Intracranial EEG signals disentangle multi-areal neural dynamics of vicarious pain perception.

Empathy enables understanding and sharing of others' feelings. Human neuroimaging studies have identified critical brain regions supporting empathy for pain, including the anterior insula (AI), anterior cingulate (ACC), amygdala, and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). However, to date, the precise spatio-temporal profiles of empathic neural responses and inter-regional communications remain elusive. Here, using intracranial electroencephalography, we investigated electrophysiological signatures of vicarious pain perception. Others' pain perception induced early increases in high-gamma activity in IFG, beta power increases in ACC, but decreased beta power in AI and amygdala. Vicarious pain perception also altered the beta-band-coordinated coupling between ACC, AI, and amygdala, as well as increased modulation of IFG high-gamma amplitudes by beta phases of amygdala/AI/ACC. We identified a necessary combination of neural features for decoding vicarious pain perception. These spatio-temporally specific regional activities and inter-regional interactions within the empathy network suggest a neurodynamic model of human pain empathy.

Cyclization strategy leads to highly potent Bromodomain and extra-terminal (BET) Bromodomain inhibitors for the treatment of acute liver injury.

Acute liver injury (ALI) is characteristic of abrupt hepatic dysfunction and inflammatory response, and currently the main treatment for ALI is merely supportive rather than curative. Therefore, the development of novel and effective therapeutic strategies for ALI therapy is highly desirable. The emerging biological understanding of the role of BET Bromodomains has opened up an exciting opportunity to develop potent BET Bromodomain inhibitors as an effective therapeutic strategy for the treatment of acute liver injury. Herein, we synthesized a series of potent BET Bromodomain inhibitors with a tetracyclic scaffold, exemplified by compound 28 which showed good in vitro anti-inflammatory activity and good therapeutic effects in the LPS-induced acute liver injury model without obvious cytotoxicity, suggesting that compound 28 is a highly promising candidate worthy for further development.

Discovery of novel Thieno[2,3-d]imidazole derivatives as agonists of human STING for antitumor immunotherapy using systemic administration.

The activation of stimulator of interferon genes (STING) signaling pathways plays an important role in the innate immune response. Although several STING agonists have been developed recently, the majority of clinical CDN STING agonists are administered by intratumoral (IT) injection. Therefore, there remains a need to develop diverse non-CDN small-molecule STING agonists with systemic administration. Herein, by using a scaffold hopping strategy, we designed a series of thieno [2,3-d]imidazole derivatives as novel STING agonists. Further structure-activity relationship study and optimization led to the discovery of compound 45 as a highly potent human STING agonist with an EC50 value of 1.2 nM. Compound 45 was found to bind to multiple human STING isoforms and accordingly activated the downstream TBK1/IRF3 and NF-κB signaling pathways in the reporter cells bearing with different STING isoforms. The activation on STING signaling pathway was abolished in the STING knock-out cells, indicating that it is a specific STING agonist. Compound 45 significantly inhibited the tumor growth in allograft 4T1 and CT26 tumor models by systemic administration, and more significantly, 45 was able to induce tumor regression in CT26 tumor model without inducing weight loss, suggesting that compound 45 is a highly promising candidate worthy for further development.

BRD4 as a therapeutic target for nonfunctioning and growth hormone pituitary adenoma.

BACKGROUND: Nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma (NFPA) and growth hormone pituitary adenoma (GHPA) are major subtypes of pituitary adenomas (PAs). The primary treatment is surgical resection. However, radical excision remains challenging, and few effective medical therapies are available. It is urgent to find novel targets for the treatment. Bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4) is an epigenetic regulator that leads to aberrant transcriptional activation of oncogenes. Herein, we investigated the pathological role of BRD4 and evaluated the effectiveness of BRD4 inhibitors in the treatment of NFPA and GHPA. METHODS: The expression of BRD4 was detected in NFPA, GHPA, and normal pituitary tissues. The efficacies of BRD4 inhibitors were evaluated in GH3 and MMQ cell lines, patient-derived tumor cells, and in vivo mouse xenograft models of PA. Standard western blots, real-time PCR, and flow cytometry experiments were performed to investigate the effect of BRD4 inhibitors on cell cycle progression, apoptosis, and the expression patterns of downstream genes. RESULTS: Immunohistochemistry studies demonstrated the overexpression of BRD4 in NFPA and GHPA. In vitro and in vivo studies showed that treatment with the BRD4 inhibitor ZBC-260 significantly inhibited the proliferation of PA cells. Further mechanistic studies revealed that ZBC-260 could downregulate the expression of c-Myc, B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl2), and related genes, which are vital factors in pituitary tumorigenesis. CONCLUSION: In this study, we determined the overexpression of BRD4 in NFPA and GHPA and assessed the effects of BRD4 inhibitors on PA cells in vitro and in vivo. Our findings suggest that BRD4 is a promising therapeutic target for NFPA and GHPA.

Discovery of 8-Methyl-pyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazin-1(2H)-one Derivatives as Highly Potent and Selective Bromodomain and Extra-Terminal (BET) Bromodomain Inhibitors.

The bromodomain and extra-terminal (BET) family proteins have recently emerged as promising drug targets for cancer therapy. In this study, identification of an 8-methyl-pyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazin-1(2H)-one fragment (47) as a new binder to the BET bromodomains and the subsequent incorporation of fragment 47 to the scaffold of ABBV-075, which recently entered Phase I clinical trials, enabled the generation of a series of highly potent BET bromodomain inhibitors. Further druggability optimization led to the discovery of compound 38 as a potential preclinical candidate. Significantly, compared with ABBV-075, which exhibits a 63-fold selectivity for BRD4(1) over EP300, compound 38 demonstrates an excellent selectivity for the BET bromodomain family over other bromodomains, with an ∼1500-fold selectivity for BRD4(1) over EP300. Orally administered 38 achieves a complete inhibition of tumor growth with a tumor growth inhibition (TGI) of 99.7% accompanied by good tolerability.

Controllable Transformation of Aligned ZnO Nanorods to ZIF-8 as Solid-Phase Microextraction Coatings with Tunable Porosity, Polarity, and Conductivity.

While a growing number of solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coatings have been developed, a generalized protocol is still needed to tailor-make SPME coatings with desirable properties for efficient extraction of diverse analytes from sample matrixes. In this work, we developed a versatile approach to prepare SPME coatings with tunable properties by controllable in situ transformation of well-aligned ZNRs into zeolitic imidazolate frameworks-8 (ZIF-8) via reaction with 2-methylimidazole (2-MI). During this process, ZNRs supplied Zn2+ and served as a "hard template" for the in situ growth of well-aligned ZIF-8 with enhanced surface area for adsorption. Because ZNRs and ZIF-8 exhibit markedly different properties, we obtained a series of ZNRs/ZIF-8 hybrid composites, whose morphology, porosity, polarity, and charge transfer resistance can be fine-tuned by simply controlling the concentration of 2-MI. Preparing ZNRs/ZIF-8 SPME coatings with desired properties enabled effective extraction of a wide range of polar and nonpolar compounds including aliphatic hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, phenols, anilines, and ionic drugs.

Graphene deposited onto aligned zinc oxide nanorods as an efficient coating for headspace solid-phase microextraction of gasoline fractions from oil samples.

The content of gasoline fraction in oil samples is not only an important indicator of oil quality, but also an indispensable fundamental data for oil refining and processing. Before its determination, efficient preconcentration and separation of gasoline fractions from complicated matrices is essential. In this work, a thin layer of graphene (G) was deposited onto oriented ZnO nanorods (ZNRs) as a SPME coating. By this approach, the surface area of G was greatly enhanced by the aligned ZNRs, and the surface polarity of ZNRs was changed from polar to less polar, which were both beneficial for the extraction of gasoline fractions. In addition, the ZNRs were well protected by the mechanically and chemically stable G, making the coating highly durable for use. With headspace SPME (HS-SPME) mode, the G/ZNRs coating can effectively extract gasoline fractions from various oil samples, whose extraction efficiency achieved 1.5-5.4 and 2.1-8.2 times higher than those of a G and commercial 7-µm PDMS coating respectively. Coupled with GC-FID, the developed method is sensitive, simple, cost effective and easily accessible for the analysis of gasoline fractions. Moreover, the method is also feasible for the detection of gasoline markers in simulated oil-polluted water, which provides an option for the monitoring of oil spill accident.