Research Highlight
Kyunghae Kim Assistant Professor, Dep’t of Nursing
Associations among marijuana use, health-related quality of life, exercise, depression and sleep in cancer survivors—in J Adv Nurs. 2021 77(5):2386-2397
“This is the first study that evaluates the associations between cannabis use, the purpose of cannabis use, HRQoL, exercise, depression, and sleep in a nationally representative sample of US adult cancer survivors.”
This study aimed to assess associations between cannabis use, HRQoL, exercise, depression, and sleep in a nationally representative sample of US adults living with cancer. In this study, associations among cannabis use, HRQoL, exercise, depression, and sleep duration were analyzed after accounting for covariates using the survey data form of the 2016– 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.
Based on the results, frequent cannabis users (20 days+ in the past month) had poor mental HRQoL. A total of >50 countries have now approved medical cannabis use, allowing greater access to cannabis for cancer survivors. Expanding the medical cannabis legalization also has implications in South Korea, which has not yet legalized cannabis for medical and non-medical use. Therefore, healthcare providers and researchers should be aware that frequent cannabis users are likely vulnerable to poorer mental HRQoL and depression, whereas non-medical cannabis use in frequent users was associated with depression. These findings warrant further attention so that this information can be used by Korean cancer survivors in decision-making for symptom self-management in the future.
(E-mail: kyounghaekim@korea.ac.kr)
Jaeyong Park Professor, Dep’t of Integrated Biomedicine and Life Science
ANO1 regulates the maintenance of stemness in glioblastoma stem cells by stabilizing EGFRvIII—in Oncogene 2021 40(8):1490-1502
“This study is an important research achievement scientifically suggesting a therapeutic strategy for controlling the stem cell ability of brain tumor stem cells, the main cause of intractable brain.”
In this study, Anoctamin-1 ANO1), a Ca2+-activated Cl–channel, was demonstrated to interact with EGFRvIII, increase its protein stability, and support the stemness maintenance and tumor progression in GSCs. These results suggest that ANO1 plays a crucial role in the maintenance of stemness and invasiveness of GSCs by regulating the EGFRvIII expression and related signaling molecules and can be considered a promising therapeutic target for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) treatment.
GBM is a very aggressive brain cancer with an average survival period of <15 months at post-diagnosis and a 5-year survival rate of 5%. The treatment for patients with GBM is difficult because glioblastoma cells were resistant to postoperative chemotherapy and radiation therapy and the rapid spread of GBM stem cells to the surrounding normal brain tissues. The study results found that the protein-protein binding between the ANO1 ion channel and EGFRvIII in patient-derived GBM stem cells is important for maintaining the ability of GBM stem cells and for glioblastoma malignancy. The ANO1 ion channel and EGFRvIII will be used as markers and molecular targets.
(E-mail: jaeyong68@korea.ac.kr)
Sarah Yu APhD Student, Dep’t of Public Health Sciences
Evaluating the impact of the nationwide public–private mix (PPM) program for tuberculosis under National Health Insurance in South Korea: a difference in difference analysis—in Plos Med 18(7): e1003717
“This study showed the effects of patients-centered management for tuberculosis patients occurring in the undeserved population by applying the tuberculosis nurse system in the private hospitals in contrast with operating mainly in the public health center .”
This study describes the long-term effects of the development and expansion of the public–private mix (PPM) as a nationwide program in South Korea published online in July 2021 in PLOS Medicine (IF:11.069). The nationwide scale-up of the PPM program was found to be associated with improved tuberculosis (TB) treatment outcomes in the South Korean private sector, where a majority (80% in 2009) of patients with TB were treated. Using the difference-in-difference analysis with propensity score matching, this study confirmed that the implementation and expansion of the nationwide PPM program were associated with reduced TB treatment outcomes gaps between the two healthcare sectors.
This study shows the effectiveness of patients with TB frequently occurring in vulnerable groups by introducing dedicated PPM nurses who are central enactors in ensuring private sector adherence to the national TB control guidelines. In particular, the National Health Insurance scheme was a critical role to design and plan the PPM program and its expansion optimized in the highly privatized health system in South Korea. PPM is suggested to be operated in the direction of strengthening publicity to effectively manage patients with TB.
(E-mail: sara521@korea.ac.kr)