Functionalized DNA Enables Programming Exosomes/Vesicles for Tumor Imaging and Therapy.

Exosomes serve as significant information carriers that regulate important physiological and pathological processes. Herein, functionalized DNA is engineered to be a hinge that anchors quantum dots (QDs) onto the surface of exosomes, realizing a moderate and biocompatible labeling strategy. The QDs-labeled exosomes (exosome-DNA-QDs complex) can be swiftly engulfed by tumor cells, indicating that exosome-DNA-QDs can be applied as a specific agent for tumor labeling. Furthermore, the engineered artificial vesicles of M1 macrophages (M1mv) are constructed via a pneumatic liposome extruder. The results reveal that the individual M1mv can kill tumor cells and realize desirable biological treatment. To reinforce the antitumor efficacy of M1mv and the specificity of drug release, a target-triggered drug delivery system is constructed to realize a specific microRNA-responded delivery system for visual therapy of tumors. These strategies facilitate moderate labeling and functionalization of exosomes/vesicles and construct artificial drug-delivery vesicles that simultaneously possess biological treatment and chemotherapy functions, and thus have the potential to serve as a new paradigm for tumor labeling and therapy.

Direct stability-indicating method development and validation for analysis of etidronate disodium using a mixed-mode column and charged aerosol detector.

This paper describes the development and validation of a rapid, direct, and stability-indicating method for analysis of etidronate, a bisphosphonate compound without a UV chromophore. A mixed-mode column was used to separate etidronate from its impurities in an 8-min gradient method and a charged aerosol detector (CAD) was used for detection. The developed HPLC method was validated with respect to specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, sensitivity, and stability. The method can be used for release and stability testing of etidronate and has applicability to other similar bisphosphonate compounds.

Cascaded Electrochemiluminescence Signal Amplifier for the Detection of Telomerase Activity from Tumor Cells and Tissues.

Telomerase is closely linked to the physiological transformation of tumor cells and is commonly overexpressed in most types of tumor cells. Therefore, telomerase has become a potential biomarker for the process of tumorigenesis, progression, prognosis and metastasis. Thus, it is important to develop a simple, accurate and reliable method for detecting telomerase activity. As a high signal-to-noise ratio mode, electrochemiluminescence (ECL) has been widely applied in the field of biomedical analysis. Here, our objective was to construct an improved ECL signal amplifier for the detection of telomerase activity. Methods: A cascaded ECL signal amplifier was constructed to detect telomerase activity with high selectivity via controllable construction of a lysine-based dendric Ru(bpy)32+ polymer (DRP). The sensitivity, specificity and performance index were simultaneously evaluated by standard substance and cell and tissue samples. Results: With this cascaded ECL signal amplifier, high sensitivities of 100, 50, and 100 cells for three tumor cell lines (A549, MCF7 and HepG2 cell lines) were simultaneously achieved, and desirable specificity was also obtained. Furthermore, the excellent performance of this platform was also demonstrated in the detection of telomerase in tumor cells and tissues. Conclusion: This cascaded ECL signal amplifier has the potential to be a technological innovation in the field of telomerase activity detection.

Chromatographic studies of unusual on-column degradations of aniline compounds on XBridge Shield RP18 column in high pH aqueous mobile phase.

This paper reports unusual on-column degradations of aniline compounds on Waters XBridge Shield RP18 column when ammonium hydroxide in water and acetonitrile were used as mobile phases in liquid chromatography. The change of the level of on-column degradation of a model compound (Compound 1) with time was observed in the first fifteen injections when started at 60 °C. During a subsequent cooling program from 60 °C to 10 °C with a 10 °C interval, the levels of the degradation products of Compound 1 changed with the change of temperature and reached a maximum at 40 °C. The on-column degradation of Compound 1 was observed when started at 10 °C in the first injection, however, the magnitude of the change of the level of on-column degradation of Compound 1 with time in the first fifteen injections was much smaller than that at 60 °C. During a subsequent heating program from 10 to 60 °C with a 10 °C interval, the levels of the degradation products of Compound 1 increased with the increase in temperature but without a maximum. The change of the degradation product levels of this model compound in the heating process is not super-imposable with that in the cooling process, which demonstrates the degree of the degradation also depends on the heating or cooling process. Column history studies demonstrated that the on-column degradation of Compound 1 changed dramatically on the used columns at both starting temperatures while the dependency of heating and cooling processes on on-column degradation still existed. The unusual on-column degradation of Compound 1 on the used columns can be regenerated in a very similar fashion with an acetic acid column-wash procedure, but is not identical to that on the new column. Similar degradations of other commercially available aniline compounds were also observed with this high pH aqueous mobile phase system.