• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.142-147
• /
• 2022

Oxysterols are known to be involved in the physiopathology of atherosclerosis. Since 7-ketocholesterol (7-KC) is found in large amounts in oxysterols and in atherosclerotic plaque, the study on how 7-KC may affect monocyte differentiation induced by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) in the monocytic cell line, THP-1, is essential. 7-KC induced a dose-dependent reduction in cell proliferation without inducing cytotoxicity, and the substantial staining of Nile red demonstrates the increased absorption of intracellular lipids. Although 7-KC itself did not increase cell adhesion, it markedly decreased the adhesion of cells treated with PMA. Furthermore, by observing the effect of 7-KC on phagocytosis using fluorescent-labeled latex beads, 7-KC's ability to abolish phagocytosis in PMA-stimulated macrophages was illustrated. The effect of 7-KC on the expression of selected protein markers on the process of differentiation induced by PMA in THP-1 cells was also examined. 7-KC inhibited expression of ICAM-1, CD11a, SR-A1, and SR-B2 (CD36) in PMA-stimulated THP-1 cells. Conversely, 7-KC drastically increased the expression of SR-D1 (CD68)in PMA-stimulated THP-1 cells. In conclusion, these results suggest that 7-KC modulates monocyte differentiation and activation via the intracellular accumulation of lipid droplets.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.1-5
• /
• 2002

Drosophila Kc cells are ecdysone-responsive : hormone treatment leads rapidly to increased synthesis of several ecdysone-inducible polypeptides (EIPs) and to commitment to eventual proloferative arrest. Later the treated cells undergo morphological transformation, cease to proliferate and to grow. These responses have proven useful as models for studying ecdysone action and environmental endocrine disrupting actions. In this study, we used 20-HE to check out the Kc cells properties to the ecdysone and this properties will be applied to the environmental chemicals to find out the endocrine disrupting action in ecosystem. The cell counts of cultures harvested after 3 days' growth in the presence of 20-hydroxyecdysone. In Kc cell cultures, there were statistically significant different from control cells at 20HE 10/sup 7/-10/sup 5/. The morphological effects of all the hormones were similar, differing only in the dose level at which they were initiated.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.50 no.3
• /
• pp.179-185
• /
• 2010

The present study was undertaken to establish reference values for the composition blood lymphocyte populations and compare forty three Hanwoo neonatal calves (KC) with twenty one Holstein calves (HC) by blood cell count and immunophynotying. The percentages of CD2+, CD4+, CD8+, CD26+, ACT2+, MHC class, MHC class II and WC1+ T cells, B cells were determined by flow cytometry. The number of lymphocyte and monocyte in HC were higher than those of KC. However, the number of neutrophils was higher in HC than KC. The proportions of CD2+, CD4+, CD8+, MHC class, and WC1+ lymphocytes remained relatively stable during the study period, while there was a moderate increase in the relative percentage of CD26+, ACT2+, MHC class II and B cell from birth to approximately 3 weeks of age. Marked differences in the relative proportions of the lymphocyte subpopulations were noted between the individual calves. The present study shows that the T-cell subpopulations are present in peripheral blood of KC at levels comparable with HC, while the MHC class II and B cell population of KC increases significantly with age. The absolute number of WBC in KC was due to the decrease of absolute number of neutrophil rather than the increase of lymphocyte. The results indicated that KC have significantly higher number of neutrophils, and proportion of MHC class II and B cell than HC.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.226-233
• /
• 2016

Vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) apoptosis has been identified in various vascular diseases, including atherosclerosis and restenosis after angioplasty, and has been known to precipitate atherosclerotic plaque instability and rupture. Oxysterols are known as inducers of apoptosis in VSMC, and 7-ketocholesterol (7KC) is the major nonenzymically formed oxysterol in atherosclerotic lesions. The precise mechanism underlying VSMC apoptosis is still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated whether 7KC causes apoptosis, and characterized its apoptotic mechanisms in primary cultured rat aortic VSMC. Cell viability was assessed by MTT assay and trypan blue assay. Apoptosis was assessed by flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, immunoprecipitation, and Western blot analyses. 7KC markedly decreased the VSMC viability in a time- and concentration-dependent manner, and increased the production of 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE), a major end-product of lipid peroxidation, which also decreased the VSMC viability. Pretreatment with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine, a well-known reagent of lipid peroxidation-derived aldehydes, significantly restored the 7KC-decreased viability of VSMC. Furthermore, HNE, as well as 7KC, reduced the level of total Akt, a major mediator of cell survival. The 7KC-decreased level of total Akt was significantly restored by pretreatments with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine and N-acetylcysteine. Lactacystin, a proteasome inhibitor, protected VSMC against apoptosis and Akt degradation, but did not inhibit HNE production. In the immunoprecipitation assay, 7KC increased HNE-modified Akt. From the results, it seems that, in atherosclerotic lesions, 7KC induces HNE production in VSMC, and this HNE binds to Akt, proceeding to proteasomal degradation of Akt, through which mechanism the atherosclerotic plaque instability may be facilitated.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.52 no.1
• /
• pp.33-37
• /
• 2009

A saccharified-rice was fermented using Leuconostoc(Ln.) mesenteroides KC51 strain in various dry matter (DM) contents (4%, 8%, and 12%) at $30^{\circ}C$ for 18 h. The changes of viable cell number, acid production and phytate degradation in saccharified-rice during fermentation were investigated. The viable cell population of Ln. mesenteroides KC51 was increased rapidly in proportion to DM contents during the 9 h of cultivation. The changes of pH and titratable acidity in saccharified-rice were dependent on DM contents. At high DM content (12%), the viable cell number of Ln. mesenteroides KC51 increased to 9.56 log CFU/g after 6 h of fermentation. The pH and titratable acidity reached to pH 3.38 and 0.93% after 18 h of fermentation, respectively. The phytate, known as an antinutrient factor, in saccharified-rice was degraded by Ln. mesenteroides KC51 cultivation. The decrease of phytate during fermentation approximately coincided with the increase of Ln. mesenteroides KC51 population observed in fermented saccharified-rice. Regardless of DM contents, the levels of phytate were reduced to around 50% of initial concentration.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.47-54
• /
• 1998

Interleukin-10(IL-10) inhibits production of a wide range of cytokines in various cell types and transcriptionally inhibits lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced expression of proinflammatory mediators. Cytokine expression by macrophages is an important aspect to ochestrate inflammatory responses. As an approach to identify mechanistic targets of IL-10, it was examined the time course for expression of KC(murine homologue of Gro) gene in murine peritoneal macrophages stimulated with LPS with or without IL-10. The effect of IL-10 on LPS induced KC mRNA expression was delayed and only seen after 1 hour treatment. Pretreatment with IL-10 did not eliminate the delayed inhibitory response nor increase the magnitude of suppression. These effects did not depend upon time of IL-10 treatment but the time of LPS treatment. LPS-induced KC mRNA expression by inhibitory action of IL-10 was not controlled at the level of transcription. The result indicates that IL-10 acts late in the process of KC gene expression and that the prominant site of action may be mRNA stability or translation.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
• /
• v.17 no.5
• /
• pp.710-718
• /
• 2007

This study was designed to investigate the effects of plum(Prunus salicina Lindl. cultivars 'Oishiwase', 'Formosa', and 'Soldam') extracts on the proliferation as well as inhibition of human epithelial cells(HaCaT), human cervical carcinoma (HeLa, SiHa, and C33A) cells, and human stomach adenocarcinoma(SNU 638) cells. Dried plum was sequentially extracted and fractionated by hexane(KC-01), chloroform(KC-02), ethyl acetate(KC-03), n-butanol(KC-04), water(KC-05), methanol(KC-6), and hot water extract(KC-07). The epithelial and cancer cells were exposed for 48 h to $50{\mu}g/mL$ of plum extract in vitro, and were then analysed by a sulforhodamin B(SRB) staining assay. The methanol extract(KCP-6) of 'Formosa' proliferated not only the HaCaT cells(147.3%), but also the cervical carcinoma C33A cells(167.8%). The ethyl acetate extract of 'Soldam'(KCJ-3) significantly reduced the proliferation rate of the HPV positive conical carcinoma cells, at 61.5% for the SiHa cells and 70.5% for the HeLa cells. In the C33A cells, which are HPV negative cervical carcinoma cells, the hexane fractions of 'Formosa'(KCP-1) and 'Oishiwase'(KCD-1) markedly suppressed proliferation activity at 20.4% and 61.7%, respectively. However, the proliferation rate of the normal epithelial cells(HaCaT cell) was not reduced the proliferation rate by KCJ-3, KCP-1, or KCD-1, There were no significant effects on proliferation of the stomach cancer cells(SNU 638) by any of the extracts or fractions of the plum cultivars. These results suggest that the anti-proliferative effects of the plum cultivars were selective to the cancer cell origin. In conclusion, we found that several plum cultivar extracts, especially, the ethyl acetate fraction of 'Soldam" and the hexane fraction of "Formosa', have anti-proliferative activity toward human cervical carcinoma cells. However, further investigation is needed to assess the molecular mechanisms that mediate the antiproliferation activities of the plum cultivars.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.172-183
• /
• 2020

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) is considered as a promising therapeutic target for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) because of its involvement in inflammatory processes. However, limited studies have reported the involvement of PI3KC2γ in RA, and the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. Therefore, we investigated the role of PI3KC2γ as a novel therapeutic target for RA and the effect of its selective inhibitor, PBT-6. In this study, we observed that PI3KC2γ was markedly increased in the synovial fluid and tissue as well as the PBMCs of patients with RA. PBT-6, a novel PI3KC2γ inhibitor, decreased the cell growth of TNF-mediated synovial fibroblasts and LPS-mediated macrophages. Furthermore, PBT-6 inhibited the PI3KC2γ expression and PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in both synovial fibroblasts and macrophages. In addition, PBT-6 suppressed macrophage migration via CCL2 and osteoclastogenesis. In CIA mice, it significantly inhibited the progression and development of RA by decreasing arthritis scores and paw swelling. Three-dimensional micro-computed tomography confirmed that PBT-6 enhanced the joint structures in CIA mice. Taken together, our findings suggest that PI3KC2γ is a therapeutic target for RA, and PBT-6 could be developed as a novel PI3KC2γ inhibitor to target inflammatory diseases including RA.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.14
• /
• pp.5873-5878
• /
• 2014

Hypoxia and autophagy are known to facilitate tumor progression. We here aimed to investigate the role of hypoxia-associated autophagy in cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) survival and metastasis. Immunostaining of hypoxic-responsive proteins (HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and BNIP3) and a key regulator of autophagy (PI3KC3) were examined in CCA tissues and their expression levels were compared with clinicopathological parameters. A hypoxia mimicking condition ($CoCl_2$ treatment) was also tested regarding CCA cell functions. Our results showed that HIF-$1{\alpha}$ (66%), BNIP3 (44%) and PI3KC3 (46%) showed strong staining in human CCA tissues. Positive expression of HIF-$1{\alpha}$ (p=0.033), BNIP3 (p=0.040) and PI3KC3 (p=0.037) was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis. HIF-$1{\alpha}$ was well associated with BNIP3 (r=0.3, p<0.01) and PI3KC3 (r=0.2, p<0.01). The survival rates of patients who were positive with HIF-$1{\alpha}$ (p=0.047) or co-expressed HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and BNIP3 (p=0.032) or HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and PI3KC3 (p=0.043) were significantly greater than in the negative groups. CCA cells treated with $CoCl_2$ showed an increase in HIF-$1{\alpha}$, BNIP3, PI3KC3 and LC3-II, with increased cell migration and pFAK levels. These data suggest that hypoxia associated autophagy enhances CCA metastasis, resulting in a poor prognosis of CCA.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.129-133
• /
• 1993

The 44Md plasmid of Bacillus thruingiensis var. kurstaki HD-1(B. t k HD-1) was partially digested with Sau3AI and the fragments were cloned into E. coli HB101 on vector pBR322. Of 2, 950 clones with a recombinant pBR322, only one clone KC1 was determined to have the gene for crystal toxic proteins from the 44Md plasmid of B. t k HD-1 at the BamHI site of pBR322. The recombinant pBR322 was named pKC1 and its molecular size was 12kb. The KC1 produced a protein which was toxic to the silkworm and antigenically similar to the crystal toxic protein of B. t k HD-1. Also, electrophoretic mobility of the KC1 protein was apparently the same as that of the crystal toxic protein of B. t k HD-1.