Jun-jen Liu

Taipei Medical University | TMU · School of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology

The research has demonstrated a synergistic anticancer effect of Seabuckthorn pulp oil (SBO) and the standard chemotherapy regimen Docetaxel (DTX) against two non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines: A549 and H23. The synergizing effect of an SBO and DTX combination was detected utilizing SRB assay and combination index (CI) approaches. Flow...

Artemisia species previously have been reported to have antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiulcer, and anticancer properties. In this study, we investigated the prospective antitumor effects of Artemisia santolinifolia ethanol extract (ASE) against two non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines and their molecular mechanisms of action. Morphological...

Conventional chemotherapy remains an integral part of lung cancer therapy, regardless of its toxicity and drug resistance. Consequently, the discovery of an alternative to conventional chemotherapy is critical. Artemisia santolinifolia ethanol extract (AS) was assessed for its chemosensitizer ability when combined with the conventional anticancer d...

Patients with advanced-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are susceptible to malnutrition and develop folate deficiency (FD). We previously found that folate deprivation induces drug resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma; here, we assessed whether disrupted cytoplasmic folate metabolism could mimic FD-induced metastasis and affect the sensit...

Liver fibrosis is a progression of chronic liver disease characterized by excess deposition of fibrillary collagen. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of a triterpenoid-enriched extract (TEE) from bitter melon leaves against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced hepatic fibrosis in mice. Male ICR mice received TEE (100 or...

Chang'E-4, with the Yutu-2 rover, is the first lunar probe to successfully land and conduct a tour on the far side of the Moon from early 2019. We analyze the physical and mechanical characteristics of lunar soil through the in situ terrain data collected by the panoramic camera onboard the Yutu-2 rover. With the slip ratio and wheel sinkage obtain...

Lunar topographic mapping is one of the fundamental research work for lunar topographic study and lunar exploration program. Since China has launched Chang ’e-1 probe in 2007, we have officially joined the group of lunar and planetary cartography research. This approach first reviews the general situation of lunar topographic mapping in China and a...

This study investigated the effects of chlorpyrifos (CPF) on immune-cell populations and intestinal inflammation using a mouse model of inflammatory bowel disease induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS). C57BL/6 mice were randomly assigned to five groups with one normal control (NC) and four DSS-treated groups. Mice in the NC group were given disti...

Acne vulgaris (acne) is a common inflammatory skin disorder, and Propionibacterium acnes plays a major role in the development and progression of acne inflammation. Herbs possessing antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity have been applied as a medical option for centuries. In this study, we examined the suppressive effect of ethanolic oregano...

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting the airway, and it is characterized by a wheezing breathing sound, variable airflow obstruction and the presence of inflammatory cells in the submucosa of the bronchi. Viral infection, pollutants and sensitivity to aeroallergens damage the epithelium from childhood, which causes asthma. The pathoge...

Aims: This study uncovered that the genetically endowed intracellular glutathione contents (iGSH) regulated by the catalytic subunit of γ‑glutamylcysteine synthetase heavy chain (γ‑GCSh) as a prime target for overcoming both the inherited and stimuli-activated chemo- and radio-resistance of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. Main methods: Rea...

The solid solubility of an anticoagulant, warfarin, in supercritical CO2 was measured using a semiflow type apparatus at 308.2, 318.2, and 328.2 K from 10 to 18 MPa. The data were correlated using the Chrastil equation and the Méndez-Santiago and Teja equation. The average deviations for calculated and measured solubilities were approximately 10%....

In the present study, we attempted to develop a lecithin-stabilized micellar drug delivery system (LsbMDDs) for loading docetaxel (DTX) to enhance its therapeutic efficacy and minimize systemic toxicity. A novel DTX-loaded LsbMDDs was optimally prepared by a thin-film hydration method and then hydrated with a lecithin nanosuspension while being sub...

We provide herein several lines of evidence to substantiate that folic acid (or folate) is a micronutrient capable of functioning as a novel redox regulator on hepatocellular carcinoma. First, we uncovered that folate deficiency could profoundly downregulate two prominent anti-apoptotic effectors including survivin and glucose-regulated protein-78....

In this study, cooling sonocrystallization was used to recrystallize an active pharmaceutical ingredient, sulfathiazole, using methanol as the solvent. The effects of three operating parameters-sonication intensity, sonication duration, and solution concentration-on the recrystallization were investigated by using a 2k factorial design. The solid-s...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0149897.].

A new therapeutic strategy of combining multistage short-term magnetic guidance with optimized ligand-mediated targeting in a newly developed nanodelivery system is investigated to promote accumulation and modulate intratumoral distribution behavior of the nanocarriers for enhanced tumor therapy. The multifunctional magnetic nanocarriers (MNCs) com...

The expression of cancer stemness is believed to reduce the efficacy of current therapies against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Understanding of the stemness-regulating signaling pathways incurred by a specific etiology can facilitate the development of novel targets for individualized therapy against HCC. Niche environments, such as virus-induce...

Effects of inflamed-CM dilution on mRNA levels of POU5F1 (OCT4), NANOG, and IGF-IR in HepG2.2.15 and Hep3B cells. (PDF)

Correlations of the levels of MCP-1/CD68 and pluripotent transcription factors OCT4 and NANOG in HBV-HCC or HBV-negative HCC tissues. (PDF)

Real-time quantitative PCR primer and product size. (PDF)

List of antibodies. (PDF)

Here, we present evidence of a novel microtubule-disrupting agent, N-deacetyl-N-(chromone-2-carbonyl)-thiocolchicine (TCD), exhibiting potent antitumor activity (with IC50 values in the nanomolar range) against hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines. Cell cycle analysis revealed that TCD induced G2/M cell-cycle arrest in a dose- and time-dependent man...

15,16-Dihydrotanshinone I (DHTS) is extracted from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge which is a functional food in Asia. In this study, we investigated the apoptotic effect of DHTS on the human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) type III HL-60 cell line. We found that treatment with 1.5 μg/mL DHTS increased proapoptotic Bax and Bad protein expressions and activa...

Colchicine, an anti-microtubule and antimitotic drug, is a common therapeutically agent for gout, which is thought to have potential anti-tumor effects. Owing to concerns of colchicines poisoning, the development of derivatives with low dose efficacy and less side effects is of obvious interest. In this study, we characterized the inhibitory effect...

Sepsis is a common cause of death in critically ill patients. An overwhelming inflammatory response and imbalance of helper T (Th) cells and regulatory T (Treg) cells are thought to be involved in the progression of sepsis. ω-3 Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) were found to have anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties. This study inves...

Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are prone to folate deficiency (FD). Here we showed that, in cell line-specific manner, FD caused resistance to FD-induced oxidative stress and multi-drug resistance (MDR). This resistance was due to upregulation of glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) and Survivin. Using siRNA and Epigallocatechin galla...

In this study, the supercritical antisolvent (SAS) process is applied to crystallization of an active pharmaceutical ingredient, tolfenamic acid, using carbon dioxide as the antisolvent. Six operating parameters in the SAS process including solvent system, operating temperature, operating pressure, solution concentration, solution flow rate and noz...

To unravel the role of interleukin (IL)-6 and insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I receptor (IGFIR) in expressing stemness-related properties and to evaluate the prognostic values of pluripotent transcription factor OCT4/NANOG, and IGFIR in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Serum levels of IL6 were detected using ELISA assays (n = 120). The effects of...

Aim: A thermosensitive injectable hydrogel composed of nanocomplexes of doxorubicin and hyaluronic acid (HA) for the local treatment of cancer diseases was developed and characterized. Materials & methods: It was found that the addition of a divalent metal ion of Mg (MgCl2) was required to properly form HA-doxorubicin nanocomplexes, which were m...

Background: This study investigated the effect of different ω-6/ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) ratios on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced changes to small intestinal intraepithelial lymphocyte (IEL) γδT-cell expression. Methods: Mice were assigned to 3 control and 3 DSS-treated groups and were maintained on a low-fat semipurified diet...

The invention provides a liposome composition for delivering high pay-load of a therapeutic agent to neovascularization sites of the eyes in a patient in need thereof. The liposome composition for entrapping the therapeutic agent comprises a particle forming component composed of a variety of vesicle-forming lipids, and an agent-carrying component...

Thrombomodulin (TM) is highly expressed in endothelial cells and plays the key role in maintaining physical homeostasis. In addition, many pieces of evidence also show that TM contains the diagnostic value for malignant diseases. TM has been found to correlate with metastatic status in multiple cancers, but its role in prostate cancer progression r...

This study investigated the effects of dietary glutamine (Gln) on T-helper (Th) and T regulatory (Treg) cell homeostasis and colonic inflammatory mediator expression in mice with dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis. Mice were randomly assigned to 4 groups with 2 normal control (C and G) and 2 DSS-treated groups (DC and DG). The C and DC gr...

The present study investigated the effect of glutamine (Gln) on dextran sulphate sodium (DSS)-induced changes in the expression of small-intestinal intraepithelial lymphocyte (IEL) γδ-T cells in mice. Mice were randomly assigned to a normal control (NC) group and two DSS-treated groups. The NC group and one of the DSS-treated groups (DSS-C) were fe...

Expression of cancer stemness in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is linked to drug resistance and tumor relapse which challenge the current therapy. However, mechanisms underlying the regulation of cancer stemness in HCC remain unclear. Effects of interleukin (IL)-6 and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) on stemness expression in HCC were examined...

Shikonin is a traditional Oriental medical herb extracted from Lithospermum erythrorhizon. Many studies showed that shikonin possesses anticancer ability against many different cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Recently, tumor metastasis has been become an important clinical obstacle. However, the effect of shikonin on metastasis by...

CD133 (Prominin-1/AC133) is generally treated as a cell surface marker found on multipotent stem cells and tumor stem-like cells, and its biological function remains debated. Genetically modified rat glioma cell lines were generated by lentiviral gene delivery of human CD133 into rat C6 glioma cells (hCD133(+) -C6) or by infection of C6 cells with...

T helper (Th) cells play a major role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Glutamine (Gln) is known to have immunomodulatory effects in metabolic stressed conditions. This study investigated the effects of post-treatment of alanyl-glutamine (Ala-Gln) on Th cell-associated cytokine expressions and inflammatory reaction in dextran...

Folate, act as an one-carbon units donator or acceptor, participate in numerous biochemical reactions. Because mammals can't synthesize folic acid de novo, obtain from diet or from microbial breakdown in the gut is essential. Pathological study revealed that tumor cell expressing high level of folate receptors (FR) comparing to normal tissue. There...

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) and T helper (Th) 17 cells are two subsets of Th cells with opposing actions which participate in the process of resolving acute lung injury (ALI). Glutamine (Gln) is a nutrient commonly used in nutrition regimens due to its immunomodulatory effects. This study investigated whether alanyl-glutamine (Ala-Gln) administratio...

The objective of this study was to develop and characterize a liposome delivery system coencapsulating two cosmeceutical ingredients, avobenzone (AVO) and arbutin (AR). Two different liposome preparation methods, that is, thin film hydration and reverse-phase evaporation, were evaluated. To obtain the optimal formulation, various ratios of lipid to...

To resolve problems of long treatment durations and frequent administration of the antifungal agent terbinafine (TB), solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) with the ability to load lipophilic drugs and nanosize were developed. The SLNs were manufactured by a microemulsion technique in which glyceryl monostearate (GMS), glyceryl behenate (Compritol® 888;...

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an essential role in mediating gene expression in both normal and malignant cells. However, little is known about specific miRNAs during the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) from well-differentiated to poorly differentiated cells. Methods: We performed miRNA array analysis of three different HCC c...

Arginine (Arg) is known to possess numerous useful physiological properties and immunomodulatory effects. Th17 cells are a unique T-helper cell lineage. Regulation of Th17 cells plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory disorders. This study investigated the effect of Arg on the exogenous advanced glycosylation end product (AGE)-...

Antrodia camphorata (AC) is a traditional Chinese medicine, and the polysaccharides contained within AC (AC-PSs) are reported to possess various biological functions. This study extracted AC-PSs from mycelia and fruiting bodies and evaluated their influences on inflammatory mediator expressions in septic mice. There were one normal control (NC) and...

This study investigated the effects of glutamine (Gln) supplementation on gene expressions of inflammatory mediators and cytokines associated with T-helper cell type 17 (Th17) regulation in diabetic rats. There were one normal control group and two diabetic groups in this study. Rats in the normal control group were fed a regular chow diet. One dia...

Background This study investigated the effects of dietary Arg supplementation on renal inflammatory mediator expression and oxidative damage in rats with exogenous advanced glycation end product (AGE) administration. Methods There were two groups of rats: the CA group was fed a common diet and given a tail vein injection of AGE–bovine serum albumi...

There are close links among hyperglycaemia, oxidative stress and diabetic complications. Glutamine (GLN) is an amino acid with immunomodulatory properties. The present study investigated the effect of dietary GLN on oxidative stress-relative gene expressions and tissue oxidative damage in diabetes. There were one normal control (NC) and two diabeti...

Long-term cigarette smoking increases the risk of colorectal cancer mortality. Tobacco's addictive toxin, nicotine, was reported to increase DNA synthesis of colon cancer cells. Since metastasis is the major cause of cancer death, the influence of nicotine on the migration of colon cancer cells remains to be determined. The influence of nicotine on...

Survivin has multiple functions during the progression of cancer. However, the role of survivin in the progression and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unknown. Survivin expression in HCC cells (Mahlavu and Hep3B) was assessed using reverse transcription real-time PCR and Western blot analyses. In addition, survivin expression i...

Glutamine (Gln) is known to have immunomodulatory effects. Previous studies reported that Gln promotes insulin secretion in type 2 diabetes. However, the effects of Gln on insulin-deficient type 1 diabetes are not clear. This study investigated the effects of dietary Gln supplementation on adhesion molecule expression and oxidative damage in type 1...

The objective was to study the mechanism of nicotine-enhanced migration of gastric cancer cells. Long-term cigarette smoking increases the risk of gastric cancer mortality. Tobacco-specific mitogen, nicotine, was reported to correlate with cancer progression on gastric cancer. Since metastasis is the major cause of cancer death, the influence of ni...

Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC Polymerization and de-polymerization of microtubule are responsible for separation of chromosomes during cell division which has been considered to be one of major targets in cancer chemotherapy. In order to develop a newer generation of chemotherapeutic agents with high...

Thrombomodulin (TM) is a key molecule mediating circulation homeostasis through its binding to thrombin. The TM-thrombin complex can activate protein C and thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor to form a tight clot. In many cancer tissues, decrease of TM expression may correlate with cancer metastasis. However, the role of TM in hepatocellula...

Background & aims Arginine (Arg) was shown to have immunomodulatory effect and inhibits advanced glycation end product (AGE) formation in in vitro studies. This study investigated the effects of dietary Arg supplementation on renal receptor of AGE (RAGE) expressions and oxidative damage in diabetic rats. Methods There were 1 normal control (NC) gr...

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia. The abnormalities in nutrient metabolism and elevated inflammatory mediators resulting from DM lead to impairment of wound healing and vulnerability to infection and foot ulcers. Diabetic lower limb ischemia often leads to limb necrosis. Lower extremity...

Antrodia camphorata is a popular folk medicine that has attracted great attention due to its fame for antitumor activity against cancer. However, there is little information available about its action. In the present study, we purified a unique polysaccharide component from A. camphorata mycelia (AC-PS) and found that it has pronounced anti-tumor e...

Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) derived from honeybee propolis has been used as a folk medicine and has several proven biological activities. The present study investigated the effect of CAPE on angiogenesis, tumor invasion, and metastasis. A cytotoxicity assay of CAPE in CT26 colon adenocarcinoma cells showed a dose-dependent decrease in cell...

In recent studies, we have shown that baicalein and baicalin, 2 major flavonoids of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, exhibit anticancer activity against several cancers in vitro. In our present study, we assessed their potential as anti-angiogenic agents in vivo employing chicken chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay and in vitro human umbilical vein...

Humic acid (HA), a fluorescent allomelanin, has been implicated as an etiological agent of Blackfoot disease (BFD), a peripheral vascular disease prevailing in the southwest of Taiwan. Clinical and pathological studies reveal that it is similar to atherosclerosis. In this report, the effect of HA on human neutrophils is studied because prolonged an...

Unlike conventional liposomes, sterically stabilized liposomes, with their smaller volume of distribution and reduced clearance, preferentially convey encapsulated drugs into tumor sites. Despite these improvements, intracellular delivery is hampered by the stable drug retention of the liposomes, which diminishes the efficacy of the liposomal drug....

Topotecan (TPT), a topoisomerase I inhibitor, is presently undergoing clinical evaluation worldwide. Previous studies have shown that entrapping TPT within multi-lamellar vesicle liposome can stabilize the lactone moiety, which is structurally important for biological activity. However, low drug:lipid ratios due to the amphipathic character and sma...

The effect of a fermented soy milk product (FSP) on various human breast carcinoma cell lines was investigated, and it was shown to have a growth-inhibitory effect, especially on MCF-7 cells. Thus the MCF-7 cell line was used to study the mechanism of action. In female severe combined immune deficiency mice implanted with MCF-7 cells, pretreatment...

Sterically stabilized liposome is characterized by a surface coating of polyethylene glycol (PEG) or other polymers that can reduce opsonization of the liposome by plasma proteins. It has a higher plasma area under the concentration-time curve (AUC), which is believed to correlate with better therapeutic efficacy. However, the presence of large mol...