Intravascular papillary endothelial hyperplasia (IPEH) is a rare benign vascular lesion that rarely occurs in the oral cavity. Its clinical features are similar to neoplasms, which are easily identified in the oral cavity, and it can be misdiagnosed as an angiosarcoma. Therefore, it is important to recognize the characteristics of the lesion in order to both diagnose and treat it properly. We report a case of IPEH in a young Korean female patient, as well as discuss its differential diagnosis and treatment using a review of the related literature.

곤충병원성세균 Xenorhabdus nematophila (Xn)의 일부 대사물질은 대상 곤충의 phospholipase A2 (PLA2)를 억제하여 아이코사노이드 생합성 활성을 저해시킨다. 그러나 이들 세균 대사물질이 억제하는 곤충의 PLA2에 대해서는 알려져 있지 않다. Xn의 배양액에서 화학구조가 동정된 8 가지 대사물질들은 두 종의 나비목 배추좀나방(Plutella xylostella)과 파밤나방(Spodoptera exigua)의 유충에 대하여 살충 활성을 보유했다.특별히 이들 물질은 모두 Bacillus thuringiensis (비티)의 살충력을 크게 향상시켰다. 파밤나방의 세포성 인지질 분해효소(SecPLA2)를 클로닝하고 대장균에서 과발현시켰다. 분리된 SecPLA2를 지방체에서 얻은 인지질과 반응시켰을 때 여러 다가불포화지방산을 해리시켰다. 이 효소활성이 Xn 유래 대사물질들에 의해 뚜렷이 억제되었다. 또한 SecPLA2에 대한 억제효과와 비티 살충력 상승효과 사이에 정의 상관관계를 보였다. 본 연구는 SecPLA2가 Xn 대사물질의 억제 대상 분자 종말점 가운데 하나라고 제시하고 있다.

최근 알로에 베라 섭취에 의한 독성 간염이 보고되고 있으나, 아직까지 알로에 베라의 간에 대한 염증 효과가 명확히 밝혀지지 않았다. 본 연구는 알로에 베라 에탄올 추출물이 간세포의 염증 발현에 미치는 영향과 그 기전을 밝히기 위해 수행되었다. 0.001~100 μg/mL의 알로에 베라 추출물을 HepG2세포에 처리하여 MTT assay를 시행한 결과, 모든 농도에서 세포사멸이 유도되지 않았다. 그러나 모든 농도에서 알로에 베라 추출물은 염증성 사이토카인인 IL-8의 분비를 15.7~25.8%까지 유의적으로 증가시켰다(p<0.05). 또 다른 사이토카인인 M-CSF도 알로에 베라 추출물에 의해 36.3~61.5%까지 유의적으로 분비가 증가되었다(p<0.05). 본 연구 결과는 알로에 베라 추출물이 IL-8과 M-CSF와 같은 염증성 사이토카인 분비기전에 의해 간에 염증을 유발할 수 있음을 보여준다. 또한 알로에 추출물에 의해 유발될 수 있는 간염기전을 제시함으로써, 향후 수행될 추가 실험을 위한 기초 자료로 그 가치가 높을 것으로 사료된다.

A 67 years old female showed diffuse erosive ulceration at left buccal mucosa. She had received tegretol to treat the patient’s pain and anxiety of trigeminal neuralgia for 18 months. Otherwise her medical history was nonspecific. Under the clinical diagnosis of lichen planus she received anti-inflammatory therapies using antibiotics and steroid ointment, which were not effective. Consequently her oral ulceration was gradually expanded and aggravated. In the biopsy examination mucosa epithelium was irregularly keratinized and focally detached from underlying connective tissue by thin cleft spaces, accompanied with inflammatory cell infiltration into the subepithelial area. The epithelium was generally acanthomatous with short rete ridges. Many spots of acantholysis were found in the basal and suprabasal layers of epithelium, into which melanocytes were migrated. Particularly, many keratinocytes not only in the spinous layer but also in the suprabasal layer contained atypical keratohyalin granules in their cytoplasms. In the immunohistochemistry the epithelium was rarely positive for PCNA and IgK, but strongly positive for HSP-70, and many keratinocytes showed strong positive reaction of lysozyme in their cytoplasms. Taken together, with the characteristic cytotoxic changes of keratinocytes, which are usually found in the oral epithelium damaged by certain drug abuse, the present case of pemphigus-like oral lesion was diagnosed as drug-induced pemphigus caused by long time intake of tegretol, carbamazepine derivative. The acute oral drug-induced pemphigus should be differentially diagnosed from oral lichen planus, recurrent aphthous ulceration, oral leukoplakia, candidiasis, autoimmune pemphigus, etc., in order to treat properly in the absence of biohazards of systemic therapeutic drugs

Suicide gene transfer has been study extensively for therapies in various human diseases. We can evaluate cellular activity of thymidine kinase and cytotoxic effect in colon cancer cells after suicide gene transfer. We observed cellular expression of green fluorescence protein after transfer with adenovirus into colon adenocarcinoma HCT-15 cells. After transfer HSVtk, we also estimated thymidine kinase activity using [3H]-penciclovir and cellular cytotoxicity by MTT assay. After transfer green fluorescence protein into HCT-15 cells, we could observed fluorescence expression in 10 moi concentration. Expression level of green fluorescence protein markedly increased in 30 moi and most of HCT-15 cells expressed green fluorescence protein in 100 moi. By infection with HSVtk in HCT-15 cells and HT-29 cells, thymidine kinase activity in HCT-15 cells was about two fold higher than that HT-29 cells. Thymidine kinase activity at 1 moi concentration makes no difference with 0 moi in both cells. At 10 moi concentration, thymidine kinase activity increased about three fold compared with 1moi in HCT-15 cells, but not observed high increase in HT-29 cells. Thymidine kinase activity at 100 moi showed about three fold increase in HCT-15 cells and one and a half fold in HT-29 cells compared with 10 moi. By treatment of HSVtk at various mois and ganciclovir to HCT-15 cells, we could find that increased cytotoxic effect according to HSVtk concentration. Cellular cytotoxic effect was slightly appeared at 5 moi concentration and intensively increased at 30 moi concentration, dead colon cancer cells were reached about 30% of total colon cancer cells. Cellular cytotoxic effect was consistently increased until 50 moi, and about 50% of cells at 100 moi and less then 50% of HCT-15 cells at 200 moi were survived. Finally, we can identify that suicide gene transfer into HCT-15 cells is performed according to concentration of suicide gene and thymidine kinase activity also increase with HSVtk concentration in both HCT-15 cells and HT-29 cells. Additionally, we also find that suicide gene therapy by HSVtk with ganciclovir intensively increase cellular cytotoxicity in colon cancer cells. Therefore, our findings suggest that suicide gene therapy by HSVtk can affect cytotoxicy for colon cancer cells and eventually seems to influence therapeutic efficacy.

Chronic inflammation has long been considered as an important contributing factor to the development of malignant tumors in various tissues. In this study, we aimed to investigate a potential association between chronic periodontitis, a representative inflammatory disease in the oral cavity, and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), the most common form of malignant tumors in the oral cavity. A retrospective study was designed to include the cases and controls, each of which consisted of patients first diagnosed with OSCC and temporomandibular disorders, respectively. The existence or a history of periodontal disease was quantitatively estimated based upon the level of alveolar bone loss (ABL) from panoramic radiographs in these groups. Unlike other covariates, including LDH, WBC count and hemoglobin, the levels of ABL measured at three independent regions (second premolar and first/second molar) were significantly higher in the OSCC group, regardless of the patients’age in most cases. Our results thus support the hypothesis that chronic periodontitis, represented by significant ABL, is an important and clinically relevant factor potentially associated with the development of OSCC.

Fucoidan has been extensively studied as medicinal materials due to its biological activities including osteoblastic differentiation effect. However, osteoblastic effect by fucoidan is unknown in alveolar bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (ABM-MSCs). The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of fucoidan on Osteoblastic differentiation in ABM-MSCs and explore its mechanism. Cell proliferation was analyzed by crystal violet staining. Osteoblast differentiation was determined by alkaline phosphatase activity, calcium accumulation assay and gene expression of osteoblast markers. We found that fucoidan induced cell proliferation of ABM-MSCs. Furthermore, fucoidan increased the ALP activity, calcium accumulation, and osteoblast specific genes such as Runx2, type I collagen alpha 1. Moreover, fucoidan induces the expression of asporin and bone morphogenic protein (BMP)-2 and asporin. Based on these results, these finding indicate that fucoidan induces osteoblast differentiation in ABM-MSCs and partially enhanced the mRNA expression of BMP-2 and asporin.

췌아세포종은 주로 유년기에 발생하지만, 성인에서도 발생하는 아주 드문 췌장의 종양이다. 성인에서 발생하는 경우예후가 나쁘지만, 조기 진단 및 수술적 절제가 장기 생존율을 향상시킬 수 있다. 영상학적 검사에서는 고형 유두상 상피성 종양, 관샘암종, 세엽세포암 등을 감별진단에 포함시켜 야 한다. 수술적 완전 절제가 원칙이며, 수술후 보조 항암치료 및 항암방사선치료의 경우 아직 연구가 부족한 실정이다. 저자들은 소화불량으로 내원하여 영상학적 검사에서 우연히 발견된 췌장 종괴로 고형 유두상 상피성 종양을 의심 하에 수술을 계획하였고, 수술후 조직학적으로 췌아세포종을 진단하여 보고하고자 한다.

느타리버섯은 자웅이주성으로 4극성 교배형을 갖는다. 이러한 특징 때문에 품종 개발에 있어서 많은 노력과 시간을 필요로 하고 있다. 육종방법은 보편적으로 단핵균주를 이용한 교잡방법(Mon-Mon)과 Di-Mon법을 이용하고 있으나 최근에는 교잡효율이 높은 Di-Mon 법을 느타리버섯의 육성에 많이 이용되고 있다. 또한 느타리버섯에서 육종효율 증진방안으로 미토콘드리아 마커를 개발하여 품종구분에도 이용하고 있다. 본 실험에서는 세포질전환 균주를 만들기 위해 이러한 분자마커와 Di-Mon 교배법으로 세포질전환균주를 만들었다. 우성 먼저 느타리버섯 수한3호와 흑변이체의 교잡종인 ‘다굴’의 이핵균주에 수한1호의 단핵균주와 교잡하여 220여개의 교잡주를 얻었다. 여기에 1차로 미토콘드리아 microsatellite DNA 마커 (MtPO1)를 이용하여 단핵균주 수한1호의 미토콘드리아 밴드를 형성하는 교잡주 86개를 획득하였다. 이 중에서 URP 프라이머를 이용하여 ‘다굴’의 2핵균주 핵 DNA 패턴을 가진 16교잡주를 선발하였다. 선발된 16 교잡주의 자실체 특성을 조사하였다. 이러한 방법은 많은 교잡주를 가지고 특성 검정하였던 것을 적은 교잡주를 가지고 대량으로 빠르게 검정할 수 있다.

췌장의 낭종성 질환은 현재 영상기술의 발달로 인하여 우연히 발견되는 경우가 많다. 그리고 췌장 낭종성 질환은 다양한 질환으로 이루어져 있으며 그 종류에 따라 다양한 악성 도를 보인다 췌관의 편평세포낭종은 내층이 비각화 편평 상피로 이루어져 있는 췌관의 낭성 확장을 특징으로 한다. 현재까지 이 질환은 재발이나 악성 변화가 관찰되지 않는 양성 질환으로 알려져 있다. 그러나 저자들은 수술 전 영상검사에서 타 장기 침습 의심 소견을 보이며, 수술 후 경과에서 악성 형태를 보이는 췌관의 편평세포낭종 1예를 경험하였기에 문헌고찰과 함께 보고한다.

Epimedium koreanum Nakai has been used in traditional medicine as an aphrodisiac, hypotensive, and neurasthenia;however, the cellular mechanism of E. koreanum Nakai cultivated in North Korea on HCT116 colon cancer cellactivity has not been investigated. This study is to investigate the effect of E. koreanum Nakai on apoptosis of thehuman colon cancer cell line HCT116. The anti-proliferative activity of E. koreanum Nakai on HCT116 was iden-tified through MTT, Western Blot, and RT-PCR analyses. The results show that 70% ethyl alcohol extracts of E.koreanum Nakai inhibited the growth of HCT116 colon cancer cells (IC50: 1.2mg/mL on 24 hr). Concomitant acti-vation of the mitochondria-dependent apoptotic pathway occurred via modulation of Bcl-2 and Bax expressions,resulting in activation of cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9.

This study found antibacterial activity of DMfreeⓇ [green tea extract] on facultative bacteria by direct petri dish method and gene array of obligatory M. leprae infected mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). While DMfree showed DPPH radical scavenging effect and high contents of polyphenol, it did not inhibit growth of facultative bacteria such as E. coli and S. aureus on the petri dish. The result does not exclude a possible antibacterial effect of organic solvent extract of green tea rather than DMfree which comes from the water extract of green tea. Pre-treatment of DMfree appeared to have no effect on copy number of 14 genes compared with control MSC by real-time RT-PCR. However pre-treatment of DMfree on M. leprae infected MSC revealed a significant decrease of anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-6), (P<0.038) and sharp downregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokine (IL-1). Enhanced expression of VEGFR-1 mRNA was noted in DMfree pretreated M. leprae infected MSC group (P<0.003). These results show that DMfree would stabilize M. leprae infected MSC from further inflammation by down-regulating anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-6) and pro-inflammatory cytokine (IL-1β). This is the first report on DMfree inhibition of IL-6 and IL-1β expression in M. leprae infected MSC. Further experiments that detect protein levels of IL-1β and IL-6 may support the result of this gene array.

Primary oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) associated with dental osseointegrated implants is very rare. We experienced two patients who had received dental implant surgery before they were diagnosed with OSCC. We report these cases to emphasize the importance of differential diagnosis of malignant lesions associated with dental implants. Additionally, we also suggest that bone graft materials around implants can serve as a potential inducer of invasiveness in cancer cells.

근육의 줄기세포라고 알려진 근육위성세포(satellite cells, SCs)는 근육의 성장과 발달 및 구조적, 대사적 형질 형성에 중요한 역할을 한다. 본 연구는 근육에서 추출한 SCs의 in vitro분화 성상과 형질을 분석함으로써 SCs가 근육의 성장 및 재생시 형질 형성에 미치는 영향을 구명하기 위해 수행되었다. 6주령 자돈의 Semitendinosus(ST) 근육의 적색근(red semitendinosus; RST)과 백색근(whitesemitendinosus; WST)에서 SCs를 추출한 후 in vitro 상에서 배양하여 SCs의 증식율, 분화율, 근육 구조단백질인 myosin heavy chain (MyHC) isoforms의 발현 성상을 분석하였다. 추출된 SCs의 숫자는 WST(63 ± 2 × 103 cells/g)보다 RST(79 ± 2 × 103 cells/g)에서 높게 (P<0.01) 나타났다. Celldoubling time은 RST에서 추출된 SCs가 WST보다 낮았고, 분화도 빨라 WST보다 먼저 근섬유를 형성하였으나, 분화 24h 후에는 WST 유래 SCs의 분화율이 RST보다 높게 나타났다(P<0.05). 하지만, 분화48h 후 RST와 WST의 SCs간 분화율은 차이가 없는 것으로 나타났다. MyHC type I isoform의 발현은 RST 유래 SCs에서 WST에 비해 높았으나 (P<0.01), type II isoform은 WST 유래 SCs에서 높게 나타났다 (P<0.05). 이 결과는 in vitro에서 배양된 SCs 에서 분화한 근섬유의 성장패턴 및 형질이 유래 근육의 형질을 그대로 반영한다는 것을 보여주는데, 이는 근육 내에 존재하는 SCs는 유래 근육의 형질을 기억하고 있거나, 특정 형질로만 분화되도록 정해져 있다는 것을 의미한다.

해송묘목에 있어서 소나무재선충과 어리소나무재선충의 이동, 증식 및 세포파괴의 양상을 조사하기 위하여 다음과 같은 실험을 행하였다. 먼저 해송의 묘목에 소나무재선충과 어리소나무재선충(아시아형 또는 유럽형)을 접종하여 고사율을 측정한 결과 접종 25주 후, 소나무재선충 접종 묘목의 고사율은 90%, 아시아형과 유럽형 어리소나무재선충을 접종한 묘목의 고사율은 증류수를 접종한 대조구와 같이 0%였다. 이 결과로부터 어리소나무재선충은 병원성이 없는 것으로 확인되었다. 이 두 선충 종 사이에 병원성 차이를 가져오는 요인을 알기보기 위해 해송 가지를 20cm 길이로 잘라서 소나무재선충과 어리소나무재선충(아시아형 또는 유럽형)을 인공접종한 후 선충의 가지 내 이동, 증식과 세포가해양상을 조사하였다. 가지 내 수직 이동은 소나무재선충과 어리소나무재선충 사이에 차이가 없었으나 증식률은 소나무재선충이 두 종류의 어리소나무재선충 보다 유의하게 높다는 것을 알았다. 한편, 증류수를 접종한 대조구의 경우 7일 후까지도 해송 가지의 피층수지도 내부에 죽은 상피세포가 거의 존재하지 않았으나, 소나무재선충 접종구의 경우, 접종 7일 후 까지 죽은 상피세포가 피층수지도 내에 산재 분포하였다. 죽은 상피세포의 밀도는 접종 일수가 증가함에 따라 증가하는 경향을 보였다. 또한 소나무재선충 접종구의 세포파괴 정도가 어리소나무재선충의 접종구 보다 심했다. 소나무재선충의 병원성은 소나무재선충의 높은 증식력과 높은 가해력에서 기인한다는 것을 알았다.

Biliary invasion by hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is much less common. Patients manifest obstructive jaundice as the initial complaint, but most of them are inoperable. We report a case of completely improved biliary invasion in HCC after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE). A 61-year-old woman was referred for evaluation of jaundice. A biliary invasion of huge HCC was confirmed by image of abdominal computerized tomography (CT) and biopsy specimen. After improvement of jaundice by endoscopic retrograde biliary drainage and percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage, she underwent TACE as a palliative treatment. Follow-up CT showed partial lipiodol uptake in hepatic tumor and its bile duct invasion. In follow-up endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, occluded cholangiogram showed neither luminal obstruction nor filling defect after removal of biliary stent. Our case suggests that obstructive jaundice, caused by inoperable huge HCC with biliary invasion, may be expected to resolve successfully biliary obstruction by a choice of TACE.

Recent 2 decades, including in vitro maturation (IVM), assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) achieved noteworthy development. However the efficiency of ARTs with in vitro matured oocytes is still lower than that with in vivo oocytes. To overcome those limitations, many researchers attempted to adapt co-culture system during IVM and consequently maturation efficiency has been increased. The beneficial effects of applying co-culture system is contemplated base on communication and interaction between various somatic cells and oocytes, achievement of paracrine factors, and spatial effects of extracellular matrix (ECM) from somatic cell surface. The understanding of co-culture system can provide some information to narrow the gap between in vitro and in vivo. Here we will review current studies about issues for understanding cu-culture system with various somatic cells to improve in vitro maturation microenvironment and provide bird view and strategies for further studies.

Platycodon grandiflorum have been used as a traditional remedy and food source. This study was performed to investigate the immunomodulating effects of Platycodon grandiflorum in mouse, using ex vivo experiments. Six to seven-week old mice were fed ad libitum on a chow diet, and water extract of Platycodon grandiflorum was orally administrated at two different concentractions (50 and 500 ㎎/㎏ B.W./day) every other day for four weeks. In ex vivo experiments, the highest proliferation of splenocytes and levels of cytokine (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α) production were observed in 500 ㎎/㎏ BW/day supplementation group for all three cytokines stimulated by LPS. In conclusion, this study suggests that Platycodon grandiflorum extracts may enhance the immune function by regulating the splenocytes proliferation and cytokine production capacity by activating macrophages in mice.

Bioactive peptides function effectively with a minimal amount compared to proteins. Recently SPARC related modular calcium binding 1 (SMOC1) has been implicated in regulating osteoblast differentiation and limb and eye development. In this study we synthesized a peptide covering 16 amino acids derived from the extracellular calcium binding (EC) domain of SMOC1, and its effects on proliferation and osteoblast differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells were examined. Treatment of SMOC1 peptide did not modulate proliferation of BMSCs. However, mineralization of BMSCs was significantly increased with a dose dependent manner. Consistently expression of osteoblast differentiation marker genes including type 1 collagen and osteocalcin was also dose dependently increased. Taken together, these results suggest that peptide derived from the EC domain of SMOC1 recapitulates at least partially osteogenic function of SMOC1.

Dibenzylideneacetone (DBA), an analogue of curcumin has been shown to have anti-cancer activity in a variety of tumor cell lines. However, the anti-cancer activity of DBA and its molecular mechanism in HN22 oral cancer cell line have not been fully explored. The effects of DBA on anti-proliferative and apoptotic activity were evaluated by the trypan blue exclusion assay, 4’-6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining, Western blot analysis, and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Our data showed that the treatment of DBA to HN22 cells exerted anti-proliferative and apoptotic activities and the activity was accompanied by a decrease in Sp1 protein, Sp1 mRNA and its promoter activity. DBA also reduced the expression level of Sp1 protein and caused apoptotic cell death in HN22 cells simultaneouly. Phosphorylation of ERK and JNK were regulated by DBA whereas phosphorylation of p38 was not altered. Overall, our results suggest that the regulation of Sp1 activities and ERK/JNK are involved in DBA-induced apoptosis and DBA can be a promising anticancer drug candidate for the treatment of oral cancer.