Su Jin Cho

Pogostemon cablin as ROS scavenger in oxidant-induced cell death of human neuroglioma cells.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of a wide range of acute and long-term neurodegenerative diseases. This study was undertaken to examine the efficacy of Pogostemon cablin, a well-known herb in Korean traditional medicine, on ROS-induced brain cell injury. Pogostemon cablin effectively protected human neuroglioma cell line A172 against both the necrotic and apoptotic cell death induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The effect of Pogostemon cablin was dose dependent at concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 5 mg ml−1. Pogostemon cablin significantly prevented depletion of cellular ATP and activation of poly ADP-ribose polymerase induced by H2O2. The preservation of functional integrity of mitochondria upon the treatment of Pogostemon cablin was also confirmed by 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide assay. Furthermore, Pogostemon cablin significantly prevented H2O2-induced release of cytochrome c into cytosol. Determination of intracellular ROS showed that Pogostemon cablin might exert its role as a powerful scavenger of intracellular ROS. The present study suggests the beneficial effect of Pogostemon cablin on ROS-induced neuroglial cell injury. The action of Pogostemon cablin as a ROS-scavenger might underlie the mechanism.

Correlated Expression of erbB-3 With Hormone Receptor Expression and Favorable Clinical Outcome in Invasive Ductal Carcinomas of the Breast

The prognostic impact of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family members in breast carcinoma was evaluated through the analysis of 378 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma to determine the relationship between EGFR family members and clinical outcome. It was found that 13.8% of the cases were positive for erbB-3. Expression of erbB-3 was inversely correlated with EGFR and erbB-4 expression (P = .012 and P = .046). Expression of erbB-3 was correlated with positive estrogen and progesterone receptor status and inversely correlated with histologic grade. Expression of erbB-3 was correlated with longer disease-free survival (DFS; P = .028). Within the erbB-3-expressing group, there was a tendency for the coexpressing group to have shorter DFS compared with the single-expressing group. This study revealed that erbB-3 expression was associated with better prognosis. In an era of personalized targeted therapy, erbB-3 expression and its coexpressive pattern with other EGFR family members could be an important determinant for therapeutic plans for breast cancer treatment.

Sam So Eum, a herb extract, as the remedy for allergen-induced asthma in mice

We studied administering Sam So Eum (SSE) as a herbal medicine to treat asthma in mice and we discussed the mechanism of restoring the immuno-modulating cytokines such as IL-10 and IFN-gamma. The mice treated with SSE did not show any significant variation in their body weight and they looked very similar to the controlled ones. The SSE-treated mice showed reduced levels of airway responsiveness to methacholine, and these levels were initially elevated by the induction of asthma compared to the control group. The SSE elevated production level of IFN-gamma, which was down-regulated upon induction of asthma. This result implies that SSE can change the Th1/Th2 ratio through Th1-skewing reactions, and that SSE can decrease airway hyperresponsiveness by changing the Th1/Th2 ratio. The treatment with SSE also restored the IL-10 level to that of the naive condition. This means that SSE reduced the airway inflammation through this pathway. The ovalbumin (OVA)-specific antibody (total Ig) production in the serum was also decreased upon SSE treatment. Prednisolone (PD) was used as positive control. The effectiveness of SSE was almost the same as that of PD. These results suggest the possibility of using SSE for the treatment of patients with asthma, and its therapeutic efficacy involves restoring the IFN-gamma and IL-10 levels.

Genome wide expression analysis of the effect of Pinelliae Rhizoma extract on psychological stress.

Pinelliae Rhizoma has been used traditionally as an antidepressant in Oriental medicine. In this study, the effect of Pinelliae Rhizoma extract (PRe) on psychological stress was investigated in mice. The results of an elevated plus‐maze experiment revealed that application of psychological stress to mice led to the development of an abnormal behavioral pattern. However, oral administration of PRe significantly reduced the abnormal behavior of mice with a recovery rate of 75.5%. To elucidate the molecular mechanism by PRe, a microarray analysis of the brains of mice was conducted. The results of this analysis revealed that 456 genes were up‐regulated and 392 genes were down‐regulated in response to psychological stress. The expression of most of the genes that were altered in response to psychological stress was restored to normal levels in PRe treated mice, with a recovery rate of 81.5% and 85.2% being observed for up‐ and down‐regulated genes, respectively. Finally, when the interaction network information was analysed, the recovery rate of the core node genes (46 up‐ and 29 down‐regulated genes) in PRe treated mice was found to be over 95%, which indicates that this final set of genes may be the effective target of PRe. Copyright

nm23-H1 Protein Expression and Gene Mutation in 150 Patients with Non-Hodgkin' s Lymphomas

The metastasis-suppressing role of the nm23 gene in the metastatic spread of malignant tumor is still debated. We examined the nm23-H1 protein expression and gene mutation in non-Hodgkins lymphomas to compare with the clinicopathologic parameters. The expression of nm23-H1 protein was immunohistochemically examined in 150 cases of non-Hodgkins lymphomas; 85 diffuse large B cell lymphomas (DLBCL), 18 marginal zone B cell lymphomas (MZL), 3 mantle cell lymphomas, 25 peripheral T cell lymphomas, not otherwise specified (TCLNOS), and 19 NK/T cell lymphomas (NK/T). Eighty-one cases (58 DLBCL, 6 MZL, 4 TCLNOS, and 13 NK/T) were studied for nm23-H1 gene mutation in exon 1 to 5. The high expression of nm23-H1 protein was associated with the high IPI score (p=0.019) and the low survival rate of the patients (p=0.0039). The gene mutation of nm23-H1 was detected in 10.3% of DLBCL and 30.7% of NK/T; but none in MZL and TCLNOS. The mutation was found in exon 1 in 5 cases, exon 2 in two cases, exon 4 in one case and both exon 1 and 2 in two cases. Our results suggest that the expression of nm23-H1 protein can be used as a poor prognostic marker in non-Hodgkins lymphomas, and the mutational change of gene may operate in the lymphomagenesis.