Background : Ginseng has been commonly used as a traditional oriental medicine for its wide spectrum of medicinal properties, including anti-inflammatory, antitumorigenic, adaptogenic and anti-aging properties. 20(S)-Protopanaxadiol (PPD), a intestinal metabolite of ginsenosides, is one of the active ingredients in ginseng. In this study, we have found inflammation-related genes regulated by 20(S)-PPD in mouse bone marrow-derived macrophage (BMDM) to elucidate the role of 20(S)-PPD in inflammatory signaling pathways. Methods and Results : We examined cell viability of BMDM cells after treatment of 20(S)-PPD and found that 20(S)-PPD has no cytotoxicity up to 10 uM. BMDM cells treated with none or 10uM 20(S)-PPD were used for RNA extraction and microarray analysis. It was found that 2 inflammation-related genes are upregulated and 4 genes are downregulated by 20(S)-PPD. Conclusion : These results can give clues to elucidate the role of 20(S)-PPD in inflammatory signaling pathways.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are considered to be attractive approaching in gene or drug delivery for cancer therapeutic strategies. In this study, the ability and feasibility of human bone marrow derived MSCs expressing the cytosine deaminase (CD)/5-Fluorocytosin (5-FC) prodrug was evaluated to target human osteosarcoma cell line Cal-72. At first, the fibroblast-like cells were successfully obtained from human bone marrow and demonstrated that they contained full of stem characteristics by the ability of differentiation into adipocyte/osteocyte and expression of typical mesenchymal markers CD90, CD44, while negative for CD34 and CD133 markers. We established the stable CD-expressing MSCs cell line (CD-MSCs) by transfection of pEGFP-C3 containing cytosine deaminase::uracil phos-phoribosyltransferase (CD::UPRT) gene into MSCs, and confirmed that the manipulated MSCs still remained full characteristics of multipotent cells and shown migration toward human osteosarcoma cancer cells Cal-72 as high as origin MSCs. Based on bystander effect, the therapeutic CD-MSCs significantly augmented the cytotoxicity on cancer cell Cal72 in either direct co-culture or conditioned medium in the presence of 5-FC. Moreover, in osteosarcoma cancer- bearing mice, the therapeutic CD/5-FC MSCs showed the inhibition of tumor growth compared with control mice which was s.c injected with only Cal72. Our findings suggest that these therapeutic CD-MSCs may be suitable and viable cellular vehicles for targeting human osteosarcoma cancer.

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) can self-renew and can differentiate to a variety of specialized blood cells). The proliferation and homing of HSCs are strictly regulated both in the system level and local level. Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is a hematopoietic growth factor, potent species-specific stimulator of granulocyte-macrophage, eosinophil, megakaryocyte and erythroid progenitors. In clinical purpose GM-CSF has been used as hematopoietic growth factor. It can promote the mobilization of HSC from bone marrow to peripheral blood. The number of HSCs mobilized into blood can be modulated by the kinds of cytolines. However, the information for the cytokine which promote mobilization is limited. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF or FGF-2) induces the change of niche and affects the maintenance and differentiation of HSCs. FGF-2 positively regulates hematopoiesis, by acting on stroma cells, on early and committed hematopoietic progenitors, and possibly on some mature blood cells. In this study, we investigated the effect of FGF-2 on HSCs mobilization and proliferation compare to GM-CSF. GM-CSF and FGF-2 were injected for 2 or 5 days into peritoneum of CD-1 mice (6～8 wks old) and sampling the bone marrow and peripheral blood. The bone marrow cells and peripheral blood were analyzed using FACS. In GM-CSF group, the number of HSCs was significantly increased by 2 days of injection but was significantly decreased in 5 days of injection. On the other hand the number of HSCs was significantly increased by the administration of FGF2 both in 2 days and 5 days. GM-CSF and FGF-2 are all increased the number of HSC both in bone marrow and peripheral blood. From these results, it is revealed that chronic administration of GM-CSF does not cause of the increase the number of HSCs. On the other hand, FGF2 can stimulate the proliferation of HSC without inhibition by the treatment period. It is suggested that GM-CSF and FGF2 may use different mechanisms to stimulate the HSCs proliferation. IP: 220.149.***.

조혈세포의 주요 서식지가 되는 골수기질세포는 줄기세포의 운영을 결정하는 다양한 인자들을 제공한다. 방사선 요법은 항암치료법으로 널리 활용되고 있으나, 조혈세포의 파괴로 인한 부작용이 심각한 문제로서 조혈세포에 의한 혈액 세포가 빠른 시간 내에 회복되는 것이 필수적이다. 본 연구에서는 방사선을 조사했을 때의 줄기세포 서식지를 구성하는 세포인 골수기질세포에서 발현되는 유전자를 탐색하여 그 기능과 조절 및 혈액 형성을 이해하는 기초를 마련하고자 하였다. 방법