• The Zoological Society Korea : Newsletter
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.6-11
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• 2001

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor $\alpha$ (PPAR$\alpha$)에 대한 본격적인 연구는 고지혈증 치료제인 fibrate류의 약물들이 PPAR$\alpha$ activator로 작용한다는 사실이 밝혀짐으로써 크게 증대되었다. PPAR$\alpha$는 fibrate를 포함한 다양한 종류의 peroxisome proiferator (PP)에 의해 활성화되는데 이들을 쥐에 단기간 투여할 경우 간의 peroxisome수와 지 방산 산화효소의 유전자발현이 증가되고 장기간 투여 할 경우 간암을 발생시키지만, fibrate류의 약물들을 고지혈증 환자에게 투여 할 경우 간암을 발생시키지 않으므로써 PP에 대한 반응성에 있어서 species difference를 나타낸다 PPAR$\alpha$는 핵에 존재하는 orphan receptor로서 PP에 의해 활성화되어 9-cis-retinoic acid receptor(RXR)와 heterodimer를 이룬 후 target gene들의 upstream에 있는 peroxisome proliferator response element (PPRE)에 결합하여 target gene들의 발현을 조절한다. 지금까지 연구된 PPAR$\alpha$의 target gene들은 모두 lipid와 lipoprotein 대사를 조절하는 것으로 알려져 있으며, 이러 한 결과들을 기초로 lipid 대사 및 energy balance와 관련된 질병들 - 동맥경화증, 관상동맥질환, 비만, 제 2형 당뇨병 등에서 PPAR$\alpha$의 역할이 집중적으로 연구되고 있다. PPAR$\alpha$가 활성화되면 lipoprotein lipase와 HDL이 증가되고 apo C-III가 감소됨으로써 동맥경화증에 대한 예방적 기능을 나타내고, 몸무게를 감소시킴으로써 비만을 방지할 수 있으며, 인슐린 감수성을 증가시켜 제 2형 당뇨병의 치료효과를 가지는 것으로 보인다. 그러나 PPAR$\alpha$-null mouse에서는 이러한 효과들이 나타나지 않는 것으로 보아 이들 질병에서 PPAR$\alpha$가 중요한 역할을 하는 것으로 생각된다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.70-70
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• 2003

Estrogen receptor is a ligand-activated transcription factor. Its action depends on the receptor, its ligand, and its coactivator proteins. As a consequence, the concentration of the receptor is a major component that governs the magnitude of the estrogen response. Despite the extensive knowledge on mechanism of estrogen receptor action, regulation of estrogen receptor itself is not very well understood. Estrogen receptor is known to be downregulated under hypoxia leading to inhibition of estrogen receptor mediated transcription activation. We have studied mechanism of loss of estrogen responsiveness under hypoxia. We found that Hif-l${\alpha}$, a major transcription factor regulating hypoxic response, inhibited transcription of estrogen response element driven luciferase gene by expression of HIF-l${\alpha}$/vp16 construct designed to contain transcription activity under normoxia. This loss of estrogen responsiveness appears to be the result of ER${\alpha}$ downregulation. ER${\alpha}$was downregulated at the levels of ligand-biding and protein within l2-24h, and the response was blocked by the proteasome inhibitor MG132, protein synthesis inhibitor cyclohexamide, and tyrosine kinase inhibitor Genistein. These results demonstrate that Hif-l${\alpha}$ downregulates ER${\alpha}$ by proteasome dependent pathway.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.1365-1374
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• 2014

Thirteen analogs of tridecapeptide ${\alpha}$-factor (WHWLQLKPGQPMY) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with C- or N-terminal Trp extension and isosteric replacement by Aib at position 8 and 11, Trp at position 13, D-Ala at position 9, and Orn and Glu at position 6 were synthesized and assayed for their biological activity. Receptor binding assay was carried out using our newly developed spectrophotometric method with detector peptide 14. C- or N-terminal extended analogs, ${\alpha}$-factor-$[Trp]_n$ (n =1-5) 1-5 and $[N-Trp]_1$-${\alpha}$-factor 6, were all less active than native ${\alpha}$-factor and gradual decreases in both activity and receptor affinity were observed with greater Trp extension. Trp-substituted analog at position 13, $[Trp^{13}]{\alpha}$-factor 7, exhibited about 2-fold reductions in both activity and receptor affinity. Aib-substituted analogs, $[Aib^8]{\alpha}$-factor 8 and $[Aib^{11}]{\alpha}$-factor 9, showed 5- to 10-fold reduction in activity as well as 3-fold reduction in receptor affinity compared to native ${\alpha}$-factor. $[Orn^6]{\alpha}$-factor 10 demonstrated strong potency with a 7.0-fold increase in halo activity as well as 1.8-fold increase in receptor affinity compared to native ${\alpha}$-factor. For two double substituted analogs, [$Glu^6,{\small{D}}-Ala^9$]${\alpha}$-factor 12 showed the slightly decreased potency in halo activity compared to analog 10, whereas [$Orn^6,{\small{D}}-Ala^9$]${\alpha}$-factor 11 exhibited 15-fold higher halo activity as well as nearly 3-fold higher receptor affinity compared to native ${\alpha}$-factor.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.489-493
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• 1998

Various heterodimers of the thyroid hormone receptor (TR) with other nuclear hormone receptors confer a wide range of transcriptional activities on thyroid hormone response elements (TREs) in the presence of the thyroid hormone ($T_3$). The present study analyzed the potential roles of retinoid X receptor (RXR) isoforms $\alpha$ and $\beta$ in $T_3$-mediated transcription on a well characterized TRE, a direct repeat of AGGTCA separated by four nucleo-tides (DR4), using electrophoretic mobility shift assays and transient transfection in CV-1 cells. We demonstrated that RXR$\alpha$ supressed liganded $TR_{\alpha}$-induced transcription while $RXR_{\beta}$ did not although both $TR_{\alpha}/RXR_{\alpha}$ and $TR_{\alpha}/RXR_{\beta}$ heterodimers were the predominant forms bound to the TRE-DR4 in the presence of $T_3$. We further demonstrated using Scatchard analysis that the two heterodimers had similar affinities for the TRE-DR4. All these observations suggest that the TRE-DR4 accomodates different types of TR/RXR heterodimers for a more finely tuned transcriptional response to $T_3$.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.4113-4117
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• 2012

Breast cancer is a prevalent heterogeneous malignant disease. Gene expression profiling by DNA microarray can classify breast tumors into five different molecular subtypes: luminal A, luminal B, HER-2, basal and normal-like which have differing prognosis. Recently it has been shown that immunohistochemistry (IHC) markers including estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (Her2), can divide tumors to main subtypes: luminal A (ER+; PR+/-; HER-2-), luminal B (ER+;PR+/-; HER-2+), basal-like (ER-;PR-;HER2-) and Her2+ (ER-; PR-; HER-2+). Some subtypes such as basal-like subtype have been characterized by poor prognosis and reduced overall survival. Due to the importance of the ER signaling pathway in mammary cell proliferation; it appears that epigenetic changes in the $ER{\alpha}$ gene as a central component of this pathway, may contribute to prognostic prediction. Thus this study aimed to clarify the correlation of different IHC-based subtypes of breast tumors with $ER{\alpha}$ methylation in Iranian breast cancer patients. For this purpose one hundred fresh breast tumors obtained by surgical resection underwent DNA extraction for assessment of their ER methylation status by methylation specific PCR (MSP). These tumors were classified into main subtypes according to IHC markers and data were collected on pathological features of the patients. $ER{\alpha}$ methylation was found in 25 of 28 (89.3%) basal tumors, 21 of 24 (87.5%) Her2+ tumors, 18 of 34 (52.9%) luminal A tumors and 7 of 14 (50%) luminal B tumors. A strong correlation was found between $ER{\alpha}$ methylation and poor prognosis tumor subtypes (basal and Her2+) in patients (P<0.001). Our findings show that $ER{\alpha}$ methylation is correlated with poor prognosis subtypes of breast tumors in Iranian patients and may play an important role in pathogenesis of the more aggressive breast tumors.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.442-451
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• 2019

Background: Ginseng has a wide range of beneficial effects on health, such as the mitigation of minor and major inflammatory diseases, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. There are abundant data regarding the health-enhancing properties of whole ginseng extracts and single ginsenosides; however, no study to date has determined the receptors that mediate the effects of ginseng extracts. In this study, for the first time, we explored whether the antiinflammatory effects of Rg3-enriched red ginseng extract (Rg3-RGE) are mediated by retinoid X receptor ${\alpha}$-peroxisome-proliferating receptor ${\gamma}$ ($RXR{\alpha}-PPAR{\gamma}$) heterodimer nuclear receptors. Methods: Nitric oxide assay, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazoliumbromide assay, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, nuclear hormone receptor-binding assay, and molecular docking analyses were used for this study. Results: Rg3-RGE exerted antiinflammatory effects via nuclear receptor heterodimers between $RXR{\alpha}$ and $PPAR{\gamma}$ agonists and antagonists. Conclusion: These findings indicate that Rg3-RGE can be considered a potent antiinflammatory agent, and these effects are likely mediated by the nuclear receptor $RXR{\alpha}-PPAR{\gamma}$ heterodimer.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.640-647
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• 2016

By minimizing fluorescence interference phenomena, aequorin-based luminescence technology can provide a relatively sensitive detection platform with integration of $G{\alpha}16$ protein in order to track internal calcium mobilization by G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR). In this type of cell-based functional assay format, it is essential to optimize the transfection process of a receptor and $G{\alpha}16$ protein. For this study, corticotropin releasing factor receptor subtype 2(CRF2) was set as a model system to generate three stable cells with CRF2 and $G{\alpha}16$ in addition to transiently transfected cells under three different conditions. Agonist (sauvagine) and antagonist (K41498) responses in those cells were analyzed to develop the optimum transfection process. As a result, the effective signal ratio in the dose response experiments of sauvagine and K41498 were at least 10-fold higher (z'=0.77) in CRF2-$G{\alpha}16$ stable cells. For the transient transfection cells, stable expression of $G{\alpha}16$ prior to the CRF2 represented a two-fold higher signal (z'=0.84) than the other cases of transient transfection. In conclusion, for the utilization of transient transfection processes to develop a cell-based GPCR functional assay system, it is suggested to introduce various target receptors after stable expression of $G{\alpha}16$ protein.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2014

Background: Nefopam has shown an analgesic effect on acute pain including postoperative pain. The reuptake of monoamines including serotonin and noradrenaline has been proposed as the mechanism of the analgesic action of nefopam, but it remains unclear. Although alpha-adrenergic agents are being widely used in the perioperative period, the role of noradrenergic modulation in the analgesic effect of nefopam has not been fully addressed. Methods: Changes in the antinociceptive effect of intrathecal (i.t.) nefopam against formalin-elicited flinching responses were explored in Sprague-Dawley rats pretreated with i.t. 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), which depletes spinal noradrenaline. In addition, antagonism to the effect of nefopam by prazosin and yohimbine was evaluated to further elucidate the antinociceptive mechanism of i.t. nefopam. Results: Pretreatment with i.t. 6-OHDA alone did not alter the flinching responses in either phase of the formalin test, while it attenuated the antinociceptive effect of i.t. nefopam significantly during phase 1, but not phase 2. The antagonist of the alpha-2 receptor, but not the alpha-1 receptor, reduced partially, but significantly, the antinociceptive effect of i.t. nefopam during phase 1, but not during phase 2. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that spinal noradrenergic modulation plays an important role in the antinociceptive effect of i.t. nefopam against formalin-elicited acute initial pain, but not facilitated pain, and this action involves the spinal alpha-2 but not the alpha-1 receptor.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6761-6767
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• 2013

The nuclear receptor, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma ($PPAR{\gamma}$), is expressed in various cancer cells including breast, prostate, colorectal and cervical examples. An endogenous ligand of $PPAR{\gamma}$, 15-deoxy-${\Delta}^{12,14}$ prostaglandin $J_2$ (PGJ2), is emerging as a potent anticancer agent but the exact mechanism has not been fully elucidated, especially in breast cancer. The present study compared the anticancer effects of PGJ2 on estrogen receptor alpha ($ER{\alpha}$)-positive (MCF-7) and $ER{\alpha}$-negative (MDA-MB-231) human breast cancer cells. Based on the reported signalling cross-talk between $ER{\alpha}$ and $ER{\alpha}$, the effect of the $ER{\alpha}$ ligand, $17{\beta}$-estradiol (E2) on the anticancer activities of PGJ2 in both types of cells was also explored. Here we report that PGJ2 inhibited proliferation of both MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells by inducing apoptotic cell death with active involvement of mitochondria. The presence of E2 potentiated PGJ2-induced apoptosis in MCF-7, but not in MDA-MB-231 cells. The $ER{\alpha}$ antagonist, GW9662, failed to block PGJ2-induced activities but potentiated its effects in MCF-7 cells, instead. Interestingly, GW9662 also proved capable of inducing apoptotic cell death. It can be concluded that E2 enhances $ER{\alpha}$-independent anticancer effects of PGJ2 in the presence of its receptor.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.55-59
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• 2009

Three dimensional quantitative structure activity relationship between diazabicyclo[4.2.0]octanes and nicotinic acetylcholine receptor($h{\alpha}4{\beta}2$ and $h{\alpha}3{\beta}4$) agonists was studied using comparative molecular field analysis(CoMFA) and comparative molecular similarity indices analysis(CoMSIA). From 11 CoMFA and CoMSIA models, CoMSIA with steric and electrostatic fields gave the best predictive models($q^2=0.926$ and 0.945, ${r^2}_{ncv}=0.983$ and 0.988). This study can be used to develop potent $h{\alpha}4{\beta}2$ receptor agonists with low activity on $h{\alpha}3{\beta}4$ subtype.