• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.978-984
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• 2004

In the course of screening for a novel inhibitor of CDC2, HY558-1 was isolated from a culture broth of Penicillium minioluteum F558. Moreover, it was found that HY558-1 had an effect on both the cell cycle regulation and apoptosis of human cervical adenocarcinoma HeLa cells. A flow cytometric analysis of HeLa cells revealed appreciable cell cycle arrest at the G1 and G2/M phases following treatment with HY558-1. Furthermore, DNA fragmentation due to apoptosis was observed in HeLa cells treated with HY558-1. To obtain further information on the cell cycle arrest and apoptotic induction induced by HY558-1, the expression of certain cell cycle and apoptosis-associated proteins was examined using a Western blot analysis. The results revealed that HY558-1 inhibited the phosphorylation of pRb and decreased the expression levels of CDK2, CDC2, and cyclin A in the cell cycle progression. It was also shown that the level of $p21^{WAF1/CIP1}$ was increased in HeLa cells treated with 0.52 mM of HY558-1. Accordingly, HY558-1 was found to inhibit the proliferation of HeLa cells through the induction of G1 phase arrest by inhibiting pRb phosphorylation via an upregulation of $p21^{WAF1/CIP1}$, and G2/M phase arrest by directly inhibiting CDC2 and cyclin A. Moreover, HeLa cells treated with 0.52 mM of HY558-1 exhibited apoptotic induction associated with the cleavage of Bid and release of cytochrome c from mitochondria into the cytosol. Subsequent investigation of the activation of caspase-3 and cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) suggested that the mitochondrial pathway was primarily involved in the HY558-1-induced apoptosis in HeLa cells.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.199-205
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• 2012

An extract of Alnus japonica (Betulaceae) cortex has been traditionally used for purifying blood, and curing feces containing blood, enteritis, diarrhea, alcoholism and cut wounds. In the present study, we demonstrated that the ethanol extract of Alnus japonica (EAJ) exhibited significantly cytotoxicity in human colon adenocarcinoma HT-29 cells. The results showed that the induction of apoptosis in HT-29 cells by EAJ was characterized by chromatin condensation and activation of caspase-3. EAJ-induced activation of caspase-9 and -3 caused the cleavage of poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) and the release of cytochrome c. The expressions of Bcl-2 and Bid were reduced by EAJ in HT-29 cells, whereas pro-apoptotic protein Bak was increased in the cells. EAJ-induced, dose-dependent induction of apoptosis was accompanied by sustained phosphorylation of MAP kinases (JNK and p38 MAPK), ASK1, and p53. NAC administration, a scavenger of ROS, reversed EAJ-induced cell death. In conclusion, these results indicated that EAJ can cause apoptosis through a ROS-mitochondria-caspases-dependent pathway in human HT-29 cells.

• BMB Reports
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.354-359
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• 2015

Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) undergo death during atherosclerosis, a widespread cardiovascular disease. Recent studies suggest that oxidative damage occurs in VSMCs and induces atherosclerosis. Here, we analyzed oxidative damage repair in VSMCs and found that VSMCs are hypersensitive to oxidative damage. Further analysis showed that oxidative damage repair in VSMCs is suppressed by a low level of poly (ADP-ribosyl)ation (PARylation), a key post-translational modification in oxidative damage repair. The low level of PARylation is not caused by the lack of PARP-1, the major poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase activated by oxidative damage. Instead, the expression of poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase, PARG, the enzyme hydrolyzing poly(ADP-ribose), is significantly higher in VSMCs than that in the control cells. Using PARG inhibitor to suppress PARG activity facilitates oxidative damage-induced PARylation as well as DNA damage repair. Thus, our study demonstrates a novel molecular mechanism for oxidative damage-induced VSMCs death. This study also identifies the use of PARG inhibitors as a potential treatment for atherosclerosis. [BMB Reports 2015; 48(6): 354-359]

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.400-405
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• 2020

Evodiae Fructus is the dried unripe fruit of Evodia rutaecarpa, and has traditionally been used for treating stomachache and diarrhea. Evodiamine and rutaecarpine, the major biologically active compounds of Evodiae Fructus, are reported to have anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects, as well as inhibit proliferation and metastasis of various cancer cells. The current study investigates the anti-oxidative and anti-cancer effects of the Evodiae Fructus extract, considering varying concentrations of methanol extraction (40, 80, and 95%). High contents of total phenolic compounds were determined in the order of extracts 80, 95, and 40%. Evaluating contents of the 95, 80, and 40% extracts revealed 36.77, 7.29, and 1.86 ㎍/mg evodiamine, respectively, and 53.02, 17.16, and 3.79 ㎍/mg rutaecarpine, respectively, with the highest content of both compounds obtained in the 95% extract. DPPH radical scavenging activity was observed to be inversely proportional to the contents of total phenolic compounds, with decreasing SC₅₀ values obtained in the order 80, 95, and 40% extract. The 95 and 80% extracts exerted toxicity to AGS gastric cancer cells, but the 40% extract was non-toxic. Evodiamine is a known anti-cancer agent, and could be responsible for the observed toxicity. Cleavage of PARP, and Caspase-3, -7, -8 and -9 was observed in the 95% extract-treated AGS cells, indicating that cell toxicity exerted by the 95% extract could be attributed to apoptosis.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.370-378
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• 2009

N-myc downstream-regulated gene 2 (NDRG2) has recently been found to be a tumor suppressor gene. Although it has been reported that NDRG2 expression in breast cancer cells decreases cell proliferation by inhibiting STAT3 activation via SOCS1 induction, the molecular mechanism of chemotherapeutic agent-induced apoptosis is not well known. To elucidate the effect of NDRG2 on the apoptotic pathway induced by doxorubicin, we established stable cell lines expressing NDRG2 and investigated the effect of NDRG2 expression on the doxorubicin-induced apoptosis. While STAT3 activation was remarkably inhibited by NDRG2 overexpression, the expression level of p21 was increased by NDRG2 expression. We confirmed that NDRG2-expressing cells treated with doxorubicin suppressed STAT3 activation and upregulated p21 expression. NDRG2 expression considerably enhanced TUNEL positive apoptotic cells, poly-ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) cleavage, release of cytochrome c to cytosol, and caspase-3 activity in doxorubicin-induced apoptosis. Bid expression in a resting state and after treatment with doxorubicin increased in MDA-MB-231-NDRG2 cells compared to MDA-MB-231-mock cells. Meanwhile, Bcl-$x_L$ expression decreased in MDA-MB-231-NDRG2 cells compared to MDA-MB-231-mock cells in a resting state and in doxorubicin-treated cells. Collectively, these data suggest that suppression of STAT3 activation by NDRG2 influences the sensitivity to doxorubicin-induced apoptosis of breast cancer cells and this may provide a potential therapeutic benefit to overcome the resistance against doxorubicin in breast cancer.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.381-386
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• 2008

Lipophilic ammonia is toxic gas and can easily diffuse across cell membranes. Excess ammonia is implicated in the pathogenesis of several metabolic disorders including hepatic encephalopathy and may result in the death. The purpose of this study was to clarify the inhibition effect of metronidazole on liver cell damage due to ammonia in human Hep G2 cell and rat hepatocytes. The effects of metronidazole were studied in ammonium chloride treated human Hep G2 cell (75 mM) and rat hepatocyte (100 mM) following $0.1{\mu}M$ metronidazole treatment. In MTZ+AC group, cell viabilities increased prominently and LDH activities decreased over 25% than AC group. Furthermore, ammonia level according to ammonium chloride treatment reduced over 30% and lipid peroxidation as an index of cell membrane damage decreased more than twice. By comparison with control, catalase activity showed more than 30% reduction in AC group while less than 10% reduction in MTZ+AC group, respectively. In addition, MTZ+AC group showed the similar cell structure as control in cell morphology study by using light microscope, and represented fluorescent intensity decrement compared with AC group in fluorescent microscopic study with avidin-TRITC fluorescent dye. And cleaved PARP expression due to ammonia reduced twofold or more in MTZ+AC group. As the results suggest, metronidazole may protect the liver cell by inhibiting cell damages due to ammonia and be used for an effective antagonist of ammonia in hyperammonemia.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.454-462
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• 2010

The present study investigated the neuroprotective effect of Carpinus tschonoskii MAX and its intracellular protective mechanism on 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced oxidative damage in PC12 cells. We found that pretreatment of PC12 cells with C. tschonoskii extract significantly inhibited the cell death induced by 6-OHDA in a dose dependent manner. C. tschonoskii extract decreased 6-OHDA-induced apoptotic events such as chromatin condensation, DNA fragmentation, the decrease of Bcl-2/Bax ratio, caspase-3 activation and PARP cleavage. C. tschonoskii extract also reduced generation of 6-OHDA-induced reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide. Furthermore, C. tschonoskii extract up-regulated the myocyte enhancer factor 2 D (MEF2D), a critical transcription factor for neuronal survival, and Akt activity, whereas it inhibited the activity of ERK1/2 and JNK. The results suggest that C. tschonoskii extract decreases 6-OHDA-induced oxidative stress and could prevent PC12 cell apoptosis induced by 6-OHDA via the up-regulation of MEF2D and Akt activity, and thus may have application in developing therapeutic agents for Parkinson's disease.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.2 s.62
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• pp.1-12
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• 2005

Objectives: Malignant gliomas are often treated with cisplatin (cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II), CDDP) and radiation but results remain unsatisfactory. Since malignant glioma displays moderate resistance to conventional therapy, a new treatment modality is needed to improve the outcome of patients with these tumors. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the combined use of Jongjihwan(JJH) and cisplatin(CDDP) on cultured malignant glioma cells, A172. Methodss & Results: The combined use of cisplatin and Jeongjihwan had synergistic effects on Al72 cells during 24 hr-incubation, This treatment resulted in a decrease of cell viability, Which was revealed as apoptosis Characterized by activation of caspase-3 protease as well as cleavage of poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) with change of mitochondria membrane potential transition. The expression of members of the Bcl-2 protein family was modulated during co-treatment with Jeongjihwan and cisplatin. Activation of caspase-3 and mitochondrial alterations were central to co-treatment with Jeongjihwan and cisplatin-induced apoptosis. Conclusions: We conclude that co-treatment with Jeongjihwan and cisplatin-induced activation of the mitochondrial pathway enables cell death. Also, we suggest the combined theory of JJH and cisplatin could be a useful method for glioblastoma.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.504-510
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• 2017

Inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-B kinase beta ($IKK{\beta}$) plays a critical role in cell proliferation and inflammation in various cells by activating $NF-{\kappa}B$ signaling. However, the interrelationship between peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ${\alpha}$ ($PPAR{\alpha}$) and $IKK{\beta}$ in cell proliferation is not clear. In this study, we investigated the possible role of $PPAR{\alpha}$ in the hepatic cell death in the absence of $IKK{\beta}$ gene using liver-specific Ikkb-null ($Ikkb^{F/F-AlbCre}$) mice. To examine the function of $PPAR{\alpha}$ activation in hepatic cell death, wild-type ($Ikkb^{F/F}$) and $Ikkb^{F/F-AlbCre}$ mice were treated with $PPAR{\alpha}$ agonist Wy-14,643 (0.1% w/w chow diet) for two weeks. As a result of Wy-14,643 treatment, apoptotic markers including caspase-3 cleavage, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage and TUNEL-positive staining were significantly decreased in the $Ikkb^{F/F-AlbCre}$ mice. Surprisingly, Wy-14,643 increased the phosphorylation of p65 and STAT3 in both Ikkb and $Ikkb^{F/F-AlbCre}$ mice. Furthermore, BrdU-positive cells were significantly increased in both groups after treatment with Wy-14,643. Our results suggested that $IKK{\beta}-derived$ hepatic apoptosis could be altered by $PPAR{\alpha}$ activation in conjunction with activation of $NF-{\kappa}B$ and STAT3 signaling.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.1036-1046
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• 2015

Extracts from Asian medicinal herbs are known to be successful therapeutic agents against cancer. In this study, the effects of three types of herbal extracts on anti-tumor growth were examined. Among the three types of herbal extracts, H9 showed stronger anti-tumor growth effects than H5 and H11 in vivo. To find the molecular mechanism by which H9 inhibited the proliferation of breast cancer cell lines, the levels of apoptotic markers were examined. Proapoptotic markers, including cleaved PARP and cleaved caspases 3 and 9, were increased, whereas the anti-apoptotic marker Bcl-2 was decreased by H9 treatment. Next, the combined effect of H9 with the chemotherapeutic drugs doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide (AC) on tumor growth was examined using 4T1-tumor-bearing mice. The combined treatment of H9 with AC did not show additive or synergetic anti-tumor growth effects. However, when tumor-bearing mice were co-treated with H9 and the targeted anti-tumor drug trastuzumab, a delay in tumor growth was observed. The combined treatment of H9 and trastuzumab caused an increase of natural killer (NK) cells and a decrease of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC). Taken together, H9 induces the apoptotic death of tumor cells while increasing anti-tumor immune activity through the enhancement of NK activity and diminishment of MDSC.