Hemoglobin nanoclusters-mediated regulation of KPNA4 in hypoxic tumor microenvironment enhances photodynamic therapy in hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly malignant tumor known for its hypoxic environment, which contributes to resistance against the anticancer drug Sorafenib (SF). Addressing SF resistance in HCC requires innovative strategies to improve tumor oxygenation and effectively deliver therapeutics. RESULTS: In our study, we explored the role of KPNA4 in mediating hypoxia-induced SF resistance in HCC. We developed hemoglobin nanoclusters (Hb-NCs) capable of carrying oxygen, loaded with indocyanine green (ICG) and SF, named HPRG@SF. In vitro, HPRG@SF targeted HCC cells, alleviated hypoxia, suppressed KPNA4 expression, and enhanced the cytotoxicity of PDT against hypoxic, SF-resistant HCC cells. In vivo experiments supported these findings, showing that HPRG@SF effectively improved the oxygenation within the tumor microenvironment and countered SF resistance through combined photodynamic therapy (PDT). CONCLUSION: The combination of Hb-NCs with ICG and SF, forming HPRG@SF, presents a potent strategy to overcome drug resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma by improving hypoxia and employing PDT. This approach not only targets the hypoxic conditions that underlie resistance but also provides a synergistic anticancer effect, highlighting its potential for clinical applications in treating resistant HCC.

Targeting MS4A4A: A novel pathway to improve immunotherapy responses in glioblastoma.

INTRODUCTION: Glioblastoma (GBM) remains a challenging brain tumor to treat, with limited response to PD-1 immunotherapy due to tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), specifically the M2 phenotype. This study explores the potential of MS4A4A (membrane spanning four domains, subfamily A, member 4A) inhibition in driving M2 macrophage polarization toward the M1 phenotype via the ferroptosis pathway to enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy in GBM. METHODS: Single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomic analyses were employed to characterize M2 macrophages and MS4A4A expression in GBM. In vitro studies utilizing TAM cultures, flow cytometry, and western blot validations were conducted to assess the impact of MS4A4A on the tumor immune microenvironment and M2 macrophage polarization. In vivo models, including subcutaneous and orthotopic transplantation in mice, were utilized to evaluate the effects of MS4A4A knockout and combined immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy on tumor growth and response to PD-1 immunotherapy. RESULTS: Distinct subsets of GBM-associated macrophages were identified, with spatial distribution in tumor tissue elucidated. In vivo experiments demonstrated that inhibiting MS4A4A and combining ICB therapy effectively inhibited tumor growth, reshaped the tumor immune microenvironment by reducing M2 TAM infiltration and enhancing CD8+ T-cell infiltration, ultimately leading to complete tumor eradication. CONCLUSION: MS4A4A inhibition shows promise in converting M2 macrophages to M1 phenotype via ferroptosis, decreasing M2-TAM infiltration, and enhancing GBM response to PD-1 immunotherapy. These findings offer a novel approach to developing more effective immunotherapeutic strategies for GBM.

What is the short-term outlook for the EU's natural gas demand? Individual differences and general trends based on monthly forecasts.

As a fossil energy with low carbon, natural gas has been regarded as an important energy for the energy green transition in the past few decades. It has long shouldered the mission of improving air quality and slowing climate warming. However, in recent years, with the acceleration of the energy transition, natural gas has become a major source of carbon emissions in Europe, but before the full coverage of renewable energy, natural gas remains the Europe's main energy in the short term. In such a complicated background, what is the short-term outlook for the European Union's (EU) natural gas demand? This paper will answer this question by forecasting the EU's natural gas consumption. A review of the literature that studies on gas consumption forecasting for the Europe has always been for one country or one region; there is no study for all EU countries, and the forecast periods are mostly for hourly, daily and annual data and no studies for monthly data. In order to fill these two research gaps, this paper forecasts the monthly natural gas consumption from 2021 to 2025 of the top seven gas-consuming countries in the EU and obtains the EU's total consumption on this basis. In addition, due to the nonlinear seasonal fluctuations in the monthly consumption data of the countries studied, a novel seasonal forecasting model is proposed to better fit this trend, named nonlinear grey Bernoulli model based on Hodrick-Prescott (HP) filter (HP-NGBM(1,1)). To demonstrate that HP-NGBM(1,1) model has better predictive ability, this paper uses other seasonal models to make comparative forecasts, and the results show that the HP-NGBM(1,1) model has the smallest error. The forecasting results can provide the reference for the EU's natural gas consumption market regulation and the formulation of short-term environmental protection strategies and climate change response plannings.

Tumor and peritumor radiomics analysis based on contrast-enhanced CT for predicting early and late recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after liver resection.

BACKGROUND: In China, liver resection has been proven to be one of the most important strategies for hepatocellular carcinoma patients, but the recurrence rate is high. This study sought to investigate the prognostic value of pretreatment tumor and peritumor contrast-enhanced CT radiomics features for early and late recurrence of BCLC stage 0-B hepatocellular carcinoma after liver resection. METHODS: This study involved 329 hepatocellular carcinoma patients after liver resection. A radiomics model was built by using Lasso-Cox regression model. Association between radiomics model and recurrence-free survival was explored by using Harrell's concordance index (C-Index) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Then, we combined the radiomics model and clinical factors to establish a nomogram whose calibration and discriminatory ability were revealed. RESULTS: Ten significant tumor and peritumor features were screened to build the radiomics model whose C-indices were 0.743 [95% CI, 0.707 to 0.778] and 0.69 [95% CI, 0.629 to 0.751] in the training and validation cohorts. Moreover, the discriminative accuracy of the radiomics model improved with peritumor features entry. The C-indices of the combined model were 0.773 [95% CI, 0.739 to 0.806] and 0.727 [95% CI, 0.667 to 0.787] in the training and validation cohorts, outperforming the radiomics model. CONCLUSIONS: The tumor and peritumor contrast-enhanced CT radiomic signature is a quantitative imaging biomarker that could improve the prediction of early and late recurrence after liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma patients when used in addition to clinical predictors.

[Expression Level and Target Gene Prediction of miR-181b in Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression level of miR-181b in CD19+ B lymphocytes of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), to analyze the relationship between its expression and the prognosis of CLL patients, and to predict the potential target gene of miR-181b in CLL by using bioinformatics. METHODS: Eight-four patients with CLL treated in People's Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from June 2013 to June 2018 were selected. and 20 healthy people were selected as control group. RNA was extracted from CD19+B lymphocytes of peripheral blood by magnetic bead sorting, the expression level of miR-181b was detected, and it's expression differences in different IPI groups were analyzed. The correlation between the expression level of miR-181b and PFS of CLL patients also was analyzed. miR-181b target genes were predicted by online database and literatures, and gene annotation analysis and relevant signal pathway analysis were performed for candidate target genes. RESULTS: The expression level of miR-181b in CLL patients was significantly lower than that in control group (P＜0.01); The expression level of miR-181b in the low-risk group was higher than that in high-risk group and extremely high-risk group (P＜0.05), but there was no statistical difference between low-risk group and medium-risk group (P=1.00). The expression level of miR-181b in medium-risk group was higher than that in high-risk group and extremely high-risk group (P＜0.05), but there was no difference between high-risk group and extremely high-risk group (P=1.00). ROC curve results showed that the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.792 (P＜0.01).When the expression level of miR-181b was at the threshold value of 0.279, it showed a better sensitivity (62.9%) and specificity (91.8%). Survival analysis results suggested that compared with the high expression group, the miR-181b low expression group had poor PFS (log rank: P=0.047). Prediction of miR-181b by using the starBase, targetscan and picTar database and its combination with literature reports indicated that CARD11, ZFP36L1, RUNX1, NR4A3, ATP1B1, PUM1 and PLAG1 related with blood diseases, and up-regulated CARD11 and ZFP36L1 participated in lymphoid tumor formation by promoting cell proliferation and inhibiting cell aging. CONCLUSION: The expression level of miR-181b in CLL group are significantly lower than that in the controls group, and the low expression of miR-181b relates with poor prognosis of CLL patients. Through bioinformatics prediction and combined with literature reports, it is speculated that CARD11 and ZFP36L1 as target genes of miR-181b may be participated in the occurrence and development of CLL. Further experiments are needed to verify this result.

[Application of CpG Oligodeoxynucleotide Immunostimulation in Chromosome Study of Chronic Lymphoblastic Leukemia].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the value of CpG-oligonucleotide(CpG-ODN) immunostimulatory method in chromosome culture of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells and to compare the differences between related studies at home and abroad, so as to improve the success rate of CLL karyotype culture and the detection rate of abnormal karyo-types. METHODS: Bone marrow samples from 82 CLL patients were collected and cultured with phytohemagglutinin (PHA), CpG-oligonucleotide plus interleukin-2 (CpG-ODN DSP30+IL-2) for 72 hours. Chromosomes were prepared and analyzed by conventional cytogenetics (CC). Meanwhile, D13S25, Rb1, ATM, p53 and CSP12 probes were used for interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (iFISH) test. The differences of chromosome culture and iFISH test results between two cell stimulants were compared. RESULTS: The success rate of karyotype culture in PHA and CpG-ODN DSP30+IL-2 immunostimuli (analyzable mitotic t >20) was 90.2% (74 cases), 68.3% (56 cases) respectively, and the detection rate of abnormal karyotype was 13.5% (10 cases) and 46.4% (26 cases), respectively. The success rate of karyotype culture in PHA group was significantly higher than that in CpG-ODN DSP30+IL-2 group (P=0.01). The detection rate of abnormal karyotypes in CpG-ODN DSP30+IL-2 group was significantly higher than that in PHA group, and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.003). The detection rate of abnormal karyotypes in iFISH group was 74.4% (61 cases), which was significantly higher than that in CpG-ODN DSP30+IL-2 group (P=0.000). iFISH detection could verify the abnormalities detected by CC analysis. CONCLUSION: Application of CpG-ODN DSP30+IL-2 immunostimulation method in culture of CLL cells can enhance the detection rate of abnormal karyotypes, especially the detection of various translocations suggesting poor prognosis.

[Transcriptome analysis reveals candidate genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis in Ziziphora bungeana].

Ziziphora bungeana is a kind of medicinal plants belongs to Labiatae,and it also a kind of geoherbs in Xinjiang. The main active ingredient linarin has a higher content in inflorescence than in other parts. In this study,high-throughput sequencing technology was used to reveal the transcriptome of the inflorescence of Z. bungeana,77 366 unigenes were acquired,of which 56 375 unigenes were annotated based on search of the database and classification. Through the analysis of metabolic pathways,sixty unigenes were probably encoding some enzymes involved in the flavonoid biosynthesis pathways. The contents of linarin in different parts were determined and the key genes were verified by qRT-PCR. The discovery provides the research basis for further analysis of the enzyme genes involved in the biosynthesis of the major flavonoid components in Z. bungeana.

Using the seasonal FGM(1,1) model to predict the air quality indicators in Xingtai and Handan.

The air pollution problem in Xingtai and Handan is the focus of public attention. The seasonal gray model with fractional order accumulation is proposed to predict the quarterly concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and CO in Xingtai and Handan. The new model has higher forecasting performance and can describe the characteristics of seasonal fluctuation very well. The forecasting results indicated that except for the PM10 in Xingtai that will increase slowly, the other indicators in the two places will decrease. The changes of the air quality indicator concentration in different quarters are obvious, and in the same quarter tend to be stable. Except for CO and NO2 in some seasons, other indicators are in the state of exceeding the standard. The effect of air pollution control is not good. The governance needs to be further strengthened.

[Classification, distribution and change of Uighur medicinal materials resources].

With the development and change of Uygur medicine, The sources,medicinal parts and producing area of some Uygur Medicine have changed. It is more important to master the classification, distribution and change of Uygur medicinal materials. These were more than 1 200 kinds Uygur medicine in history were resaerched by field investigation, philological research, and textual research, which main source of original plant were 140 families, 510 genera, 840 species; and source of original animal were 76 families, 107 genera, the original animal 141 species; 55 kinds of original mineral, which main producer were Xinjiang and Central Asia, West Asia, the Mediterranean, and North Africa, Southeast Asia and other provinces in China, there are individual medicinal materials from the Americas, Europe and other places. Through this study the classification, distribution, source and evolution of specific families and genera of Uygur medicine resources have mastered.It is hoped to provide theoretical basis for further research and development of Uygur medicinal materials.