BACKGROUND: Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone (CRH), an important regulator of stress response, has a potent immunoregulatory effect with the ability to promote the growth of various cancer through CRH receptor type 1 under stress. Although the metastasized cancers through cell migration are more aggressive than the primary cancers, little is known about the effect of CRH on cell migration. Gastric cancer is prone to metastasize to other tissues and it is reported that gastric cancer is response to various stresses such as oxidative stress. Herein, we studied the relationship between CRH and gastric cancer cell migration. METHODS: We used gastric cancer cell line, MKN-28 and tested the CRH receptor type 1 expression on MKN-28 by RT-PCR. To examine the change in the ability of migration by CRH in MKN-28, cells were incubated with CRH and then migration ability was measured using a cell migration assay. RESULTS: We confirmed that CRH receptor type 1 was expressed in MKN-28 and HaCaT cells. The migration ability of MKN-28 cells was increased by CRH in a time-, dose- dependent manner. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that CRH increases migration ability in gastric cancer cell line and that CRH may be a critical regulator in the metastasis of gastric cancer cell.
Cell Line* ; Cell Migration Assays ; Cell Movement* ; Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone* ; Humans* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Oxidative Stress ; Receptors, Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone ; Stomach Neoplasms*

BACKGROUND: Natural killer (NK) cells are CD3 (-) CD14 (-) CD56 (+) lymphocytes. They play an important role in the body's innate immune response. They can induce spontaneous killing of cancer cells or virus-infected cells via the Fas/Fas ligand or the granzyme/perforin systems. The corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) is an important regulator for the body's stress response. It promotes proliferation and migration of various cancer cells through the CRH type 1 receptor under stress, and also inhibits NK or T cell activity. However, the relationship of CRH and NK cell migration to the target has not been confirmed. Herein, we study the effect of CRH on NK cell migration. METHODS: We used the human NK cell line, NK-92MI, and tested the expression of CRH receptor type 1 on NK-92MI by RT-PCR. This was to examine the effect of CRH on tumor and NK cell migration, thus NK cells (NK-92MI) were incubated with or without CRH and then each CRH treated cell's migration ability compared to that of the CRH untreated group. RESULTS: We confirmed that CRH receptor type 1 is expressed in NK-92MI. CRH can decrease NK cell migration in a time-/dose-dependent manner. CONCLUSION: These data suggest CRH can inhibit NK cell migration to target cells.
Cell Movement* ; Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone* ; Homicide ; Humans* ; Immunity, Innate ; Killer Cells, Natural* ; Lymphocytes ; Receptors, Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone

BACKGROUND: To further understand the relationship between anxiety and depression, this study examined the factor structure of the combined items from two validated measures for anxiety and depression. METHODS: The participants were 406 patients with mixed psychiatric diagnoses including anxiety and depressive disorders from a psychiatric outpatient unit at a university-affiliated medical center. Responses of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)-II, and Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) were analyzed. We conducted an exploratory factor analysis of 42 items from the BAI and BDI-II. Correlational analyses were performed between subscale scores of the SCL-90-R and factors derived from the factor analysis. Scores of individual items of the BAI and BDI-II were also compared between groups of anxiety disorder (n = 185) and depressive disorder (n = 123). RESULTS: Exploratory factor analysis revealed the following five factors explaining 56.2% of the total variance: somatic anxiety (factor 1), cognitive depression (factor 2), somatic depression (factor 3), subjective anxiety (factor 4), and autonomic anxiety (factor 5). The depression group had significantly higher scores for 12 items on the BDI while the anxiety group demonstrated higher scores for six items on the BAI. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that anxiety and depressive symptoms as measured by the BAI and BDI-II can be empirically differentiated and that particularly items of the cognitive domain in depression and those of physical domain in anxiety are noteworthy.
Anxiety Disorders ; Anxiety* ; Depression* ; Depressive Disorder ; Diagnosis ; Factor Analysis, Statistical* ; Humans ; Outpatients*

Background: The post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Checklist (PCL)-5, originally a 20-item self-questionnaire, has provided abbreviated versions of the checklist. This study aimed to test the diagnostic utility and validity of four brief versions of PCL-5 in a sample of adults seeking treatment at a psychiatric outpatient unit in a South Korean university-affiliated hospital. Methods: The sample comprised 97 adults diagnosed with PTSD and 130 diagnosed with other psychiatric disorders seeking treatment. Each abbreviated scale was examined with the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive power. Additionally, internal consistency, correlation with full scale, convergent validity, and concurrent validity were investigated. Results: All four versions demonstrated excellent discriminative power, with AUC values of >0.9. Suggested cut-off scores were 6, 8, 11, and 16 for the short four-item version (S4), PCL4, PCL6, and PCL8, respectively. Internal consistency was adequate or good except for S4. Additionally, brief scales demonstrated good convergent validity with depression and anxiety scales and excellent concurrent validity with other PTSD scales. Conclusion This study confirms the excellent diagnostic utility and adequate validity of four abbreviated versions of the Korean translation of PCL-5 in the clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: It is necessary for human beings to uptake vitamin C through diet or supplements. It is also well-known that vitamin C plays an important role in the prevention of scurvy, enhancement of collagen synthesis and anti-tumor immune response. In addition, there are several recent reports regarding the effective role of vitamin C on the regulation of allergic responses, such as atopic dermatitis and asthma. However, the effective therapeutic and preventive measures using vitamin C are not established yet, since vitamin C is seriously unstable in aqueous solution. Therefore, we have investigated the best way to maintain the stability of vitamin C. METHODS: After we making a mixture of polyphenol (0.001, 0.01, 0.1%) and vitamin C (1 mM), the mixtures were placed at room temperature both with/without light protection. And then the concentration of ascorbic acid was measured with HPLC. To analyze the in vivo effect of vitamin C on the regulation of skin allergic reaction, polyphenol (0.1%)-vitamin C (1 mM) mixture was applied to the skin and the production of histamine from mast cell was analyzed by Evans blue dye staining. RESULTS: We have found that the polyphenol has preventive power of oxidation of vitamin C. In addition, the production of histamine was suppressed by the polyphenol (0.1%)-vitamin C (1 mM) mixture. CONCLUSION: We have reached the conclusion that our study suggests the research guideline for the therapy of atopic dermatitis through vitamin C.
Ascorbic Acid* ; Asthma ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Collagen ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Diet ; Evans Blue ; Histamine ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Mast Cells ; Scurvy ; Skin* ; Vitamins*

This study examined the add-on efficacy of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy among adult civilians with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who continued to be symptomatic after more than 12 weeks of initial antidepressant treatment. Scores for the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) were rated pre- and post-EMDR and at a 6-month follow-up. After an average of six sessions of EMDR treatment, seven of 14 patients (50%) showed more than a 30% decrease in CAPS score and eight (57%) no longer met the criteria for PTSD. Our results indicate that EMDR could be successfully added after failure of initial pharmacotherapy for PTSD.
Adult* ; Antidepressive Agents ; Drug Therapy* ; Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing ; Eye Movements* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic*

OBJECTIVES: The Illness Intrusiveness Rating Scale (IIRS) is a well-validated self-report instrument for assessing negative impact of chronic illness and/or adverse effects of its treatment on everyday life domains. Although extensive literature probed its psychometric properties in medical illness, little attention was paid for its validity for psychiatric population. This study aimed to test factorial structure of the Korean Version of the IIRS (IIRS-K) in a consecutive sample of psychiatric outpatients. METHODS: Data set of 307 first-visit patients of psychiatric clinic at Guri Hanyang univ. Hospital were used. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, internal consistency were tested in IIRS-K. We also checked Spearman's correlation analysis between IIRS-K, Zung's self-report anxiety scale and Zung's self-report depression scale. RESULTS: 76.9% of the patients were with anxiety disorder and depressive disorder. The principal component factor analysis of the IIRS-K extracted three-factor structure accounted for 63.2% of total variance that was contextually similar to the original English version. This three-factor solution showed the best fit when tested confirmatory factor analysis compared to the original IIRS, two-factor model of IIRS-K suggested from medical outpatients, and one-factor solution. The IIRS-K also showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's α=0.90) and good convergent validity with anxiety and depression scales. CONCLUSIONS The IIRS-K showed the three-factor structure that was similar but not identical to original version. Overall, this study proved factorial validity of the IIRS-K and it can be used for Korean clinical population.

In the early host defense system, effector function of natural killer (NK) cells results in natural killing against target cells such as microbe-infected, malignant, and certain allogenic cells without prior stimulation. NK cell cytotoxicity is selectively regulated by homeostatic prevalence between a repertoire of both activating and inhibitory receptors, and the discrimination of untransformed cells is achieved by recognition of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I alleles through inhibitory signals. Although it is well known that the bipotential T/NK progenitors are derived from the common precusor, functional mechanisms in terms of the development of NK cells remain to be further investigated. NK cells are mainly involved in innate immunity, but recent studies have been reported that they also play a critical role in adaptive immune responses through interaction with dendritic cells (DC). This interaction will provide effector functions and development of NK cells, and elucidation of its precise mechanism may lead to therapeutic strategies for effective treatment of several immune diseases.
Adaptive Immunity* ; Alleles ; Dendritic Cells ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Homicide ; Immune System Diseases ; Immunity, Innate ; Killer Cells, Natural* ; Major Histocompatibility Complex ; Prevalence

BACKGROUND: CM1 (Centrocyte/-blast Marker I) defined by a mAb developed against concanavalin-A activated PBMC, is expressed specifically on a subpopulation of centroblasts and centrocytes of human germinal center (GC) B cells. Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is a tumor consisting of tumor cells with the characteristics of GC B cell. Previously we reported that CM1 ligation with anti-CM1 mAb induced apoptosis in Ramos (IgM(high)) and Raji (IgM(low)) cells. METHODS & RESULTS: In the present study, we observed that CM1 ligation with anti-CM1 mAb induced Fas ligand and Fas expression in Ramos cells, but not in Raji cells. Furthermore, anti-Fas blocking antibody, ZB4, blocked CM1-mediated apoptosis effectively in Ramos cells, but not in Raji cells. Increased mitochondrial membrane permeabilization, which was measured by DiOC6, was observed only in Raji cells. In contrast to no significant change of Bax known as pro-apoptotic protein, anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 was significantly decreased in Raji cells. In addition, we observed that CM1 ligation increased release of mitochondrial cytochrome c and upregulated caspase-9 activity in Raji cells. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that apoptosis induced by CM1-ligation is mediated by Fas-Fas ligand interaction in Ramos cells, whereas apoptosis is mediated by down-regulation of Bcl-2 and subsequent decrease of mitochondrial membrane potential in Raji cells.
Apoptosis* ; B-Lymphocytes ; Burkitt Lymphoma ; Caspase 9 ; Cytochromes c ; Down-Regulation* ; Fas Ligand Protein ; Germinal Center ; Humans ; Ligation* ; Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial* ; Mitochondrial Membranes*

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate maintained effectiveness and tolerability when treated with long-acting risperidone compared to the previous antipsychotics in patients with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders and to compare maintained effectiveness between oral risperidone and non-risperidone subgroups. METHODS: Subjects aged at least 18 years who required long-term antipsychotic therapy and who have been symptomatically stable on a stable dose of antipsychotics during the last month were enrolled in the non-randomized, single-arm, multi-center, 12 weeks duration study. Antipsychotic medications were switched from oral antipsychotics to long-acting risperidone. Injections were administered every 2 weeks. Most patients were started on 25mg long-acting risperidone injection or 37.5mg in some patients. The dosage were adjusted according to the patients' symptoms and responses to treatment at the discretion of investigators. Oral antipsychotics were continued at the same dose as before for 2 weeks and then were stopped or tapered off within next 7days. RESULTS: A total of 204 patients with schizophernia (N=192) and other psychotic disorder (N=12) from 20 sites in Korea were enrolled. The drop-out rate was 22.5% at 12 weeks. LOCF analysis has been performed. At 12 weeks after switching from oral antipsychotics to long-acting risperidone, statistically significant improvement was observed from baseline across all symptom domains including PANSS total, positive, negative, general subscale, CGI-S (Clinical Global Impression-Severity) scores and GAF (Global Assessment of Functioning) scores. The proportion of responders was 36.8% where response was defined as > or =20% reduction from baseline PANSS total score. The proportion of symptom worsening at 12 weeks was 7.4% (N=15) where symptom worsening was defined as > or =20% increase from baseline in PANSS total score or drop-out due to insufficient response or any 2 points change on any of 4 PANSS psychotic items (delusion, conceptual disorganization, hallucinatory behavior, suspiciousness/persecution) excluding changes in which the ratings remained at nonpsychotic levels (i.e >3). Significant improvement from baseline was also observed in the measure of parkinsonism assessed using Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale (ESRS). In addition, overall, patients were satisfied with long-acting risperidone injection on a single item measure of satisfaction. When subgroup analysis was performed on the basis of previous antipsychotics before switching to long-acting risperidone, no statistically significant differences were detected between oral risperidone (N=139) and non-risperidone subgroup (N=65) on all measures of effectiveness and tolerability including baseline demographic and clinical characteristics, symptom improvements, proportion of symptom improvement or worsening and ESRS score changes. CONCLUSION: Our study results demonstrated maintained effectiveness and tolerability of long-acting risperidone microsphere and also could confirm successful switching from not only oral risperidone but also non-risperidone to long-acting risperidone injection.
Antipsychotic Agents* ; Humans ; Korea ; Microspheres ; Parkinsonian Disorders ; Psychotic Disorders ; Research Personnel ; Risperidone* ; Schizophrenia