Our current research interests include the structural characterization, enzymatic degradation, and biological activities (anticoagulant, antiangiogenic, and antiarthritic activities) of sulfated polysaccharides including glycosaminoglycans. One is to develop a glycosaminoglycan-derived drug for the treatment of arthritis..The second project is to characterize the glycosaminoglycan degrading enzymes from Bacteroides sp. We identified this organism to have several enzymes that can cleave most of glycosaminoglycans in the body. The third one is to develop the whitening agents as well as anti-inflammatory substances from natural products and synthetic chemicals. Especially, we developed a unique system to measure the expression level of NF-kB transcription factor. The pNF-kappa B-SEAP-NPT vector that permits expression of the secreted alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) gene and contains the neomycin phosphotransferase (NPT) gene for antibiotic G-418 resistance was constructed and transfected into human skin cells and macrophages. This assay system can be useful for determining quantitative changes in NF-kappa B activation and allow screening of anti-inflammatory, antitumor drugs, and skin whiteners from various synthetic chemicals and natural products. One of the examples is the biologically active saponins derived from natural products. Some of saponins activate the cell level of NF-kB expression. We speculate that this is due to the activation of apoptosis.