Oxidative stress, DNA damage, and gene expression in earthworms (Eisenia fetida) exposure to ethiprole.

To evaluate the potential ecotoxicity of ethiprole and early warning to earthworms (Eisenia fetida), different concentrations (0 mg·kg-1, 416 mg·kg-1, 625 mg·kg-1, and 1000 mg·kg-1) of ethiprole were added to artificial soil. The key bioindicators were measured and screened at 3 days, 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, and 28 days. The results show that the activity of catalase (CAT) was inhibited for all treatments during the whole exposure period. Besides, the olive tail moment (OTM) value increased gradually as the concentration got higher, which exhibited a dose-time-dependent relationship. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) gene reached the maximum on the 7th day. Mitochondrial large ribosomal RNA (l-rRNA) subunit gene was always in a downregulated state as the concentration increased. Our results show that different concentrations of ethiprole induced certain oxidative stress, DNA damage, and genotoxicity in earthworms. The CAT activity, OTM, and SOD gene could be the most sensitive biomarkers to monitor the toxicity of ethiprole in the soil.

Microbial P450 repertoire (P450ome) and its application feasibility in pharmaceutical industry, chemical industry, and environmental protection.

Cytochrome P450s (CYPs) are heme-thiolated enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of C-H bonds in a regio- and stereo-selective manner. CYPs are widely present in the biological world. With the completion of more biological genome sequencing, the number and types of P450 enzymes have increased rapidly. P450 in microorganisms is easy to clone and express, rich in catalytic types, and strong in substrate adaptability, which has good application potential. Although the number of P450 enzymes found in microorganisms is huge, the function of most of the microorganism P450s has not been studied, and it contains a large number of excellent biocatalysts to be developed. This review is based on the P450 groups in microorganisms. First, it reviews the distribution of P450 groups in different microbial species, and then studies the application of microbial P450 enzymes in the pharmaceutical industry, chemical industry and environmental pollutant treatment in recent years. And focused on the application fields of P450 enzymes of different families to guide the selection of suitable P450s from the huge P450 library. In view of the current shortcomings of microbial P450 in the application process, the final solution is the most likely to assist the application of P450 enzymes in large-scale, that is, whole cell transformation combined with engineering, fusion P450 combined with immobilization technology.

Deciphering tumor-infiltrating dendritic cells in the single-cell era.

Dendritic cells (DCs) serve as a pivotal link connecting innate and adaptive immunity by processing tumor-derived antigens and activating T cells. The advent of single-cell sequencing has revolutionized the categorization of DCs, enabling a high-resolution characterization of the previously unrecognized diversity of DC populations infiltrating the intricate tumor microenvironment (TME). The application of single-cell sequencing technologies has effectively elucidated the heterogeneity of DCs present in the tumor milieu, yielding invaluable insights into their subpopulation structures and functional diversity. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the current state of knowledge regarding DC subtypes in the TME, drawing from single-cell studies conducted across various human tumors. We focused on the categorization, functions, and interactions of distinct DC subsets, emphasizing their crucial roles in orchestrating tumor-related immune responses. Additionally, we delve into the potential implications of these findings for the identification of predictive biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Enhanced insight into the intricate interplay between DCs and the TME promises to advance our comprehension of tumor immunity and, in turn, pave the way for the development of more efficacious cancer immunotherapies.

Percutaneous transhepatic cholangial drainage or antibiotic therapy worsens response to immunotherapy in advanced cholangiocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Bile duct obstruction is a common issue for patients with advanced cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). Percutaneous transhepatic cholangial drainage (PTCD) is often required to relieve the obstruction. However, PTCD may alter the intestinal microbiota, which can affect the efficacy of immunotherapy. Antibiotics (ATB) can also have significant immunomodulatory effects by perturbing the gut microbiota. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether PTCD or ATB therapy is associated with overall survival (OS) or progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with advanced CCA receiving first-line chemotherapy plus immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) in clinical practice. We also explored whether the gut microbiota changes after receiving PTCD. METHODS: We conducted a single-center retrospective analysis of PTCD and ATB therapy in patients with advanced CCA. PTCD was performed before ICB initiation, and ATB was administered within 1 month before and 6 weeks after ICB initiation. Our primary outcomes were PFS and OS. Moreover, we used 16s rRNA sequencing to analyze fecal and bile samples obtained from patients who underwent PTCD. RESULTS: In total, 107 patients with CCA were included. Among patients who did not undergo PTCD, ICB plus chemotherapy significantly improved OS vs. chemotherapy alone (hazard ratio [HR] 0.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.09-0.45, p < 0.0001). PFS was also significantly improved in patients who received ICB plus chemotherapy compared with chemotherapy alone (HR 0.36, 95% CI 0.16-0.80, p = 0.0024). However, ICB plus chemotherapy did not improve survival compared with chemotherapy alone among patients who received PTCD. Overall changes in the fecal microbiota of patients after PTCD involved significant reductions in which Escherichia - Shigella. CONCLUSIONS: The use of ATB or PTCD in patients with CCA receiving ICB was associated with worse OS compared with chemotherapy alone, and PTCD affects the gut microbiota. Escherichia - Shigella was significantly reduced in feces of patients after PTCD.

[18F] AlF-NOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT can predict treatment response and survival in patients receiving chemotherapy for inoperable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

PURPOSE: We investigated whether uptake of [18F] AlF-NOTA-FAPI-04 on positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) could predict treatment response and survival in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). METHODS: We prospectively evaluated 47 patients with histopathologically confirmed primary PDAC who provided pretreatment [18F] AlF-NOTA-FAPI-04 scans to detect fibroblast activation protein (FAP) on the tumor surface by uptake of [18F] AlF-NOTA-FAPI-04. PDAC specimens were immunohistochemically stained with cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) markers. We obtained a second PET scan after one cycle of chemotherapy to study changes in FAPI uptake variables from before to during treatment. Correlations between baseline PET variables and CAF-related immunohistochemical markers were assessed with Spearman's rank test. Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier methods were used to assess relationships between disease progression and potential predictors. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to define the optimal cut-off points for distinguishing patients according to good response vs. poor response per RECIST v.1.1. RESULTS: The FAPI PET variables maximum and mean standardized uptake values (SUVmax, SUVmean), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion FAP expression (TLF) were positively correlated with CAF markers (FAP, α-smooth muscle actin, vimentin, S100A4, and platelet-derived growth factor receptor α/ß, all P < 0.05). MTV was associated with survival in patients with inoperable PDAC (all P < 0.05). Cox multivariate regression showed that MTV was associated with overall survival (MTV hazard ratio [HR] = 1.016, P = 0.016). Greater changes from before to during chemotherapy in SUVmax, MTV, and TLF were associated with good treatment response (all P < 0.05). ΔMTV, ΔTLF, and ΔSUVmax had larger areas under the curve than ΔCA19-9 for predicting treatment response. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the extent of change in MTV and TLF from before to after treatment predicted progression-free survival, with cut-off values (based on medians) of - 4.95 for ΔMTV (HR = 8.09, P = 0.013) and - 77.83 for ΔTLF (HR = 4.62, P = 0.012). CONCLUSIONS: A higher baseline MTV on [18F] AlF-NOTA-FAPI-04 scans was associated with poorer survival in patients with inoperable PDAC. ΔMTV was more sensitive for predicting response than ΔCA19-9. These results are clinically meaningful for identifying patients with PDAC who are at high risk of disease progression.

Design and Performance Analysis of a Bioelectronic Controlled Hybrid Serial-Parallel Wrist Exoskeleton.

Wrist exoskeletons are increasingly being used in the rehabilitation of stroke and hand dysfunction because of its ability to assist patients in high intensity, repetitive, targeted and interactive rehabilitation training. However, the existing wrist exoskeletons cannot effectively replace the work of therapist and improve hand function, mainly because the existing exoskeletons cannot assist patients to perform natural hand movement covering the entire physiological motor space (PMS). Here, we present a bioelectronic controlled hybrid serial-parallel wrist exoskeleton HrWr-ExoSkeleton (HrWE) which is based on the PMS design guidance, the gear set can carry out forearm pronation/supination (P/S) and the 2-DoF parallel configuration fixed on the gear set can carry out wrist flexion/extension (F/E) and radial/ulnar deviation (R/U). This special configuration not only provides enough range of motion (RoM) for rehabilitation training (85F/85E, 55R/55U, and 90P/90S), but also makes it easier to provide the interface for finger exoskeletons and be adapted to upper limb exoskeletons. In addition, to further improve the rehabilitation effect, we propose a HrWE-assisted active rehabilitation training platform based on surface electromyography signals.

Technical and Clinical Progress on Robot-Assisted Endovascular Interventions: A Review.

Prior methods of patient care have changed in recent years due to the availability of minimally invasive surgical platforms for endovascular interventions. These platforms have demonstrated the ability to improve patients' vascular intervention outcomes, and global morbidities and mortalities from vascular disease are decreasing. Nonetheless, there are still concerns about the long-term effects of exposing interventionalists and patients to the operational hazards in the cath lab, and the perioperative risks that patients undergo. For these reasons, robot-assisted vascular interventions were developed to provide interventionalists with the ability to perform minimally invasive procedures with improved surgical workflow. We conducted a thorough literature search and presented a review of 130 studies published within the last 20 years that focused on robot-assisted endovascular interventions and are closely related to the current gains and obstacles of vascular interventional robots published up to 2022. We assessed both the research-based prototypes and commercial products, with an emphasis on their technical characteristics and application domains. Furthermore, we outlined how the robotic platforms enhanced both surgeons' and patients' perioperative experiences of robot-assisted vascular interventions. Finally, we summarized our findings and proposed three key milestones that could improve the development of the next-generation vascular interventional robots.

Single-cell RNA-sequencing reveals radiochemotherapy-induced innate immune activation and MHC-II upregulation in cervical cancer.

Radiochemotherapy (RCT) is a powerful treatment for cervical cancer, which affects not only malignant cells but also the immune and stromal compartments of the tumor. Understanding the remodeling of the local ecosystem induced by RCT would provide valuable insights into improving treatment strategies for cervical cancer. In this study, we applied single-cell RNA-sequencing to paired pre- and post-RCT tumor biopsies from patients with cervical cancer and adjacent normal cervical tissues. We found that the residual population of epithelial cells post-RCT showed upregulated expression of MHC class II genes. Moreover, RCT led to the accumulation of monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells with increased pro-inflammatory features and CD16+ NK cells with a higher cytotoxic gene expression signature. However, subclusters of T cells showed no significant increase in the expression of cytotoxic features post-RCT. These results reveal the complex responses of the tumor ecosystem to RCT, providing evidence of activation of innate immunity and MHC-II upregulation in cervical cancer.

Single-cell transcriptomics dissects epithelial heterogeneity in HPV+ cervical adenocarcinoma.

The intra- and intertumoral heterogeneity of epithelial cells in human papillomavirus (HPV+ ) cervical adenocarcinoma (CEAD) remains largely unknown. To investigate this issue, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing on 19 229 epithelial cells sorted from three tumor samples of three patients with HPV+ CEAD. Six epithelial subclusters (Epi1-Epi6) were identified that showed distinct gene expression. Among these, Epi1 and Epi4 had apparent tumor hallmarks and metabolic activities. Epi1 was highly enriched in hallmarks of hypoxia, IL2/STAT5 signaling, retinol metabolism, glycolysis, and arachidonic acid metabolism, while Epi4 was highly enriched in hallmarks of G2M checkpoint, E2F targets, DNA repair, PI3K/AKT/MTOR signaling, glycolysis, fatty acid degradation, TCA cycle, and glutathione metabolism. We also investigated intertumoral epithelial heterogeneity and found that Patient 1 was highly enriched for KRAS signaling and angiogenesis, while Patient 2 was highly enriched for epithelial-mesenchymal transition and TGF-ß signaling, and Patient 3 was highly enriched for hypoxia, DNA repair, G2M checkpoint, and E2F targets. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, we revealed the intra- and intertumoral heterogeneity of epithelial cells in HPV+ CEAD, providing insights into the importance of personalized treatment for patients with HPV+ CEAD.

Design and evaluation of vascular interventional robot system for complex coronary artery lesions.

At present, most vascular intervention robots cannot cope with the more common coronary complex lesions in the clinic. Moreover, the lack of effective force feedback increases the risk of surgery. In this paper, a vascular interventional robot that can collaboratively deliver multiple interventional instruments has been developed to assist doctors in the operation of complex lesions. Based on the doctor's skills and the delivery principle of interventional instruments, the main and slave manipulators of the robot system are designed. Haptic force feedback is generated through resistance measuring mechanism and active drag system. In addition, a force feedback control strategy based on force-velocity mapping is proposed to realize the continuous change of force and avoid vibration. The proposed robot system was evaluated through a series of experiments. The experimental results show that the system can accurately measure the delivery resistance of interventional instruments, and provide haptic force feedback to doctors. The capability of the system to collaboratively deliver multiple interventional instruments is effective. Therefore, it can be considered that the robot system is feasible and effective.

Immune landscape of viral cancers: Insights from single-cell sequencing.

Viral infections trigger a wide range of immune responses thought to drive tumorigenesis and malignant progression. Dissecting virus-induced changes in the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) is therefore crucial to identify key leukocyte populations that may represent novel targets for cancer therapy. Single-cell sequencing approaches have now been widely applied to the analysis of various tumors, thus enabling multiomics characterization of the highly heterogeneous TIME that bulk-sequencing cannot fully elucidate. In this review, we summarized key recent findings from sequencing studies of the immune infiltrate and antitumor response in virus-associated cancers at single cell resolution. Additionally, we also reviewed recent developments in immunotherapy for virus-associated cancers. We anticipate that the strategic use of single-cell sequencing will advance our understanding of the TIME of viral cancers, leading to the development of more potent novel treatments.

Multi-omics analysis on seasonal variations of the biofilm microbial community in a full-scale pre-denitrification biofilter.

The seasonal variations of biofilm communities in a municipal wastewater treatment plant were investigated using multi-omics techniques. The abundance of the main phyla of microorganisms varied with summer (July 2019) and winter (January 2019) samples considerably, the Bacteroidetes enriched in winter and Chloroflexi in summer. The results of metaproteomic and metagenomic showed that most of the functional microorganisms belonged to the Betaproteobacteria class, and the enrichment of Flavobacteria class in winter guaranteed the stability of denitrification performance to some extent. Seasonal variations affected the proteomic expression profiling, a total of 2835 differentially expressed proteins identified were significantly enriched in quorum sensing, two-component system, ribosome, benzoate degradation, butanoate metabolism, tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle), and cysteine and methionine metabolism pathways. With the expression of nitrogen metabolic proteins decreases in winter, the overall expression of denitrification-related enzymes in winter was much lower than that in summer, the nitrogen metabolism pathway varied significantly. Seasonal variations also induced the alteration of the biofilm metabolite profile; a total of 66 differential metabolites, 8 potential biomarkers, and 8 perturbed metabolic pathways such as TCA cycle were detected. It was found that most of the perturbed pathways are directly related to nitrogen metabolism, and several amino acids and organic acids associated with the TCA cycle were significantly perturbed, the accumulation of TCA cycle intermediates, ornithine, and L-histidine in winter might be conducive to resisting cold temperatures. Furthermore, the correlation between biofilm microbial communities and metabolites was identified by the combined analysis of metabolomic and metaproteomic. The differences of microbial community structure, function, and metabolism between winter and summer in a full-scale pre-denitrification biofilter were revealed for the first time, strengthening our understanding of the microbial ecology of biofilm communities.

Single-cell RNA-sequencing dissects cellular heterogeneity and identifies two tumor-suppressing immune cell subclusters in HPV-related cervical adenosquamous carcinoma.

The intratumor heterogeneity of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cervical cancer remains poorly defined. We performed single-cell RNA sequencing on 18 046 individual cells derived from two HPV-related cervical adenosquamous carcinoma samples to analyze the transcriptional heterogeneity of both epithelial and immune constituents, identifying seven epithelial (Epi1-7) and 11 immune subclusters. Based on expression of known cervical cancer markers, Epi1-2 primarily displayed features of adenocarcinoma, whereas Epi3-6 were instead characterized by features of squamous carcinoma. Our analyses also revealed that hypoxia and Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene signaling were highly represented within Epi1; metabolic pathways mediating glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation were enriched in Epi2-4; while Epi5 was enriched in p53 pathway components and features of epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Moreover, CD8+ FGFBP2+ T cells and FGFBP2+ natural killer cells were found to display high levels of cytotoxic effectors (GZMA, GZMB, GNLY, and PRF1) and low levels of inhibitory markers (PDCD1, TIGIT, and CTLA4), such that tumor infiltration by these populations was positively associated with survival in a cohort of n = 165 patients with HPV-related cervical cancer from The Cancer Genome Atlas database (p = 0.017 and 0.014, respectively). These results shed new light on the intratumor heterogeneity of HPV-related cervical adenosquamous carcinoma, which will help to refine diagnostic and treatment approaches.

Knockdown of Notch1 inhibits nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell growth and metastasis via downregulation of CCL2, CXCL16, and uPA.

Notch pathway is a highly conserved cell signaling system that plays very important roles in controlling multiple cell differentiation processes during embryonic and adult life. Multiple lines of evidence support the oncogenic role of Notch signaling in several human solid cancers; however, the pleiotropic effects and molecular mechanisms of Notch signaling inhibition on nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated Notch1 expression in NPC cell lines (CNE1, CNE2, SUNE1, HONE1, and HK1) by real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot analysis, and we found that CNE1 and CNE2 cells expressed a higher level of Notch1 compared with HONE1, SUNE1, and HK1 cells. Then Notch1 expression was specifically knocked down in CNE1 and CNE2 cells by Notch1 short hairpin RNA (shRNA). In Notch1 knockdown cells, cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were significantly inhibited. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition of tumor cells was reversed in Notch1-shRNA-transfected cells, accompanied by epithelioid-like morphology changes, increased protein levels of E-cadherin, and decreased expression of vimentin. In addition, knockdown of Notch1 markedly inhibited the expression of urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and its receptor uPAR, and chemokines C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 16, indicating that these factors are downstream targets of Notch1. Furthermore, deleting uPA expression had similar effects as Notch1. Finally, knockdown of Notch1 significantly diminished CNE1 cell growth in a murine model concomitant with inhibition of cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis. These results suggest that Notch1 may become a novel therapeutic target for the clinical treatment of NPC.

Targeting cathepsin K diminishes prostate cancer establishment and growth in murine bone.

BACKGROUND: The processes of prostate cancer (PCa) invasion and metastasis are facilitated by proteolytic cascade involving multiple proteases, such as matrix metalloproteinases, serine proteases and cysteine proteases including cathepsin K (CatK). CatK is predominantly secreted by osteoclasts and specifically degrades collagen I leading to bone destruction. PCa and breast cancer preferentially metastasize to the bone. Importantly, CatK expression level is greater in PCa bone metastatic sites compared to primary tumor and normal prostate tissues. However, the underlying mechanism of CatK during PCa metastases into the bone remains to be elucidated. We investigated the functional role of CatK during the PCa establishment and growth process in the murine bone. METHODS: CatK mRNA expression was validated by RT-PCR, protein expression by immunoblotting in PCa LNCaP, C4-2B, and PC3 cells as well as in PCa tissues. Its protein production was measured using ELISA assay. The effect of both knockdowns via siRNA and CatK inhibitor was compared in regard to PCa cell invasion. We further studied the dose-dependent CatK inhibitor effect on conditioned media-induced bone resorption. In setting up an animal model, C4-2B cells were injected into the tibiae of SCID mice. The animals treated with either vehicle or CatK inhibitor for 8 weeks at the time of tumor cell injection (tumor establishment model; protocol I) or 4 weeks after tumor cell injection (tumor progression model; protocol II) were applied to histological and histomorphometric analyses. RESULTS: We confirmed CatK expression in PCa LNCaP, C4-2B, and PC3 cells as well as in PCa tissues. Furthermore, we observed the inhibitory effects of a selective CatK inhibitor on PCa cell invasion. The CatK inhibitor dose-dependently inhibited PCa-conditioned media-induced bone resorption. Upon injection of C4-2B cells into the tibiae of SCID mice, the selective CatK inhibitor significantly prevented the tumor establishment in protocol I, and reduced the tumor growth in bone in protocol II. It also decreased serum PSA levels in both animal models. The inhibitory effects of the CatK inhibitor were enhanced in combination with zoledronic acid (ZA). CONCLUSION: The selective CatK inhibitor may prevent the establishment and progression of PCa in bone, thus making it a novel therapeutic approach for advanced PCa.