Myung-Hwan Jung

Optical Monitoring of Tumors in BALB/c Nude Mice Using Optical Coherence Tomography

We report a method for optical monitoring of tumors in an animal model using optical coherence tomography (OCT). In a spectral domain OCT system, a superluminescent diode light source with a full width of 66 nm at half maximum and peak wavelength of 950 nm was used to take images having an axial resolution of 6.8 μ m. Cancer cells of PC-3 were cultured and inoculated into the hypodermis of auricle tissues in BALB/c nude mice. We observed tumor formation and growth at the injection region of cancer cells in vivo and obtained the images of tumor mass center and sparse circumferences. On the 5 th day from an inoculation of cancer cells, histological images of the tumor region using cross-sectional slicing and dye staining of specimens were taken in order to confirm the correlation with the high resolution OCT images. The OCT image of tumor mass compared with normal tissues was analyzed using its A-scan data so as to obtain a tissue attenuation rate which increases according to tumor growth.

ERK/p38 MAPK inhibition reduces radio-resistance to a pulsed proton beam in breast cancer stem cells

Recent studies have identified highly tumorigenic cells with stem cell-like characteristics, termed cancer stem cells (CSCs) in human cancers. CSCs are resistant to conventional radiotherapy and chemotherapy owing to their high DNA repair ability and oncogene overexpression. However, the mechanisms regulating CSC radio-resistance, particularly proton beam resistance, remain unclear. We isolated CSCs from the breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231, which expressed the characteristic breast CSC membrane protein markers CD44+/CD24-/low, and irradiated the CSCs with pulsed proton beams. We confirmed that CSCs were resistant to pulsed proton beams and showed that treatment with p38 and ERK inhibitors reduced CSC radio-resistance. Based on these results, BCSC radio-resistance can be reduced during proton beam therapy by co-treatment with ERK1/2 or p38 inhibitors, a novel approach to breast cancer therapy.

Study of the effects of high-energy proton beams on escherichia coli

Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection is one of the most serious risks to public health care today. However, discouragingly, the development of new antibiotics has progressed little over the last decade. There is an urgent need for alternative approaches to treat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Novel methods, which include photothermal therapy based on gold nano-materials and ionizing radiation such as X-rays and gamma rays, have been reported. Studies of the effects of high-energy proton radiation on bacteria have mainly focused on Bacillus species and its spores. The effect of proton beams on Escherichia coli (E. coli) has been limitedly reported. Escherichia coli is an important biological tool to obtain metabolic and genetic information and is a common model microorganism for studying toxicity and antimicrobial activity. In addition, E. coli is a common bacterium in the intestinal tract of mammals. In this research, the morphological and the physiological changes of E. coli after proton irradiation were investigated. Diluted solutions of cells were used for proton beam radiation. LB agar plates were used to count the number of colonies formed. The growth profile of the cells was monitored by using the optical density at 600 nm. The morphology of the irradiated cells was observed with an optical microscope. A microarray analysis was performed to examine the gene expression changes between irradiated samples and control samples without irradiation. E coli cells have observed to be elongated after proton irradiation with doses ranging from 13 to 93 Gy. Twenty-two were up-regulated more than twofold in proton-irradiated samples (93 Gy) compared with unexposed one.