Seung-Ok Kim

Microglia, one of three glial cell types in the central nervous system (CNS), play an important role as resident immunocompetent and phagocytic cells in the CNS in the event of injury and disease. It was del Rio Hortega in 1927 who determined that microglia belong a distinct glial cell type apart from astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, and since 1970s there has been wide recognition that microglia are immune effectors in the CNS that respond to pathological conditions and participate in initiation

Human neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), stroke, and spinal cord injury are caused by a loss of neurons and glial cells in the brain or spinal cord. Cell replacement therapy and gene transfer to the diseased or injured brain have provided the basis for the development of potentially powerful new therapeutic strategies for a broad spectrum of human neurological diseases. Howev

Astrocytes play a key role in maintenance of neuronal functions in the central nervous system by producing various cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors, which act as a molecular coordinator of neuron-glia communication. At the site of neuroinflammation, astrocyte-derived cytokines and chemokines play both neuroprotective and neurotoxic roles in brain lesions of human neurological diseases. At present, the comprehensive profile of human astrocyte-derived cytokines and chemokines during infla

Enriched populations of human microglial cells were isolated from mixed cell cultures prepared from embryonic human telencephalon tissues. Human microglial cells exhibited cell type-specific antigens for macrophage-microglia lineage cells including CD11b (Mac-1), CD68, B7-2 (CD86), HLA-ABC, HLA-DR and ricinus communis aggulutinin lectin-1 (RCA-1), and actively phagocytosed latex beads. Gene expression and protein production of cytokines, chemokines and cytokine/chemokine receptors were investiga

UNLABELLED: Sarcopenia is associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This study investigated whether sarcopenia is associated with significant liver fibrosis in subjects with NAFLD. Data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2008-2011 database were analyzed. NALFD was defined by NAFLD liver fat score, comprehensive NAFLD score, or hepatic steatosis index. Degree of liver fibrosis was assessed by NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS), FIB-4, and Forns index. Signif

TE can be performed with good diagnostic accuracy for quantifying liver fibrosis in patients with CHB.

Brain transplantation of F3 human NSCs over-expressing VEGF near ICH lesion sites provided differentiation and survival of grafted human NSCs and renewed angiogenesis of host brain and functional recovery of ICH animals. These results suggest a possible application of the human neural stem cell line, which is genetically modified to over-express VEGF, as a therapeutic agent for ICH-stroke.

Fractalkine has been identified as a novel chemokine that exhibits cell adhesion and chemoattractive properties in the central nervous system (CNS), and the fractalkine receptors, CX3CR1, are also expressed in the CNS. In the present study, the expression of fractalkine and fractalkine receptors was investigated in enriched populations of human CNS neurons, astrocytes, and microglia. In addition, the regulatory role played by protein kinase C (PKC) in fractalkine secretion in neurons was determi

Existence of multipotent neural stem cells (NSC) has been known in developing or adult mammalian CNS, including humans. NSC have the capacity to grow indefinitely and have multipotent potential to differentiate into three major cell types of CNS, neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Stable clonal lines of human NSC have recently been generated from the human fetal telencephalon using a retroviral vector encoding v-myc. One of the NSC lines, HB1.F3, carries normal human karyotype of 46XX and

We have generated stable, immortalized cell lines of human NSCs from primary human fetal telencephalon cultures via a retroviral vector encoding v-myc. HB1.F3, one of the human NSC lines, expresses a normal human karyotype of 46, XX, and nestin, a cell type-specific marker for NSCs. F3 has the ability to proliferate continuously and differentiate into cells of neuronal and glial lineage. The HB1.F3 human NSC line was used for cell therapy in a mouse model of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) stroke

Importance: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is currently the most common chronic liver disease worldwide. It is important to develop noninvasive tests to assess the disease severity and prognosis. Objective: To study the prognostic implications of baseline levels and dynamic changes of the vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE)-based scores developed for the diagnosis of advanced fibrosis (Agile 3+) and cirrhosis (Agile 4) in patients with MASLD. Desi