• 대한소아치과학회지
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• 제45권2호
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• pp.144-153
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• 2018

본 연구는 치근 및 치주조직의 형성과정동안 Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling의 역할에 대해 알아보고자 치성간엽에서 조직특이적으로 Smoothened (Smo)가 활성화 또는 차단되는 mouse를 제작하여 분석하였다. 생후 28일경 Smo 활성화모델에서는 H-E 염색 시 얇은 두께의 치근상아질, 넓어진 치수강, 치주인대공간에 느슨하게 배열되어있는 섬유들이 관찰되었다. 면역조직화학염색 시 Smo 활성화모델은 wild type mouse와 비교하여 백악질, 치주인대 그리고/또는 백악모세포의 표식자인 Bsp, Dmp1, Periostin, Ank 같은 기질 단백질들의 발현이 현저히 감소하였다. 그러나 Smo 차단모델은 wild type mouse와 비교하여 이러한 기질 단백질들의 발현에 차이가 보이지 않았다. 본 연구를 통하여 치근 및 치주조직의 정상적인 형성과정에 낮은 수준으로 조절되는 SHH signaling이 필요하다는 것을 확인할 수 있었다.

• 한국동물생명공학회지
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• 제36권4호
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• pp.183-188
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• 2021

In vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes is the procedure where the immature oocytes are cultivated in a laboratory until they are mature. Since IVM oocytes generally have low developmental competence as compared to those matured in vivo, development of an optimal IVM culture system by fine-tuning culture conditions is crucial to maintain high quality. In-depth knowledge and a deep understanding of the in vivo physiology of oocyte maturation are pre-requisites to accomplish this. Within ovarian follicles, various signaling pathways that drive oocyte development and maturation regulate interaction between oocytes and surrounding somatic cells. This review discusses the sonic hedgehog (SHH) signaling pathway, which has been demonstrated to be intimately involved in folliculogenesis and oocyte maturation. Advances in elucidating the role of the SHH signaling pathway in oocyte maturation will aid attempts to improve the current inferior in vitro oocyte maturation system.

• BMB Reports
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• 제53권7호
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• pp.367-372
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• 2020

Cell cycle-related kinase (CCRK) has a conserved role in ciliogenesis, and Ccrk defects in mice lead to developmental defects, including exencephaly, preaxial polydactyly, skeletal abnormalities, retinal degeneration, and polycystic kidney. Here, we found that Ccrk is highly expressed in mouse trachea and bronchioles. Ccrk mutants exhibited pulmonary hypoplasia and abnormal branching morphogenesis in respiratory organ development. Furthermore, we demonstrated that Ccrk mutant lungs exhibit not only impaired branching morphogenesis but also a significant sacculation deficiency in alveoli associated with reduced epithelial progenitor cell proliferation. In pseudoglandular stages, Ccrk mutant lungs showed a downregulation of Hedgehog (Hh) signaling and defects in cilia morphology and frequency during progenitor-cell proliferation. Interestingly, we observed that activation of the Hh signaling pathway by small-molecule smoothened agonist (SAG) partially rescued bud morphology during branch bifurcation in explants from Ccrk mutant lungs. Therefore, CCRK properly regulates respiratory airway architecture in part through Hh-signal transduction and ciliogenesis.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• 제44권4호
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• pp.144-151
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• 2019

Alopecia has emerged as one of the biggest interests in modern society. Many studies have focused on the treatment of alopecia, such as transplantation of hair follicles or inhibition of the androgen pathway. Hair growth is achieved through proper proliferation of the components such as keratinocytes and dermal papilla cells (DPCs), movement, and interaction between the two cells. The present study examined the effect of the hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway, which is an important and fundamental signal in the cell, on the morphology and the viability of human keratinocytes and DPCs. Upregulation of Hh signaling caused a morphological change and an increase in epithelium-mesenchymal transition-related gene expression but reduced the viability of keratinocytes, while the alteration of Hh signaling did not cause any change in DPCs. The results show the possibility that the regulation of Hh signaling can be applied for the treatment of alopecia.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제26권4호
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• pp.380-386
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• 2008

During embryonic and cancer development, the Hedgehog family of proteins, including Sonic Hedgehog, play an important role by relieving the inhibition of Smo by Ptc, thus activating the Smo signaling cascade. Recently, a purine compound, purmorphamine, has been reported to target the Hedgehog signaling pathway by interacting with Smo. Interestingly, both Sonic Hedgehog and purmorphamine were found to promote the osteogenic differentiation of mouse chondroprogenitor cells. However, there is insufficient information as to how the activation of this seemingly unrelated signaling pathway, either by Sonic Hedgehog or purmorphamine, contributes to osteogenesis. Using alkaline phosphatase assays, we screened 125 purmorphamine derivatives from the Korea Chemical Bank for effects on the differentiation of preosteoblast C2C12 cells. Here, we report that two purine derivatives modulate ALP activity as well as the expression of genes whose expression is known or suggested to be involved in osteogenesis.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제30권6호
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• pp.532-541
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• 2020

본 연구는 지방감소를 위한 소재개발로 감국 유산균 발효물이 갖는 지방구세포 분화 억제효과를 관찰하였다. 감국 추출물의 세포독성을 극복하는 유산균의 발효물을 제작하였다. 3T3-L1 세포주에서 감국 추출물 및 발효물이 갖는 세포독성은 모두 없었다(1day culture). 감국 추출물 처리 대조군과 비교하여 3T3-L1 세포주에 처리시 증식 유도된 발효물을 선별하였다. 감국 추출물 및 발효물의 분화억제 및 세포생존률 FACS분석은 분화 유도된 세포가 모든 실험군에서 줄어들었다. 3T3-L1 세포주에서 감국 추출물과 발효물 처리가 protein kinase B (Akt) pathway활성이 증가하였고, 단백질 발현은 지방구세포로 분화되면서 Gli2의 수준은 감소하였다. Hedgehog를 조절하는 유산균은 KCTC 3115인 것을 알 수 있었다. 분화와 관련된 KCTC 3115 및 KCTC 3109 발효군에서 단백질 수준에서 C/EBPα 및 FAS를 감소, pACC는 증가시키는 것을 확인하였다. 감국 추출물과 4개의 감국 유산균 발효물 중 Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis KCTC 3115 발효물이 지방구세포 분화 신호를 더 효과적으로 조절하고, hedgehog을 같이 조절하여 지방전구세포의 분화를 억제하는 것을 알 수 있었다. Hedgehog 신호를 조절하면서 분화를 억제하는 물질에 대한 연구가 더 필요할 것으로 판단된다. 따라서 감국 발효물의 생리활성 물질 중 향후 매커니즘 분석을 위한 활성물질의 자료가 더 필요할 것으로 여겨지며, 감국 추출물 및 감국 발효물의 hedgehog 신호조절이 새로운 비만치료제로 개발될 수 있음을 위한 가능성을 제시하고자 한다.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.170-175
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• 2014

Twenty five methanolic plant extracts were investigated to determine the anticancer activity against sonic hedgehog (shh)/Gli signaling pathway dependent cancer, PANC-1 human pancreatic cancer cells, through three screening programs. All extracts were inspected their inhibitory properties on sonic hedgehog-conditioned medium (shh-CM) induced alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in C3H10T1/2 mouse mesenchymal stem cells to examine whether the plant extracts affect the shh/Gli signaling pathway. Next, plant extracts were screened the ability to suppress the cell proliferation of PANC-1 human pancreatic cancer cells. Finally, active plant extracts from the two screening systems were evaluated for the suppressive effect on Gli-mediated transcriptional activity in PANC-1 cells. Among active plants, Cinnamomum cassia suppressed Gli-mediated transcriptional activity leading to the down-regulated expression of Gli-target genes such as Gli-1 and Patched-1 (Ptch-1). This study provides the consideration for the important role of natural products in drug discovery process as well as the basis for the further analysis of active plant and potential identification of novel bioactive compounds as inhibitors of Gli and therapeutic candidates against shh/Gli signaling pathway dependent cancers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권5호
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• pp.2319-2324
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• 2012

Aim: To investigate the expression of three components of the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway (SHH, SMO and GLI1) in human colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues and evaluate their association with clinicopathologic characteristics of the patients. Methods: Fresh tumor tissues and matched tissues adjacent to the tumor were collected from 43 CRC patients undergoing surgery. Normal colorectal tissues from 20 non-CRC cases were also sampled as normal controls. The expression of SHH, SMO, GLI1 mRNAs was assessed by RT-PCR and proteins were detected by immunohistochemical staining. Associations with clinicopathological characteristics of patients were analyzed. Results: SHH mRNA was expressed more frequently in tumor tissues than in normal tissues, but the difference did not reach significance in comparison to that in the adjacent tissues. SMO and GLI1 mRNAs were expressed more frequently in tumor tissues than in both adjacent andnormal tissues. The expression intensities of SHH, SMO, GLI1 mRNA in tumor tissues were significantly higher than those in adjacent tissues and normal tissues. Proteins were also detected more frequently in tumors than other tissues. No significant links were apparent with gender, age, location, degree of infiltration or Dukes stage. Conclusion: Positive rates and intensities of mRNA and protein expression of Hh signaling pathway related genes SHH, SMO, GLI1 were found to be significantly increased in CRC tissues. However, over-expression did not appear to be associated with particular clinicopathological characteristics.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제43권2호
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• pp.168-175
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• 2020

Runx2 is an essential transcription factor for skeletal development. It is expressed in multipotent mesenchymal cells, osteoblast-lineage cells, and chondrocytes. Runx2 plays a major role in chondrocyte maturation, and Runx3 is partly involved. Runx2 regulates chondrocyte proliferation by directly regulating Ihh expression. It also determines whether chondrocytes become those that form transient cartilage or permanent cartilage, and functions in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. Runx2 is essential for osteoblast differentiation and is required for the proliferation of osteoprogenitors. Ihh is required for Runx2 expression in osteoprogenitors, and hedgehog signaling and Runx2 induce the differentiation of osteoprogenitors to preosteoblasts in endochondral bone. Runx2 induces Sp7 expression, and Runx2, Sp7, and canonical Wnt signaling are required for the differentiation of preosteoblasts to immature osteoblasts. It also induces the proliferation of osteoprogenitors by directly regulating the expression of Fgfr2 and Fgfr3. Furthermore, Runx2 induces the proliferation of mesenchymal cells and their commitment into osteoblast-lineage cells through the induction of hedgehog (Gli1, Ptch1, Ihh), Fgf (Fgfr2, Fgfr3), Wnt (Tcf7, Wnt10b), and Pthlh (Pth1r) signaling pathway gene expression in calvaria, and more than a half-dosage of Runx2 is required for their expression. This is a major cause of cleidocranial dysplasia, which is caused by heterozygous mutation of RUNX2. Cbfb, which is a co-transcription factor that forms a heterodimer with Runx2, enhances DNA binding of Runx2 and stabilizes Runx2 protein by inhibiting its ubiquitination. Thus, Runx2/Cbfb regulates the proliferation and differentiation of chondrocytes and osteoblast-lineage cells by activating multiple signaling pathways and via their reciprocal regulation.

• 한국수정란이식학회지
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• 제33권4호
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• pp.237-243
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• 2018

Hedgehog (Hh) pathway plays a key role in development from invertebrate to vertebrate. It is known to be involved in cell differentiation, polarity, proliferation, including the development of vertebrate limb and the establishment of flies' body plan. To investigate how the regulation of Hh pathway affects the development of parthenogenetic murine embryos, the parthenogenetically activated murine embryos were treated with either cyclopamine (Cyc), an antagonist of Hh pathway, or purmorphamine, an agonist of Hh pathway. While Cyc did not affect the blastocyst formation and its total cell number, the chemical reduced the hatching rate of embryos and the expression levels of Fn1 mRNA. The results of the present study show the possibility that Cyc may affect the development of embryos at blastocyst stage by blocking Hh pathway and this may cause detrimental effect to the embryos at peri-, and post-implantation stages.