Bor-Chyuan Su

Taipei Medical University | TMU · Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology

Synovial sarcoma is a rare but highly malignant and metastatic disease. Despite its relative sensitivity to chemotherapies, the high recurrence and low 5-year survival rate for this disease suggest that new effective therapeutic agents are urgently needed. Marine antimicrobial peptide epinecidin-1 (epi-1), which was identified from orange-spotted g...

Antimicrobial peptide tilapia piscidin 4 (TP4) from Oreochromis niloticus exhibits potent bactericidal and anti-tumorigenic effects. In a variety of cancers, the mutation status of p53 is a decisive factor for therapeutic sensitivity. Therefore, we investigated the impact of p53 status on TP4-induced cytotoxicity in glioblastoma cell lines and the...

The antimicrobial peptide, epinecidin-1 (Epi), was identified from Epinephelus coioides and may have clinical application for treating sepsis. Epi has been shown to ameliorate antibiotic-resistant bacteria-induced sepsis in mice, but further evaluation in mixed-flora models and a description of the protective mechanisms are essential to establish t...

Dysregulated hepatic steatosis may lead to chronic liver inflammation and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Recent studies have suggested that exendin-4, a glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist, may be a promising therapeutic for hepatic steatosis and NASH. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the antihepatic steatosis actions of exendin-4 are...

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a common and fatal malignancy with an increasing incidence worldwide. Over the past decade, concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) with or without surgery is an emerging therapeutic approach for locally advanced ESCC. Unfortunately, many patients exhibit poor response or develop acquired resistance to CCRT....

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the most common and deadly cancers worldwide. Among NSCLC patients, almost half have wild-type epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR WT). The primary therapeutic option for these EGFR WT NSCLC patients is chemotherapy, while NSCLC patients with EGFR mutations have more diverse therapeutic options, inclu...

Gardnerella vaginalis is associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV). The virulence factors produced by G. vaginalis are known to stimulate vaginal mucosal immune response, which is largely driven by activated macrophages. While Tilapia piscidin 4 (TP4), an antimicrobial peptide isolated from Nile tilapia, is known to display a broad range of antibact...

Synovial sarcoma is a rare but aggressive soft-tissue sarcoma associated with translocation t(X;18). Metastasis occurs in approximately 50% of all patients, and curative outcomes are difficult to achieve in this group. Since the efficacies of current therapeutic approaches for metastatic synovial sarcoma remain limited, new therapeutic agents are u...

Recombinant Epinephelus lanceolatus piscidin (RELP) was previously shown to improve growth performance and immune response when used as a feed additive for Gallus gallus domesticus. However, the long-term toxicity of RELP has not be thoroughly investigated. In the present study, we evaluated the subacute and subchronic oral toxicities of RELP in SD...

Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) is an inhibitory transmembrane protein that can prevent autoimmune response. Upregulated PD-L1 serves as a predictive biomarker for patients who may respond well to immune checkpoint therapies. However, variable associations of PD-L1 level with prognoses have been reported. In this study, a short peptide sequence c...

Tilapia piscidin (TP) 4 is an antimicrobial peptide derived from Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), which shows broad-spectrum antibacterial activity and excellent cancer-killing ability in vitro and in vivo. Like many other antimicrobial peptides, TP4 treatment causes mitochondrial toxicity in cancer cells. However, the molecular mechanisms und...

Orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides) is among the most economically important of all fish species farmed in Asia. This species expresses an antimicrobial peptide called epinecidin-1 (EPI), which is considered to be a host defense factor due to its strong bacterial killing activity. Antimicrobial peptides usually possess both bacterial kill...

Glioblastoma is the most common and deadly type of brain cancer. The poor prognosis may be largely attributed to inadequate disease response to current chemotherapeutic agents. Activation of p38 is associated with deleterious outcomes in glioblastoma patients, as its signaling mediates chemoresistance mechanisms. Antimicrobial peptide tilapia pisci...

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) may be found on the skin, nose, and throats of long-term hospitalized patients. While MRSA infections are usually minor, serious infections and death may occur in immunocompromised or diabetic patients, or after exposure of MRSA to blood. This report demonstrates that the antimicrobial peptide (AMP...

Autophagy occurs at basal levels for cellular homeostasis under normal conditions and is increased in response to nutrient starvation or stress to ensure cell survival. However, excessive autophagy can be deleterious to cardiomyocytes. CCN1/Cyr61, a matricellular protein, is expressed in the stressed heart to induce cardiomyopathy. The role of auto...

Recombinant Epinephelus lanceolatus serum amyloid A (rElSAA) exhibits strong immunostimulant activity and enhances phagocytic clearance of bacteria by macrophages. However, the effects of dietary rElSAA supplementation on growth performance, immunomodulation and disease resistance in giant grouper have not been previously evaluated. To test whether...

To study the biological role of tilapia piscidin 3 (TP3) in Streptococcus agalactiae infection in vivo, TP3/DsRed overexpressing transgenic zebrafish were generated. Under normal growth conditions, TP3/DsRed transgenic zebrafish exhibited an orange-red body color, without any other obvious abnormalities. However, when compared to wild type fish, TP...

The cationic antimicrobial peptide epinecidin-1 was identified from Epinephelus coioides and possesses multiple biological functions, including antibacterial, antifungal, anti-tumor, and immunomodulatory effects. In addition, epinecidin-1 suppresses lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation by neutralizing LPS and ameliorating LPS/Toll-like rec...

Serum amyloid A (SAA) is an acute-phase protein that plays a crucial role in the inflammatory response. In this study, we identified an SAA homolog from Epinephelus lanceolatus (ElSAA). Molecular characterization revealed that ElSAA contains a fibronectin-like motif that is typical of SAAs. Recombinant ElSAA protein (rElSAA) was produced in E. coli...

To address the growing concern over antibiotic-resistant microbial infections in aquatic animals, we tested several promising alternative agents that have emerged as new drug candidates. Specifically, the tilapia piscidins are a group of peptides that possess antimicrobial, wound-healing, and antitumor functions. In this study, we focused on tilapi...

Determination of bacterial numbers and survival rates. (a) We monitored bacterial numbers and (b) survival rates after tilapia were infected with different amounts of V. vulnificus. Data were recorded after 3 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, 4 days, 5 days, 6 days and 7 days. (PDF)

Differential expression of immune-related genes in the livers and spleens of tilapia after co-, pre-, or post-treatment with TP3 or TP4. (a) TP3-treated livers, (b) TP3-treated spleens, (c) TP4-treated livers, and (d) TP4-treated spleens. Comparative RT-PCR analysis of the mRNA gene expression levels of immune-related genes. The evaluated genes are...

Determination of tilapia survival rates seven days after injection with different concentrations of TP3 or TP4. (a) The survival rates of tilapia injected with TP3 at a dose of 0.1 μg/fish, 1 μg/fish, or 10 μg/fish. (b) The percentage of tilapia surviving after injection with TP4 at 0.1 μg/fish, 1 μg/fish, or 10 μg/fish. (c) The percentage of tilap...

The tilapia piscidin 3 and tilapia piscidin 4 peptide half-life in tilapia. (a) Pharmacokinetic curve for tilapia after injection of a single dose (0.2 mg/kg; using three fish at each time point) of TP3 and (b) TP4. Serum concentrations were determined by intravenous sampling at each time point, and piscidin concentrations were determined by liquid...

Cell proliferation from pre-existing cardiomyocytes is a major source of cells for normal mammalian myocardial renewal or for regeneration after myocardial injury. These proliferative cardiomyocytes may act differently from the postmitotic cardiomyocytes in a stressed heart. Extracellular matrix molecule CCN1 is produced to promote Fas ligand (FasL...

Fas/Fas ligand (FasL) is implicated in cardiac ischemia/reperfusion injury. However, cardiomyocytes in culture are resistant to FasL-induced apoptosis, suggesting that additional factor(s) are required for FasL-induced apoptosis. Matricellular protein CCN1 has been demonstrated to promote cytotoxicity of FasL in human skin fibroblasts. CCN1 is indu...

Ganoderma mushrooms (Lingzhi in Chinese) have well-documented health benefits. Ganoderma tsugae (G. tsugae), one of the ganoderma species, has been commercially cultivated as a dietary supplement. Because G. tsugae has high antioxidant activity and because oxidative stress is often associated with cardiac injury, we hypothesized that G. tsugae prot...

Aims: Expression of extracellular matrix protein CCN1 is induced in end-stage ischaemic cardiomyopathy in humans, and after cardiac ischaemia and reperfusion in experimental animal models. Despite its well-documented angiogenic activities, CCN1 increases the cytotoxicities of the tumour necrosis factor family cytokines, which promotes apoptosis in...