization induced a specific T cell response against HCC and resulted in significant inhibition of tumor growth compared to mice treated with DCs alone. Antitumor efficacy of the DCs-DRibbles vaccine was also demonstrated in a humanized HCC mouse model. The results indicated that HCC/DRibbles-pulsed DCs immunotherapy might be useful for suppressing the growth of residual tumors after primary therapy of human HCC.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.12
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• pp.818-823
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• 2010

Plk 1 is overexpressed in many human malignancies including laryngeal carcinoma. However, its therapeutic potential has been never examined in laryngeal carcinoma. In the present study, a simple cellular morphology-based strategy was firstly proposed for rapidly screening the effective siRNAs against Plk1. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of Plk1 depletion via a novel identified effective siRNA against Plk1, Plk1 siRNA-607, on human laryngeal carcinoma Hep-2 cells. The results indicated that Plk1 siRNA-607 transfection resulted in a significant inhibition in Plk1 expression in cells, and subsequently caused a dramatic mitotic cell cycle arrest followed by massive apoptotic cell death, and eventually resulted in a significant decrease in growth and viability of the laryngeal carcinoma cells. Taken together, our present study not only suggests a simple strategy for rapidly screening effective siRNAs against Plk1 but also implicates that Plk1 may serve as a potential therapeutic target in human laryngeal carcinoma.