• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2015

Background: Panax ginseng (i.e., ginseng) root is extensively used in traditional oriental medicine. It is a modern pharmaceutical reagent for preventing various human diseases such as cancer. Ginsenosidesd-the major active components of ginsengd-exhibit immunomodulatory effects. However, the mechanism and function underlying such effects are not fully elucidated, especially in human monocytes and dendritic cells (DCs). Methods: We investigated the immunomodulatory effect of ginsenosides from Panax ginseng root on $CD14^+$ monocytes purified from human adult peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and on their differentiation into DCs that affect $CD4^+$ T cell activity. Results: After treatment with ginsenoside fractions, monocyte levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-10 increased through phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), but not p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). After treatment with ginsenoside fractions, TNF-${\alpha}$ production and phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and JNK decreased in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-sensitized monocytes.We confirmed that DCs derived from $CD14^+$ monocytes in the presence of ginsenoside fractions (Gin-DCs) contained decreased levels of the costimulatory molecules CD80 and CD86. The expression of these costimulatory molecules decreased in LPS-treated DCs exposed to ginsenoside fractions, compared to their expression in LPS-treated DCs in the absence of ginsenoside fractions. Furthermore, LPS-treated Gin-DCs could not induce proliferation and interferon gamma (IFN-${\gamma}$) production by $CD4^+$ T cells with the coculture of Gin-DCs with $CD4^+$ T cells. Conclusion: These results suggest that ginsenoside fractions from the ginseng root suppress cytokine production and maturation of LPS-treated DCs and downregulate $CD4^+$ T cells.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.117-125
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• 2004

Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) plays an important role in the disease pathogenesis of acne vulgaris, a disorder of pilosebaceous follicles, seen primarily in the adolescent age group. In the present study, the presence of antibodies against P. acnes (MTCC1951) were detected in acne patient (n=50) and disease free controls (n=25) using dot-ELISA and Western blot assay. The ability of P. acnes to induce pro-inflammatory cytokines by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), obtained from acne patients and healthy subjects, were also analysed. The patients (n=26) who were culture positive for skin swab culture, were found to have a more advanced disease and higher antibody titres (1:4000 to >1:16000) compared to the P. acnes negative patients (n=24) and normal controls (n=25). An analysis of patients' sera by western blot assay recognized a number of antigenic components of P. acnes, rang-ing from 29 to 205 kDa. The major reactive component was an approximately 96 kDa polypeptide, which was recognised in 92％ (24 of 26) of the patients sera. Further, the P. acnes culture supernatant, crude cell lysate and heat killed P. acnes whole cells, obtained from 72-h incubation culture, were observed to be able to induce significant amounts of IL-8 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-${\alpha}$) by the PBMCs in both the healthy subjects and patients, as analysed by cytokine-ELISA. The levels of cytokines were significantly higher in the patients than the healthy subjects. A major 96 kDa polypep-tide reactant was eluted from the gel and was found to cause dose dependent stimulation of the pro-ductions of IL-8 and TNF-${\alpha}$. Thus, the above results suggest that both humoral and pro-inflammatory responses play major roles in the pathogenesis of acne.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.251-258
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• 1996

The V3 loop, a hypervariable domain of envelope glycoprotein, has an essential role in viral infectivity and has a major epitope for type-specific neutralizing antibody. In order to investigate genetic diversity of V3 region of gp120 of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) isolated from Korean patients, DNA sequences encoding the C2 to V3 region were amplified by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from uncultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from 15 HIV-1 seropositive patients and nucleotide sequences were determined. All nucleotide sequences from fifteen patients were compared with 8 distinctive subtypes (A-H) and another subtype O. Phylogenetic analysis was carried out with PHYLIP ver 3.5 (Dnapars) program. Of the 15 isolates, 14 HIV-1 subjects were clustered with subtype B, while one was clustered with subtype C. Intra-subtype B distance at the nucleotide and deduced amino acid level were maximum 17.7% and 37.0%, respectively. Intra-patient distance at the nucleotide and deduced amino acid level were maximum 7.3% and 17.8%, respectively. Analysis of the nucleotide sequences revealed that Korean types have relatively well conserved sequences. These findings could be useful for assessing the source of infection and developing an AIDS vaccine.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.107-118
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• 1999

To characterize the molecular nature of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1, we determined the full-length HIV-1 sequences from cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of a Korean long-term nonprogressor (LTNP). Without antiretroviral therapy, the individual has maintained CD4+ T counts over $500/{\mu}l$ from 1989 to 1999. Plasma viral RNA copy was 992 U/ml in 1998. Culture supernatant showed positive from culture days 9. A series of 9 overlapping PCR products were amplified from cultured PBMC and cloned About 9.2 kb from R of 5' LTR to R of 3' LTR was determined by automated sequencing. The G-to-A hypermutations were shown throughout the entire region. As a result of G to A hypermutations, premature stop codon was found in integrase coding region. Though there was no recombination between subtypes over all genomes, TATA box in both LTRs was TAAAA which is detected in subtype E instead of TATAA in subtype B. And, there were nucleotide GC insertion between $NF-{\kappa}B$ I and Sp1 III, and duplication of $TCF-1{\alpha}$ in LTR. We could not find any deletion of amino acid in Nef, Gag, Pol and Env gene. This study is the first report on molecular nature of full genomes of HIV-1 isolated in Korea.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2003

Type II collagen (CII), major component of hyaline cartilage, has been considered as an auto-antigen in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the clinical and biological significances with regard to the CII autoimmunity need to be clarified in human RA. The presence of antibodies to CII has been identified in sera, synovial fluid, and cartilage of patients with RA. In our study, the increased titer of IgG anti-CII in sera was well correlated with C-reactive protein, suggesting that this antibody may reflect the inflammatory status of RA. The titer of anti-CII antibodies (anti-CII Abs) tended to be higher in early stages of diseases. In our extending study, among 997 patients with RA, 269 (27.0%) were positive for circulatory IgG antibody to CII, those levels were fluctuated over time. It is hard to assess the significant amount of T cell responses to CII and CII (255~274) in RA. By using a sensitive method of antigen specific mixed lymphocyte culture, we can detect the presence of CII-reactive T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of RA patients. Sixty seven (46.9%) of 143 patients showed positive CII reactive T cell responses to CII or CII (255~274). The frequencies of CII reactive T cells were more prominent in inflamed synovial fluid (SF) than in peripheral blood. These T cells could be clonally expanded after consecutive stimulation of CII with feeding of autologous irradiated antigen presenting cells (APC). Moreover, the production of Th1-related cytokine, such as IFN-${\gamma}$, was strongly up-regulated by CII reactive T cells. These data suggest that T cells responding to CII, which are probably presenting the IFN-${\gamma}$ producing cells, may play an important role in the perpetuation of inflammatory process in RA. To evaluate the effector function of CII reactive T cells, we investigated the effect of CII reactive T cells and fibroblasts-like synoviocytes (FLS) interaction on the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. When the CII reactive T cells were co-cultured with FLS, the production of IL-15 and TNF-${\alpha}$ from FLS were significantly increased (2 to 3 fold increase) and this increase was clearly presented in accord to the expansion of CII reactive T cells. In addition, the production of IFN-${\gamma}$ and IL-17, T cell derived cytokines, were also increased by the co-incubation of CII reactive T cells with FLS. We also examined the impact of CII reactive T cells on chemokines production. When FLS were co-cultured with CII stimulated T cells, the production of IL-8, MCP-1, and MIP-1${\alpha}$ were significantly enhanced. The increased production of these chemokines was strongly correlated with increase the frequency of CII reactive T cells. Conclusively, immune response to CII was frequently found in RA. Activated T cells in response to CII contributed to increase the production of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, which were critical for inflammatory responses in RA. The interaction of CII-reactive T cells with FLS further augmented this phenomenon. Taken together, our recent studies have suggested that autoimmunity to CII could play a crucial role not only in the initiation but amplification/perpetuation of inflammatory process in human RA.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2020

Natural killer (NK) cells play have a crucial role in the early phase of immune responses against various pathogens. We compared characteristics of canine NK cells against two canine mammary carcinoma cell lines, REM134 and CF41.Mg. REM134 showed higher expression of progesterone receptor, proliferative cell nuclear antigen, Ki67, multiple drug resistance, Bmi-1, c-myc, E-cadherin, and human epidermal growth factor receptor type-2 than that of CF41.Mg. For specific expansion and activation of NK cells, we isolated CD5 negative cells from canine peripheral blood mononuclear cells and co-cultured K562 cells in the presence of interleukin (IL)-2, IL-15, and IL-21 for 21 days. As a result, we found that expression markers of activated NK cells such as NKp30, NKp44, NKp46, NKG2D, CD244, perforin, granzyme B, and tumor necrosis factor alpha were highly upregulated. In addition, we found there was upregulated production of interferon gamma of activated NK cells against target cells such as REM134 and CF41.Mg. Specifically, we observed that cytotoxicity of NK cells against target cells was more sensitively reacted to CF41.Mg than REM134. Based on the results of this study, we recommend the development of an experimental application of CF41Mg, which has not been reported in canine mammary carcinoma research.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.205-214
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• 2005

Background: We examined global gene expression profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in patients with ulcerative colitis (DC), and tested whether the identified genes with the altered expression might be associated with susceptibility to UC. Methods: PBMCs from 8 UC and 8 normal healthy (NH) volunteers were collected, and total RNAs were subjected to the human 8.0K cDNA chip for the micro array analysis. Real time-PCR (RT-PCR) was performed to verify the results of micro array. One hundred forty UC patients and 300 NH controls were recruited for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis. Results: Twenty-five immune function-related genes with over 2-fold expression were identified. Of these genes, two chemokines, namely, CXCL1 and CCL20, were selected because of their potential importance in the evocation of host innate and adaptive immunity. Four SNPs were identified in the promoter and coding regions of CXCL1, while there was no significant difference between all patients with UC and controls in their polymorphisms, except minor association at g.57A>G (rs2071425, p=0.02). On the other hand, among three novel and one known SNPs identified in the promoter region of CCL20, g. -1,706 G>A (p=0.000000055), g. -1,458 G>A (p=0.0048), and g. -962C>A (p=0.0006) were found to be significantly associated with the susceptibility of Uc. Conclusion: Altered gene expression in mononuclear cells may contribute to IBD pathogenesis. Although the findings need to be confirmed in other populations with larger numbers of patients, the current results demonstrated that polymorphisms in the promoter region of CCL20 are positively associated with the development of Uc.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.32 no.1 s.124
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• pp.31-38
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• 2001

A lectin was purified from Allomyrina dichotoma (ADL) by physiological saline extraction, ammonium sulfate fractionation, anion exchange column chromatography on DEAE Sephadex A-50 and gel filtration column chromatography on Sephadex G-200. Several biochemical properties of ADL were characterized as follows: ADL from gel filtration column chromatography showed single band on SDS-PAGE. ADL agglutinated the erythrocytes of rabbit and human A, B, O, AB. Agglutinability was relatively stable at basic pH, and was stable at temperature below $40^{\circ}C$. Agglutinability was not affected by metal ions and EDTA. This lectin was proved to be a glycoprotein which contains 0.47% of sugars. The molecular weight of ADL was estimated to be 97,000 dalton by SDS-PAGE. By amino acid analysis, ADL exhibited high amounts of aspartic acid. The lectin's immunomodulating effect was measured as cytokine production. The productions of 5 cytokines $(IL-1{\alpha},\;IL-2,\;IL-6,\;IFN{\gamma}\;and\;TNF{\alpha})$ from peripheral blood mononuclear cells were measured by ELISA. The lectin induced the highest secretion of IL-2 at 8 hr, $TNF{\alpha}$ at 4 hr, and $IFN{\gamma}$ at 24hr, respectively. These results suggest that ADL can elicit the production of detectable cytokines from PBMC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.5495-5501
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• 2013

Background: Alu elements are one of the most common repetitive sequences that now constitute more than 10% of the human genome and potential targets for epigenetic alterations. Correspondingly, methylation of these elements can result in a genome-wide event that may have an impact in cancer. However, studies investigating the genome-wide status of Alu methylation in cancer remain limited. Objectives: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) presents with high incidence in South-East Asia and thus the aim of this study was to evaluate the Alu methylation status in OSCCs and explore with the possibility of using this information for diagnostic screening. We evaluated Alu methylation status in a) normal oral mucosa compared to OSCC; b) peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of normal controls comparing to oral cancer patients; c) among oral epithelium of normal controls, smokers and oral cancer patients. Materials and Methods: Alu methylation was detected by combined bisulfite restriction analysis (COBRA) at 2 CpG sites. The amplified products were classified into three patterns; hypermethylation ($^mC^mC$), partial methylation ($^uC^mC+^mC^uC$), and hypomethylation ($^uC^uC$). Results: The results demonstrate that the $%^mC^mC$ value is suitable for differentiating normal and cancer in oral tissues (p=0.0002), but is not significantly observe in PBMCs. In addition, a stepwise decrease in this value was observed in the oral epithelium from normal, light smoker, heavy smoker, low stage and high stage OSCC (p=0.0003). Furthermore, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses demonstrated the potential of combined $%^mC$ or $%^mC^mC$ values as markers for oral cancer detection with sensitivity and specificity of 86.7% and 56.7%, respectively. Conclusions: Alu hypomethylation is likely to be associated with multistep oral carcinogenesis, and might be developed as a screening tool for oral cancer detection.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1995.04a
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• pp.113-113
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• 1995

본 연구는 표고버섯에서 분리정제한 렉틴 성분(LEL)을 말초혈액 단핵세포(PBMC)에 반응시켜 사이토카인 유도능을 지질다당류(LPS)와 비교하여 역전사효소 중합반응법(RT-PCR)으로 측정하였다. 측정 대상 사이토카인은 IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, TNF$\alpha$ 및 IFN${\gamma}$의 다섯가지였으며 이들을 대상으로 PBMC에 렉틴을 적용하여 1, 8, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120분 등의 시간대에서 반응시켜 사이토카인의 유전자 발현 유도에 관한 다음의 결과를 얻었다. LEL의 사용 농도에 따른 편도선 림프구(tonsillar lymphocyte)의 TNF$\alpha$ 유전자 발현 양상은 반응 1시간의 경우 LEL의 일부 농도와 LPS 전농도에서 관찰되었으나 반응 40시간째에는 LEL 전농도와 LPS 전농도에서 TNF$\alpha$ 유전자 발현 양상을 관찰할 수 없었다. RT-PCR 결과 원액이나 회석액 재료로부터 관찰된 TNF$\alpha$유전자 band의 강 약 차이는 나타나지 않았다. LEL의 자극에 의한 반응 시간대 별 PBMC에 의한 사이토카인 유전자 발현 양상은 위에서 언급된 다섯가지 사이토카인을 유도, 생성할 수 있다는 것이 확인되었는데, IL-2, IL-6 및 IFN${\gamma}$는 120시간까지 장시간 지속되는 유전자 발현이 가능한 반면 TNF $\alpha$의 생성 양상은 이들 사이토카인의 생성 양상과는 판이하게 반응 1, 8 및 24 시간대까지만 TNF$\alpha$ 유전자 발현을 관찰할 수 있었고 IL-1은 72 시간까지 반응을 나타내는 등 특이적 양상을 보였다. 한편 LPS는 실험에 사용된 전 사이토카인의 유전자 발현을 120시간대까지 반응이 유지됨을 관찰하였기에 LPS가 PBMC의 강력한 사이토카인 유도체임을 입증할 수 있었으며 LEL과 다소 상이한 결과를 보였으나 LEL 또한 PBMC로부터 사이토카인을 생성 유지시킬 수 있는 유도체로 작용함을 확인할 수 있었다.