Theranostic Potential of Bacteriophages against Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) is a widespread and challenging disease that accounts for 94% of cancers of the oral cavity worldwide. Bacteriophages (phages) have shown promise as a potential theranostic agent for the treatment of OSCC. It may offer advantages in overcoming the challenges of conventional methods. Modern high-throughput pyrosequencing techniques confirm the presence of specific bacterial strains associated with OSCC. Bio-panning and filamentous phages facilitate visualization of the peptide on surfaces and show high affinity in OSCC cells. The peptide has the potential to bind integrin (αvß6), aid in diagnosis, and inhibit the proliferation of OSCC cells. Mimotopes of tumor-associated antigens show cytotoxic and immune responses against cancer cells. Biomarker-based approaches such as transferrin enable early OSCC diagnosis. A modified temperate phage introduces CRISPR-Cas3 to target antimicrobial-resistant bacteria associated with OSCC. The research findings highlight the evolving field of phage diagnostics and therapy and represent a new avenue for non-invasive, targeted approaches to the detection and treatment of OSCC. However, extensive clinical research is required to validate the efficacy of phages in innovative cancer theranostic strategies.

Boosting plant resilience: The promise of rare earth nanomaterials in growth, physiology, and stress mitigation.

Rare earth elements (REE) have been extensively used in a variety of applications such as cell phones, electric vehicles, and lasers. REEs are also used as nanomaterials (NMs), which have distinctive features that make them suitable candidates for biomedical applications. In this review, we have highlighted the role of rare earth element nanomaterials (REE-NMs) in the growth of plants and physiology, including seed sprouting rate, shoot biomass, root biomass, and photosynthetic parameters. In addition, we discuss the role of REE-NMs in the biochemical and molecular responses of plants. Crucially, REE-NMs influence the primary metabolites of plants, namely sugars, amino acids, lipids, vitamins, enzymes, polyols, sorbitol, and mannitol, and secondary metabolites, like terpenoids, alkaloids, phenolics, and sulfur-containing compounds. Despite their protective effects, elevated concentrations of NMs are reported to induce toxicity and affect plant growth when compared with lower concentrations, and they not only induce toxicity in plants but also affect soil microbes, aquatic organisms, and humans via the food chain. Overall, we are still at an early stage of understanding the role of REE in plant physiology and growth, and it is essential to examine the interaction of nanoparticles with plant metabolites and their impact on the expression of plant genes and signaling networks.

Optimization and Physicochemical Characterization of Polysaccharide Purified from Sonneratia caseolaris Mangrove Leaves: a Potential Antioxidant and Antibiofilm Agent.

The Box-Behnken design was applied to determine the optimal parameters of the extraction condition by using the response surface methodology (RSM) from the leaves of Sonneratia caseolaris L. The result indicates the best-optimized conditions used for the extraction of polysaccharides at 84.02 °C temperature, 3.12 h time, and 27.31 mL/g for the water-to-material ratio. The maximum experimental yield of 8.81 ± 0.09% was obtained which is in agreement with the predicted value of 8.79%. Thereafter, low molecular weight polysaccharide (SCLP) was separated after sequentially being purified through column chromatography with a relative molecular weight of 3.74 kDa. The physicochemical properties were evaluated by characterization techniques such as FT-IR spectra, NMR spectrum, and SEM analysis. RP-HPLC analysis confirmed that SCLP was a heteropolysaccharide, majorly comprising rhamnose (28.25%), and xylose (27.17%) residues, followed by mannose (18.90%), and galactose (17.17%), respectively. Thermal analysis (TGA-DSC) results showed that SCLP is a highly thermostable polymer with a degradation temperature of 361.63 °C. X-ray diffraction patterns and tertiary structure analyses indicate that SCLP had a semi-crystalline polymer having a triple-helical configuration. Moreover, SCLP displayed potential antibiofilm ability for all the tested pathogens while stronger activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In addition, SCLP has potential in vitro antioxidant activity on DPPH, ABTS radical, superoxide, and Fe2+ chelating. These findings indicate that the polysaccharide has potentially been used in functional food, cosmetics, and pharmacological industries.