Matrin-3 acts as a potential biomarker and promotes hepatocellular carcinoma progression by interacting with cell cycle-regulating genes.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide. The oncogenic role of Matrin-3 (MATR3), an a nuclear matrix protein, in HCC remains largely unknown. Here, we document the biological function of MATR3 in HCC based on integrated bioinformatics analysis and functional studies. According to the TCGA database, MATR3 expression was found to be positively correlated with clinicopathological characteristics in HCC. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and Kaplan-Meier (KM) curve displayed the diagnostic and prognostic potentials of MATR3 in HCC patients, respectively. Pathway enrichment analysis represented the enrichment of MATR3 in various molecular pathways, including the regulation of the cell cycle. Functional assays in HCC cell lines showed reduced proliferation of cells with stable silencing of MATR3. At the same time, the suppressive effects of MATR3 depletion on HCC development were verified by xenograft tumor experiments. Moreover, MATR3 repression also resulted in cell cycle arrest by modulating the expression of cell cycle-associated genes. In addition, the interaction of MATR3 with cell cycle-regulating factors in HCC cells was further corroborated with co-immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry (Co-IP/MS). Furthermore, CIBERSORT and TIMER analyses showed an association between MATR3 and immune infiltration in HCC. In general, this study highlights the novel oncogenic function of MATR3 in HCC, which could comprehensively address how aberrant changes in the cell cycle promote HCC development. MATR3 might serve as a prognostic predictor and therapeutic target for HCC patients.

TTYH3, a potential prognosis biomarker associated with immune infiltration and immunotherapy response in lung cancer.

PURPOSE: The recognition of new diagnostic and prognostic biological markers for lung cancer is an essential and eager study. It's shown that ion channels play important roles in regulating various cellular processes and have been suggested to be associated with patient survival. However, tweety family member 3 (TTYH3), as a maxi-Cl- channel, its role in lung cancer remains elusive. METHODS: The expression, diagnostic and prognostic efficacy of TTYH3 were analyzed by public databases and clinical samples. Cell functional experiments were used to explore the effects of TTYH3 on cell viability. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis revealed underlying pathways that TTYH3 and its co-expressed genes were enriched in. TIMER, TIDE and R language analyses were used to detect the correlation between TTYH3 and immune infiltration cell and immunotherapy response. RESULTS: TTYH3 was up-regulated in lung cancer tissues compared to normal tissues and possessed a prominent diagnostic and prognostic value. TTYH3 knockdown significantly inhibited the proliferation of lung cancer cells. Enrichment analyses showed that TTYH3 and its co-expressed genes were mainly involved in immune related signaling pathways. Further investigation clarified that TTYH3 had a positive correlation with the infiltration of TAMs, Treg infiltration as well as T cell exhaustion and high TTYH3 expression indicated worse immunotherapy response and shorter survival after immune checkpoint blockade treatment. CONCLUSION: This study not only revealed the diagnostic and prognostic value of TTYH3 but also provided TTYH3-based estimation of immunotherapy response for lung cancer patients, which might provide new strategies like anti-TTYH3 combined with immune therapy for the treatment of lung cancer.

LINC00853 restrains T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia invasion and infiltration by regulating CCR9/CCL25.

BACKGROUND: Leukemia is a group of hematopoietic malignancies characterized by the accumulation and infiltration of abnormal hematopoietic stem cells or early progenitor cells. T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a hematologic malignancy occurring in 15 % of pediatric and 25 % of adult ALL cases. Infiltration and metastasis of leukemic cells to specific organs are consequences of disease relapse and dismal prognosis. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified to function in the migration, invasion and infiltration of tumors by regulating gene expression. Our previous studies showed that CC chemokine receptor 9 (CCR9), which specifically bind to CC chemokine ligand 25 (CCL25), promotes T-ALL infiltration. METHODS: Bioinformatic methods were used to screen LINC00853 in gene expression omnibus (GEO) datasets. RT-qPCR, western bolt and flow cytometry were applied to detect the expression of LINC00853 and CCR9. Transwell and martrigel-transwell were employed to assess the cells migration and invasion abilities. Fluorescence microscope was applied to observed the green fluorescence protein positive (GFP+) cells. Lentivirus and adenovirus were packed to construct nc-blank, sh-LINC00853-blank and sh-LINC00853-rescue jurkat cell lines. RESULTS: In this study, we found out the negative correlation of LINC00853 and CCR9 expression. LINC00853 was downregulated while CCR9 was upregulated in GEO datasets, T-ALL cell lines and clinical samples. Moreover, LINC00853 suppressed jurkat cells migration and invasion in vitro and restrained infiltration in liver, spleen, kidney, lung, brain, ovary of nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) mice. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that LINC00853 restrains T-ALL cell invasion and infiltration by regulating CCR9/CCL25.

"Pit-dot" ultrathin nanosheets of hydrated copper pyrophosphate as efficient pre-catalysts for robust water oxidation.

Herein, hydrated copper pyrophosphate ultrathin nanosheets with a unique "pit-dot" nanostructure were fabricated as efficient pre-catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction, and systematic post-catalytic characterization studies confirmed the important role of the boosted pre-oxidation reaction in promoting the OER catalysis.

Targeting chemokines for acute lymphoblastic leukemia therapy.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a hematological malignancy characterized by the malignant clonal expansion of lymphoid hematopoietic precursors. It is regulated by various signaling molecules such as cytokines and adhesion molecules in its microenvironment. Chemokines are chemotactic cytokines that regulate migration, positioning and interactions of cells. Many chemokine axes such as CXCL12/CXCR4 and CCL25/CCR9 have been proved to play important roles in leukemia microenvironment and further affect ALL outcomes. In this review, we summarize the chemokines that are involved in ALL progression and elaborate on their roles and mechanisms in leukemia cell proliferation, infiltration, drug resistance and disease relapse. We also discuss the potential of targeting chemokine axes for ALL treatments, since many related inhibitors have shown promising efficacy in preclinical trials, and some of them have entered clinical trials.

Immune dysregulation and system pathology in COVID-19.

The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) caused by the novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 has caused a global public health crisis. As of 7 January 2021, 87,640,402 confirmed cases and 1,891,692 mortalities have been reported worldwide. Studies focusing on the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients have suggested a dysregulated immune response characterized by lymphopenia and cytokine storm in these patients. The exaggerated immune response induced by the cytokine storm causes septic shock, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and/or multiple organs failure, which increases the fatality rate of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Herein, we review the recent research progress on epidemiology, clinical features, and system pathology in COVID-19. Moreover, we summarized the recent therapeutic strategies, which are either approved, under clinical trial, and/or under investigation by the local or global health authorities. We assume that treatments should focus on the use of antiviral drugs in combination with immunomodulators as well as treatment of the underlying comorbidities.

Crystalline Cobalt/Amorphous LaCoOx Hybrid Nanoparticles Embedded in Porous Nitrogen-Doped Carbon as Efficient Electrocatalysts for Hydrazine-Assisted Hydrogen Production.

Hydrazine electro-oxidation has received substantial attention owing to its high energy density, low onset potential, and wide applications in hydrazine-assisted hydrogen production and direct hydrazine fuel cells. In this work, crystalline cobalt/amorphous LaCoOx hybrid nanoparticles embedded in porous nitrogen-doped carbon (N-C) were fabricated via pyrolytic decomposition of the dual-metal lanthanum-incorporated zeolitic imidazolate framework (La/ZIF-67), which exhibit high activity and stability toward the electrocatalytic hydrazine oxidation reaction (HzOR). The hybrid nanoparticles based on metallic cobalt and amorphous LaCoOx could provide abundant active sites for HzOR catalysis, while the highly conductive and porous N-C could act as both robust skeleton for anchoring the active hybrid nanoparticles and facile charge transport pathway for the HzOR process, thereby resulting in enhanced HzOR activity. With the synergistic merits of enriched active sites, a large surface area, enhanced charge-transfer ability, and intimate catalyst anchoring, promoted HzOR performance with high activity and stability was achieved for the optimized catalyst, which shows an ultralow onset potential of -0.17 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), high HzOR current density of 69.2 mA cm-2 at 0.3 V versus RHE, and superior stability for 20 h continuous catalysis, making the catalyst a promising electrode material for hydrazine-assisted hydrogen production.

COVID-19 in Hemodialysis Patients: A Report of 5 Cases.

In December 2019, an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) began in China and spread rapidly worldwide. It is unknown whether hemodialysis patients represent a distinct group of patients with certain characteristics that may make them susceptible to infection or severe disease. In this case report, we describe the clinical and epidemiologic features of COVID-19 infection in 201 maintenance hemodialysis patients in Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, including 5 maintenance hemodialysis patients who contracted COVID-19 infection. Of the 5 patients with COVID-19 infection, one had a definite history of contact with an infected person. The age range of the patients was 47 to 67 years. Diarrhea (80%), fever (60%), and fatigue (60%) were the most common symptoms. Lymphopenia occurred in all patients. Computed tomography of the chest showed ground glass opacity in the lungs of all patients. Up to February 13, 2020, none of the patients had developed severe complications (acute respiratory distress syndrome, shock, or multiple organ dysfunction) or died.

A molten-salt protected pyrolysis approach for fabricating a ternary nickel-cobalt-iron oxide nanomesh catalyst with promoted oxygen-evolving performance.

In this work, a highly porous ternary NiCoFe oxide nanomesh with two-dimensional morphology and quasi-single-crystalline (QSC) feature was synthesized via a convenient molten-salt protected pyrolysis approach, which achieves remarkable OER performance with a low overpotential, high current density, improved intrinsic activity and superior operational stability.

Modulation of crystal water in cobalt phosphate for promoted water oxidation.

Herein, low-dimensional cobalt phosphate (Co-Pi) catalysts with variable contents of crystal water were fabricated for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Owing to the optimized electronic structure, rich surface sites and favorable charge transport ability, Co-Pi tetrahydrate exhibits remarkable OER activity with a low overpotential, large current density and high intrinsic activity, and it is proved to be the optimal Co-Pi phase for OER.