• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.965-970
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• 2015

Colorectal cancer is one of the most severe subtypes of cancer, and has the highest propensity to manifest as metastatic disease. Because of the lack of knowledge of events that correlate with tumor cell migration and invasion, few therapeutic options are available. The current study aimed to explore the mechanism of colorectal cancer in hope of identifying the ideal target for future treatment. We first discovered the pro-tumor effect of a controversial cell cycle regulator, cylin-dependent kinase inhibitor 3 (CDKN3), which is highly expressed in colorectal cancer, and the possible related signaling pathways, by bioinformatics tools. We found that CDKN3 had remarkable effects in suppressing colorectal cancer cell proliferation and migration, inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in a colorectal cancer cell line, SW480 cells. Our study, for the first time, provided consistent evidence showing overexpression of cell cycle regulator CDKN3, in colorectal cancer. The in vitro studies in SW480 cells revealed a unique role of CDKN3 in regulating cellular behavior of colorectal cancer cells, and implied the possibility of targeting CDKN3 as a novel treatment for colorectal cancer.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.12
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• pp.909-914
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• 2016

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a critical step in the acquisition of the migratory and invasive capabilities associated with metastatic competence. Cysteine-rich protein 61 (CCN1/Cyr61) has been implicated as an important mediator in the proliferation and metastasis of breast cancer. Hence, Cyr61 and associated pathways are attractive targets for therapeutic interventions directed against the EMT. In the present study, we report that baicalein significantly inhibits the expression of Cyr61 and migration and invasion of MDA-MB231 human breast cancer cells. Exposure to baicalein led to increased E-cadherin expression, possibly due to the ubiquitination of Snail and Slug, which was mediated by the Cyr61/Akt/glycogen synthase kinase $3{\beta}$ ($GSK3{\beta}$) pathway. Further analysis revealed that baicalein inhibited the expression of lysyl oxidase like-2 (LOXL-2), which is a functional collaborator of Snail and Slug, and subsequently attenuated the direct interaction between LOXL-2 and Snail or Slug, thereby enhancing $GSK3{\beta}$-dependent Snail and Slug degradation. Our findings provide new insights into the antimetastatic mechanism of baicalein and may contribute to its beneficial use in breast cancer therapies.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2012

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignancy of bone, and patients often develop pulmonary metastasis. The mechanisms underlying osteosarcoma metastasis remain to be elucidated. Recently, anti-inflammatory agents were shown to be useful in the treatment of tumor progression. We previously isolated a natural anti-inflammatory peptide from the seahorse Hippocampus kuda bleeler. Here, we examined the antitumor metastatic activity of this peptide and investigated its mechanism. The peptide significantly inhibited 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced invasive migration of human osteosarcoma MG-63 cells. Its inhibitory effect on invasive migration was associated with reduced expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP1 and MMP2). In addition, TPA stimulation increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and small GTPase Rac1 expression, whereas the peptide decreased ROS generation and Rac1 activation. Taken together, these results suggest that the peptide inhibits invasive migration of MG-63 osteosarcoma cells by inhibiting MMP1 and MMP2 expression through downregulation of Rac1-ROS signaling.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.8-16
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• 2019

Mutations in the ${\beta}-catenin$ gene (CTNNB1) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of some cancers. The recent development of cancer genome databases has facilitated comprehensive and focused analyses on the mutation status of cancer-related genes. We have used these databases to analyze the CTNNB1 mutations assembled from different tumor types. High incidences of CTNNB1 mutations were detected in endometrial, liver, and colorectal cancers. This finding agrees with the oncogenic role of aberrantly activated ${\beta}-catenin$ in epithelial cells. Elevated frequencies of missense mutations were found in the exon 3 of CTNNB1, which is responsible for encoding the regulatory amino acids at the N-terminal region of the protein. In the case of metastatic colorectal cancers, in-frame deletions were revealed in the region spanning exon 3. Thus, exon 3 of CTNNB1 can be considered to be a mutation hotspot in these cancers. Since the N-terminal region of the ${\beta}-catenin$ protein forms a flexible structure, many questions arise regarding the structural and functional impacts of hotspot mutations. Clinical identification of hotspot mutations could provide the mechanistic basis for an oncogenic role of mutant ${\beta}-catenin$ proteins in cancer cells. Furthermore, a systematic understanding of tumor-driving hotspot mutations could open new avenues for precision oncology.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.187-191
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• 2001

Effects of kochujang (Korean red pepper soybean paste) extracts on tumor formation, natural killer (NK) cell activity in spleen and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity in liver were investigated in the sarcoma-180 cell transplanted mice. Inhibitory effects of these samples on lung metastasis of colon 26-M3.1 cells were also evaluated in the Balb/c mice. The injection of methanol extracts from traditional kochujang I (TK I, 0-day fermented), II (TKII, 6-month fermented), commercial kochujang (CK, 1-month fermented) and red pepper powder (RPP) significantly reduced tumor formation in Balb/c mice (p<0.05), TKII decreased tumor growth by 46% compared with control, resulting in the smallest tumor weight. The transplantation of sarcoma-180 cells increased the spleen/body weight ratio of Balb/c mice, while TKI and TKll significantly decreased this index (p<0.05). The effect of TKll and CK, fermented kochujang, on the NK cell activity of splenocytes was higher than that of sarcoma-180 cells transplanted control group. TK II recovered the activity of hepatic GST that was decreased by the transplantation of sarcoma- 180 cells in to the mice. All kochujang-treated mice had significantly fewer lung metastatic colonies than control mice. TKII was the most effective in inhibiting lung metastasis of colon 26-M3.1 cells. These results indicated that optimally ripened (6-month) TK had more suppressive effects on tumor formation and lung metastasis than RPP and kochujang without fermentation and commercially prepared kochujang in mice.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2015.10a
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• pp.958-960
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• 2015

Sickle cells possess a unique combination of traits that may enable their use as models for novel synthetic tumor targeting controlled release drug carriers with the ability to treat disseminated tumors in advanced metastatic disease. In this study, we assess the ability of light-activated release sickle cells to enhance tumor delivery of the fluorescent dye calcein by delayed photolysis controlled release compared to free systemic administration of calcein. Sickle cells from mouse models of the disease were shown to preferentially accumulate in tumors compared to adjacent tissue, in 4T1 tumors in mice on a time scale about 12 hours. Sickle cells photosensitized with protoporphyrin IX achieved delayed release of 50% of contents 8-16 hours after photoactivation, which was deemed useful for in vivo delivery of cargo to tumors given the tumor accumulation time of the sickle cells. Sickle cells may be useful as a model for new synthetic drug carrier particles with delayed photolysis controlled release properties.

• Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.88-94
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• 2016

Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignant disease in women. The patients with advanced breast cancer develop metastasis to bone. Bone metastasis and skeletal-related events by breast cancer are frequently associated with the invasiveness of breast cancer cells and osteoclasts-mediated bone resorption. Forsythia koreana is used in oriental traditional medicine to treat asthma, atopy, and allergic diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the inhibitory effects of F. koreana extracts on the invasion of breast cancer cells and bone resorption by osteoclasts. Methods: Cell viability was measured by an MTT assay and the migration and invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells were detected by a Boyden chamber assay. The formation of osteoclasts and pit was detected using tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase staining and calcium phosphate-coated plates, respectively. The activities of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and cathepsin K were evaluated by gelatin zymography and a cathepsin K detection kit. Results: The fruit and leaf extracts of F. koreana significantly inhibited the invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells at noncytotoxic concentrations. The fruit extract of F. koreana reduced the transforming growth factor ${\beta}1-induced$ migration, invasion and MMPs activities of MDA-MB-231 cells. In addition, the fruit, branch, and leaf extracts of F. koreana also inhibited the receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand-induced osteoclast formation and osteoclast-mediated bone-resorbing activity by reducing the activities of MMPs and cathepsin K. Conclusions: The extracts of F. koreana may possess the potential to inhibit the breast cancer-induced bone destruction through blocking invasion of breast cancer cells, osteoclastogenesis, and the activity of mature osteoclasts.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.112-118
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• 1992

Neck mass as a primary presenting sign is a common problem that physicians and surgeons alike have to face but conclusive diagnosis cna be made only by histopathological examination. During the period of four years from January 1988 to December 1991, three hundred sixteen diagnostic incisional or excisional biopsies of the neck masses were performed at the outpatient department of Surgery, Seoul National University Hospital and tissue diagnoses were confirmed by histopatholotical examination. On which a clinical analysis was performed and its results were compared with the results of one hundred fifteen Fine Needle Aspiration Cytologic examinations on neck masses during the same period. The results were as follows: In the histologic types of neck masses. inflammatory disease was the most common (58.2%), metastatic malignant tumor(22.5%), benign tumor(15.2%). primary malignant tumor(0.4%) in decreasing order. Among the individual lesions. tuberculous lymphadenitis was the most common(29.4%) and nonspecific lymphadenitis was the next. Of overall sexual distribution, female preponderated by a ratio of 1.15:1, but in the primary and metastatic malignancies, male did by a ratio of 1.60:1 and 1.53:1, respectively. The most common age group was third decade(26.8%), and fourth decade was the next(20.9%) but in malignant tumors. sixth decade was the most commom. The duration of symptom between one and three months(33.8%), was the most common and between three and six month was the next but the difference between the individual diseases was not significant. Of the metastatic tumor of seventy one cases, primary site was found in fifty cases(84.2%) and stomach cancer was the most comon primary site. In the result of the Fine Needle Aspiration Cytologic(FNAC) examinations, positive for mlignant cells was the most common(33.1%), following the frequencies with tuberculosis(22.6%), and nonspecific lymphadenitis(16.5%) in decreasing order. Eleven cases of FNAC underwent diagnostic biopsies and the diagnostic accuracy of FNAC was 83.3%. Conclusively, in our study, tuberculous lymphadenitis was the most common histologic type, female was predominant third decade was the most common age group. the duration of symptom between one and three month was the most common and in the metastatic tumors, stomach cancer was the most common primary site.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.53-57
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• 2013

There is no established treatment for esophageal carcinoma with metastasis. For the metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, chemotherapy or best supportive care according to patient's performance status are accepted as an available treatment. We report a case of complete remission after concurrent chemoradiotherapy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with metastatic lesion in 5th thoracic vertebrae. A 57-year-old man with ongoing dysphagia and weight loss was admitted to our hospital. On the endoscopic and radiologic imaging evaluation,the patient was diagnosed as a squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus with solitary metastatic lesion in 5th thoracic vertebrae. The patient was treated with combination chemotherapy (5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and cisplatin) and concurrent radiotherapy for two months to relieve dysphagia. Because metastatic lesion in thoracic vertebrae was located near the primary esophageal tumor, the metastatic lesion could be included within the radiation field. After concurrent chemoradiotherapy, consecutive 4 cycles of chemotherapy had been carried out. Primary esophageal tumor with metastatic lymph nodes and metastatic lesion in 5th thoracic vertebrae disappeared on follow up computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography-CT (PET-CT). Follow up endoscopic biopsy revealed no remnant malignant cells at previous primary cancer lesion.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.332-337
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• 1996

Purpose : It has been known that the activity of extracellular matrix degradative enzymes such as collagenase correlate well with the metastatic potential of various tumor cells in experimental study. This study was aimed at comparing the activities of type IV collagenase with bone scan findings in patients with breast cancer. Materials and Methods : We retrospectively correlated bone scan findings with the results of immunohistochemical staining for 92kDa, 72kDa type IV collagenase in 28, and 30 patients with metastatic breast cancer, respectively, as well as 23, and 27 patients with primary breast cancer, respectively. The immunohistochemical staining was performed with tissue specimens obtained from primary or metastatic breast tumor lesions. The amounts of the enzyme were graded from 0 to 4 and scored by multiplication with the percentage of tumor cells. The confidence of bone scan interpretation for metastasis was also scored from 1 to 5 with increasing probability. Results : There was a significant difference in enzyme scores between patients with and without metastasis. In patients with primary breast cancer group, the frequency of patients with enzyme score of less than 170 were 96%(26/27) and 100%(26/26) with 92kDa and 72kDa collagenase, respectively. In contrast, in patients with metastatic breast cancer group, the frequency of patients with enzyme score of more than 200 were 93%(28/30) and 87%(26/30) with 92kDa and 72kDa collagenase, respectively. All patients with each enzyme score of less than 170 show no active bony metastasis, however, there were variable bone scan findings in patients with each enzyme score of more than 200. Conclusion : Bone scan is useful to confirm, localize or follow up of bony metastasis in patients with each enzyme scores of more than 200. Acitve metastatic lesions were hardly seen on the bone scintigraphy in patients with collagenase scores of less than 170.