Eun-Hee Kim

Malignant gliomas are resistant to various proapoptotic therapies, such as radiotherapy and conventional chemotherapy. In this study, we show that selenite is preferentially cytotoxic to various human glioma cells over normal astrocytes via autophagic cell death. Overexpression of Akt, survivin, XIAP, Bcl-2, or Bcl-xL failed to block selenite-induced cell death, suggesting that selenite treatment may offer a potential therapeutic strategy against malignant gliomas with apoptotic defects. Before

Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is a chronic lymphoproliferative disorder characterized by somatic BRAFV600E mutations. The malignant cell in HCL has immunophenotypic features of a mature B cell, but no normal counterpart along the continuum of developing B lymphocytes has been delineated as the cell of origin. We find that the BRAFV600E mutation is present in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in HCL patients, and that these patients exhibit marked alterations in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell (HSPC

The acaricidal activity of clove (Eugenia caryophyllata) bud oil-derived eugenol and its congeners (acetyleugenol, isoeugenol, and methyleugenol) against adults of Dermatophagoides farinae and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus was examined using direct contact application and fumigation methods and compared with those of benzyl benzoate and N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET). Responses varied according to compound, dose, and mite species. On the basis of LD(50) values, the compound most toxic to D. far

The current study shows that treatment of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)-resistant glioma cells with a combination of TRAIL and subtoxic doses of arsenic trioxide (As(2)O(3)) induces rapid apoptosis. Whereas TRAIL-mediated proteolytic processing of procaspase-3 was partially blocked in glioma cells, treatment with As(2)O(3) efficiently recovered TRAIL-induced activation of caspases. We also found that As(2)O(3) treatment of glioma cells significantly up-regulated

Recent studies suggest that inflammation is causally linked to carcinogenesis. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), a rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of prostaglandins, is inappropriately expressed in various cancers and hence recognized as one of the hallmarks of chronic inflammation-associated malignancies. However, the mechanistic role of COX-2 as a link between inflammation and cancer remains undefined. Here, we report that 15-deoxy-Delta(12,14)-prostaglandin J(2) (15d-PGJ(2)), one of the fina

The acaricidal activity of clove (Eugenia caryophyllata) bud oil compounds (acetyleugenol, β-caryophyllene, eugenol, α-humulene), and congeners of eugenol (isoeugenol, methyleugenol) against adult Tyrophagus putrescentiae was examined using impregnated fabric disc and fumigation methods, and compared with that of benzyl benzoate. Responses varied according to compound and dose. LD50 values indicated that the compound most toxic to T. putrescentiae adults was methyleugenol (1.18 μg/cm2) followed

Mitochondria, which are a major source of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), are extremely vulnerable to oxidative stress. We recently reported that selenite treatment of various glioma cells induced a non-apoptotic cell death accompanied by excessive mitophagy (selective autophagy of damaged mitochondria). Examination of various ROS revealed that the superoxide anion played a key role in selenite-induced mitochondrial damage, mitophagy and cell death. Treatment with superoxide generat

The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) induces angiogenesis in ischemic or inflamed tissues during tumor growth. 15-Deoxy-Delta12,14-prostaglandin J2 (15d-PGJ2), an endogenous ligand of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) gamma, has been reported to upregulate VEGF synthesis through the induction of heme oxygenase (HO)-1. In this work, we found that treatment of human breast cancer (MCF-7) cells with 15d-PGJ2 led to time-dependent increases in the expression of HO-1. The PPA