• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1643-1655
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• 2021

Recent studies have reported dysbiosis of the microbiome in breast tissue collected from patients with breast cancer and the association between the microbiota and disease progression. However, the role of the microbiota in breast tissue remains unclear, possibly due to the complexity of breast cancer and various factors, including racial and geographical differences, influencing microbiota in breast tissue. Here, to determine the potential role of microbiota in breast tumor tissue, we analyzed 141 tissue samples based on three different tissue types (tumor, adjacent normal, and lymph node tissues) from the same patients with breast cancer in Korea. The microbiota was not simply distinguishable based on tissue types. However, the microbiota could be divided into two cluster types, even within the same tissue type, and the clinicopathologic factors were differently correlated in the two cluster types. Risk of regional recurrence was also significantly different between the microbiota cluster types (p = 0.014). In predicted function analysis, the pentose and glucuronate interconversions were significantly different between the cluster types (q < 0.001), and Enterococcus was the main genus contributing to these differences (q < 0.01). Results showed that the microbiota of breast tissue could interact with the host and influence the risk of regional recurrence. Although further studies would be recommended to validate our results, this study could expand our understanding on the breast tissue microbiota, and the results might be applied to develop novel prediction methods and treatments for patients with breast cancer.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.30-37
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• 2021

Purpose: To investigate the differences in the colon microbiota composition of Hirschsprung's disease (HSCR) patients with and without a history of postoperative Hirschsprung's associated enterocolitis (HAEC). Methods: Colon tissue microbiota was characterized by bacterial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extraction and 16S rDNA sequencing for taxonomic classification and comparison. Results: The sequence diversity richness within samples was significantly higher in samples from patients with a history of postoperative HAEC. We observed an increased relative abundance of the phyla Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Cyanobacteria in HAEC patients and Fusobacteria, Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria in HSCR patients and, an increased relative abundance of the genera Dolosigranulum, Roseouria and Streptococcus in HAEC patients and Propionibacterium and Delftia in HSCR patients. Conclusion: Our findings provide evidence that the colon tissue microbiota composition is different in HSCR patients with and without postoperative HAEC.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.922-940
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• 2019

Obesity, represented by abnormal fat accumulation due to an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure, is a major public health issue worldwide, leading to multiple noncommunicable diseases, including atherosclerosis, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Diverse solutions have been proposed to combat obesity. Attention has focused on two types of adipose tissues as a promising therapeutic target in obesity: traditional brown and beige or brite. Unlike energy-storing white adipose (endocrine) tissue, traditional brown adipose tissue and beige adipose tissue have energy-dissipating thermogenic properties. Both types of tissue are present in adult humans and inducible through external stimuli, such as cold exposure, ${\beta}3$-adrenergic receptor agonists, and phytochemicals. Among these stimuli, microbiota present in the human intestinal tract participate in multiple metabolic activities. Modulation of gut microbiota may offer a potent and possibly curative strategy against various metabolic diseases. Numerous studies have focused on the effects of established antiobesity treatments on the gut microenvironment or brown-adipose-tissue activation. In this review, we focus mainly on stimuli known to alleviate obesity, weight gain, and metabolic diseases, in addition to known and possible inter-relations between gut microbiota modulation and similar interventions and adipose tissue browning. The findings may pave the way toward new strategies against obesity.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2022

Ulcerative colitis (UC) exhibits chronic intestinal inflammatory conditions with cycles of relapse and remission. The incidence is rapidly growing in Asian countries including South Korea possibly due to changes in lifestyles. Although the etiology of inflammatory bowel disease is inconclusive, gut microbiota composition is considered a critical factor involved in the pathogenesis of UC. The overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria evokes hyper-immune responses in gut epithelium causing tissue inflammation and damage. Also, failure to regulate gut epithelium integrity due to chronic inflammation and mucus depletion accelerates bacterial translocation aggravating immune dysregulation. Gut microbiota composition responds to the diet in a very rapid manner. Epidemiological studies have indicated that the risk of UC is associated with low plant foods/high animal foods consumption. Several bacterial strains consistently found depleted in UC patients use plant food-originated dietary fiber producing short chain fatty acids to maintain epithelial integrity. These bacteria also use mucus layer mucin to keep gut microbiota diversity. These studies partly explain the association between dietary modification of gut microbiota in UC development. Further human intervention trials are required to allow the use of specific bacterial strains in the management of UC.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.405-418
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• 2022

Simotang oral liquid (SMT) is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) consisting of four natural plants and is used to alleviate gastrointestinal side effects after chemotherapy and functional dyspepsia (FD). However, the mechanism by which SMT helps cure these gastrointestinal diseases is still unknown. Here, we discovered that SMT could alleviate gastrointestinal side effects after chemotherapy by altering gut microbiota. C57BL/6J mice were treated with cisplatin (DDP) and SMT, and biological samples were collected. Pathological changes in the small intestine were observed, and the intestinal injury score was assessed. The expression levels of the inflammatory factors IL-1β and IL-6 and the adhesive factors Occludin and ZO-1 in mouse blood or small intestine tissue were also detected. Moreover, the gut microbiota was analyzed by high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA amplicons. SMT was found to effectively reduce gastrointestinal mucositis after DDP injection, which lowered inflammation and tightened the intestinal epithelial cells. Gut microbiota analysis showed that the abundance of the anti-inflammatory microbiota was downregulated and that the inflammatory microbiota was upregulated in DDP-treated mice. SMT upregulated anti-inflammatory and anticancer microbiota abundance, while the inflammatory microbiota was downregulated. An antibiotic cocktail (ABX) was also used to delete mice gut microbiota to test the importance of gut microbiota, and we found that SMT could not alleviate gastrointestinal mucositis after DDP injection, showing that gut microbiota might be an important mediator of SMT treatment. Our study provides evidence that SMT might moderate gastrointestinal mucositis after chemotherapy by altering gut microbiota.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.15-27
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• 2019

Objectives This study was performed to evaluate anti-obesity effects of Crataegus pinnatifida (CP) on high-fat-diet induced obese mice. Methods The experimental animals were divided into four groups: normal diet (NOR) group, high fat diet (HFD) group, HFD+Xenical (XEN) group, and HFD+CP (CP) group. NOR group was fed a normal diet and the other three groups were fed high fat diet during the experiment. After the first two weeks of diet, XEN group and CP group were administered with XEN or CP for seven weeks, respectively. After that, we measured body weight, liver weight, fat weight, food intake, and serum concentrations of lipids and liver enzymes. Also the liver, intestine, fat tissue was removed to estimate the obesity-related mRNA expressions and the stool sample was collected to analyze the gut microbiota. Results We found that body weight, fat weight, and triglyceride level were decreased significantly in CP group compared to HFD group. Also CP significantly suppressed gene expressions associated with lipogenesis and inflammation, and increased gene expressions of browning of white adipose tissue and mitochondrial biogenesis. Moreover, it shifted the microbial diversity closer to that of NOR group and increased Firmicutes/Bacteriodetes ratio. Conclusions These results suggest that CP decrease body weight, fat weight and serum triglyceride. Also it inhibit inflammation and adipogenesis, altering gut microbial diversity and abundance. In conclusion, CP could be used as a therapeutic drug for obesity via gut microbiota modulation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.825-834
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• 2022

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a global disease that is in increasing incidence. The gut, which contains the largest amount of lymphoid tissue in the human body, as well as a wide range of nervous system components, is integral in ensuring intestinal homeostasis and function. By interacting with gut microbiota, immune cells, and the enteric nervous system, the intestinal barrier, which is a solid barrier, protects the intestinal tract from the external environment, thereby maintaining homeostasis throughout the body. Destruction of the intestinal barrier is referred to as developing a "leaky gut," which causes a series of changes relating to the occurrence of IBD. Changes in the interactions between the intestinal barrier and gut microbiota are particularly crucial in the development of IBD. Exploring the leaky gut and its interaction with the gut microbiota, immune cells, and the neuroimmune system may help further explain the pathogenesis of IBD and provide potential therapeutic methods for future use.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.19-31
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• 2023

Peri-implantitis is a disease affecting the tissue surrounding dental implants, destroying both soft and hard tissues. A total of 2,015 studies were collected by searching items in the National Library of Medicine, including keywords, such as "peri-implantitis," "microbiota," and "microbiome." Of them, 62 studies were screened and considered eligible for analysis. Only 16 studies qualified all criteria mentioned here: "Using PCR methods for microorganism detection," "Suggesting quantified results," "Stating obvious clinical diagnosis criteria ("Bleeding on probing," "Probing pocket depth," "Suppuration," and "Radiographic bone loss")." Only 8 studies were included in the meta-analysis because the others had special issues. Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia, Treponema denticola, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Prevotella intermedia, and Epstein-Barr virus were the microbiological subjects of analysis. The odds ratio (OR) between the healthy implants and peri-implantitis were calculated for each microorganism to compare two groups, and the forest plots were suggested as the visual materials. P. gingivalis (1.392 < OR < 2.841), T. forsythia (1.345 < OR < 3.221), T. denticola (2.180 < OR < 5.150), A. actinomycetemcomitans (1.975 < OR < 6.456), P. intermedia (1.245 < OR < 3.612), and Epstein-Barr virus (1.995 < OR < 9.383). The species showed that their 95% confidence interval of odds ratio was higher than 1, indicating that they were detected more frequently in periimplantitis than in healthy implants. Meanwhile, other species, such as Fusobacterium nucleatum and Staphylococcus aureus, were not included in the meta-analysis because the number of studies was insufficient.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.181-188
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• 2021

Bacillus subtilis and Enterococcus faecium are commonly used probiotics. This study aimed to identify the effect of live combined Bacillus subtilis R0179 and Enterococcus faecium R0026 (LCBE) on obesity-associated hyperlipidemia and gut microbiota in C57BL/6 mice. Forty male C57BL/6 mice were divided into four groups: normal group (N group), model group (M group), low-dose group (L group), and high-dose group (H group). Mice were gavaged with LCBE at 0.023 g/mice/day (L group) or 0.23 g/mice/day (H group) and fed with a high-fat diet for 8 weeks. In vitro E. faecium R0026 showed an ability to lower the low-concentration of cholesterol by 46%, and the ability to lower the high-concentration of cholesterol by 58%. LCBE significantly reduced the body weight gain, Lee index, brown fat index and body mass index of mice on a high-fat diet. Moreover, LCBE markedly improved serum lipids (including serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein) while also significantly reducing liver total cholesterol. Serum lipopolysaccharide and total bile acid in L and H groups decreased significantly compared with M group. PCR-DGGE analysis showed that the composition of gut microbiota in the treatment groups was improved. Akkermansia muciniphila was found in H group. The PCA result indicated a similar gut microbiota structure between LCBE treatment groups and normal group while the number of bands and Shannon diversity index increased significantly in the LCBE treatment groups. Finally, qPCR showed Bifidobacterium spp. increased significantly in H group compared with M group, LCBE alleviated liver steatosis and improved brown adipose tissue index.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.1-15
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• 2023

Objectives We aimed to find out the improvement effect of Baekhogainsam-tang (Baihu Jia Renshen-tang, BIT) on metabolic syndrome and alteration of microbiota and gene expression. Methods We used male C57BI/6 mice and randomly assigned them into three groups. Normal control group was fed 10% kcal% fat diet, high-fat diet (HFD) group was fed 45% kcal% fat diet and 10% fructose water. BIT group was fed same diet as HFD group and treated by BIT for once daily, 6 days per week, total 8 weeks. We measured their body weight and food intake every week and performed oral glucose tolerance test 1 week before the end of the study. Then we collected the blood sample to measure triglyceride, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, insulin, and hemoglobin A1c. We harvested tissue of liver, muscle, fat, and large intestine for quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and histopathological examination. Fresh fecal samples were collected from each animal to verify alterations of gut microbiota and we used RNA from liver tissue for microarray analysis. Results The body weight and fat weight of BIT group were reduced compared to HFD group. The qPCR markers usually up-regulated in metabolic syndrome were decreased in BIT group. Bacteroides were higher in BIT group than other groups. There were also differences in gene expressions between two groups such as Cyp3a11 and Scd1. Conclusions We could find out BIT can ameliorate metabolic syndrome and suggest its effect is related to gut microbiota composition and gene expression pattern.