C-H Direct Arylation: A Robust Tool to Tailor the π-Conjugation Lengths of Non-Fullerene Acceptors.

Facile synthesis without involvement of toxic reagents is of great significance in the practical application of photovoltaic materials. In this work, four acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A) type unfused-ring acceptors (UFRAs) with stepwise extension in π-conjugation, i. e., CPFB-IC-n (n=1-4), involving cyclopentadithiophene (CPDT) and 1,4-difluorobenzene (DFB) as cores, are facilely synthesized by an atom-, step-economic and labor-saving method through direct arylation of C-H bond (DACH). Among them, CPFB-IC-4 has the longest conjugation lengths among the molecular UFRA ever reported. The dependence of optoelectronic properties and photovoltaic performances of CPFB-IC-n (n=1-4) on conjugation length were systematically investigated. CPFB-IC-2 with near zero highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) offsets (ΔEHOMO =0.06 eV) achieves the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE), due to the significantly enhanced open voltage (VOC ) and short current (JSC ) caused by the balanced frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs) and complementary light absorption. Our work demonstrates that the optical properties and FMOs of UFRAs can be finely tuned by the stepwise elongation of conjugation lengths. Meanwhile, DACH coupling as a powerful tool here established will be a promising candidate for synthesizing high-performance oligomeric UFRAs.

Effect of the transcription factor YY1 on the development of pancreatic endocrine and exocrine tumors: a narrative review.

Pancreatic tumors are classified into endocrine and exocrine types, and the clinical manifestations in patients are nonspecific. Most patients, especially those with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), have lost the opportunity to receive for the best treatment at the time of diagnosis. Although chemotherapy and radiotherapy have shown good therapeutic results in other tumors, their therapeutic effects on pancreatic tumors are minimal. A multifunctional transcription factor, Yin-Yang 1 (YY1) regulates the transcription of a variety of important genes and plays a significant role in diverse tumors. Studies have shown that targeting YY1 can improve the survival time of patients with tumors. In this review, we focused on the mechanism by which YY1 affects the occurrence and development of pancreatic tumors. We found that a YY1 mutation is specific for insulinomas and has a role in driving the degree of malignancy. In addition, changes in the circadian network are a key causative factor of PDAC. YY1 promotes pancreatic clock progression and induces malignant changes, but YY1 seems to act as a tumor suppressor in PDAC and affects many biological behaviors, such as proliferation, migration, apoptosis and metastasis. Our review summarizes the progress in understanding the role of YY1 in pancreatic endocrine and exocrine tumors and provides a reasonable assessment of the potential for therapeutic targeting of YY1 in pancreatic tumors.

Roundabout homolog 1 inhibits proliferation via the YY1-ROBO1-CCNA2-CDK2 axis in human pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is highly malignant and has a high mortality with a 5-year survival rate of less than 8%. As a member of the roundabout immunoglobulin superfamily of proteins, ROBO1 plays an important role in embryogenesis and organogenesis and also inhibits metastasis in PC. Our study was designed to explore whether ROBO1 has effects on the proliferation of PC and its specific mechanism. The expression of ROBO1 was higher in cancer tissues than in matched adjacent tissues by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and qRT-PCR. Low ROBO1 expression is associated with PC progression and poor prognosis. Overexpression of ROBO1 can inhibit the proliferation of PC cells in vitro, and the S phase fraction can also be induced. Further subcutaneous tumor formation in nude mice showed that ROBO1 overexpression can significantly inhibit tumor growth. YY1 was found to directly bind to the promoter region of ROBO1 to promote transcription by a luciferase reporter gene assay, a chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and an electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). Mechanistic studies showed that YY1 can inhibit the development of PC by directly regulating ROBO1 via the CCNA2/CDK2 axis. Taken together, our results suggest that ROBO1 may be involved in the development and progression of PC by regulating cell proliferation and shows that ROBO1 may be a novel and promising therapeutic target for PC.

Linc01232 promotes the metastasis of pancreatic cancer by suppressing the ubiquitin-mediated degradation of HNRNPA2B1 and activating the A-Raf-induced MAPK/ERK signaling pathway.

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a malignant cancer with high mortality and poor prognosis. In this study, we found that Linc01232 was significantly upregulated in PC tissues and cells and higher Linc01232 expression was associated with poorer prognosis. Linc01232 overexpression promoted and Linc01232 knockdown inhibited the migration and invasion of PC cells. The results of RNA pull-down, RNA Binding Protein Immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays revealed that Linc01232 physically interacted with Heterogeneous Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein A2/B1 (HNRNPA2B1) (680-890 nt fragment with the RNA recognition motif 2 domain) to inhibit its ubiquitin-mediated degradation in PC cells. RNA sequencing was performed to obtain the transcriptional profiles regulated by Linc01232 and we further demonstrated that Linc01232 participated in the alternative splicing of A-Raf by stabilizing HNRNPA2B1 and subsequently regulated the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway. Collected, our study showed that Linc01232/HNRNPA2B1/A-Raf/MAPK axis participated in the progression of PC and provided a potential therapeutic target for PC.

The YY1/miR-548t-5p/CXCL11 signaling axis regulates cell proliferation and metastasis in human pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a malignant tumor with a poor prognosis and high mortality. However, the biological role of miR-548t-5p in PC has not been reported. In this study, we found that miR-548t-5p expression was significantly decreased in PC tissues compared with adjacent tissues, and that low miR-548t-5p expression was associated with malignant PC behavior. In addition, high miR-548t-5p expression inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of PC cell lines. Regarding the molecular mechanism, the luciferase reporter gene, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), and functional recovery assays revealed that YY1 binds to the miR-548t-5p promoter and positively regulates the expression and function of miR-548t-5p. miR-548t-5p also directly regulates CXCL11 to inhibit its expression. A high level of CXCL11 was associated with worse Tumor Node Metastasis (TNM) staging in patients with PC, enhancing proliferation and metastasis in PC cells. Our study shows that the YY1/miR-548t-5p/CXCL11 axis plays an important role in PC and provides a new potential candidate for the treatment of PC.

Optimization of internal reference genes for qPCR in human pancreatic cancer research.

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic cancer (PC) has been becoming a common cancer with high mortality and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) is one of the best choices for researching gene expression. Internal reference genes, such as actin beta (ACTB) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphatide hydrogenase (GAPDH) have long been used in relative quantification analysis. But evidence shows that some internal reference genes expression may vary in different tissues, cell lines and different conditions. The present study aimed to find more stable internal reference gene for qPCR experiment in PC. METHODS: Total RNA of human PC tissues were prepared using TRIZOL reagent. qPCR was performed using FastStart Universal SYBR Green Master to reflects the expression of target genes. Normfinder and geNorm were used to analyze the stability of chosen internal reference genes. RESULTS: According to the results of NormFinder and geNorm, eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2B subunit alpha (EIF2B1) and importin 8 (IPO8) were the same most stable internal reference genes in PCs and non-neoplastic tissues. In addition, EIF2B1 and IPO8 remained the most stable internal reference genes only in PCs. Using a normalization factor NF2 by geNorm as reference, the normalized GAPDH and ACTB expression levels were obviously up-regulated by 3.29- and 2.23-fold change, meanwhile ribosomal protein S17 (RPS17) were down-regulated by 0.77-fold change in PCs comparing with corresponding adjacent tissues. CONCLUSIONS: The use of the combination of EIF2B1 and IPO8 would provide more stable results in differential expression analysis and prognostic analysis of PC.

YY1 targets tubulin polymerisation-promoting protein to inhibit migration, invasion and angiogenesis in pancreatic cancer via p38/MAPK and PI3K/AKT pathways.

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic cancer (PDAC) is a highly invasive cancer with poor prognosis. Recent research has found that the transcription factor Yin Yang 1 (YY1) plays an inhibitory role in the development of pancreatic cancer. It has been reported that tubulin polymerisation-promoting protein (TPPP) plays an indispensable role in a variety of tumours, but its expression and role in pancreatic cancer have not yet been elucidated. METHODS: In this study, we performed ChIP-sequencing and found that YY1 directly binds to the promoter region of TPPP. The expression of TPPP in pancreatic cancer was detected by western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Four-week-old male BALB/c-nude mice were used to assess the effect of TPPP on pancreatic cancer. RESULTS: Immunohistochemistry revealed that TPPP was expressed at low levels in pancreatic cancer tissues, and was associated with blood vessel invasion. The results from vivo experiments have showed that TPPP could enhance the migration and invasion of pancreatic cancer. Further experiments showed that YY1 could inhibit the migration, invasion and angiogenesis of pancreatic cancer cells by downregulating TPPP via p38/MAPK and PI3K/AKT pathways. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates that TPPP may act as a promoter and may serve as a novel target for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

YY1 inhibits the migration and invasion of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma by downregulating the FER/STAT3/MMP2 signaling pathway.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a poor prognosis and a high mortality rate. The transcription factor YY1 acts as an inhibitor of many types of tumors. We found that YY1 knockdown promoted the invasion and migration of PANC-1 and BxPC-3 cells; FER knockdown partially restored the promotion of pancreatic cancer caused by YY1 knockdown. In vivo experiments yielded the same results. According to luciferase reporter gene, electrophoretic mobility shift (EMSA) and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays, YY1 directly binds to the FER promoter region. Moreover, higher level FER expression results in a worse TNM stage and prognosis for patients with PDAC. Furthermore, by downregulating FER, YY1 inhibits the formation of the STAT3-MMP2 complex, thereby suppressing expression of MMP2 and ultimately inhibiting the migration and invasion of pancreatic cancer. Our study demonstrates that the YY1/FER/STAT3/MMP2 axis is associated with the progression of pancreatic cancer and may provide a new therapeutic target for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.