• International Journal of Oral Biology
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2014

Neuromedin B (NMB) acts as a growth factor or a morphogen and plays a role in cancer progression. Indeed, the NMB receptor (NMB-R) is overexpressed in different types of tumors. In our current study, we investigated the involvement of NMB-R in the proliferation of oral cancer cells. Human oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and human oral cancer cells, SCC-25 cells were found to be NMB-R-positive. The NMB-R antagonist PD168368 inhibited the proliferation of SCC-25 cells and reduced their colony formation capacity. We also found that PD168368 induced the cell cycle arrest and apoptosis of SCC-25 cells in a dose-/time-dependent manner. Overall, this antitumor activity of PD168368 in human oral cancer cells suggests that NMB-R is a potential target for the future prevention and treatment of human cancers.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
• /
• v.42 no.6
• /
• pp.327-336
• /
• 2016

Cervical cancer is the second most prevalent cancer among women, and it arises from cells that originate in the cervix uteri. Among several causes of cervical malignancies, infection with some types of human papilloma virus (HPV) is well known to be the greatest cervical cancer risk factor. Over 150 subtypes of HPV have been identified; more than 40 types of HPVs are typically transmitted through sexual contact and infect the anogenital region and oral cavity. The recently introduced vaccine for HPV infection is effective against certain subtypes of HPV that are associated with cervical cancer, genital warts, and some less common cancers, including oropharyngeal cancer. Two HPV vaccines, quadrivalent and bivalent types that use virus-like particles (VLPs), are currently used in the medical commercial market. While the value of HPV vaccination for oral cancer prevention is still controversial, some evidence supports the possibility that HPV vaccination may be effective in reducing the incidence of oral cancer. This paper reviews HPV-related pathogenesis in cancer, covering HPV structure and classification, trends in worldwide applications of HPV vaccines, effectiveness and complications of HPV vaccination, and the relationship of HPV with oral cancer prevalence.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.175-181
• /
• 2016

Tyrosol, a phenylethanoid and a derivative of phenethyl alcohol, possesses various biological properties, such as anti-oxidative and cardioprotective activity. Olive oil is the principal source of tyrosol in the human diet. However, so far the anti-cancer activity of tyrosol has not yet been well defined. This study therefore undertakes to examine the cytotoxic activity and the mechanism of cell death exhibited by tyrosol in KB human oral cancer cells. Treatment of KB cells with tyrosol induced the cell growth inhibition in a concentration- and a time-dependent manner. Furthermore, the treatment of tyrosol induced nuclear condensation and fragmentation of KB cells. Tyrosol also promoted proteolytic cleavage of procaspase-3, -7, -8 and -9, increasing the amounts of cleaved caspase-3, -7, -8 and -9. In addition, tyrosol increased the levels of cleaved PARP in KB cells. These results suggest that tyrosol induces the suppression of cell growth and cell apoptosis in KB human oral cancer cells, and is therefore a potential candidate for anti-cancer drug discovery.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.96-102
• /
• 2020

Oral cancer surgery changes the morphologic characteristics of the human upper airway. These changes can affect the flow patterns. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations with transient solver were performed to numerically investigate the air flows in the human upper airways depending oral cancer surgery. 3D reconstructed models were obtained from 2D CT images of one patient. For the boundary condition, the realistic breathing cycle of human was applied. The hydraulic diameters of cross-sections for post-surgical model are changed greatly along streamwise direction, so these variations can cause higher wall shear stress and flow disturbance compared to pre-surgical model. The recirculation flows observed in the protruding region result in the relatively large pressure drop. These results can be helpful to understand the flow variations after resection surgery of oral cancer.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.215-220
• /
• 2010

Angelica decursiva has been used in Korean traditional medicine as an antitussive, an analgesic, an antipyretic and a cough remedy. However, its anti-cancer properties have not yet been well defined. In our current study, we report the cytotoxic activity and the mechanism of cell death induced by ethanol extracts of Angelica decursiva (EEAD) against the human oral cancer cell line, KB. Treatment of KB cells with EEAD induced apoptotic cell death in both a dose- and time-dependent manner as determined by MTT assay and DNA fragmentation. However, no cytotoxic effects of EEAD against human normal oral keratinocytes (HNOK) were evident. By western blot analysis, we found that apoptosis in KB cells is associated with a decrease in procaspase-7 and -9. In addition, the activation of caspase-7 was detectable in living KB cells by fluorescence microscopy. These results suggest that EEAD exhibits anti-cancer activity in KB cells via apoptosis and thus has potential as an anticancer agent in future drug development strategies.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.183-190
• /
• 2016

Anthricin (Deoxypodophyllotoxin), a naturally occurring flavolignan, has well known anti-cancer properties in several cancer cells, such as prostate cancer, cervical carcinoma and pancreatic cancer. However, the effects of Anthricin are currently unknown in oral cancer. We examined the anticancer effect and mechanism of action of Anthricin in human FaDu hypopharyngeal squamous carcinoma cells. Our data showed that Anthricin inhibits cell viability in a dose- and time-dependent manner ($IC_{50}$ 50 nM) in the MTT assay and Live & Dead assay. In addition, Anthricin treated FaDu cells showed marked apoptosis by DAPI stain and FACS. Furthermore, Anthricin activates anti-apoptotic factors such as caspase-3, -9 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), suggesting that caspase-mediated pathways are involved in Anthricin- induced apoptosis. Anthricin treatment also leads to accumulation of the pro-apoptotic factor Bax, followed by inhibition of cell growth. Taken together, these results indicate that Anthricn-induced cell death of human FaDu hypopharyngeal squamous carcinoma cells is mediated by mitochondrial-dependent apoptotic pathway. In summary, our findings provide a framework for further exploration on Anthricin as a novel chemotherapeutic drug for human oral cancer.

• The Korean Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2017

Lycorine, a natural alkaloid extracted from the Amaryllidaceae plant family, was reported to various physiological and pharmacological effects including anti-cancer activity. Nevertheless, there is no report of the anticancer effect of lycorine in oral cancer cells. The effects of lycorine on cell proliferation and apoptosis were examined through trypan blue exclusion assay, 4'-6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) stain, Live/Dead assay, Western blot analysis and RT-PCR. Lycorine suppressed cell viability and induced apoptosis in MC3 and HSC-3 cell lines. Lycorine decreased survivin protein but did not affect its mRNA. It regulated survivin through accelerating protein degradation in a time-dependent manner although neither proteasome nor lysosome was not associated with lycorine-mediated protein degradation. Collectively, our results suggest that lycorine may be a potential therapeutic anti-cancer drug candidate for the treatment of human oral cancer.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.179-185
• /
• 2011

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that mediate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level by degrading or repressing targeted mRNAs. These molecules are about 21-25 nucleotides in length and exert their effects by binding to partially complementary sites in mRNAs, predominantly in the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR). Recent evidence has demonstrated that miRNAs can function as oncogenes or tumor suppressors through the modulation of multiple oncogenic cellular processes in cancer development, including initiation, cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and metastasis. In our present study, we examined the expression profile of miRNAs related to oral cancer cell growth inhibition using normal human oral keratinocytes (NHOK) and YD-38 human oral cancer cells. By miRNA microassay analysis, 40 and 31 miRNAs among the 1,769 examined were found to be up- and down-regulated in YD-38 cells compared with NHOK cells, respectively. Using qRT-PCR analysis, the expression levels of miR-30a and miR-1246 were found to be increased in YD-38 cells compared with NHOK cells, whereas miR-203 and miR-125a were observed to be decreased. Importantly, the overexpression of miR-203 and miR-125a significantly inhibited the growth of YD-38 cells. This finding and the microarray data indicate the involvement of specific miRNAs in the development and progression of oral cancer.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
• /
• v.48 no.7
• /
• pp.507-512
• /
• 2010

Today, one in four Koreans dies of cancer. Cancer is fast becoming one of the most serious diseases faced by not only Koreans, but for human kind, and this trend is forecasted to continue in the future. Korean association of oral and maxillofacial surgeons(KAOMS) have founded oral cancer research center since 1995. Now, KAOMS oral cancer research center is playing essential role as headquaters for conquering oral cancer. KAOMS oral cancer research center currently functions in the following areas: 1. performing basic and clinical research on oral cancer 2. promoting oral cancer prevention act 3. offering education and training about cancer treatment for oral and maxillofacial surgeons

• International Journal of Oral Biology
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.93-101
• /
• 2007

Cell behavior of the transformed cells is known to affect by interaction with extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and integrin. To investigate the alterations of both integrin expression and cell-matrix interaction during neoplastic conversion of human oral kerationcytes, we studied expression levels of integrin subunits by flow cytometry and cellular responses to the ECM proteins in normal human oral keratinocytes (NHOKs), HPV-immortalized HOK-16B line, and three oral cancer cell lines established from HOK-16B line, CTHOK-16B-BaP, CTHOK-16B-DMBA, and CTHOK-16B-Dexa lines. The expression levels of ${\alpha}\;and\;{\beta}$ integrin subunits were shown decreased tendency in human oral keratinocytes undergoing immortalization and tumorigenic transformation except CTHOK-16B-DMBA line tested. Although ${\alpha}v{\beta}6$ integrin is known to be highly expressed in squamous cell carcinomas, and the altered integrin expression is suspected to be associated with cellular carcinogenesis, ${\alpha}v$ integrin subunit and ${\alpha}v{\beta}6$ integrin did not express in oral cancer cell lines tested. Cell behavior to the ECM proteins in HOK-16B line was generally similar to that of exponentially proliferating NHOKs. The adhesion activity profiles of type I collagen were very similar to that of its laminin counterparts, but fibronectin showed minimal adhesion activity under our conditions compared to the BSA control. The ability of the CTHOK-16B-BaP line to spread upon type I collagen and laminin markedly decreased, but migration was notably increased on type I collagen. In contrast, CTHOK-16B-DMBA and CTHOK-16B-Dexa lines spread less but migrated more upon type I collagen than immortalized HOK-16B line. These data indicate that downregulation of integrin subunits causes the changes of cellular responses to the ECM proteins during neoplastic conversion of human oral keratinocytes, and that cellular responses to the ECM proteins in oral cancer cell lines established by exposing different carcinogens are variable according to chemical carcinogens treatment.