• 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 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.

• 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.46 no.6
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• pp.322-327
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• 2013

The ATP-binding cassette transporters ABCG5 and ABCG8 form heterodimers that limit absorption of dietary sterols in the intestine and promote cholesterol elimination from the body through hepatobiliary secretion. To identify cis-regulatory elements of the two genes, we have cloned and analyzed twenty-three evolutionary conserved region (ECR) fragments using the CMV-luciferase reporter system in HepG2 cells. Two ECRs were found to be responsive to the Liver-X-Receptor (LXR). Through elaborate deletion studies, regions containing putative LXREs were identified and the binding of $LXR{\alpha}$ was demonstrated by EMSA and ChIP assay. When the LXREs were inserted upstream of the intergenic promoter, synergistic activation by $LXR{\alpha}/RXR{\alpha}$ in combination with GATA4, $HNF4{\alpha}$, and LRH-1, which had been shown to bind to the intergenic region, was observed. In conclusion, we have identified two LXREs in ABCG5/ABCG8 genes for the first time and propose that these LXREs, especially in the ECR20, play major roles in regulating these genes.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.950-954
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• 2005

Phellinus linteus (Berk. & M.A. Curtis) Teng, commonly referred to as Sangwhang in Korea, is a well-known species of the genus Phellinus, which attracts great attention due to its phamarcological values. P. linteus has been reported to produce anti-tumor, anti-angiogenic, anti-mutagenic and immunomodulatory activities in vivo and in vitro. However, despite extensive biochemical studies on P. linteus, the wine produced by P. linteus fermentation (WPLF) has poorly investigated. In the present study, it was compared the in vitro cytotoxic effects of WPLF with ethanol as positive control. WPLF as well as ethanol induced the inhibition of cell proliferation and morphological changes in both HepG2 and A549 cells in a concentration-dependent manner, however, WPLG treatment has less cytotoxic effects than ethanol treatment. These cytotoxic effects were associated with the induction of apoptotic cell death, but, WPLG treatment has less apoptotisis inducing effects than ethanol treatment.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.276-284
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• 2000

A wettability chemogradient on poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) films was prepared by treating the films in air with corona from a knife-type electrode whose power increases gradually along the sample length. The PLGA surfaces oxidized gradually with the increasing corona power, and the wettability chemogradient was created on the surfaces as evidenced by the measurement of water contact angles and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis. The wettability chemogradient PLGA surfaces were used to investigate the interaction of four different types of cells such as hepatoma (Hep G2), osteoblast (MG 63), bovine aortic endothelial (CPAE), and fibroblast (NIH/3T3) cells in terms of the surface hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of PLGA. The cells adhered and grown on the chemogradient surface along the sample length were counted and observed by scanning electron microscopy. It was observed that the cells were adhered, spread, and grown more onto the positions with moderate hydrophilicity of the wettability chemogradient PLGA surface than the more hydrophobic or hydrophillic positions, regardless of the cell types used. The maximum adhesion and growth of the cells appeared at around water contact angles of 53～55°. This result seems closely related with the serum protein adsorption on the surface; the serum proteins were also adsorbed more onto the positions with moderate hydrophilicity of the wettability chemogradient surface. It seems that the wettability plays important roles for cell adhesion, spreading and growth on the PLGA surface. The surface modification technique used in this study may be applicable tothe area of tissue engineering for the improvement of tissue compatibility of films- or scaffold-type substrates.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.1381-1386
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• 2007

To elucidate the changes in physiological activities of Scutellariae baicalensis by heating, composition analysis with HPLC and evaluation of physiological activities of extracts were conducted. HPLC analysis of CW(water extract at room temperature) and CHW(heat treated CW) indicated that two distinctive peaks in the HPLC chromatogram were disappeared after boiling and additional peak was newly observed. This observation suggested that certain chemical changed in the extract occurred by heat treatment. In the estimation of physiological activities, CW showed higher ACE inhibiting activity than CHW. In the case of cytotoxic activity against cancer cells, CW exhibited higher activity than CHW against CCL-185. On the other hand, CHW showed higher activity than CW against HeLa, SNU-601 and HepG2. In addition, CHW showed the inhibitory effect on melanogenesis (80% inhibition) while CW did not show any activity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.1212-1220
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• 2019

The study of metabolomics in natural products using the diverse analytical instruments including GC-MS, LC-MS, and NMR is useful for the exploration of physiological and biological effects and the investigation of drug discovery and health functional foods. Cordyceps militaris has been very attractive to natural medicine as a traditional Chinese medicine, due to its various bioactive properties including anti-cancer and anti-oxidant effects. In this study, we analyzed the metabolite profile in 50% ethanol extracts of C. militaris fruit bodies from three development periods (growth period, matured period, and aging period) using $^1H-NMR$, and identified 44 metabolites, which are classified as 16 amino acids, 10 organic acids, 5 carbohydrates, 3 nucleotide derivatives, and 10 other compounds. Among the three development periods of the C. militaris fruit body, the aging period showed significantly higher levels of metabolites including cordycepin, mannitol (cordycepic acid), and ${\beta}-glucan$. Interestingly, these bioactive metabolites are positively correlated with antitumor growth effect; the extract of the aging period showed significant inhibition of HepG2 hepatic cancer cell proliferation. These results showed that the aging period during the development of C. militaris fruit bodies was more highly enriched with bioactive metabolites that are associated with cancer cell growth inhibition.