• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.71 no.3
• /
• pp.163-171
• /
• 2011

Recently published articles on interstitial lung disease (ILD) have focused on the accurate diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), serum biomarkers, acute exacerbation of IPF, the prognostic factors of ILD and the trial of new treatment. In particular, reports on the serum biomarkers such as CC-chemokine ligand 18, surfactant protein, circulating fibrocytes, and acute exacerbation of IPF are sufficient to be mentioned here. Pirfenidone therapy is the most important trial for the treatment of IPF. Other newer treatment trials such as interferon-gamma, sildenafil and imatinib have been reported to be unsuccessful. On the other hand, the sirolimus trial for lymphangioleiomyomatosis is promising. Combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema and IgG4-related disease are established to be the new disease entities of ILD.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.64 no.3
• /
• pp.177-186
• /
• 2008

호산구성 폐렴은 혈중 호산구가 $1,000/mm^3$ 이상이거나 폐포 내 호산구 분획이 25% 이상으로 나타나는 다양한 폐 질환을 총괄하여 부르는 용어이다. 혈중 호산구증가증은 특발성 급성 호산구 폐렴의 초기나 이미 부신피질호르몬 제제를 투여받은 환자에서는 나타나지 않을 수 있다. 호산구성 폐렴은 무증상의 폐 침윤에서 기계 환기가 필요한 급성 호흡 부전 증후군까지 증상의 중증도도 다양하다. 호산구성 폐렴의 원인으로 약제나 기생충이 있지만 많은 경우 원인을 찾을 수 없다. 폐 외 증상이 동반될 경우 Churg-Strauss 증후군이나 과다호산구증가 증후군의 가능성을 생가해야 되며 이런 경우 심장을 침범하였는지 여부에 따라 예후가 결정된다. 가능한 원인에 대한 노출을 피하는 것 외에는, 부신피질호르몬 제제 투여가 가장 중요하며 대부분 극적인 호전을 보인다. 하지만 약제의 감량 중이나 치료 종결 후 재발하는 경우가 자주 있다. HES의 골수 증식성 변이형 치료에 imatinib의 효과가 최근 입증 되었다.

• Korean journal of aerospace and environmental medicine
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.80-82
• /
• 2020

Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GISTs) are relatively uncommon soft tissue sarcomas that can be located in any part of the digestive system. GISTs originate in specialized nerve cells located in the walls of the digestive system. This case report is about a 53-year-old airman who was recently diagnosed as peritoneal GISTs. He got a surgical removal of the tumor and chemotherapy, including imatinib (Gleevec^®). Although his GISTs have shown excellent clinical progress, he still needs ongoing treatment. This case involves an airline pilot applicant for Class-I medical certification who has had GISTs under chemotherapy.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.745-752
• /
• 2018

Melanogenesis is involved in the pigmentation of the hair, eyes, and skin in living organisms. Various signaling pathways stimulated by ${\alpha}-MSH$, SCF/c-Kit, $Wnt/{\beta}-catenin$, nitric oxide and ultraviolet activate melanocyte, leading to melanin production by tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein (TRP)-1, and TRP-2 expressed via the microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF). However, the abnormal regulation of melanogenesis causes dermatological issues such as graying hair and vitiligo. Therefore, the activators that promote melanogenesis are crucial for the prevention of graying hair and the treatment of hypopigmentary disorders. Many melanogenesis stimulators have been studied for the development of novel drugs derived from synthesized compounds and natural products. Here, in addition to providing a description of a common signaling pathway in the melanogenesis of graying hair and the vitiligo process for the development of novel anti-hair graying agents, this article reviews natural herbs and the active ingredients that promote melanin synthesis as a pharmaceutical agent for the treatment of vitiligo. In particular, compounds such as Imatinib and Sugen with a stimulating effect on melanogenesis as a side effect of the drugs, are also introduced. Recent advances in research on natural plant extracts such as Polygonum multiflorum, Rhynchosia Nulubilis, Black oryzasativa, and Orysa sartiva, widely known as traditional and medicinal extracts, are also reviewed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.22
• /
• pp.9961-9966
• /
• 2014

Background: Some reports have suggested that chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients have a higher prevalence of M-bcr than acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients, which show a higher prevalence of m-bcr. However, the relationship between BCR-ABL subtypes and progression of CML and ALL remains unclear. Materials and Methods: 354 CML chronic phase (CML-CP) patients, 26 CML blastic phase (CML-BP) patients and 72 ALL patients before treatment with BCR-ABL positive were recruited for blood routine examination and bone marrow smear cytology. Some 80 CML-CP and 32 ALL patients after imatinib (IM) treatment were followed-up for BCR-ABL relative concentrations detected after treatment for 3, 6 and 9 months and 1 year. Results: Before treatment, CML-CP patients showed lower BCR-ABL relative concentrations with a higher proportion of M-bcr (42.7%) compared to CML-BP and ALL patients while ALL patients had a higher BCR-ABL relative concentration with high expression of m-bcr (51.4%). Patients with M-bcr demonstrated higher WBC counts than those with m-bcr and the mixed group and higher PLT counts were noted in the CML-CP and ALL groups. After imatinib (IM) treatment, patients with m-bcr showed higher BCR-ABL relative concentrations in both CML-CP and ALL groups. Conclusions: This study identified the BCR-ABL gene as an important factor in CML and ALL cases. The M-bcr subtype was associated more with CML while the m-bcr subtype was associated more with ALL. Patients with m-bcr seem to have a poorer response to IM in either CML or ALL patients compared to M-bcr patients.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.104-109
• /
• 2008

Purpose: To investigate the clinicopathlogical characteristics and the surgical methods for gastric submucosal tumors in Korea, the Information Committee of the Korean Gastric Cancer Association performed a nationwide survey. Materials and Methods: Data on 878 patients who underwent resection from 2005 to 2006 were collected from medical records obtained from 47 institutes. Diagnosis, demographics, symptoms, tumor factors (location, size, degree of malignancy) and operative factors (surgicalmethod and approach, mortality) were analyzed. Results: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) were the most common cancers (n=586, 66.8%), followed by leiomyomas (n=97, 11.1%), schwannomas (n=70, 8.0%), ectopic pancreas (n=67, 7.8%) and carcinoids (n=16, 1.8%). The mean age of patients was 56.0 years and the male to female ratio was 1:1.18. Only 40.9% of the patients had symptoms at the time of diagnosis, such as abdominal pain, dyspepsia and bleeding. Gastric submucosal tumors were most frequently located in the upper third of the stomach and 55.4% of the GISTs (n=319) and 84.5% of the leiomyomas (n=84.5%) were located in the upper third of the stomach. Wedge resection (n=726, 82.8%) was the most common operative method, and laparoscopic surgery was performed in 388 patients (44.2%). Only one patient (0.1%) died within 30 days of surgery. A total of 115 patients withGISTs (21.1%, 115/544) had a high risk of malignancy and 41 patients (8.3%, 45/495) received adjuvant imatinib mesylate therapy. Conclusion: The survey showed that about two-thirds of the patients with a gastric submuscoal tumor (SMT) had a GIST, and about one-half of the patients underwent laparoscopic resection. These data presented in the nationwide survey could be used as a fundamental resource for gastric submucosal tumors in Korea.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.33 no.5
• /
• pp.445-454
• /
• 2023

Hair graying is the result of a malfunction in the signaling pathways that control melanogenesis, and it is activated by UV light, melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH), stem cell factor (SCF), Wnt, and endothelin-1 (ET-1). To prevent hair graying, synthetic and natural compounds can be used to stimulate melanogenesis effectively under the control of tyrosinase, tyrosine hydroxylase, tyrosinase-related protein-1 (TRP-1), TRP-2, and microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF). This article describes a crucial strategy to resolve the problem of hair graying, as well as recent advances in the signaling pathway related to melanogenesis and hair graying. In particular, the article reviews potentially effective therapeutic agents that promote melanogenesis, such as antioxidants that modulate catalase, methionine sulfoxide reductase, and sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) activators including resveratrol, fisetin, quercetin, and ginsenoside. It also discusses vitiligo inhibitors, such as corticosteroids, calcineurin inhibitors, and palmitic acid methyl ester, as well as activators of telomerase expression and activity, including estrogen, androgen, progesterone, and dihydrotestosterone. Furthermore, it explores compounds that can inhibit hair graying, such as latanoprost, erlotinib, imatinib, tamoxifen, and levodopa. In conclusion, this article focuses on recent research trends on compounds that promote melanin production related to hair graying.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.360-368
• /
• 2018

Background: The proportion of pharmaceutical expenditure out of total health-care expenditure in South Korea is high. In 2016, 25.7% of national health insurance (NHI) spending was for pharmaceuticals. Given the increasing demands for the access to newly introduced medicines and following increase in pharmaceutical spending, the management of NHI pharmaceutical expenditure is becoming more difficult. Methods: This study analyzed the data claimed to NHI for pharmaceutical reimbursement from 2010 to 2016. Results: The policy implications with respect to the trends and problems in spending by drug groups were elicited. First, the proportion of off-patent drugs spending which were treated to chronic disease was much higher than anti-cancer drug spending. Second, the spending to the newly introduced high-costed medicine increased, however, current price-reduction mechanism was not sufficient to manage their expenditure efficiently. Conclusion: Our system seems to need several revisions to improve the efficiency of pharmaceutical expenditure and to cope with high-costed medicines. This study suggested that the prices of off-patent drugs need to be regularly readjusted and the Price-Volume Agreement System should be operated more flexibly as well.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.95-98
• /
• 2021

The S100 family proteins act as inducers of cancer cell apoptosis and inflammatory mediators. This study examined the pro-apoptotic mechanism caused by S100A8 and S100A9 in human FIP1L1-PDGFRα-positive eosinophilic leukemia cells. S100A8 and S100A9 elicited the death of EoL-1 cells in a time and dose-dependent manner. The activation of PDGFRα was suppressed by a decrease in PDGFRα after treatment with S100A8 and S100A9. Cycloheximide, a translation inhibitor, suppressed PDGFRα expression from 1 h to 5 h, and a co-treatment with S100A8 and S100A9 boosted the decrease in expression. The phosphorylation and expression of STAT5 decreased after treatment with S100A8 and S100A9 in EoL-1 and imatinib-resistant (EoL-1-IR) cells. S100A8 and S100A9 induced the chemotaxis of EoL-1 cells but did not affect the chemoattraction of EoL-1-IR. These findings indicate the cell death mechanism due to S100 family proteins and the development of leukemia therapy using S100A8 and S100A9.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.3-18
• /
• 2013

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor is the most common mesenchymal tumor in the gastrointestinal tract and is most frequently developed in the stomach in the form of submucosal tumor. The incidence of gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumor is estimated to be as high as 25% of the population when all small and asymptomatic tumors are included. Because gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumor is not completely distinguished from other submucosal tumors, a surgical excisional biopsy is recommended for tumors >2 cm. The surgical principles of gastrointestinal stromal tumor are composed of an R0 resection with a normal mucosa margin, no systemic lymph node dissection, and avoidance of perforation, which results in peritoneal seeding even in cases with otherwise low risk profiles. Laparoscopic surgery has been indicated for gastrointestinal stromal tumors <5 cm, and the indication for laparoscopic surgery is expanded to larger tumors if the above mentioned surgical principles can be maintained. A simple exogastric resection and various transgastric resection techniques are used for gastrointestinal stromal tumors in favorable locations (the fundus, body, greater curvature side). For a lesion at the gastroesophageal junction in the posterior wall of the stomach, enucleation techniques have been tried preserve the organ's function. Those methods have a theoretical risk of seeding a ruptured tumor, but this risk has not been evaluated by well-designed clinical trials. While some clinical trials are still on-going, neoadjuvant imatinib is suggested when marginally unresectable or multiorgan resection is anticipated to reduce the extent of surgery and the chance of incomplete resection, rupture or bleeding.