• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.67-72
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• 2010

In the recent version of the Korea Pharmacopoeia(KP) and the Korean Herbal Pharmacopoeia(KHP), there are 563 items(181 in KP, 381 in KHP) of herbal medicines including finished drugs. Also, approximately 507 items including herbal extracts and herbal medicinal products was published in the 3th edition of Korea Pharmaceutical Codex (KPC). These items help the persons working in the pharmaceutical manufacturing field to register the drug and in research fields to develop the new drug considering as a standard specifications. This study was carried out to establish standard analytical methods for 'Compound Hawthorn Berry 60% Ethanol Extract, Ginkgo Biloba Leaf Extract and Garlic Oil Capsules' in the 3th edition of Korea Pharmaceutical Codex. Ginkgo flavonoid and terpene lactone were employed as reference compounds for analytical method. Analytical methods established in this study could be applied to a reasonable and unified quality control of G. biloba leaf extract and hawthorn berry extract.

• BMB Reports
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.98-103
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• 2018

Recurrence is a serious problem in patients with bladder cancer. The hypothesis for recurrence was that the proliferation of drug-resistant cells was reported, and this study focused on drug resistance due to drug efflux. Previous studies have identified FOXM1 as the key gene for recurrence. We found that FOXM1 inhibition decreased drug efflux activity and increased sensitivity to Doxorubicin. Therefore, we examined whether the expression of ABC transporter gene related to drug efflux is regulated by FOXM1. As a result, ABCG2, one of the genes involved in drug efflux, has been identified as a new target for FOXM1. We also demonstrated direct transcriptional regulation of ABCG2 by FOXM1 using ChIP assay. Consequently, in the presence of the drug, FOXM1 is proposed to directly activate ABCG2 to increase the drug efflux activation and drug resistance, thereby involving chemoresistance of bladder cancer cells. Therefore, we suggest that FOXM1 and ABCG2 may be useful targets and important parameters in the treatment of bladder cancer.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 1999

Chronic asthma is considered as an incurable disease in modern society. This study focused on development of an animal model for the chronic asthma to investigate new drugs from traditional herbal medicine. And we tested the animal model with a typical prescription, Chungsangboha-tang and tried to find biochemical markers such as catecholamines and cAMP in serum, and as densities of beta-receptor in lung tissues. SD rats were actively sensitized by exposure to ovalbumine (OA). Ten days after sensitization, rats were challenged with OA aerosol by nebulizer six times every three days. Mucin was increased in bronchoalveolar lavages (BALs) after antigen (OA) challenge. Serum concentration of epinephrine was decreased significantly although there were not changed much in serum concentration of cAMP and the densities of beta-receptor in lung tissues. Chungsangboha-tang (5 g/kg/day) was given orally to ovalbumin-sensitized rats (n=8) for 15 days. Mucin in bronchoalveolar lavages (BALs) was increased significantly after treatment of Chungsangboha-tang although concentrations of epinephrine and cAMP were not changed significantly. The densities of beta-receptor in lung tissues were not different from those of controls. These results suggest that the ovalbumin-sensitized rats can be a good animal model of chronic asthma and Chungsangboha-tang is a possible drug in the treatment of chronic asthma.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.21-31
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• 2014

As the protein drug industry is growing, protein informations are indispensable for the protein drug development. NCBI and PDB in the U.S., the EMBL in Europe and the DDBJ in Japan are the representative centers for bio information and each center provides specific data for protein information. To obtain specific protein information, users are to be collect them from the service sites of each center and then combine or analyze for their purpose. To facilitate the accessibility to bio data, various R&D activities are running for development of diverse web services relevant to bio data in major data centers or small-scale projects. With the recognition of protein information as pivotal for the protein drug development, DrugBank in Canada, GDSC in the U.S. start to provide integrated informations between drugs and proteins. However, those service does not meet users' demands due to lack of diversity. In Korea, infra structures for bioinformatics are limited and the current services for protein drug information are providing only basic information of the drug including distribution data. This is a pilot study to construct a specialized service for protein drug information in Korean style breaking through the limitations of current services. This study proposed new fields for protein characterization information which had not been provided by current services and evaluated their effectiveness and usability by comparing them to the existing fields with expert survey. As a result, the newly proposed fields for protein characterization have been proven to be useful data fields for the service of protein drug information.

• Journal of the Korean Professional Engineers Association
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.34-38
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• 2011

Following the relocation of the Korea Food and Drug Administration(KFDA) to the Osong Bio-Health Technopolis in 2011, KFDA established 6 development strategies for Global Top 5 by 2020. 6 detailed strategies aim at systematic support for corresponding to the necessity of risk management and an instantaneous response according to environmental changes which have ever-present hazard, and to the development of Fusion Technology-combined new technology. These comprehensive strategies pursue to improve the quality of national life through wise food and drug consumption. Contents for future development is a summary of KFDA's Major Work Plan 2011 related food safety policies. The plan was released in reception hall of the Blue House on Dec. 22, 2010.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.278-284
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• 2007

Despite extensive researches and pre-market clinical trials, only limited information on the adverse drug reactions (ADRs) of a drug can be collected at the time of market approval from regulatory agency. ADRs constitute a major public health problem. Post-marketing surveillance of drugs is important to detect signals for ADR. In Korea, one of the main methods for monitoring the safety of marketed drugs is spontaneous reporting system of suspected ADRs. Re-examination and re-evaluation system are in force for monitoring safety of new market approval drugs and currently under marketing drugs, respectively. Recently, regional pharmacovigilance centers were designated from Korean Food and Drug Administration for facilitating ADR surveillance. Over recent years, with the development of information technology, there has been an increased interest in establishing data mining system for detecting signals from Health Insurance Review Agency database. The purpose of this paper is to review the current status of Korean ADR surveillance system and suggest the possible solutions for developing active pharmacovigilance system in Korea.

• BMB Reports
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.547-552
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• 2022

Sorafenib, originally identified as an inhibitor of multiple oncogenic kinases, induces ferroptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. Several pathways that mitigate sorafenib-induced ferroptosis confer drug resistance; thus strategies that enhance ferroptosis increase sorafenib efficacy. Orphan nuclear receptor estrogen-related receptor γ (ERRγ) is upregulated in human HCC tissues and plays a role in cancer cell proliferation. The aim of this study was to determine whether inhibition of ERRγ with DN200434, an orally available inverse agonist, can overcome resistance to sorafenib through induction of ferroptosis. Sorafenib-resistant HCC cells were less sensitive to sorafenibinduced ferroptosis and showed significantly higher ERRγ levels than sorafenib-sensitive HCC cells. DN200434 induced lipid peroxidation and ferroptosis in sorafenib-resistant HCC cells. Mechanistically, DN200434 increased mitochondrial ROS generation by reducing glutathione/glutathione disulfide levels, which subsequently reduced mTOR activity and GPX4 levels. DN200434 induced amplification of the antitumor effects of sorafenib was confirmed in a tumor xenograft model. The present results indicate that DN200434 may be a novel therapeutic strategy to re-sensitize HCC cells to sorafenib.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.5599-5608
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• 2013

With the high morbidity and mortality caused by cancer, finding new and more effective anti-cancer drugs is very urgent. In current research, biotransformation plays a vital role in the research and development of cancer drugs and has obtained some achievements. In this review, we have summarized four applications as follows: to exploit novel anti-cancer drugs, to improve existing anti-cancer drugs, to broaden limited anti-cancer drug resources and to investigate correlative mechanisms. Three different groups of important anti-cancer compounds were assessed to clarify the current practical applications of biotransformation in the development of anti-cancer drugs.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.41-48
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• 2021

The prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a developmental neuropsychiatric disorder, is high among children and adolescents. The pathogenesis of ADHD is mediated with genetic, biological, and environmental factors. Most therapeutic drugs for ADHD have so far targeted biological causes, primarily by regulating catecholaminergic neurotransmitters. However, ADHD drugs that are clinically treated have various problems in their addictiveness and drug stability; thus, it is recommended that efficacy and safety should be secured through simultaneous prescription of multiple drugs rather than a single drug treatment. Accordingly, it is necessary to develop drugs that newly target pathogenic mechanisms of ADHD. In this study, we attempt to confirm the possibility of developing new drugs by reviewing dopamine-related developmental mechanisms of neurons and their correlation with ADHD. Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) can regulate the concentration of intracellular dopamine in neurons by expressing vesicular monoamine transporter 2 and inducing the exocytosis of neurotransmitters to the synaptic cleft, thereby promoting the development of neurons and signal transmission. This cellular modulation of HDACi is expected to treat ADHD by regulating endogenous catecholamines such as dopamine. Although studies are still in the preclinical stage, HDAC inhibitors clearly have potential as a therapeutic agent with low addictiveness and high efficacy for ADHD treatment.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.371-383
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• 2014

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) offers a unique opportunity for biological and basic medical researches due to its genetic tractability and well-defined developmental lineage. It also provides an exceptional model for genetic, molecular, and cellular analysis of human disease-related genes. Recently, C. elegans has been used as an ideal model for the identification and functional analysis of drugs (or small-molecules) in vivo. In this review, we describe conserved oncogenic signaling pathways (Wnt, Notch, and Ras) and their potential roles in the development of cancer stem cells. During C. elegans germline development, these signaling pathways regulate multiple cellular processes such as germline stem cell niche specification, germline stem cell maintenance, and germ cell fate specification. Therefore, the aberrant regulations of these signaling pathways can cause either loss of germline stem cells or overproliferation of a specific cell type, resulting in sterility. This sterility phenotype allows us to identify drugs that can modulate the oncogenic signaling pathways directly or indirectly through a high-throughput screening. Current in vivo or in vitro screening methods are largely focused on the specific core signaling components. However, this phenotype-based screening will identify drugs that possibly target upstream or downstream of core signaling pathways as well as exclude toxic effects. Although phenotype-based drug screening is ideal, the identification of drug targets is a major challenge. We here introduce a new technique, called Drug Affinity Responsive Target Stability (DARTS). This innovative method is able to identify the target of the identified drug. Importantly, signaling pathways and their regulators in C. elegans are highly conserved in most vertebrates, including humans. Therefore, C. elegans will provide a great opportunity to identify therapeutic drugs and their targets, as well as to understand mechanisms underlying the formation of cancer.