"The osteoblastic activity of carcinoma is restricted in osteoblastic metastasis, common in the patients with prostate cancer, whereas its mechanism and the factors involved are unknown. Here, we present a case of central adenocarcinoma showing the osteoblastic activity in the mandible of the 80-year-old Korean male who had suffered from the paresthesia of lower lip during four mouths. Clinically the overlying oral epithelium was intact, but the radiologic images revealed the ill-defined radiolucent intraosseous lesions in left ascending ramus. Microscopically, the mandibular lesion was composed with carcinoma of ductal or glandular differentiation but lack typical features of any epithelial salivary gland malignancies. Intriguingly abundant new bone formation was found in the stroma, but the tumor cells expressed no reactivity for prostate-specific antigen(PSA). The patient had low ionized calcium level, normal serum alkaline phosphatase and PSA level. Positron emission tomography-computed tomopraphy scan revealed the benign prostatic hyperplasia, but failed to trace the primary site of tumor other than mandible. Therefore, pathologically diagnosis for the lesion was informed as adenocarcinoma, not otherwise specified(NOS). Because occult primary tumor associated with osteoblastic metastasis cannot be completely ruled out, periodic and careful check-ups for the patient should be performed."

"For investigate intracellular function and role of genes in the biological processes, various gene delivery methods into cell have been developed. Many studies performed to construct optimum conditions of gene delivery into cells and tissues. In this study, we examined efficiency of gene delivery-complexed with cationic lipid vector in human cancer cell lines. GFP plasmids were complexed with cationic lipid and transfected into human cancer cell lines at different concentrations. And then, expression of GFP was analysed with fluorescent microscope and FACS. To determine efficiency of gene delivery, we investigated GFP expression level in various cancer cell lines. GFP expression cells were not shown in hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG2 and lung carcimona cell line A549 after 24hr transfection, while, GFP expression cells were observed at 500ng concentration after 48hr transfection. In colorectal carcinoma cell line HCT116, GFP expression cells were observed at 100ng and 500ng concentrations after 24hr transfection and slightly increased at 48hr. After transfection into ovary adenocarcinoma cell line SKOV3, we could found that many cells expressed GFP at 500ng concentration after 24hr and highly elevated GFP expression cells after 48hr. For further evaluate gene expression level, we confirmed GFP expression level by using FACS analysis after 48hr transfection. As a result, HepG2 was expressed GFP in very low level at 10ng, 100ng, and 500ng concentrations. We also identified that GFP was expressed low level at 10ng and 100ng in HCT116 and A549, but highly increased at 500ng concentration to 14.19% and 16.57%, respectively. In case of SKOV3, GFP expression was highly elevated to 13.14% at 100ng and 58.10% at 500ng compared with 10ng transfection. By Comparing efficiency of gene expression among cancer cell lines, GFP expression was similar with cell lines at 10ng transfection, but significantly differed from cell lines at 500ng higher concentration. Additionally, GFP expression level of SKOV3 was showed about 10 fold higher than HepG2, and about 4 fold higher than HCT116 and A549 at 500ng. These results demonstrated that efficiency of gene delivery-complexed with cationic lipid vector was the highest in SKOV3, while HepG2 was showed the lowest efficiency. Taken together, we could determined that efficiency of gene delivery into cells differed from each human cancer cell lines. Our study suggest that cellular properties should be considered in gene delivery-complexed with cationic lipid vector to improve cellular expression efficiency of gene."

"Plasminogen activator(PA) system such as urokinase plasminogen activator(uPA), urokinase PA Receptor(uPAR), tissue, tissue PA, and PA inhibitor-1&2(PAI-1&2) play a role in tumor invasion, metastasis, and proliferation. It is interested that these factors in patients with primary oral squamous cell carcinoma(Oral SCC) will be evaluated and correlated with clinicopathologic variables. Recently, these expression of primary oral SCC has been restricted to clinical or immunohistochemical study such in vivo study.The purpose of this study were to investigate the mRNA expression and cytologic concentration of uPA, uPAr, tPA, and PAI-1,2 in oral SCC cell lines compared to NHOK and to apply these results to evaluate early detection biomarkers of oral SCC in future. All the cell lines(NHOK, HN 4 and SCC 25) were cultured under KBM bullet kit at 37℃ in a 5% CO2 incubator. We studied a possible association between mRNA expression and cytosolic concentrations of uPA, uPAR, tPA, and PAI-1,2 in oral SCC cell lines compared to NHOK using RT-PCR and an enzyme-linked immunoassay(ELISA) method. uPA mRNA expression was about 5-6 folds, while uPAR was about 3 folds, and PAI-1 was about 1.5-1.6 folds. PAI-2 was about1.2-1.3 folds than that of NHOK, while tPA was lower than that of NHOK. uPA cytosolic concentrations was about 15-19 folds, while uPAR was about 8 folds, and PAI-1 was about 3-4.5 folds. PAI-2 was about 2 folds than that of NHOK, while tPA was lower than that of NHOK. Both uPA, uPAR, and PAI-1,2 cytologic concentrations were correlated with mRNA expression of oral SCC cell lines. From the aboving results, high cytosolic concentrations of uPA, uPAR, and PAI-1 & 2 were correlated with mRNA expression. It suggested that these might be specific markers for oral SCC cell lines and these results would be contributed to evaluate early detection biomarkers for human oral squamous cell carcinoma."

"β-phenylethyl isothiocyanate(PEITC) is a component derived from cruciferous vegetables and has been demonstrated to fight many types of cancers through various molecular pathways. In the present study, we focused on its effect on the induction of apoptotic cell death to inhibit cell growth and its molecular mechanism in HSC-4 human oral cancer cells. A colorimetric MTS assay was used to examine cell viability. The apoptotic effect and was investigated using DAPI staining and the molecular target and mechanism of PEITC-mediated apoptosis were determined by Western blotting. The result showed that PEITC inhibited oral cancer cell growth and induced apoptosis via extrinsic signaling pathway evidenced by the activation of caspase 8, truncation of bid protein and induction of death receptor(DR) 5. DR5 protein level was increased through the activation of p38 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase(JNK). These results from this study strongly suggest that DR5 is a potential molecular target for PEITC-induced apoptosis in oral cancer via p38 and JNK."

"In the previous study it was demonstrated that most of sialolith contained bacterial colonies in their center of calcified laminated capsules1). Although it is still not determined whether the bacterial infection is a major pathogenic cause or not, many authors reported that the bacterial vegetation in sialolith can cause chronic suppurative inflammation in salivary gland. Actually a lot of different bacteria were found in oral cavity, most of them are non-pathogenic as normal flora, and only some of them are pathogenic for different mucosal infectious diseases. However, this study was aimed to identify a causative bacterial strain for the sialolith formation in human salivary gland. A strain of Bacillus subtilis(B. subtilis) was found in the culture of sialolith, which was known to be a normal flora related to the fermentation of various Korean bean foods. In vitro culture experiment of B. subtilis it abundantly produced the thick biofilm aggregated around their cells and colony structure, which were subsequently attached on the surface of hydroxyapatite(HA) beads in scanning electronmicroscope(SEM) observation. The bacterial adherence on HA beads was strongest in the culture of B. subtilis, followed by Streptococcus mutans(Str. mutans), oral mixed bacteria, and lactobacillus. Therefore, B. subtilis might be an important causative microorganism for the sialolithiasis in Korean people, and it is suggested that postmeal oral hygiene care should be required to reduce the number of normal flora, B. subtilis, after eating of fermented bean foods."

"Runt-related transcription factor (RUNX) 3 is well known as a developmental regulators, as well as candidate tumor suppressor gene in human breast cancer, gastric cancer, esophageal cancer, and so on. The present study was aimed to analyze the expression of RUNX3 protein in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) from Korean patients. The immunohistochemical stain was performed with 14 normal oral mucosa (NOM) and 25 OSCCs, and statistical analysis was carried out to find out the correlation between the expression of RUNX and clinicopathological parameters of OSCC patients. In OSCC, the expression of RUNX3 protein was found to increase more than in NOM. Moreover, in the univariate correlation analysis, the gender, regional lymph node metastasis, and histopathologic differentiation of OSCC patients were positively correlated with the expression of RUNX3 (p<0.05). These results indicate that RUNX3 can play a role as an oncogene in OSCC, in contrast to some reports on RUNX3 in other human cancers. In addition, RUNX3 may be considered as new malignant biomarker of OSCC."

"Taraxaci Herba has long been used in herbal medicine for their choleretic, anti-heumatic and diuretic properties. In the present study, we investigated the effects of origin plants of Taraxaci Herba, Taraxacum coreanum Nakai, as an anti-inflammatory agent in lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-induced microglial activation in BV2 cells. NNMBS273, the EtOH extracts of roots T. coreanum was examined for anti-neuronal inflammatory activity as new drug development. The roots of T. coreanum, showed the potent anti-neuroinflammatory effects on LPS-induced inflammation in microglial BV2 cells. The anti-inflammatory effects of NNMBS273, the EtOH extracts of roots T. coreanum was demonstrated by the suppression of pro-inflammatory mediators, including pro-inflammatory enzymes (inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2) and cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β). These results suggest that the roots T. coreanum may be a promising candidate for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases related to neuroinflammation."

"This study was carried out to investigate antibiotic resistances of 181 isolates in Staphylococcus aureus isolated from 450 specimens which were a General Hospital personnel in Cheonan province. Of the 181 isolates, 89 isolates (49.2%) were methicillin resistant and 92 isolates were susceptible. They were resistant to penicillin (80.1%), clindamycin (18.8%), oxacillin (49.2%), cefepime (28.2%), cefotetan (34.3%), ampicillin (66.3%), gentamicin (27.6%), tetracycline (17.7%) and erythromycine (43.1%), also. In resistant rates of the 89 MRSA, 5 antibiotics were more than 50%, but in those of the 92 MSSA, only 1 antibiotics was. Also they showed very highly multi-drug resistance patterns to 15 antibiotics as follow : One hundred and forty five isolates(82.3%) showed antibiotic resistance to more than one kind of the 15 kinds antibiotics. In the multiple resistant patterns, one drug resistant isolates were 18 isolates (9.9%), 2 drugs 29 (16.0%), 3 drugs 21 (11.6%), 4 drugs 29 (16.0%), and more than 5 drugs were 52 isolates (28.7%). The number of more than 5 drugs resistant strains in MSSA were only 1 strain, but those in MRSA were 51 isolates (57.3%). Forty five isolates (24.9%) produced enterotoxin serotype C and all MRSA."

"As the exfoliated keratinocytes (EKs) in oral mucosa are aging and degenerating cells, of which cytoplasms are almost replaced by cross-linked keratin materials. Consequently, the EKs become apoptotic with nuclear lysis. A question is arisen what is the biological role of these EKs in oral cavity? Are they simply degrading as aging keratinocytes or do they have some essential function still remained in the exfoliated status? The buccal smear samples from ten healthy adult subjects were observed under scanning electron microscope. On the outer surface of the EKs the features of bacterial adhesion were explored. The microorganisms attached on the surface of EKs were much deformed, shrunken and teared. Only a few microorganisms were found on the EK surface, aggregated focally. The attached microorganisms were gradually fused on the cell membrane of EKs, and subsequently endocytosed. Resultantly, many round endocytotic concave cavities similar size to the cocci were remained on the surface of EKs similar to the sequels of caveolae endocytosis. These data indicate that the degenerating EKs can actively engulf microorganisms attached on their cell surface via the processes of caveolae endocytosis. Therefore, it is presumed that the oral EKs still play a role for endocytotic scavenging of oral microorganisms using the denatured cell bodies themselves, which become highly adherent to oral microorganisms and still function for caveolae endocytosis in mixed saliva environment."

"Glutamate-induced oxidative injury contributes to neuronal degeneration in many central nervous system (CNS) diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy and ischemia. Inducible heme oxygenase (HO)-1 acts against oxidants that are thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of these diseases. The EtOH extracts of Viola mandshurica (NNMBS274), Viola patrinii (NNMBS275) and Viola papilionacea Pursh (NNMBS276), origin plants of Violae Herba, showed the potent neuroprotective effects on glutamate-induced neurotoxicity. Among them, NNMBS275, the extract of V. patrinii possessed the protective effects against glutamate toxicity by inducing the expression of heme oxygenase (HO)-1 in the mouse hippocampal HT22 cells. These results suggest that extracts of V. patrinii could be the effective candidates for the treatment of ROS-related neurological diseases. Furthermore, it is suggested that the protective effects of V. patrinii extract due to inducing the expression of HO-1 as an antioxidant/cytoprotective target."

"Plasminogen activators(PA) such as urokinase(uPA) and tissue type plasminogen activators(tPA), physiologically catalyze the conversion of the plasminogen to the wide spectrum proteinase plasmin. Because uPA and tPA are involved in cell growth, differentiation and migration of oral cancer, oral epithelial carcinogenesis including transformation of precancerous lesion into oral squamous cell carcinoma with PA is very interesting. It is important to prevent precancerous condition from transfoming into oral squamous cell carcinoma by the inhibitory effect of various drug. It is well known that cyclosporine A(CsA) as immunosuppressive properties exerts anti-cancer effects. Recently it is widely accepted that cultured immortalized oral keratinocyte (IHOK) is considered as an intermediate stage of oral carcinogenesis and used as precancerous condition in vitro. Thus it was thought that it might be interesting to investigate CsA effect on PA expression of IHOK.IHOK was cultured under KBM bullet kit at 37℃ under 95% CO2 incubator. Subconfluent IHOK cells was treated at different CsA concentration. uPA and tPA protein expression from cultured IHOK cell line has been detected by ELISA analysis in the CsA-treated samples. uPA expression of IHOK was higher than that of NHOK, while tPA was similar to that of NHOK. After CsA treatment, CsA might not effect the expression of uPA of IHOK, while showed a little effect on tPA of IHOK. It suggested that CsA had no effect in uPA expression of IHOK although uPA could be used as a marker for precancerous lesion."

"This report describes a case of odontogenic cyst with keratinization and dysplastic change of lining epithelium, which showed the manifestation of inflammatory radicular cyst, clinically. A 28-year-old man complained of dull pain in the right mandibular molar region. Radiographically a well-defined oval cystic lesion with non-vital teeth, a common finding in radicular cyst, was observed. Microscopically, the lining epithelium of the cyst demonstrated both keratinization and severe epithelial dysplasia. Atypical findings such as hyperchromatic nuclei, increase of N/C ratio and drop shaped rege ridge were observed in the lining epithelium. However, definite invasion into fibrous connective tissue was not found. Immunohistochemically, the dysplastic lining epithelium was highly positive for proliferative marker, Ki-67. Based on the dysplastic changes of lining epithelium, this periapical lesion would be considered to be signs of malignant change. From this case, we conclude that definitive diagnosis by microscopical examination should be made, even if the periapical lesion would be clinically considered as inflammatory radicular cyst."