• The KIPS Transactions:PartD
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• v.12D no.6 s.102
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• pp.921-930
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• 2005

In this paper, a general purpose molecular simulation system which has been developed by the author, are described. One of the most advantageous features is that the molecular simulation system can handle a coarse-grained model as well as an all-atom mode. Therefore, we can simulate mesoscopic phenomena as well as microscopic phenomena with the help of Langevin dynamics simulation and dissipative particle dynamics simulation techniques. Thus we could study anesthesia, protein folding, biopolymer flow in microchannel with single framework, which spans from microscopic to mesoscopic scales. We expect that we can also simulate many other bio/nano systems of technological importance which are not feasible by means of molecular dynamics simulation technique. Finally, performance data are shown and a bottleneck is identified for future optimization.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.2447-2451
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• 2014

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the primary etiologic agent of cervical cancer. Consideration of safety and non human leukocyte antigen restriction, protein vaccine has become the most likely form of HPV therapeutic vaccine, although none have so far been reported as effective. Since tumor cells consistently express the two proteins E6 and E7, most therapeutic vaccines target one or both of them. In this study, we fabricated DC vaccines by transducing replication-defective recombinant adenoviruses expressing E6/E7 fusion gene of HPV-16, to investigate the lethal effects of specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) against CaSki cells in vitro. Mouse immature dendritic cells (DC) were generated from bone marrow, and transfected with pAd-E6/E7 to prepare a DC vaccine and to induce specific CTL. The surface expression of CD40, CD68, MHC II and CD11c was assessed by flow cytometry (FCM), and the lethal effects of CTL against CaSki cells were determined by DAPI, FCM and CCK-8 methods. Immature mouse DC was successfully transfected by pAd-E6/E7 in vitro, and the transfecting efficiency was 40%-50%. A DC vaccine was successfully prepared and was used to induce specific CTL. Experimental results showed that the percentage of apoptosis and killing rate of CaSki cells were significantly increased by coculturing with the specific CTL (p <0.05). These results illustrated that a DC vaccine modified by HPV-16 E6/E7 gene can induce apoptosis of CaSki cells by inducing CTL, which may be used as a new strategy for biological treatment of cervical cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.3293-3299
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• 2015

Background: Arm protein lost in epithelial cancers, on chromosome X (ALEX) is a novel subgroup within the armadillo (ARM) family, which has one or two ARM repeat domains as opposed to more than six-thirteen repeats in the classical Armadillo family members. Materials and Methods: In the study, we explore the biological functions of ALEX1 in breast cancer cells. Overexpression of ALEX1 and silencing of ALEX1 were performed with SK-BR3 and MCF-7 cell lines. Cell proliferation and colony formation assays, along with flow cytometry, were carried out to evaluate the roles of ALEX1. Results: ALEX1 overexpression in SK-BR3 breast cancer cells inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis. Furthermore, depletion of ALEX1 in MCF-7 breast cancer cells increased proliferation and inhibited apoptosis. Additional analyses demonstrated that the overexpression of ALEX1 activated the intrinsic apoptosis cascades through up-regulating the expression of Bax, cytosol cytochrome c, active caspase-9 and active caspase-3 and down-regulating the levels of Bcl-2 and mitochondria cytochrome c. Simultaneouly, silencing of ALEX1 inhibited intrinsic apoptosis cascades through down-regulating the expression of Bax, cytosol cytochrome c, active caspase-9, and active caspase-3 and up-regulating the level of Bcl-2 and mitochondria cytochrome c. Conclusions: Our data suggest that ALEX1 as a crucial tumor suppressor gene has been involved in cell proliferation and apoptosis in breast cancer, which may serve as a novel candidate therapeutic target.

• BMB Reports
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.730-736
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• 2006

To evaluated the effect of recombinant adenovirus Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas which can simultaneously express both antisense ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (AdoMetDC) on cell cycle distribution in colorectal cancer cell and investigated underlying regulatory responses, human colorectal cancer cells HT-29 were cultured in RPMI 1640 medium and infected with Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas. Cell cycle progression was detected by flow cytometry analysis. The expression levels of cell cycle regulated proteins were measured by Western blot analysis. The mRNA level of cyclin D1 was measured by RT-PCR. And a luciferase reporter plasmid of cyclin D1 promoter was constructed to observe the effect of Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas on cyclin D1 promoter activity. The results showed that recombinant adenovirus Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas significantly induced $G_1$ arrest, decreased levels of cyclin D1 protein and mRNA and suppressed the promoter activity. Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas also inhibited nuclear translocation of $\beta$-catenin. In conclusion, downregulation of ODC and AdoMetDC mediated by Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas transfection induces $G_1$ arrest in HT-29 cells and the arrest was associated with suppression of cyclin D1 expression and inhibition of $\beta$-catenin nuclear translocation. As a new anticancer reagent, the recombinant adenovirus Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas holds promising hope for the therapy of colorectal cancers.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.32-41
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• 2015

Objectives: Condurango (Gonolobus condurango) extract is used by complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners as a traditional medicine, including homeopathy, mainly for the treatment of syphilis. Condurango bark extract is also known to reduce tumor volume, but the underlying molecular mechanisms still remain unclear. Methods: Using a cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) as our model, the molecular events behind condurango extract's (CE's) anticancer effect were investigated by using flow cytometry, immunoblotting and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Other included cell types were prostate cancer cells (PC3), transformed liver cells (WRL-68), and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Results: Condurango extract (CE) was found to be cytotoxic against target cells, and this was significantly deactivated in the presence of N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), a scavenger of reactive oxygen species (ROS), suggesting that its action could be mediated through ROS generation. CE caused an increase in the HeLa cell population containing deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage at the G zero/Growth 1 (G0/G1) stage. Further, CE increased the tumor necrosis factor alpha ($TNF-{\alpha}$) and the fas receptor (FasR) levels both at the ribonucleic acid (RNA) and the protein levels, indicating that CE might have a cytotoxic mechanism of action. CE also triggered a sharp decrease in the expression of nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells ($NF-{\kappa}B$) both at the RNA and the protein levels, a possible route to attenuation of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), and caused an opening of the mitochondrial membrane's permeability transition (MPT) pores, thus enhancing caspase activities. Conclusion: Overall, our results suggest possible pathways for CE mediated cytotoxicity in model cancer cells.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.198-208
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• 2021

The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial effect on Enterococcus Faecalis and physical properties of chitosan added calcium hydroxide canal filling material. Low, medium, high molecular weights of chitosan powder were mixed with calcium hydroxide canal filling material. Also, for each molecular weight group, 1.0, 2.0, 5.0 wt% of chitosan powder were added. An overnight culture of E. faecalis was adjusted to 1 × 10⁶ CFU/ml. For test of antibacterial effect, three different molecular weights of 2.0 wt% chitosan and three different concentrations of high molecular weight chitosan were mixed with calcium hydroxide canal filling material. The absorbance of plates was analyzed using spectrophotometer at 570 nm with a reference wavelength of 600 nm. Physical properties such as flow, film thickness and radiopacity were examined according to ISO 6876 : 2012. All molecular weight type of chitosan containing material showed inhibitory effect against E. faecalis growth compared to non-chitosan added calcium hydroxide canal filling material group (p < 0.05). High molecular weight chitosan containing material showed the most antibacterial effect. Also, the antibacterial effect decreased as the incorporated amount of chitosan decreased (p < 0.05). Every molecular weight group of material containing chitosan had a tendency for reduced flow and radiopacity, increased film thickness according to amount of chitosan. Low molecular weight of 1.0 wt% chitosan addition did not show any significant difference of physical properties compared to conventional calcium hydroxide canal filling material. In conclusion, for reinforcement of antibacterial effect against E. faecalis and for favorable physical properties, 2.0 wt% of chitosan adding is recommended. Considering its antibacterial effect of chitosan, further studies are required for clinical application of chitosan in endodontics and pediatric dentistry.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.453-462
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• 1993

The retention behaviors of polystyrenes influenced by mixed solvents are examined in thermal field-flow fractionation(ThFFF). Experimental data are obtained with polystyrene samples of molecular weights of 35,000, 110,000, 200,000 and 470,000 dissolved in organic solvents. The pure and mixed solvents are tetrahydrofuran(THF), chloroform(CHL), cyclohexane(CH), and benzene(BZ), respectively. The values of retention ratio(R) and thermal diffusion coefficient($D_T$) are measured with change of molecular weight and composition of mixed solvents. Atempts are then made to correlate the measured values with various physicochemical parameters of polymers and solvents. Studies suggest that R is significantly increased with the density of solvent and a good correlation is found between them. $D_T$ values decreases in the mixed solvent having has a higher concentration of poor solvent.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.3199-3205
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• 2013

The inclusion behavior of sulfobutylether-${\beta}$-cyclodextrin (SBE-${\beta}$-CD) with perphenazine (PPH) was first studied by flow injection (FI)-chemiluminescence (CL) analysis with proposed $lg[(I_0-I_s)/I_s]=lgK_{P-CD}+nlg[C_{PPH}]$ model and molecular docking. Results showed that a 1:1 complex of SBE-${\beta}$-CD/PPH could online form, with the formation constant $K_{P-CD}$ of $2.57{\times}10^7Lmol^{-1}$ at 298 K. The thermodynamic parameters showed that the inclusion behavior of SBE-${\beta}$-CD/PPH was a spontaneous process by hydrophobic interaction. The molecular docking results revealed PPH entered into the larger cavity of SBE-${\beta}$-CD with two hydrogen bonds. Based on the linear relationship of the decrement of luminol/SBE-${\beta}$-CD/PPH CL intensity against the logarithm of PPH concentration ranging from 0.03 to 30.0 ng $mL^{-1}$, the present FI-CL analysis using luminol/SBE-${\beta}$-CD/PPH system was successfully applied to PPH determination in biological fluids and tablets with recoveries from 94.5 to 105.6% and RSDs less than 2.6% (n = 5).

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.245-250
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• 2010

The procedure for estimating the gas (rotational) temperature of an air discharge in supersonic flows is presented in detail. Since direct measurement of the temperature in a supersonic flow is difficult, a nonintrusive measurement was performed by optical emission spectroscopy based on the emission spectra of nitrogen molecular ions. A detailed explanation, including the equations for emission line intensity, is presented in order to understand the structure of the emission spectra of nitrogen molecular ions. Using the obtained representation for emission spectrum, a synthetic spectrum of the first negative system of $N_2^+$ is obtained, and it is compared with the experimentally measured spectrum. Within a relative error of approximately 6.8% for the overall band spectra, the synthetic and measured spectra agree well. In the case of a 25-mA DC air discharge in a supersonic (Mach 3) flow, the gas temperature profile shows an approximately linear variation and a peak temperature of approximately 350 K.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 2019

Recently, the importance of on-site detection of pathogens has drawn attention in the field of molecular diagnostics. Unlike in a laboratory environment, on-site detection of pathogens is performed under limited resources. In this study, we tried to optimize the experimental conditions for on-site detection of pathogens using a combination of ultra-fast convection polymerase chain reaction (cPCR), which does not require regular electricity, and nucleic acid lateral flow (NALF) immunoassay. Salmonella species was used as the model pathogen. DNA was amplified within 21 minutes (equivalent to 30 cycles of polymerase chain reaction) using ultra-fast cPCR, and the amplified DNA was detected within approximately 5 minutes using NALF immunoassay with nucleic acid detection (NAD) cassettes. In order to avoid false-positive results with NAD cassettes, we reduced the primer concentration or ultra-fast cPCR run time. For singleplex ultra-fast cPCR, the primer concentration needed to be lowered to $3{\mu}M$ or the run time needed to be reduced to 14 minutes. For duplex ultra-fast cPCR, $2{\mu}M$ of each primer set needed to be used or the run time needed to be reduced to 14 minutes. Under the conditions optimized in this study, the combination of ultra-fast cPCR and NALF immunoassay can be applied to on-site detection of pathogens. The combination can be easily applied to the detection of oral pathogens.