Publications by authors named "Hwan-Mook Kim"

Src is emerging as a promising target in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) treatment because it activates survival signaling linked to the epidermal growth factor receptor. In this study, the effect of calcium supply on Src degradation was investigated to confirm underlying mechanisms and anticancer effects targeting TNBC. MDA-MB-231 cells, the TNBC cell line, were used.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The biochemical phenomenon defined as poly adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-ribosylation (PARylation) is essential for the progression of pancreatic cancer. However, the excessive accumulation of poly ADP-ribose (PAR) induces apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) release from mitochondria and energy deprivation resulting in the caspase-independent death of cancer cells.

Aim: To investigate whether sustained calcium supply could induce an anticancer effect on pancreatic cancer by PAR accumulation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Hypoxic cancer cells meet their growing energy requirements by upregulating glycolysis, resulting in increased glucose consumption and lactate production. Herein, we used a unique approach to change in anaerobic glycolysis of cancer cells by lactate calcium salt (CaLac). Human colorectal cancer (CRC) cells were used for the study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chemosensitization of cancer cells with small molecules may improve the therapeutic index of antitumoral agents by making tumor cells sensitive to the drug regimen and thus overcome the treatment resistance and side effects of single therapy. Cell membrane lipid rafts are known to transduce various signaling events in cell proliferation. Sensitizing cancer cells may cause modulation of membrane lipid rafts which may potentially be used in improving anticancer drug response.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sorafenib has been recently used for the treatment of patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) and is recognized for its therapeutic value. However, the continuous use of sorafenib may cause resistance in the treatment of cancer patients. In this study, we investigated whether sorafenib exerts an enhanced anticancer effect on CRC cells via the calcium-mediated deactivation of the focal adhesion kinase (FAK) signaling pathways.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background/aim: The antitumor effect of sustained calcium supply on Src degradation was investigated in the context of hormone-dependent breast cancer, followed by elucidation of the underlying mechanisms.

Materials And Methods: Hormone-dependent T-47D breast cancer cells were used. Lactate calcium salt (LCS) was used as the source of sustained calcium supply, and the applicable concentration of LCS was determined by the colorimetric MTT assay.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of blindness in older adults, linked to inflammation and the formation of new blood vessels (neovascularization).
  • This study explored how calcium affects inflammation and blood vessel growth in a specific model of AMD, using human retinal cells and mice.
  • Results showed that calcium reduced markers of inflammation and neovascularization in retinal cells and in mice, suggesting it could help manage symptoms of neovascular AMD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Mixed lineage leukemia proteins (MLL) are the key histone lysine methyltransferases that regulate expression of diverse genes. Aberrant activation of MLL promotes leukemia as well as solid tumors in humans, highlighting the urgent need for the development of an MLL inhibitor. We screened and isolated MLL1-binding ssRNAs using SELEX (ystemic volution of igands by ponential enrichment) technology.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background/aim: Capecitabine is a pro-drug of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and is an orally available chemotherapeutic used to treat colorectal cancer (CRC). Recently, research has focused on improving its efficacy at lower doses in order to minimize its well-known toxicities. In this study, we investigated the possibility of improving the antitumor effect of capecitabine against CRC by destabilizing focal adhesion kinase (FAK) signaling.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Various methods are available for cancer screening, and the methods are performed depending on the origin site of cancer. Among these methods, biopsy followed by medical imaging is the most common. After cancer progression is determined, an optimal treatment-such as surgery, chemotherapy, and/or radiation therapy-is selected.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Despite the development of numerous therapeutics targeting the epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) for non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), the application of these drugs is limited because of drug resistance. Here, we investigated the antitumor effect of calcium-mediated degradation of EGFR pathway-associated proteins on NSCLC. First, lactate calcium salt (LCS) was utilized for calcium supplementation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Since breast cancer is one of the most lethal malignancies, targeted strategies are urgently needed. In this study, we report the enhanced therapeutic efficacy of docetaxel (DTX) when combined with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) for effective treatment of multi-resistant breast cancers. Folic acid (FA)-conjugated PUFA-based lipid nanoparticles (FA-PLN/DTX) was developed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - IDF-11774 is a novel HIF-1 inhibitor that reduces the accumulation of HIF-1α in colorectal cancer cells under low-oxygen conditions, showing potential as a cancer therapy.
  • - The treatment suppresses cancer cell angiogenesis and alters their metabolism by decreasing glucose uptake and affecting energy production pathways, leading to a high AMP/ATP ratio and inhibiting mTOR signaling.
  • - In mouse models with common cancer mutations (KRAS, PTEN, VHL), IDF-11774 demonstrated significant anticancer effects, indicating its potential for targeting metabolic processes in tumors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background/aim: 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) over-use has led to an urgent need for alternative treatment regimens, such as a lower concentration of the drug because of its toxic effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of improving the antitumor effect of 5-FU without toxicity by targeting primary colorectal cancer (CRC) with sustained calcium supplementation.

Materials And Methods: The viability of CRC cells was determined after treatment of 5-FU, lactate calcium salt (CaLac), or the combination of te two.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Methionine (Met) is involved in one-carbon de novo nucleotide synthesis and is an essential amino acid for cell survival. The impact of lactate calcium salt (CaLa) on the Met metabolism was investigated to evaluate the enhanced antitumor effect of methotrexate (MTX) on colorectal cancer (CRC) cells. Met dependency relating to homocysteine (Hcy) and betaine was investigated in human CRC cells (HCT-116 and HT-29) using a viability assay and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a clonal disorder of hematopoietic progenitor cell. In AML, a mutation in FLT3 is commonly occurs and is associated with poor prognosis. We have previously reported that thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivative compound 1 exhibited better antiproliferative activity against MV4-11 cells which harbor mutant FLT3 than AC220, which is a well-known FLT3 inhibitor, and has good microsomal stability.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aim: To investigate the possibility of enhancing an anti-metastatic effect of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) on colorectal cancer (CRC) cells by combining it with continuous calcium supplementation.

Materials And Methods: Optimal doses of 5-FU with/without lactate salt (CaLa) were determined via clonogenicity and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assays using human CRC cells cultured on normal or low-attachment plates. Invasion and migration assays confirmed the enhanced anti-metastatic effect of combining 5-FU and CaLa.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unlabelled: Novel nanomaterials for the intracellular transport of therapeutic cargos have been actively sought to effectively breach cell-membrane barriers. In this study we developed novel self-micellizing anticancer lipid (SMAL)-based pro-apoptotic nanoparticles (NPs) that enhance the accumulation and chemotherapeutic efficacy of oxaliplatin (OL) in colorectal cancer cells (CRCs). We demonstrated that NPs with special affinity to caveolae could be designed and based on this specificity, NPs effectively differentiated between endothelial cells (tumor cells) and epithelial cells, without the need for a cell-specific targeting moiety.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We developed a hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) inhibitor, IDF-11774, as a clinical candidate for cancer therapy. To understand the mechanism of action of IDF-11774, we attempted to isolate target proteins of IDF-11774 using bioconjugated probes. Multifunctional chemical probes containing sites for click conjugation and photoaffinity labeling were designed and synthesized.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In an effort to identify a microbial enzyme that can be useful as a fungicide and biodegradation agent of chitinous wastes, a chitinase (Chi242) was purified from the culture supernatant of Streptomyces anulatus CS242 utilizing powder of shrimp shell wastes as a sole carbon source. It was purified employing ammonium sulfate precipitation and gel permeation chromatography techniques. The molecular weight of the purified chitinase was ~38 kDa by SDS-PAGE.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Maintenance of a neutral intracellular pH (pHi) is favorable for the survival of tumors, and maintenance of highly acidic extracellular pH (pH) facilitates tumor invasiveness. The aim of the present study was to investigate the antitumor effects of lactate calcium salt (CaLa), 5-indanesulfonamide (IS) and α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (CA) via pH regulation in colon cancer cells. HCT116 cells were treated with CaLa, IS, CA and combinations of the three.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nerve injury-induced protein 1 (Ninjurin1, Ninj1) is a cell surface molecule that can mediate homophilic adhesion and promote neurite outgrowth from cultured dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. Interestingly, Ninj1 overexpressed in human cancer; however, its role in metastasis is not clear. This study showed that inhibition of Ninj1 promotes lung cancer metastasis through interleukin 6 (IL-6)/STAT3 signaling.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims: Betaine plays an important role in cellular homeostasis. However, the physiological roles of betaine-γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transporter (BGT-1) are still being disputed in cancer. In this study, we tried to find the possibility of the antitumor effect on colorectal cancer (CRC) cell via lactate calcium salt (CaLa)-induced BGT-1 downregulation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Recent studies have shown that many types of cancer cells have increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and enhance antioxidant capacity as an adaptation to intrinsic oxidative stress, suggesting that cancer cells are more vulnerable to oxidative insults and are more dependent on antioxidant systems compared with normal cells. Thus, disruption of redox homeostasis caused by a decline in antioxidant capacity may provide a method for the selective death of cancer cells. Here we show that ROS-mediated selective death of tumor cells can be caused by inhibiting sulfiredoxin (Srx), which reduces hyperoxidized peroxiredoxins, leading to their reactivation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Treatment of neonatal animals with capsaicin has previously been associated with long-lasting hyperthermia and severe cutaneous lesions. The present study analyzed the effects of capsaicin-induced hyperthermia on the occurrence of infectious disease and pruritic dermatitis in a rat model. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were obtained 1 week prior to parturition.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF