Young-Eun Cho

• PhD
• Associate professor at Andong National University

Exosome‐like nanovesicles derived from plants (PENs) harbor a spectrum of bioactive compounds, including proteins, lipids, nucleic acids (such as miRNAs and mRNAs), offering therapeutic advantages for a variety of diseases. This investigation assesses the utility of pomegranate‐derived exosome‐like nanovesicles (PNVs) in both preventing and treatin...

The lymphatic system plays a crucial role in maintaining physiological homeostasis and regulating immune responses. Traditional imaging modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging, computerized tomography, and positron emission tomography have been widely used to diagnose disorders in the lymphatic system, including lymphedema, lymphangioma, lymp...

The aim of the current study was to isolate HSNVs in terms of their effectiveness against leaky gut and liver fibrosis disease, induced by NAFLD in vitro and in vivo.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic, recurring inflammatory condition triggered by immunological imbalances in the digestive tract, leading to weight loss, diarrhea, rectal bleeding, and an increased risk of colon cancer. Existing UC treatments encounter significant limitations, such as primary non‐responsiveness, secondary loss of efficacy, and a...

Intestinal barrier dysfunction with high serum endotoxin is common in patients with liver fibrosis, but the mechanisms underlying liver fibrosis remain unclear. Melatonin is a well‐recognized antioxidant and an anti‐inflammatory agent that benefits multiple organs. However, the beneficial effects of melatonin on gut leakiness–associated liver fibro...

Obesity is associated with an increased incidence of asthma. However, the mechanisms underlying this association are not fully understood. In this study, we investigated the role of thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) in obesity-induced asthma. Asthma was induced by intranasal injection of a protease from Aspergillus oryzae in normal diet (ND)-...

Progesterone (P4) is a crucial reproductive hormone that acts as a precursor for all other endogenous steroids. P4 modulates transcriptional activity during reproduction by binding to progesterone receptors (PR). However, the physiological role of P4 in the liver is understudied. P4-mediated lipid metabolism in the liver was investigated in this st...

Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is a critical determinant of calcification, and its concentration is regulated by alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and Pit1. ALP is a key regulator of osteogenic calcification and acts by modulating local inorganic phosphate (Pi) concentrations through hydrolyzing pyrophosphate in the extracellular matrix (ECM). Pit1, a sodium-de...

Dysregulation of liver sinusoidal endothelial cell (LSEC) differentiation and function has been reported in alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD). Impaired nitric oxide (NO) production stimulates LSEC capillarization and dysfunction; however, the mechanism underlying NO production remains unclear. Here, we investigated the role of thioredoxin-inte...

Zinc is an essential trace element for life, acting as a vital cofactor for more than 300 enzymes involved in physiological reactions and numerous transcription factors responsible for gene expression. Zinc deficiency is prevalent in the developing world and affects about two billion people, leading to various diseases. Zn deficiency can also be th...

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects millions of people worldwide and is considered a significant risk factor for colorectal cancer. Recent in vivo and in vitro studies reported that ellagic acid (EA) exhibits important antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. In this study, we investigated the preventive effects of EA against dextran sulf...

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is damage to the liver and mainly caused by binge alcohol. ALD have decreased junctional protein expression and modulated intestinal permeability. We investigated whether plant-releasing exosome-like nanovesicles can prevent liver damage and leaky gut from binge alcohol. In this study, we characterized the exosome-like...

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic recurrent inflammatory disease of the digestive tract that causes pain and weight loss and also increases the risk of colon cancer. Inspired by the benefits of plant-derived nanovesicles and aloe, we herein report aloe-derived nanovesicles, including aloe vera-derived nanovesicles (VNVs), aloe arboresce...

Osteoblasts and osteoclasts play crucial roles in bone formation and bone resorption. We found that plum-derived exosome-like nanovesicles (PENVs) suppressed osteoclast activation and modulated osteoblast differentiation. PENVs increased the proliferation, differentiation, and mineralization of osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells and osteoblasts from mouse...

Dysregulation of liver sinusoidal endothelial cell (LSEC) differentiation and function has been reported in patients with alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD), but how LSEC alteration contributes to the pathogenesis of ALD remains unclear. Here, we found that the hepatic level of thioredoxin interacting protein (TXNIP) was up-regulated in ALD pat...

Plants-releasing exosome-like nanovesicles (PENs) contain miRNA, bioactive lipids, mRNAs, and proteins to exert antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and regenerative activity. Substances extracted from yams have been reported to promote osteoblast growth in bone regeneration, which prevent weak and brittle bones in osteoporosis. Herein, we describe the...

Osteoporosis is characterized by low bone mass and elevated structural deterioration of the bone tissue, resulting in bone weakness with an increased risk of fracture. Considering biological activities of various phytochemicals extracted from apples, we herein demonstrated the potential antiosteoporotic effects of apple-derived nanovesicles (apple...

Zinc (Zn) has been reported to mediate leptin secretion, and thus leptin can be an important candidate molecule linking Zn with bone formation. The present study investigated whether zinc deficiency induces leptin secretion by activating a JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway and leads to osteoblastic apoptosis. MC3T3-E1 cells were incubated for 24 h in no...

The lymphatic system has gained significant interest as a target tissue to control cancer progress, which highlights its central role in adaptive immune response. Numerous mechanistic studies have revealed the benefits of nano-sized materials in the transport of various cargos to lymph nodes, overcoming barriers associated with lymphatic physiology...

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is a common malignancy worldwide, with a major attribution to Helicobacter pylori. Interleukin (IL)-17A has been reported to be up-regulated in serum and tumor of GC patients, but the precise mechanisms underlying its involvement in gastric tumorigenesis are yet to be established. Here, we investigated the roles of...

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is used for medicinal purposes owing to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. We evaluated the protective effect of nanovesicles isolated from hemp plant parts (root, seed, hemp sprout, and leaf) in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice. The particle sizes of root-derived nanovesicles (RNVs), see...

Scope: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis (UC), is a chronic recurrent inflammatory disease of the digestive tract and increases the risk of colon cancer. Method and results: In this study, we evaluated the effects of dietary intervention with freeze-dried plum (FDP), a natural antioxidant and anti-inflammatory fruit...

Background Food allergy is a hypersensitive immune reaction to food proteins including cow’s milk protein. Extracellular vesicles (EVs), such as exosomes, are newly discovered intercellular conveyors of functional molecular mechanisms and mediated intercellular interactions involving mast cells and are particularly relevant to allergy.Objective In...

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a major liver disease worldwide and can range from simple steatosis or inflammation to fibrosis/cirrhosis, possibly through leaky gut and systemic endotoxemia. Many patients with alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH) die within 60 days after clinical diagnosis due to the lack of an approved drug, and thus, synthetic and/o...

Osteoporosis and other manifestations of bone disease are frequent in patients with systemic mastocytosis (SM) in association with the presence of mast cell infiltrates in bone marrow, although the mechanisms behind bone disease remain poorly understood. We find that extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by neoplastic mast cells and present in the...

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a major chronic liver disease worldwide and it arouses simple steatosis, inflammation, fibrosis and cirrhosis, possibly through leaky gut and systemic endotoxemia. This study investigated whether the insects oils from larvae of mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) or black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) could protect agains...

Mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) metabolizes endogenous and exogenous aldehydes and protects cells against oxidative injury. Inactivating genetic polymorphisms in humans are common and associate with alcohol flush reactions. However, whether mast cell Aldh2 activity impacts normal mast cell responses is unknown. Using bone marrow-derive...

The purpose of this review is to briefly summarize the roles of alcohol (ethanol) and related compounds in promoting cancer and inflammatory injury in many tissues. Long-term chronic heavy alcohol exposure is known to increase the chances of inflammation, oxidative DNA damage, and cancer development in many organs. The rates of alcohol-mediated org...

Background & aims: Excessive alcohol consumption is one of the major causes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Approximately 30-40% of the Asian population are deficient for aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2), a key enzyme that detoxifies the ethanol metabolite acetaldehyde. However, how ALDH2 deficiency affects alcohol-related HCC remains unclear....

The lack of molecular targets and targeting probes remains a major drawback for targeted imaging and drug delivery in lung cancer. In this study, we exploited in vivo phage display to identify a novel targeting probe that homes to the tumor in a K-rasLA2 mutant mouse lung cancer model. Compared with other candidate peptides selected from 5 rounds o...

Inhibitors of the secretion of cancer exosomes, which promote cancer progression and metastasis, may not only accelerate exosome biology research but also offer therapeutic benefits for cancer patients. Here we identify sulfisoxazole (SFX) as an inhibitor of small extracellular vesicles (sEV) secretion from breast cancer cells through interference...

Exosomes are small extracellular membrane vesicles released from endosomes of various cells and could be found in most body fluids. The main functions of exosomes have been recognized as important mediators of intercellular communication and as potential biomarkers of various disease states. This study investigated whether exogenous exosomes from m...

Significance Pathological findings in systemic mastocytosis (SM) are generally attributed to an increase in the mast cell burden and associated production of mast cell mediators. We now describe that serum from patients with SM contains extracellular vesicles (EVs) with a mast cell signature and that their concentrations correlate with surrogate ma...

Purpose: Zinc (Zn) is an essential trace element for bone mineralization and osteoblast function. We examined the effects of Zn deficiency on osteoblast differentiation and mineralization in MC3T3-E1 cells. Methods: Osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured at concentration of 1 to 15 μM ZnCl2 (Zn- or Zn+) for 5, 15 and 25 days up to the calcificat...

Purpose: The Glycyrrhiza uralensis species (Leguminosae) as a medicinal biocompound, and one of its root components, isoliquritigenin (ISL), which is a flavonoid, has been reported to have anti-tumor activity in vitro and in vivo. However, its function in bone formation has not been studied yet. In this study, we tested the effect of Glycyrrhiza ur...

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a major chronic liver disease worldwide and can range from simple steatosis, inflammation to fibrosis/cirrhosis possibly through leaky gut and systemic endotoxemia. We investigated whether pomegranate (POM) protects against binge alcohol-induced gut leakiness, endotoxemia, and inflammatory liver damage. After POM pr...

Background & aims: Binge alcohol causes gut leakiness, contributing to increased endotoxemia and inflammatory liver injury, although the molecular mechanisms are still elusive. This study was aimed at investigating the roles of apoptosis of enterocytes and nitration followed by degradation of intestinal tight junction (TJ) and adherent junction (A...

Purpose: Runx2 (runt-related transcription factor 2), a bone-specific transcription factor, is a key regulator of osteoblast differentiation and its expression is induced by the activation of BMP-2 signaling. This study examined whether zinc modulates BMP-2 signaling and therefore stimulates Runx2 and osteoblast differentiation gene expression. Met...

This study investigated the role of ethanol-inducible cytochrome P450-2E1 (CYP2E1) in enhancing CYP2E1 and other P450 proteins in extracellular vesicles (EVs) from alcohol-exposed rodents and human patients with alcoholism and their effects on oxidative hepatocyte injury. Female Fischer rats and wild-type or Cyp2e1-null mice were exposed to three o...

Drug- and alcohol-induced liver injury are a leading cause of liver failure and transplantation. Emerging evidence suggests that extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a source of biomarkers because they contain unique proteins reflecting the identity and tissue-specific origin of the EV proteins. This study aimed to determine whether potentially hepatot...

Table A in S1 File. List of differentially expressed proteins in APAP-derived EVs based on biological function. Figure A in S1 file. The number and protein amount of EVs prepared from liver cell lines are increased by APAP. HepG2 and Hep3B cells were treated with CON (growth media) or APAP at the IC30 dose, or APAP at the IC50 dose for 1, 3, 12, or...

This study was performed to evaluate whether microRNAs (miRNAs) in circulating exosomes may serve as biomarkers of drug-induced liver, kidney, or muscle-injury. Quantitative PCR analyses were performed to measure the amounts of liver-specific miRNAs (miR-122, miR-192, and miR-155), kidney-specific miR-146a, or muscle-specific miR-206 in plasma and...

The underlying mechanisms for increased neurodegeneration and neurocognitive deficits in HIV-infected people are unclear. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the mechanisms of increased neurodegeneration in 5-month old male HIV-1 Transgenic (Tg) rats compared to the age- and gender-matched wild-type (WT) by evaluating histological change...

Comparison of the body weight and neuronal cell death in five-month-old WT and HIV-1 Tg rats. Relative body weight of WT and HIV-1 Tg rats. (n = 8/group), *P < 0.05 (Figure A). Representative IHC staining for GFAP in the cerebral cortex, hippocampal CA1 region and dentate gyrus of the WT and HIV-1 Tg rats (Figure B). Summary of the number of NeuN-p...

Purpose: Currently, there are no molecular biomarkers for the early detection of breast cancer (BC). This study focused on identifying surface proteins found on circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) for detecting early-stage BC. Experimental Design: Circulating EVs, isolated from the plasma of 10 patients with BC (stages I and II), and 5 healthy...

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted from cancer cells have potential for generating cancer biomarker signatures. Fibronectin (FN) was selected as a biomarker candidate, due to the presence in surface on EVs secreted from human breast cancer cell lines. A subsequent study used two types of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) to determine th...

Purpose: Currently, there are no molecular biomarkers for the early detection of breast cancer. This study focused on identifying surface proteins found on circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) for detecting early-stage breast cancer. Experimental design: Circulating EVs, isolated from the plasma of 10 patients with breast cancer (stages I an...

Sleep deprivation (SD) can influence cognition, memory, and sleep/wake homeostasis, and cause impairments in many physiological processes. Because the homeostatic control of the sleep/wake cycle is closely associated with the hypothalamus, the current study was undertaken to examine proteomic changes occurring in hypothalamic astrocytes following c...

Azathioprine, an immunosuppressant, has gained a prominent position in the clinic for prevention of graft rejection in organ transplants, as well as dermatological autoimmune diseases. However, according to a number of research reports, hepatotoxicity, as one of the side effects, is a major obstacle in azathioprine therapy. In this study, an integr...

Yam (Dioscorea) has long been used as foods and folk medicine with the approved positive effects for health promotion. Although consumption of yam products is increasing for health promotion, reports for the metal contamination in commercial yam powder products to protect the consumers are lacking. In this study, we aimed to assess whether the comm...

Hepatocytes are used widely as a cell model for investigation of xenobiotic metabolism and the toxic mechanism of drugs. Simvastatin is the first statin drug used extensively in clinical practice for control of elevated cholesterol or hypercholesterolemia. However, it has also been reported to cause adverse effects in liver due to cellular damage....

Astrocytes provide physical and metabolic support for neurons in the central nervous system. Reactive astrocytes, however, play a crucial role in neuroinflammation after brain injury. Therapeutic hypothermia has been shown to be neuroprotective in brain injury patients. In order to understand the effect of therapeutic hypothermia on astrocytes in s...

Yam has been recognized having the beneficial effects for the prevention of various diseases, such as cancer, immunity, infection and obesity etc. There is increasing consideration to supplement the antioxidant nutrients to make up the lack of the antioxidant nutrient intakes. No study has been reported for the analysis of antioxidant mineral conte...

Tolbutamide is used as a first line oral antihyperglycemic drug for type 2 diabetes. One side effect of this drug, hepatotoxicity, is well recognized; however, the precise mechanisms underlying tolbutamide-induced hepatotoxicity remain unclear. In this respect, proteomics techniques were used to gain further insight into the mechanistic processes o...

Reactive glia plays a central role in neuroinflammation associated with secondary damage after brain injury. In order to understand the global effects of therapeutic hypothermia on glial activation and neuroinflammation, we performed proteomic profiling of glial cultures following inflammatory stimulation and hypothermic exposure. Primary mixed gli...

Cisplatin is used widely for treatment of a variety of cancer diseases. Recently, however, the use of cisplatin is restricted because of its adverse effects such as hepatotoxicity. There is no study with current proteomics technology to evaluate cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity, even if some studies have reported on the hepatotoxicity. In this stud...

Zinc is an essential trace element required for bone formation, however not much has been clarified yet for its role in osteoblast. We hypothesized that zinc would increase osteogenetic function in osteoblasts. To test this, we investigated whether zinc treatment enhances bone formation by stimulating osteoblast proliferation, bone marker protein a...

Red yeast (Monascus purpureus) is used as a traditional hypocholesterolemic dietary food component in Asia due to its bioactive component, lovastatin. Recently, new evidence suggesting that the statins in red yeast enhance bone formation has been reported, but more research is still needed in order to support these claims of osteogenic effects. The...

Retarded skeletal growth is a characteristic sign of Zn deficiency, but the role of Zn in osteoblasts is not well understood. Bone formation involves osteoblast differentiation by bone marker gene expression, which is mainly regulated by bone-specific transcription factor Runx2, and extracellular matrix (ECM) mineralisation, which involves Ca depos...

A characteristic sign of zinc deficiency is retarded skeletal growth, but the role of zinc in osteoblasts is not well understood. Two major events for bone formation include osteoblast differentiation by bone marker gene expression, which is mainly regulated by bone-specific transcription factor Runx2 and extracellular matrix (ECM) mineralization b...

Osterix is zinc finger transcription factor and downstream of Runx2, which is essential for bone formation and mineralization. In our previous study, Runx2 protein expression decreased by Zn deficiency during osteoblast differentiation phases and at 24 h, which suggests a negative regulation of Runx2. In the present study, we investigated whether Z...

Zinc has been implicated as an activator in the regulation of bone formation. Bone formation is characterized by the synthesis of collagen, the major bone protein in the extracellullar matrix (ECM) which then becomes mineralized by calcium deposition. In this study, we investigated the effect of zinc in the mineralization of two MC3T3‐E1 subclones,...

Runx2, a bone‐specific transcription factor, is a key regulator of osteoblastic differentiation. Runx2 expression is induced by BMP‐2 stimulation suggesting that Runx2 is a downstream transcription factor in BMP‐2 signaling. In the present study, we investigated whether Zn deficiency modulates BMP‐2 expression in osteoblastic MC3T3‐E1 cells via act...

Zinc plays a protective role in anti-atherosclerosis but the clear mechanism has not been proposed yet. In the present study, we evaluated whether zinc modulates atherosclerotic markers, VACM-1 and ICAM-1 and cell viability both in endothelial cells in vitro and mouse aortic cell viability ex vivo. In study 1, as in vitro model, endothelial EA.hy92...

Human zinc deficiency is a global problem and may influence the development of cardiovascular disease. Our objective was to determine Zn deficiency affected pathways and protein interactions in rat aorta and their likely influence on stress-induced atherogenesis. In two separate studies, rats were given diets acutely (<1 mg Zn/kg) or marginally (6...

Runx2, a bone‐specific transcription factor, increases bone formation through the stimulation of bone‐marker gene transcription in osteoblasts. In our previous study, Runx2 protein expression decreased under Zn deficiency at 24 h with the delayed gene/protein expression pattern, which implies the optimal Runx2 expression would be within 24 h. In th...

Leptin, a cytokine‐like hormone has been reported having a dual effect on bone formation to exert direct osteogenic effects in auto/paracrine regulation and to inhibit bone formation in hypothalamic central nerve regulation. Since Zn has been shown to mediate leptin secretion and skeletal growth, leptin can be an important candidate molecule linkin...

It is known that alteration of the intracellular pH(pH i ) significantly affects frequency and amplitude of spontaneous contraction in pregnant rat uterine smooth muscle. In this study we examined the effect of pH i change on (i) the spontaneous contraction and intracellular Ca ²⁺ concentration ([Ca ²⁺ ] i ), (ii) the activity and kinetic property...

For the assessment of representative and longitudinal Zn nutriture in South Koreans, Zn, phytate and Ca intakes were determined using four consecutive years of food consumption data taken from Korean National Nutrition Survey Report (KNNSR) every 10 years during 1969-1998. The nutrient intake data are presented for large city and rural areas. Zn in...

Zn deficiency reduces food intake and growth rate in rodents. To determine the relationship between Zn deficiency and the regulation of food intake, we evaluated leptin gene expression in epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT), and hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing hormone (hCRH) and hypothalamic neuropeptide Y (hNPY) of rats Zn-deficient only t...