Sung-Woo Choi

People with advanced lung cancer experience later symptoms after treatment that is related to poorer psychosocial and quality of life (QOL) outcomes. The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of symptom clusters and depression on the QOL of patients with advanced lung cancer. A sample of 178 patients with advanced lung cancer at the National Cancer Center in Korea completed a demographic questionnaire, the M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory-Lung Cancer, the Center for Epidemiological Stu

The nuclear receptors farnesoid X receptor (FXR; NR1H4) and small heterodimer partner (SHP; NR0B2) play crucial roles in bile acid homeostasis. Global double knockout of FXR and SHP signaling (DKO) causes severe cholestasis and liver injury at early ages. Here, we report an unexpected beneficial impact on glucose and fatty acid metabolism in aged DKO mice, which show suppressed body weight gain and adiposity when maintained on normal chow. This phenotype was not observed in single Fxr or Shp kno

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Hepatic endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, whether triggered by intrinsic or extrinsic factors, can be resolved by the unfolded protein response (UPR). Sustained UPR activation leads to cell death and inflammatory response and contributes to liver disease progression. Hepatic tissue macrophages are key players in orchestrating liver inflammation, and ER stress can enhance macrophage activation. However, it is not well defined how the interplay between ER stress and inflammat

AIMS: Quantitative imaging of glutathione (GSH) with high spatial and temporal resolution is essential for studying the roles of GSH in redox biology. To study the long-standing question of compartmentalization of GSH, especially its distribution between the nucleus and cytosol, an organelle-targeted quantitative probe is needed. RESULTS: We developed a reversible reaction-based ratiometric fluorescent probe-HaloRT-that can quantitatively measure GSH dynamics with subcellular resolution in real

Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2O (UBE2O) is expressed preferentially in metabolic tissues, but its role in regulating energy homeostasis has yet to be defined. Here we find that UBE2O is markedly upregulated in obese subjects with type 2 diabetes and show that whole-body disruption of Ube2o in mouse models in vivo results in improved metabolic profiles and resistance to high-fat diet-induced (HFD-induced) obesity and metabolic syndrome. With no difference in nutrient intake, Ube2o-/- mice were l

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Liver receptor homolog-1 (LRH-1; NR5A2) is a nuclear receptor that regulates metabolic homeostasis in the liver. Previous studies identified phosphatidylcholines as potential endogenous agonist ligands for LRH-1. In the liver, distinct subsets of phosphatidylcholine species are generated by two different pathways: choline addition to phosphatidic acid through the Kennedy pathway and trimethylation of phosphatidylethanolamine through phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyl transfer

Circadian rhythm regulates multiple metabolic processes and in turn is readily entrained by feeding-fasting cycles. However, the molecular mechanisms by which the peripheral clock senses nutrition availability remain largely unknown. Bile acids are under circadian control and also increase postprandially, serving as regulators of the fed state in the liver. Here, we show that nuclear receptor Small Heterodimer Partner (SHP), a regulator of bile acid metabolism, impacts the endogenous peripheral

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains one of the most lethal types of cancer, and novel treatment regimens are direly needed. Epigenetic regulation contributes to the development of various cancer types, but its role in the development of and potential as a therapeutic target for PDAC remains underexplored. Here, we show that PRMT1 is highly expressed in murine and human pancreatic cancer and is essential for cancer cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. Deletion of PRMT1 delays pancrea

UNLABELLED: Balance of labile methyl groups (choline, methionine, betaine, and folate) is important for normal liver function. Quantitatively, a significant use of labile methyl groups is in the production of phosphatidylcholines (PCs), which are ligands for the nuclear liver receptor homolog-1 (LRH-1). We studied the role of LRH-1 in methyl-pool homeostasis and determined its metabolic effects using the methionine and choline-deficient (MCD) diet, which depletes methyl groups and results in a d

Adipose tissues serve as an energy reservoir and endocrine organ, yet the mechanisms that coordinate these functions remain elusive. Here, we show that the transcriptional coregulators, YAP and TAZ, uncouple fat mass from leptin levels and regulate adipocyte plasticity to maintain metabolic homeostasis. Activating YAP/TAZ signalling in adipocytes by deletion of the upstream regulators Lats1 and Lats2 results in a profound reduction in fat mass by converting mature adipocytes into delipidated pro

Adipocyte dedifferentiation has recently gained attention as a process underpinning adipocyte plasticity; however, a lack of suitable experimental platforms has hampered studies into the underlying mechanisms. Here, we developed a microscope-mountable ceiling culture chip that provides a stable yet tunable culture environment for long-term live-imaging of dedifferentiating adipocytes. A detailed spatiotemporal analysis of mature adipocyte dedifferentiation utilizing the culture platform and Cre-

Abstract Accurate depth estimation is a challenging, yet essential step in the conversion of a 2D image sequence to a 3D stereo sequence. We present a novel approach to construct a temporally coherent depth map for each image in a sequence. The quality of the estimated depth is high enough for the purpose of2D to 3D stereo conversion. Our approach first combines the video sequence into a panoramic image. A user can scribble on this single panoramic image to specify depth information. The depth i

Metabolic alterations have been observed in the brains of patients with bipolar disorder (BD), a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by alternating episodes of mania and depression. However, the specific contributions of glial cells to these metabolic changes remain largely unknown. Here, we investigate the metabolic characteristics of induced astrocytes (iAstrocytes) derived from induced pluripotent stem cells of BD patients-classified by lithium responsiveness-and healthy controls. Transcr