• Interdisciplinary Bio Central
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.7.1-7.7
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• 2009

"To be, or not to be?" This question is not only Hamlet's agony but also the dilemma of mitochondria in a cancer cell. Cancer cells have a high glycolysis rate even in the presence of oxygen. This feature of cancer cells is known as the Warburg effect, named for the first scientist to observe it, Otto Warburg, who assumed that because of mitochondrial malfunction, cancer cells had to depend on anaerobic glycolysis to generate ATP. It was demonstrated, however, that cancer cells with intact mitochondria also showed evidence of the Warburg effect. Thus, an alternative explanation was proposed: the Warburg effect helps cancer cells harness additional ATP to meet the high energy demand required for their extraordinary growth while providing a basic building block of metabolites for their proliferation. A third view suggests that the Warburg effect is a defense mechanism, protecting cancer cells from the higher than usual oxidative environment in which they survive. Interestingly, the latter view does not conflict with the high-energy production view, as increased glucose metabolism enables cancer cells to produce larger amounts of both antioxidants to fight oxidative stress and ATP and metabolites for growth. The combination of these two different hypotheses may explain the Warburg effect, but critical questions at the mechanistic level remain to be explored. Cancer shows complex and multi-faceted behaviors. Previously, there has been no overall plan or systematic approach to integrate and interpret the complex signaling in cancer cells. A new paradigm of collaboration and a well-designed systemic approach will supply answers to fill the gaps in current cancer knowledge and will accelerate the discovery of the connections behind the Warburg mystery. An integrated understanding of cancer complexity and tumorigenesis is necessary to expand the frontiers of cancer cell biology.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.510-518
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• 2011

Recent developments and improvements of multiple technological elements including mass spectrometry (MS) instrument, multi-dimensional chromatographic separation, and software tools processing MS data resulted in benefits of large scale proteomics analysis. However, its throughput is limited by the speed and reproducibility of the protein digestion process. In this study, we demonstrated a new method for rapid proteolytic digestion of proteins using acoustic technology. Tryptic digests of BSA prepared at various conditions by super acoustic for optimization time and intensity were analyzed by LC-MS/MS showed higher sequence coverage in compared with traditional 16 hrs digestion method. The method was applied successfully for complex proteins of a breast cancer cells at 30 min of digestion at intensity 2. This new application reduces time-consuming of sample preparation with better efficiency, even with large amount of proteins, and increases high-throughput process in sample preparation state.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.37 no.11
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• pp.833-840
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• 2014

Cullin4-RING ubiquitin ligase (CRL4) is a family of multi-subunit E3 ligases. To investigate the possible involvement of CRL4 in heat stress response, we screened T-DNA insertion mutants of putative CRL4 substrate receptors that exhibited altered patterns in response to heat stress. One of the mutants exhibited heat stress tolerance and was named heat stress tolerant DWD1 (htd1). Introduction of HTD1 gene into htd1-1 led to recovery of heat sensitivity to the wild type level, confirming that the decrease of HTD1 transcripts resulted in heat tolerance. Therefore, HTD1 plays a negative role in thermotolerance in Arabidopsis. Additionally, HTD1 directly interacted with DDB1a in yeast two-hybrid assays and associated with DDB1b in vivo, supporting that it could be a part of a CRL4 complex. Various heat-inducible genes such as HSP14.7, HSP21, At2g03020 and WRKY28 were hyper-induced in htd1-1, indicating that HTD1 could function as a negative regulator for the expression of such genes and that these genes might contribute to thermotolerance of htd1-1, at least in part. HTD1 was associated with HSP90-1, a crucial regulator of thermotolerance, in vivo, even though the decrease of HTD1 did not affect the accumulation pattern of HSP90-1 in Arabidopsis. These findings indicate that a negative role of HTD1 in thermotolerance might be achieved through its association with HSP90-1, possibly by disturbing the action of HSP90-1, not by the degradation of HSP90-1. This study will serve as an important step toward understanding of the functional connection between CRL4-mediated processes and plant heat stress signaling.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.272-277
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• 2006

This study was undertaken to determine whether the 9 herbal complex induces apoptosis in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells and adriamycin-resistant MCF7/adR cells. Ethanol extracts of Bojungbangamtang (BBTE) and acidic polysaccharide of Red Ginseng (GIN) induced cell death in both MCF-7 and MCF7/adR cells. Ethanol extracts of Bojungbangamtang and acidic polysaccharide of Red Ginseng also induced $G_2/M$ cell cycle arrest and increased TUNEL positive cells in MCF7/adR cells. In addition, flow cytometric analysis revealed the decreased expression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) in ethanol extracts of Bojungbangamtang and acidic polysaccharide of Red Ginseng treated MCF7/adR cells. Similarly, decreased protein levels of P-glycoprotein and multidrug resistance associated proteins-1 were also determined by immunocytometry in ethanol extracts of Bojungbangamtang treated MCF7/adR cells. Taken together these data indicate that ethanol extracts of Bojungbangamtang and acidic polysaccharide of Red Ginseng inhibit the function of ABC transporters such as multi drug resistance associated proteins (MRPs) and P-glycoprotein as well as induce apoptosis in MCF7/adR cells. Thus, these data suggest that ethanol extracts of Bojungbangamtang and polysaccharide of Red Ginseng can be candidates for the treatment of multidrug-resistant MCF7/adR cells.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.595-604
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• 2018

In this study, in a bid to develop natural bioadhesives for paper craft, the hanji industry, and preserving cultural assets, complex polysaccharides were extracted from brown and red algae and used as an ingredient in adhesives. Brown algae include sea trumpet, kelp, sea oak, and sea mustard, whereas red algae include Pachymeniopsis elliptica agar-agar weed, Gloiopeltis tenax, and hunori. The polysaccharides were extracted after transforming them from non-aqueous Ca complexes contained in each of the brown and red algae into water-soluble polysaccharides containing alkali metals with a solubility level of 1. and extracted Subsequently, only the polysaccharides were extracted using alcohol precipitation. The adhesion tensile strengths of kelp, a brown algae, and Pachymeniopsis elliptica, a red algae, were 21.58 and 32.99 kgf, respectively. They thus demonstrated better adhesion than that of solid glue products such as water plants (18.45 kgf) and glue sticks (20.45 kgf). The extraction yield of these polysaccharides is supposed to be determined according to their extracted environments; however, no difference in adhesion strength was seen. Further, it was found that the shapes of polysaccharides were determined by their growing environment instead of extraction environment. Use of multi-step alcohol precipitation method during extraction enabled the removal of the constituents except protein and other polysaccharides, thereby demonstrating a stable outcome without cultivation of mold. Furthermore, there was no occurrence of mold even after production of the adhesives by the simple solution method, which demonstrates the adhesive's potential as an environment-friendly adhesive material.