Neural basis of language familiarity effects on voice recognition: An fNIRS study.

Recognizing talkers' identity via speech is an important social skill in interpersonal interaction. Behavioral evidence has shown that listeners can identify better the voices of their native language than those of a non-native language, which is known as the language familiarity effect (LFE). However, its underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. This study therefore investigated how the LFE occurs at the neural level by employing functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Late unbalanced bilinguals were first asked to learn to associate strangers' voices with their identities and then tested for recognizing the talkers' identities based on their voices speaking a language either highly familiar (i.e., native language Chinese), or moderately familiar (i.e., second language English), or completely unfamiliar (i.e., Ewe) to participants. Participants identified talkers the most accurately in Chinese and the least accurately in Ewe. Talker identification was quicker in Chinese than in English and Ewe but reaction time did not differ between the two non-native languages. At the neural level, recognizing voices speaking Chinese relative to English/Ewe produced less activity in the inferior frontal gyrus, precentral/postcentral gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, and superior temporal sulcus/gyrus while no difference was found between English and Ewe, indicating facilitation of voice identification by the automatic phonological encoding in the native language. These findings shed new light on the interrelations between language ability and voice recognition, revealing that the brain activation pattern of the LFE depends on the automaticity of language processing.

EXOSC2 Mediates the Pro-tumor Role of WTAP in Breast Cancer Cells via Activating the Wnt/ß-Catenin Signal.

BC (breast cancer) is the leading cause of cancer death in women. Exosome component 2 (EXOSC2), an RNA exosome component, is elevated in BC tissues and may relate to BC carcinogenesis. In this work, the high EXOSC2 expression was correlated with TNM (Tumor Node Metastasis) stage. Moreover, overexpression of EXOSC2 enhanced tumorigenic capacity of BC cells via facilitating cell proliferation and cell cycle progression, increasing migration and angiogenesis, as well as exacerbating xenograft formation in vivo. Whereas, EXOSC2 knockdown showed anti-cancer effects, including inhibition of cell proliferation and angiogenesis. Mechanistically, EXOSC2 activated the wnt/ß-catenin pathway, which was also abolished by EXOSC2 knockdown. In addition, there were m6A methylation modification sites in the mRNA of EXOSC2. WTAP (Wilms tumor 1-associated protein) bound to EXOSC2 mRNA and increased its m6A methylation, resulting in extending the half-life of EXOSC2 mRNA. Luciferase data also confirmed that WTAP enhanced EXOSC2 mRNA stability through binding with the 3'-UTR containing m6A sites. Furthermore, WTAP silencing exhibited cancer-inhibiting effects on cell viability, cell cycle progression and tube formation, which was effectively reversed by EXOSC2 overexpression. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that EXOSC2 promotes the malignant behaviors of BC cells via activating the wnt/ß-catenin pathway. In addition, EXOSC2 mediates the function of WTAP which contributes to the m6A modification of EXOSC2. Totally, this study suggested that EXOSC2 mediated the pro-tumor role of WTAP via activating the wnt/ß-catenin signal.

Analysis of left-turn behaviors of non-motorized vehicles and vehicle-bicycle conflicts.

In order to further study the expansion characteristics of left-turning non-motorized vehicles at intersections and the relationship between expansion characteristics and vehicle-bicycle conflicts, the trajectory point data of left-turning non-motorized vehicles are extracted using video trajectory tracking technology, and construct the cubic curve expansion envelope equation with the highest fitting degree. For the purpose of quantifying the expansion degree of non-motor vehicles after starting, two intersections in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were selected for case analysis, and the numerical range of expansion degree of the intersection with a left-turn waiting area and the intersection without a left-turn waiting area was obtained. Study the mathematical relationship between the expansion degree and its influencing factors, and establish the multivariate nonlinear regression equation between the expansion degree and the left-turn non-motorized vehicle flow, the number of parallel non-motorized vehicles, and the left-turn green light time. Analyze the vehicle-bicycle conflicts caused by the expansion of left-turning non-motorized vehicles, determine the essential factors affecting the number of non-motorized vehicles, and establish the multiple linear regression equation between the number of non-motorized vehicles and the number of left-turning non-motorized vehicles, the expansion degree, and the number of parallel non-motorized vehicles, the results show that the model has high accuracy. By analyzing the expansion characteristics of left-turning non-motorized vehicles at intersections, the relationship between different influencing factors and the expansion degree is obtained. Then the vehicle-bicycle conflicts under the influence of expansion characteristics is analyzed, providing theoretical ideas for improving traffic efficiency and optimizing traffic organization at intersections.

[Research Progress of Cytokines in the Prognosis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia --Review].

At present, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is mainly treated with combination medication, high-dose, and early intensification. The treatment has achieved good results, but the long-term treatment effect is still not satisfactory. Studies have shown that the different levels of cytokine expression in AML patients can help AML risk stratification, search for treatment directions and predict the prognosis. It has been confirmed that the expression of IL-1ß, IL-6, TNF-α, and TGF-ß1 are increased in AML patients, and they all indicate a poor prognosis. However, IL-8, IFN-γ, and CCL5 have great research value in chemotherapy resistance and improvement of treatment effect. This article reviews the research progress of cytokine biomarkers in the prognosis of AML patients.

The effects of environmental tax reform on urban air pollution: A quasi-natural experiment based on the Environmental Protection Tax Law.

Air pollution significantly impacts sustainable development and public health. Taking the implementation of China's Environmental Protection Tax Law in China as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper employs the difference-in-differences (DID) and spatial DID models to evaluate the effects of environmental tax reform on urban air pollution. The findings are as follows. (1) Environmental tax reform can significantly reduce urban air pollution, and a series of robustness tests have also been conducted to provide further evidence. (2) Green technology innovation and industrial structure upgrading from a vital transmission mechanism for environmental tax reform to improve air quality. (3) Environmental tax reform significantly inhibits urban air pollution in cities located north of the Qinling-Huaihe line and big cities. (4) Moreover, environmental tax reform not only promotes the improvement of local air quality but also has a significant negative spatial spillover effect, reducing air pollution in neighboring cities. The research conclusions provide theoretical support and policy suggestions for promoting sustainable economic development, rationally optimizing environmental protection tax policies and improving urban air quality.

CLEC12A plays an important role in immunomodulatory function and prognostic significance of patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

The physiological function and prognostic significance of C-type lectin domain family 12 member A (CLEC12A) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients are unclear. CLEC12A transcriptional expression in a variety of tumors from several public databases was collected and compared. We found that CLEC12A was highly expressed in AML cell lines and in tissues from AML patients and a higher CLEC12A expression in leukemia stem cells. CLEC12A low expression was associated with poor prognosis in the chemotherapy-only group and high CLEC12A expression may benefit from autologous or allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). CLEC12A expression was positively correlated with infiltrating levels of type 2 macrophages and monocytes and negatively associated with NK cells and regulatory T cells in AML. CLEC12A high was positively associated with immune checkpoint genes as well as macrophage associated genes. CLEC12A is an ideal chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy target for AML and its expression level was closely linked to treatment response and patients' survival outcome. CLEC12A plays an important immunomodulatory role in AML.

Polyethyleneimine grafted starch nanocrystals as a novel biosorbent for efficient removal of methyl blue dye.

In this paper, a novel biosorbent of SNCs-PEI was successfully prepared by grafting polyethylenimine (PEI) onto the starch nanocrystals (SNCs) using glutaraldehyde as a crosslinking agent. The optimal preparation conditions of SNCs-PEI were determined by the orthogonal experiments of the three-factor and three-level, and the SNCs-PEI was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The zeta potential of SNCs-PEI was +26.3 mV (pH 7), which had a good adsorption performance for the anionic dye methyl blue (MB). The adsorption kinetics and isotherm of MB by SNCs-PEI were studied. At the temperature of 25, 30 and 35 °C, its maximum adsorption capacity was 337.84, 377.36 and 383.14 mg g-1, respectively. The adsorption of MB by the SNCs-PEI was a spontaneous and endothermic process according to the thermodynamic analysis.

Cost-Effective, High-Yield Production of Biotemplated Catalytic Tubular Micromotors as Self-Propelled Microcleaners for Water Treatment.

Micro/nano-motors (MNMs) that combine attributes of miniaturization and self-propelled swimming mobility have been explored for efficient environmental remediation in the past decades. However, their progresses in practical applications are now subject to several critical issues including a complicated fabrication process, low production yield, and high material cost. Herein, we propose a biotemplated catalytic tubular micromotor consisting of a kapok fiber (KF, abundant in nature) matrix and manganese dioxide nanoparticles (MnO2 NPs) deposited on the outer and inner walls of the KF and demonstrate its applications for rapid removal of methylene blue (MB) in real-world wastewater. The fabrication is straightforward via dipping the KF into a potassium permanganate (KMnO4) solution, featured with high yield and low cost. The distribution and amount of MnO2 can be easily controlled by varying the dipping time. The obtained motors are actuated and propelled by oxygen (O2) bubbles generated from MnO2-triggered catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), with the highest speed at 615 µm/s (i.e., 6 body length per second). To enhance decontamination efficacy and also enable magnetic navigation/recycling, magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) are adsorbed onto such motors via an electrostatic effect. Both the Fe3O4-induced Fenton reaction and hydroxyl radicals from MnO2-catalyzed H2O2 decomposition can account for the MB removal (or degradation). Results of this study, taken together, provide a cost-effective approach to achieve high-yield production of the MNMs, suggesting an automatous microcleaner able to perform practical wastewater treatment.

Single-cell map of diverse immune phenotypes in the acute myeloid leukemia microenvironment.

BACKGROUND: Knowledge of immune cell phenotypes, function, and developmental trajectory in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) microenvironment is essential for understanding mechanisms of evading immune surveillance and immunotherapy response of targeting special microenvironment components. METHODS: Using a single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) dataset, we analyzed the immune cell phenotypes, function, and developmental trajectory of bone marrow (BM) samples from 16 AML patients and 4 healthy donors, but not AML blasts. RESULTS: We observed a significant difference between normal and AML BM immune cells. Here, we defined the diversity of dendritic cells (DC) and macrophages in different AML patients. We also identified several unique immune cell types including T helper cell 17 (TH17)-like intermediate population, cytotoxic CD4+ T subset, T cell: erythrocyte complexes, activated regulatory T cells (Treg), and CD8+ memory-like subset. Emerging AML cells remodels the BM immune microenvironment powerfully, leads to immunosuppression by accumulating exhausted/dysfunctional immune effectors, expending immune-activated types, and promoting the formation of suppressive subsets. CONCLUSION: Our results provide a comprehensive AML BM immune cell census, which can help to select pinpoint targeted drug and predict efficacy of immunotherapy.

Resilience, anxiety and depression, coping style, social support and their correlation in parents of premature infants undergoing outpatient fundus examination for retinopathy of prematurity.

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) has become the main cause of blindness in children. To study resilience, anxiety and depression, coping style and social support and their correlation in parents of premature infants undergoing outpatient fundus examination for ROP, and thereby provide evidence for clinical intervention. Questionnaire surveys were conducted by using General Information Questionnaire, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Self-rating Anxiety Scale, Self-rating Depression Scale, Social Support Scale, and the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire. The resilience in the parents scored (63.24 ± 12.97) points, which was lower than that of Chinese norm (t = 2.309, P < 0.05). The scores of anxiety and depression were higher than those of Chinese norm (t = 12.592, t = 2.362, both P < 0.05). The score of social support was lower than that of Chinese norm (t = 3.793, p < 0.01). Resilience was negatively correlated with anxiety and depression (r = -0.287, -0.358, both P < 0.01), and positively correlated with coping tendency and social support (r = 0.299, 0.139, both P < 0.05). These findings suggested that the parents have low resilience, high levels of anxiety and depression, and low level of social support. Medical staff should assess and improve their psychological status.

Mesenchymal stroma/stem-like cells of GARP knockdown inhibits cell proliferation and invasion of mouse colon cancer cells (MC38) through exosomes.

Mesenchymal stroma/stem-like cells (MSCs) have antitumour activity, and MSC-derived exosomes play a role in the growth, metastasis and invasion of tumour cells. Additionally, glycoprotein A repetition predominant (GARP) promotes oncogenesis in breast cancer. Therefore, GARP is speculated to be a target gene for cancer therapy. We aimed to explore the therapy role of MSC-derived exosomes targeting GARP in mouse colon cancer cell MC38. We successfully established a GARP knockdown system using three kinds of siRNA-GARP in MSC cells. Exosomes were isolated from MSC and siGARP-MSC cells, and verified by the exosome surface protein markers CD9, CD63 and CD81. GARP expression was significantly decreased in siGARP-MSC exosomes compared with that of MSC exosomes. We found that siGARP-MSC exosomes inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion of MC38 cells, using CCK-8, colony formation, wound-healing and Transwell invasion assays. Furthermore, siGARP-MSC exosomes impeded IL-6 secretion and partly inactivated JAK1/STAT3 pathway, measured using ELISA and RT-qPCR. In conclusion, MSC-derived exosomes targeting GARP are a potential strategy for cancer therapy.

Consistency Analysis of Programmed Death-Ligand 1 Expression between Primary and Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Retrospective Study.

Background: Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is considered as a predictive biomarker of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 cancer therapies. However, the correlation of PD-L1 expression status between the primary and paired metastatic NSCLC is still not clear. The current study aims to address this specific issue. Materials and Methods: The PD-L1 expression of the primary and paired metastatic lesions from 110 patients with NSCLC was retrospectively evaluated by immunohistochemical assay using Anti-PD-L1 antibody, Clone 22C3. The results were assessed by the Tumor Proportion Score (TPS) using cutoff values of <1%, 1%-49% and ≥50%. Meanwhile, the Cohen's kappa coefficient (k) of agreement was calculated. Results: An overall concordance rate of the PD-L1 expression between the primary and metastatic lesions was 61% (63/103) (k = 0.39, and P < 0.001). If using TPS considering 1% and 50% as a threshold, the inconsistent rate was 28/103 (27.2%) paired specimens (k = 0.46, and P < 0.001) and 14/103 (13.6%) paired specimens (k = 0.53, and P < 0.001), respectively. Moreover, the concordance of the PD-L1 expression between primary and metastatic tumor was also analyzed according to the clinical stages within the untreated group of patients. We observed that for patients with stage I-III NSCLC, the concordance rate of the PD-L1 expression between primary and metastatic lesions was 81.3% and 100% when using 1% and 50% as threshold, respectively. While in stage IV patients, the concordance rate of the PD-L1 expression between the primary and metastatic lesions drops to 71.4% and 85.7%, respectively. Conclusion: The PD-L1 expression was dynamic as tumor developed, which was valuable in selecting the proper type of sample for accurately evaluating the prognosis of using pembrolizumab as first or second line treatment.

Insights into the interaction of human serum albumin and carbon dots: Hydrothermal synthesis and biophysical study.

Nitrogen and sulfur co-doped carbon dots (N,S-CDs) have been widely studied with high quantum yield (QY). The experimental conditions of three different N,S-CDs were optimized. Emission peak position of three different N,S-CDs shown almost remains unchanged or obvious excitation-dependent PL properties, that was likely owed to size distribution. In order to discuss the N,S-CDs stability of photoluminescence property in environment, various experiments such as the photostability, different pH, ionic strengths and temperature were designed. To sum up, three different N,S-CDs exhibited discrepancy property. Molecular interaction of three different N,S-CDs were produced via vary carbon source with human serum albumins have been investigate by various methods. The quenching mechanism, thermodynamic and kinetic parameters, binding sites, electrochemical behavior of three different N,S-CDs with human serum albumins have some different, but conformational change of three different N,S-CDs with human serum albumins alike. The molecular docking had successful applied to study the N,S-CDs interaction with HSA. Different N,S-CDs possessed various characteristic that will have different quenching mechanism when they interaction with human serum albumin, study the mechanism of action at molecular level will help people to choose suitable CDs to apply in nanomedical.

Nomogram for predicting the risk of bone metastasis in breast cancer: a SEER population-based study.

BACKGROUND: Bone is the most common metastasis site of breast cancer. The prognosis of bone metastasis is better than other distant metastases, but patients with skeletal related events (SREs) have a poor quality of life, high healthcare costs and low survival rates. This study aimed to establish an effective nomogram for predicting risk of bone metastasis of breast cancer. METHODS: The nomogram was built on 4,895 adult/female/primary invasive breast cancer patients with complete clinicopathologic information, captured by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database from 2010 to 2015. Five biological factors (age, grade, histologic type, surgery of breast lesions and subtypes) were assessed with logistic regression to predict the risk of bone metastases. The predictive accuracy and discriminative ability of the nomogram were determined by the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves and the calibration plot. Results were validated on a separate 2,093 cohort using bootstrap resampling from 2010 to 2015 as an internal group and a retrospective study on 120 patients in the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University from 2010 to 2014 at the same situation as an external group. RESULTS: On multivariate logistic regression of the primary cohort, independent factors for bone metastases were age, grade, histologic type, surgery of breast lesions and subtypes, which were all selected into the nomogram. The calibration plot for probability of incidence showed good agreement between prediction by nomogram and two observations. The ROC curves presented a good statistical model for risk of bone metastasis, and the corresponding AUC value of the development group, internal validation group and external validation group were 0.678, 0.689 and 0.704 respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed nomogram resulted in more-accurate prognostic prediction for breast cancer patients with bone metastases.

Self-Propelled Micro/Nanomotors for On-Demand Biomedical Cargo Transportation.

Micro/nanomotors (MNMs) are miniaturized machines that can perform assigned tasks at the micro/nanoscale. Over the past decade, significant progress has been made in the design, preparation, and applications of MNMs that are powered by converting different sources of energy into mechanical force, to realize active movement and fulfill on-demand tasks. MNMs can be navigated to desired locations with precise controllability based on different guidance mechanisms. A considerable research effort has gone into demonstrating that MNMs possess the potential of biomedical cargo loading, transportation, and targeted release to achieve therapeutic functions. Herein, the recent advances of self-propelled MNMs for on-demand biomedical cargo transportation, including their self-propulsion mechanisms, guidance strategies, as well as proof-of-concept studies for biological applications are presented. In addition, some of the major challenges and possible opportunities of MNMs are identified for future biomedical applications in the hope that it may inspire future research.

Biocompatibility of artificial micro/nanomotors for use in biomedicine.

The advent of micro/nanomotors (MNMs) has shed light on the innovation of active biomedical systems or devices that might bring revolutionary solutions to traditional biomedical strategies. In spite of development beyond expectation over the last decade with a fair number of proof-of-concept demonstrations, the in vivo practical application of MNMs for clinical use is still in its infancy. The biocompatibility of MNMs is the first consideration before realizing practicality, taking into account the complicated interactions between the self-propelled MNMs and biological systems. Therefore, in this review, we focused on the biocompatibility of MNMs with regard to the fabrication materials and propulsion mechanisms by means of in-depth discussions on the advantages and limitations of MNMs for operating under physiological conditions. The future prospective and suggestions on the development of MNMs toward practical biomedical applications will also be proposed.

Hierarchically Nanostructured Fe3O4/C Composite as a Promising Magnetic Targeted Drug Nanocarrier.

Nanostructured Fe3O4/C composites are very attractive for high-performance magnetic targeted drug carriers. Herein, Fe3O4/C composite nanospheres with good dispersity are prepared by a simple one-step hydrothermal synthesis and subsequent heat treatment in Ar. The composite nanospheres consist of clustered primary nanoparticles, and exhibit a hierarchical architecture with a high specific surface area of 119.3 m² g-1. The Fe3O4/C composite nanospheres show a high saturation magnetization value of 101 emu g-1 and good biocompatibility. In particular, the composite nanospheres deliver a large loading content (85.8%) of epirubicin hydrochloride (EPI), resulting from their unique composition and microstructure. More importantly, the release of EPI from the EPI-loaded magnetic carrier (Fe3O4/C-EPI) may be enhanced by both a slightly acidic environment and a rotating magnetic field induced by a simple motor-driven magnet system. The above favorable properties make the hierarchical Fe3O4/C composite sample a promising candidate for magnetic targeting nanocarriers of EPI.

Bilayer Tubular Micromotors for Simultaneous Environmental Monitoring and Remediation.

There are two main aspects of environmental governance including monitoring and remediation, both of which are essential for environmental protection. Self-propelled micro/nanomotors (MNM) have shown promising potential for achieving on-demand tasks in environmental field, including environmental sensing and pollutant removal or degradation. However, most of the current MNM used in environmental protection can hardly accomplish the two major tasks of both monitoring and pollutant degradation. Hereby, we present a bubble-propelled mesoporous silica-coated titania (TiO2@mSiO2) bilayer tubular micromotor with platinum (Pt) and magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles modified on their inner walls. The outer mesoporous silica (mSiO2) layer can effectively adsorb and collect the pollutants, and the adsorption capacity of the TiO2@mSiO2 tube is about 3 times higher than that of the TiO2 tube due to the presence of mSiO2 shell. By magnetic manipulation, the micromotors can be recovered to release the collected pollutant for precise analysis of the composition of the pollutants, such us pollutant molecule identification by surface-enhanced Raman scattering. The active motion and photocatalytic TiO2 inner layer of the micromotors can greatly enhance the degradation rate of the model pollutant rhodamine 6G (R6G). Our results show that within 30 min, up to 98% of R6G can be degraded by the motors. The successful demonstration of the TiO2@mSiO2 bilayer tubular motors for simultaneous environmental monitoring and pollutant degradation paves the way for future development of active and intelligent micro/nanorobots for advanced environmental governance.

Interleukin enhancer binding factor 2 is a prognostic biomarker for breast cancer that also predicts neoadjuvant chemotherapy responses.

Interleukin enhancer binding factor 2 (ILF2) participates in several aspects of DNA and RNA metabolism and regulates gene expression at multiple levels; however, its role in breast cancer remains undefined. The variant statuses of ILF2 in human breast cancer were evaluated using the COSMIC database. Altered ILF2 expression in normal breast tissue relative to cancer tissue and in breast cancer patients with different clinicopathological characteristics, molecular subtypes, clinical outcomes and chemotherapy responses were examined using the Oncomine, GOBO, Kaplan-Meier plotter and GEO datasets. To explore possible biological networks connected to ILF2 in breast cancer, we performed ingenuity pathway analysis on ILF2-related differentially expressed genes. We found that many breast cancers had increased ILF2 copy number variations and increased ILF2 expression. We also observed that elevated ILF2 expression was correlated with aggressive features, such as high histological grade, BRCA1 mutations, and the triple-negative/basal-like subtype, which resulted in shorter survival in these cases. Moreover, ILF2 expression predicted responses to anthracycline/taxane-based treatment. Ingenuity pathway analysis revealed that ILF2-related biological functions included promoting cell survival, viability, and proliferation, as well as cell cycle progression and DNA repair. Certain well-known oncogenes (MYC and HGF), cytokines (CSF2, IFNG and IL5) and microRNAs (miR-21, miR-155-5p and let-7) may participate in the ILF2 expression network in breast cancer. In summary, ILF2 is involved in the development and progression of breast cancer and may be a predictive biomarker for better responses to anthracycline/taxane-based treatments.

Disassembly of Hydrophobic Photosensitizer by Biodegradable Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-8 for Photodynamic Cancer Therapy.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT), an alternative to conventional cancer therapeutics, has gained increasing attention for its noninvasive advantage and simultaneous fluorescence imaging property. PDT is a tripartite process that functions in the simultaneous presence of a photosensitizer (PS), light, and available oxygen molecules. However, many highly efficient PSs are hydrophobic and highly tend to self-aggregate in aqueous solution, leading to quick quenching of the PDT effect. Here we construct zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) containing water-insoluble photosensitizer zinc(II) phthalocyanine (ZnPc), a typical hydrophobic PS, by one-step coprecipitation process, named as ZnPc@ZIF-8. The micropores of ZIF-8 act as molecular cages to separate and maintain hydrophobic ZnPc in the monomeric state and protect it against self-aggregation, which enables the encapsulated ZnPc to generate cytotoxic singlet oxygen (1O2) under light irradiation (650 nm) in aqueous condition. The formed nanosystem of ZnPc@ZIF-8 can be endocytosed by cancer cells and exhibits red fluorescent emission with excellent photodynamic activity for cancer treatment in vitro. In addition, ZnPc@ZIF-8 is acid-sensitive and would completely degrade after PDT, which can be monitored by the self-quenching of fluorescence emission of ZnPc. This work paves a facile way for resolving the problem of solubility and bioavailability of hydrophobic PS by utilizing metal-organic frameworks as nanocarriers.