• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.41 no.12
• /
• pp.1671-1676
• /
• 2012

In this study, the immuno-enhancing activity of seed extracts were studied on the macrophage cell lines. We examined the effect of nine seed extracts on nitric oxide (NO) production in RAW 264.7 cells and selected four highly-effective seed candidates (Fagopyrum esculentum, Taraxacum platycarpum, Impatiens balsamina, Helianthus annuus) for further immune-related studies. The effects of the four seed extracts on the production of immune-related cytokines in the RAW 264.7 macrophage cell line and proliferation of Molt-4 as a T cell line were investigated. The secretion of NO from the RAW 264.7 cells was increased up to 39 ${\mu}M$ by adding the seed extracts (25 ${\mu}g/mL$) compared to the control. Also, the secretion of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-${\alpha}$) was also increased up to 32 times by adding the seed extracts (25 ${\mu}g/mL$). Secretion of cytokines such as interleukin-1 beta (IL-$1{\beta}$), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-10 (IL-10) was also increased and induced the proliferation of T cells compared to the control. In conclusion, these results suggest that four seed extracts provide beneficial immuno-enhancing effects for human health.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.12
• /
• pp.6511-6516
• /
• 2012

Recently, we reported that an ethanol extract of Iris nertschinskia induces p53-dependent apoptosis in the MCF7 human breast cancer cell line. However, the detailed mechanisms were not fully explored. Here, we demonstrate another aspect of the activity of I. nertschinskia in breast cancer cells. We compared the response to an ethanol extract of I. nertschinskia in two different human breast cancer cell lines, Hs578Tand MDA-MB231, respectively with relatively low and high AKT1/2 activity by trypan blue exclusion assay and FACS analysis. Knockdown of endogenous AKT1 or AKT2 in breast cancer cells by RNA interference determined the sensitivity to I. nertschinskia ethanol extract compared to control cells. The I. nertschinskia ethanol extract induced cell death in a manner that depended on the level of phosphorylated AKT1/2 protein and was associated with a significant increase in the sub-G1 cell population, indicative of apoptosis. Our results indicate that an ethanol extract of I. nertschinskia differentially induces cell death in breast cancer cells depending on their level of phosphorylated AKT1/2.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.130-148
• /
• 2008

Objective : This study was designed to investigate the effect of the water extract of Gamisamgibopae-tang(GMSGBPT), an oriental herbal formulation, on the growth of NCI-H460 and A549 human non-small-cell lung cancer cell lines. Methods : Cytotoxicity and cell morphology were evaluated by MTT assay and inverted microscope, respectively. Apoptosis was detected using agarose gel electrophoresis and flow cytometer. The expression levels of mRNAs and proteins of target genes were determined by RT-PCR and western blot analyses, respectively Result and Conclusion : We found that exposure of A549 cells to GMSGBPT resulted in the growth inhibition in a dose-dependent manner as measured by MTT assay, but GMSGBPTdid not affect the growth of NCI-H460 cells. The anti-proliferative effect of GMSGBPT treatment in A549 cells was associated with morphological changes, formation of apoptotic bodies and DNA fragmentation, and flow cytometry analysis confirmed that GMSGBPT treatment increased the populations of apoptotic-sub G1 phase. Growth inhibition and apoptotic cell death by GMSGBPT were connected with a up-regulation of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 (WAF1/CIP1) mRNA and protein in a tumor suppressor p53-independent fashion. However GMSGBPT treatment did not affect other growth regulation-related genes such as early growth response-1 (Egr-1), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-activated gene-1 (NAG-1), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenases (COXs), telomere-regulatory factors in A549 orNCI-H460 cells. Taken together, these findings partially provide novel insights into the possible molecular mechanism of the anti-cancer activity of GMSGBPT.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.15 no.3 s.70
• /
• pp.323-331
• /
• 2005

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of $\beta-lapachone$, a quinone obtained from the bark of the lapacho tree (Tabebuia avellanedae) in South America, on the cell growth of human hepatoma (HepG2) and bladder (T24) carcinoma cells. Exposure of cancer cells to $\beta-lapachone$ resulted in growth inhibition, morphological changes and apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner, which could be proved by MTT assay and flow cytometry analysis. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot analyses revealed that $\beta-lapachone$ did not affect the levels of tumor suppressor p53 and cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor p21 (WAFl/CIPl) expression. However, the transcriptional factor Sp-l and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) protein levels were significantly down-regulated by $\beta-lapachone$ in both cell lines. Moreover, $\beta-lapachone$ treatment caused a dose-dependent inhibition of the expression of telomere regulatory gene products such as human telomere reverse transcriptase (hTERT) and telomerase-associated protein-l (TEP-l). Taken together, these findings suggest that $\beta-lapachone$-induced inhibition of human hepatoma and bladder carcinoma cell proliferation is associated with the induction of apoptotic cell death via modulation of several major growth regulatory gene products, and provide important new insights into the additional mechanisms of the anti-cancer activity of $\beta-lapachone$.

• Food Science and Preservation
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.419-424
• /
• 2007

Fruits and vegetable extracts are well-known as healthy foods. Such foods have been used as herbal medicines or traditional therapies for centuries. To assess biological activities in grapes, we examined the immunomodulating activities of water extracts from four kinds of grapes (cultivars Kyoho, Delaware, Campbell, and Niagara). We explored possible antioxidant and anticancer activities using antioxidant assays such as the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) reduction assay, the ferric iron reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) assay, a cell proliferation assay, an NO inhibition assay, a wound healing assay, and an IL-4/IL-13 elicitation assay. Methanol extracts of grapes were tested. The results showed that each grape extract had potent antioxidant activities. The grape extracts increased cell proliferation and NO production activities in tumor cell lines. IL-4 and IL-13 cytokine levels were decreased in mouse primary spleen cells by treatment with any extract. These results suggest that grape extracts can be used as biomaterials with immunomodulating activities.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.33 no.6
• /
• pp.512-522
• /
• 2023

Cancer with unlimited cell growth is a leading cause of death globally. Various cancer treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy, can be applied alone or in combination depending on the cancer type and stage. New treatments with fewer side effects than previous cancer treatments are continually under development and in demand. Undifferentiated stem cells with unlimited cell growth are gradually changed via cellular differentiation to arrest cell growth. In this study, we reviewed the possibility of treating cancer by using cellular differentiation into the adipocytes in cancer cells. In previous in vitro studies, oral antidiabetic drugs of the thiazolidinedione (TDZ) class, such as rosiglitazone and pioglitazone, were induced into the adipocytes in various cancer cell lines via increased peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR γ) expression and glucose uptake, which is the key regulator of adipogenesis and the energy metabolism pathway. The differentiated adipogenic cancer cells treated with TDZ inhibited cell growth and had a less cellulotoxic effect. This adipogenic differentiation treatment suggests a possible chemotherapy option in cancer cells with high and abnormal glucose metabolism levels. However, the effects of the in vivo adipogenic differentiation treatment need to be thoroughly investigated in different types of stem and normal cells with other side effects.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.631-646
• /
• 2011

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are multipotent and can be isolated from diverse human tissues including bone marrow, fat, placenta, dental pulp, synovium, tonsil, and the thymus. They function as regulators of tissue homeostasis. Because of their various advantages such as plasticity, easy isolation and manipulation, chemotaxis to cancer, and immune regulatory function, MSCs have been considered to be a potent cell source for regenerative medicine, cancer treatment and other cell based therapy such as GVHD. However, relating to its supportive feature for surrounding cell and tissue, it has been frequently reported that MSCs accelerate tumor growth by modulating cancer microenvironment through promoting angiogenesis, secreting growth factors, and suppressing anti-tumorigenic immune reaction. Thus, clinical application of MSCs has been limited. To understand the underlying mechanism which modulates MSCs to function as tumor supportive cells, we co-cultured human adipose tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASC) with cancer cell lines H460 and U87MG. Then, expression data of ASCs co-cultured with cancer cells and cultured alone were obtained via microarray. Comparative expression analysis was carried out using DAVID (Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery) and PANTHER (Protein ANalysis THrough Evolutionary Relationships) in divers aspects including biological process, molecular function, cellular component, protein class, disease, tissue expression, and signal pathway. We found that cancer cells alter the expression profile of MSCs to cancer associated fibroblast like cells by modulating its energy metabolism, stemness, cell structure components, and paracrine effect in a variety of levels. These findings will improve the clinical efficacy and safety of MSCs based cell therapy.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2009

The Artemisia capillaris THUNB is a perennial herb that belongs to the family Compositae spp and probably the most common plant among the various herbal folk remedies being used in the treatment of abdominal pain, hepatitis, chronic liver disease, jaundice and coughing in Korea. Recently the biological and pharmacological actions of herb have been studied well such as antibacterial, antidiabetic and antitumor activities. This experiment was conducted to investigate antitumor and immunomodulatory effects of Artemisia capillaris extracts against Hepa-1c1c7 and Sarcoma 180 cancer cells in in vivo experimental tests. In in vivo experimental tests using 210 ICR mice, based on flow cytometry, CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ and TNF-${\alpha}+$ splenocytes were significantly (p<0.05) reduced in the Hepa-1c1c7 and Sarcoma 180 inoculated vehicle controls, HP and SP, compared to those of the intact vehicle control on both the $28^{th}$ day and the $42^{nd}$ day, respectively. These decreases of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ and TNF-${\alpha}+$ cells induced by tumor inoculations were significantly (p<0.05) inhibited by mACH treatment regardless of the type of experiments and tumor cells inoculated. The results suggest that Artemisia capillaris methanol extracts have prominent antitumor effects on the cancer cell lines Hepa-1c1c7 and Sarcoma 180.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.408-412
• /
• 2009

The Artemisia capillaris THUNB is a perennial herb that belongs to the family Compositae spp. and probably the most common plant among the various herbal folk remedies being used in the treatment of abdominal pain, hepatitis, chronic liver disease, jaundice and coughing in Korea. This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of Artemisia capillaris extracts on the amounts of splenocytes-derived cytokine ($TNF-{\alpha},\;IL-1{\beta}$ and IL-10). In in vivo experimental tests using 210 ICR mice with Hepa-1c1c7 or sarcoma 180 cancer line, splenocytes derived cytokine contents were significantly (p < 0.05) reduced in the Hepa-1c1c7 and Sarcoma 180 inoculated vehicle controls, HP and SP, compared to those of the intact vehicle control on both the $28^{th}$ day and the $42^{nd}$ day, respectively. However, these decreases of $TNF-{\alpha},\;IL-1{\beta}$ and IL-10 levels induced by tumor inoculations were significantly (p < 0.01, p < 0.05) inhibited by mACH (Artemisia capillaris methanol extracts) treatment regardless of the type of experiments and tumor cells inoculated. The results suggest that Artemisia capillaris methanol extracts have prominent anti-inflammation effects on the cancer cell lines Hepa-1c1c7 and Sarcoma 180.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.372-378
• /
• 2007

The Artemisia capillaris THUNB is a perennial herb that belongs to the family Compositae spp and probably the most common plant among the various herbal folk remedies being used in the treatment of abdominal pain hepatitis chronic liver disease, jaundice and coughing in Korea. Recently the biological and pharmacological actions of herb have been studied well such as antibacterial, antidiabetic and antitumor activities. This experiment was conducted to investigate antitumor and immunomodulatory effects of Artemisia capillarix extracts against Hepa-1c1c7 and Sarcoma 180 cancer cells on in vivo experimental tests. On in vivo experimental tests using 280 ICR mice the gain of body weight in the control-group mice bearing Sarcoma 180 ascites tumor was 1.5 times more than that of the normal-group mice after 33 days. However, the gain of body weight in all experimental groups administered with Artemisia capillaris extracts was significantly lower than that of the control-group mice (P<0.05). The mean survival times of mice administered with Artemisia capillaris extracts of 25 and 100 mg/kg for 28 days were shown to be 25.39% and 15.39% longer than that of the control-group mice injected with saline (P<0.05). Artemisia capillaris extracts showed the highest tumor inhibition effects, which were 42.4% and 27.2% when intraperitoneally injected with doses of 25 and 100 mg/kg once a day for 28 days in inoculated ICR mice with Sarcoma 180 solid tumor cells (P<0.05). The results suggest that Artemisia capillaris methanol extracts have prominent antitumor effects on the cancer cell lines Hepa-1c1c7 and Sarcoma 180.