• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.160-168
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• 2004

Background : The role of second-line chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is known to be limited. Recently, ZD1839, the small molecule epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has been developed and has shown anti-tumor activity in patients with solid malignant tumors including lung cancer. We evaluated the response rate and toxicities of ZD1839 in patients with advanced NSCLC which has progressed after previous chemotherapy. Patients and Methods : We examined 83 patients with advanced NSCLC treated with ZD1839 for more than 1 month in Korea Cancer Center Hospital during the period from January 2002 to September 2003. All the patients were enrolled in the international expanded access program (EAP) with ZD1839 by AstraZeneca. The administered dose of ZD1839 was 250 mg once daily. Chest radiography and laboratory tests were followed-up. We evaluated the response rate, median survival, and toxicity after treatment. Results : Median age of the patients was 59 years (range 33-76). The most predominant cell type was adenocarcinoma and the most stage of the patients was IV. ECOG performance status was as follows; grade 0-1 in 10, grade 2 in 42, and grade 3 in 31 patients. Partial response was achieved in 12 patients (14.5%). Median overall survival was 9.2 (range 1.3-21.6+) months and median time to progression was 3.1 (range 1-21.2+) months. The most common adverse effect of ZD1839 was skin eruption which developed in 25 patients (25.8%). Significantly higher response rate and survival was found in patients with adenocarcinoma or good performance status. Conclusion : ZD1839 showed modest activity and tolerable toxicity in the treatment for patients with NSCLC which has progressed after previous chemotherapy.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.7
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• pp.929-937
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of Acanthopanax senticosus extract (ASE) (ethanol : DW=1:1, v/v) on inhibition of type 2 diabetes using an OLETF rat model via regulation of HbA1c and AGEs levels. Supplementation with ASE 0.1% and 0.5% effectively lowered levels of glucose, insulin, oral glucose tolerance test, and Homa-insulin resistance, suggesting reduced insulin resistance. Blood levels of HbA1c and AGEs were significantly reduced in a dose-dependent manner. As oxidative stress plays a key role in accelerating production of HbA1c and AGEs, which worsen symptoms of type 2 diabetes, levels of malonaldehyde and pro-inflammatory cytokines were measured. Lipid peroxidation in both blood and liver tissues was significantly reduced, and induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-${\beta}$ and tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$, which elevate production of HbA1c and AGEs, was inhibited (P<0.05). To evaluate the possible cellular events after AGEs receptor activation, genetic expression of protein kinase C (PKC)-${\delta}$ and transforming growth factor (TGF)-${\beta}$ was measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Supplementation with both ASE 0.1% and 0.5% significantly inhibited mRNA expression of PKC-${\delta}$ and TGF-${\beta}$, indicating that ASE may have beneficial effects on preventing insulin-resistant cells or tissues from progressing to diabetic complications. Taken together, ASE has potential to improve type 2 diabetes by inhibiting insulin resistance and protein glycosylation, including production of HbA1c and AGEs. Anti-oxidative activities of ASE are a main requisite for reducing production of HbA1c and AGEs and are also related to regulation of the PKC signaling pathway, resulting in suppression of TGF-${\beta}$, which increases synthesis of collagen, prostaglandin, and disease-related proteins.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.597-603
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• 1997

Orostachys japonicus, Wasong as herb medicine, has been artificially cultivated as an anti-tumor medicinal. The experiment was carried out to examine the effect of natural daylength as control or night-break treatment (NB) imposed at June 20, July 18 or Aug. 15 on its growth, dry weights of leaf and bract, stem, floret and root, and morphological characters including bolting and floret flowering. After a plant was grown in a 15cm plastic pot containing a 2 : 1 soil : peat moss mixture on May 23, three treatments with above differing night-break had been imposed around midnight up to Nov. 7. The plants were sampled 3 times at the same day forced to night-break and then done 6 times by 2-week interval after the final NB. Plant height and inflorescence length of all the NB increased with delayed NB but declined in comparison with the natural daylength. No. of leaves including bracts showed similar response to plant height although NB given before July 18 showed less leaves and bracts. Stem diameters of NB were continuously increased to middle Sept. to middle Oct. while that of natural daylength decreased after middle Oct. Natural daylength or NB given on Aug. 15 had greater fraction, shoot and total dry weights resulting from increment of leaf and bract up to Aug. or of floret, stem and root after Sept. The earlier NB, the later formation of florets and the less number of flowering florets whereas in natural daylength florets on inflorescence begun to be formed from middle Sept. were sharply increased up to middle Oct. when all the plants were flowered. Bolting was not formed in the plant of the earliest NB of June 20, and thereby no anthesis of florets up to early Nov. It was concluded that year-round cultivation of Orostachys japonicus plants was possible through controlling the NB timing because its bolting and flowering of florets separately occurred.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.236-242
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• 1996

Orostachys japonjcus, called Wasong in herb medicine, has been artificially cultivated as an anti-tumor medicinal. The experiment was done to examine the effect of night-break periods imposed immediately before its bolting time on its morphological, flowering-related characters and fraction dry weights. After a plant was grown in a 15cm plastic pot containing a 2:1 soil:Peat moss mixture for about 3 months, three different night-break periods (0.5, 1 and 2 hours) around midnight were treated from Aug. 24. to compare with the natural daylength. The plants were sampled 6 times by 2-week interval after the treatments. Plant height and inflorescence length of all the treatments inclined with time lapse after the treatment and were shorter in 2 hour night-break due to slow increment than in the other treatments, while stem diameter showed reverse result. All the treatments except 2 hour night -break were nearly same in fraction, shoot and total dry weights per plant; two hour night-break treatment had greater leaf and bract weight from 6 weeks, greater stem, shoot and total weights from 2 weeks and greater root weight from 4 weeks but did less floret weight after the treatment. Although florets on the inflorescence were formed in 2 hour night-break treatment, flowering florets and flowering plants never occurred. In the other treatments showed the similar response, however, more florets appeared from 2 weeks, flowering florets was sharply increased from 6 weeks and flowering plants were reached up to 100% from 6 to 8 weeks after the treatment. Inflorescence length or number of total florets per plant in 2 hour night-break was positive-correlated to all the fraction dry weights except that those of natural daylength was not done, meaning that its artificial cultivation should permit bolting to secure more shoot dry matter.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2009

This study was carried out to investigate the mutagenic, antimutagenic, cytotoxicity and antitumor effects of Adenophora triphylla (AT). AT was extracted with 70% ethanol and then further fractionated to hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, butanol and water. Antimutagenic, cytotoxicity and antitumor effects of AT extracts were measured by using Ames test, SRB method, and the tumor growth inhibition test. AT extracts did not show any mutagenicity in the Ames test; however, 70% ethanol extracts and its fractions had strong antimutagenic effects against mutation induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) and 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO). The ethyl acetate fraction of AT (200 ${\mu}g$/plate) showed approximately 66.5% inhibitory effect on the mutagenesis induced by 4NQO against TA98 strain, whereas 83.3% and 75.1% inhibitions were observed on the mutagenesis induced by MNNG and 4NQO against TA100 strain. In anticancer effects, the cytotoxicity of AT extract and its fractions against cancer cell lines including human cervical adenocarcinoma (HeLa), human hepatocellular carcinoma (Hep3B), human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7), human gastric carcinoma (AGS), human lung carcinoma (A549) and transformed primary human embryo kidney (293) were investigated. The treatment of 1 mg/mL AT ethyl acetate faction had the highest cytotoxicity of 79.9%, 74.9%, 66.0%, 71.0% and 74.3% against HeLa, Hep3B, MCF-7, AGS and A549 cells, respectively. In contrast, the extract and its fractions showed only $3{\sim}36%$ cytotoxicity for a normal human kidney cell line (293). In vivo anti-cancer effect of Adenophora triphylla extract was tested using Balb/c mice transplanted sarcoma-180 cells. Adenophora triphylla ethyl acetate fraction showed the highest inhibition rate of 37.2% at the 50 mg/kg concentration.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.33-42
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• 2007

Background: Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is known to modulates the cellular functions, including cell proliferation and apoptosis. It is known that a high level of HO-1 expression is found in many tumors, and HO-1 plays an important role in rapid tumor growth on account of its antioxidant and antiapoptotic effects. Cisplatin is a widely used anti-cancer agent for the treatment of lung cancer. However, the development of resistance to cisplatin is a major obstacle to its use in clinical treatment. We previously demonstrated that inhibiting HO-1 expression through the transcriptional activation of Nrf2 induces apoptosis in A549 cells. The aim of this study was to determine of the inhibiting HO-1 enhance the chemosensitivity of A549 cells to cisplatin. Materials and Methods: The human lung cancer cell line, A549, was treated cisplatin, and the cell viability was measured by a MTT assay. The change in HO-1, Nrf2, and MAPK expression after the cisplatin treatment was examined by Western blotting. HO-1 inhibition was suppressed by ZnPP, which is a specific pharmacologic inhibitor of HO activity, and small interfering RNA (siRNA). Flow cytometry analysis and Western blot were performed in to determine the level of apoptosis. The level of hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) generation was monitored fluoimetrically using 2',7'-dichlorofluorescein diacetate. Results: The A549 cells showed more resistance to the cisplatin treatment than the other cell lines examined, whereas cisplatin increased the expression of HO-1 and Nrf2, as well as the phosphorylation of MAPK in a time-dependent fashion. Inhibitors of the MAPK pathway blocked the induction of HO-1 and Nrf2 by the cisplatin treatment in A549 cells. In addition, the cisplatin-treated A549 cells transfected with dither the HO-1 small interfering RNA (siRNA) or ZnPP, specific HO-1 inhibitor, showed in a more significantly decrease in viability than the cisplatin-only-treated group. The combination treatment of ZnPP and cisplatin caused in a marked increase in the ROS generation and a decrease in the HO-1 expression. Conclusion: Cisplatin increases the expression of HO-1, probably through the MAPK-Nrf2 pathway, and the inhibition of HO-1 enhances the chemosensitivity of A549 cells to cisplatin.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.417-425
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• 2017

Cnidium monnieri (L.) Cusson is distributed in China and Korea, and the fruit of C. monnieri is used as traditional Chinese medicine to treat carbuncle and pain in female genitalia. In this study, we examined the anti-proliferation and cell cycle arrest effects of ethanol extracts from C. monnieri (CME) in AGS gastric cancer cells. Our results show that CME suppressed cell proliferation and induced release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in AGS cells by 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide assay and LDH assay. Cell morphology was altered by CME in a dose-dependent manner. In order to identify the cell cycle arrest effects of CME, we investigated cell cycle analysis after CME treatment. In our results, CME induced cell cycle arrest at G1 phase. Protein kinase B (Akt) plays a major role in cell survival mechanisms such as growth, division, and metastasis. Akt protein regulates various downstream proteins such as glycogen synthase kinase-$3{\beta}$ (GSK-$3{\beta}$) and tumor protein p53 (p53). Expression levels of p-Akt, p-GSK-$3{\beta}$, p53, p21, cyclin E, and cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) were determined by Western blot analysis. Protein levels of p-Akt, p-GSK-$3{\beta}$, and cyclin E were reduced while those of p53, p21, and p-CDK2 (T14/Y15) were elevated by CME. Moreover, treatment with CME, LY294002 (phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt inhibitor), BIO (GSK-$3{\beta}$ inhibitor), and Pifithrin-${\alpha}$ (p53 inhibitor) showed that cell cycle arrest effects were mediated through regulation of the Akt/GSK-$3{\beta}$/p53 signaling pathway. These results suggest that CME induces cell cycle arrest at G1 phase via the Akt/GSK-$3{\beta}$/p53 signaling pathway in AGS gastric cancer cells.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.485-496
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• 2002

Background : The NF-${\kappa}B$ transcription factors control various biological processes including the immune response, acute phase reaction and cell cycle regulation. NF-${\kappa}B$ complexes are retained in the cytoplasm in the basal state and various stimuli cause a translocation of the NF-${\kappa}B$ complexes into the nucleus where they bind to the ${\kappa}B$ elements and regulate the transcription of the target genes. Recent reports also suggest that NF-${\kappa}B$ proteins are involved in oncogenesis, tumor growth and metastasis. High expression of NF-${\kappa}B$ expression was reported in many cancer cell lines and tissues. The constitutive activation of NF-${\kappa}B$ was also reported in several cancer cell lines supporting its role in cancer development and survival. The anti-apoptotic action of NF-${\kappa}B$ is important for cancer survival. NF-${\kappa}B$ also controls the expression of several proteins that are important for cellular adhesion (ICAM-1, VCAM-1) suggesting a role in cancer metastasis. In lung cancer, high expression levels of the NF-${\kappa}B$ subunit p50 and c-Rel were reported. In fact, high expression does not mean a high activity, and the activation pattern of NF-${\kappa}B$ in lung cancer has not been reported. Materials and Methods : In this study, the NF-${\kappa}B$ nuclear binding activity in the basal and TNF-${\alpha}$ stimulated states were exmined in various lung cancer cell lines and compared with the normal bronchial epithelial cell line. Twelve lung cancer cell lines including the non-small cell and small cell lung cancer cell lines (A549, NCI-H358, NCI-H441, NCI-H552, NCI-H2009, NCI-H460, NCI-H1229, NCI-H1703, NCI-H157, NCI-H187, NCI-H417, NCI-H526) and BEAS-2B bronchial epithelial cell line were used. To evaluate the NF-${\kappa}B$ expression and DNA binding activity, western blot analysis and an electrophoretic mobility shift assay with the nuclear protein extracts. Results : The basal expressions of the p65 and p50 subunits were observed in the BEAS-2B cell line and all lung cancer cell lines except for NCI-H358 and NCI-H460. The expression levels of p65 and p50 were increased 30 minutes after stimulation with TNF-${\alpha}$ in BEAS-2B and in 10 lung cancer cell lines. In the NCI-H358 and NCI-H460 cell lines, p65 expression was not observed in the basal and stimulated states and the two p50 related protein levels were higher after stimulation with TNF-${\alpha}$ These new proteins were smaller than p50 and are thought to be variants of p50. In the basal state, NF-${\kappa}B$ was nearly activated in the BEAS-2B and all lung cancer cell lines. The DNA binding activity of the NF-${\kappa}B$ complexes was markedly higher after stimulation with TNF-${\alpha}$ In the BEAS-2B and all lung cancer cell line except for NCI-H358 and NCI-H460, the activated NF-${\kappa}B$ complex was a p65/p50 heterodimer. In the NCI-H358 and NCI-H460 lung cancer cell lines, the NF-${\kappa}B$ complex was variant of a p50/p50 homodimer. Conclusion : The NF-${\kappa}B$ activation pattern in the lung cancer cell lines and the normal bronchial epithelial cell lines was similar except for the activation of a variant of the p50/p50 homodimer in some lung cancer cell linse.