Porous Copper Microspheres for Selective Production of Multicarbon Fuels via CO2 Electroreduction.

The electroreduction of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) toward high-value fuels can reduce the carbon footprint and store intermittent renewable energy. The iodide-ion-assisted synthesis of porous copper (P-Cu) microspheres with a moderate coordination number of 7.7, which is beneficial for the selective electroreduction of CO2 into multicarbon (C2+ ) chemicals is reported. P-Cu delivers a C2+ Faradaic efficiency of 78 ± 1% at a potential of -1.1 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode, which is 32% higher than that of the compact Cu counterpart and approaches the record (79%) reported in the same cell configuration. In addition, P-Cu shows good stability without performance loss throughout a continuous operation of 10 h.

Porous Cobalt-Nickel Hydroxide Nanosheets with Active Cobalt Ions for Overall Water Splitting.

Low-cost and high-performance catalysts are of great significance for electrochemical water splitting. Here, it is reported that a laser-synthesized catalyst, porous Co0.75 Ni0.25 (OH)2 nanosheets, is highly active for catalyzing overall water splitting. The porous nanosheets exhibit low overpotentials for hydrogen evolution reaction (95 mV@10 mA cm-2 ) and oxygen evolution reaction (235 mV@10 mA cm-2 ). As both anode and cathode catalysts, the porous nanosheets achieve a current density of 10 mA cm-2 at an external voltage of 1.56 V, which is much lower than that of commercial Ir/C-Pt/C couple (1.62 V). Experimental and theoretical investigations reveal that numerous Co3+ ions are generated on the pore wall of nanosheets, and the unique atomic structure around Co3+ ions leads to appropriate electronic structure and adsorption energy of intermediates, thus accelerating hydrogen and oxygen evolution.

[Retracted] MicroRNA­143 inhibits cell migration and invasion by targeting matrix metalloproteinase 13 in prostate cancer.

Following the publication of this paper, it was drawn to the Editor's attention by a concerned reader that several of the panels showing the results from cell migration and invasion assay experiments in Fig. 2 on p. 628 contained sections of data that were overlapping with other panels within the same figure. Given the issue of the overlapping sections of data, the Editor of Molecular Medicine Reports has decided that this paper should be retracted from the Journal on account of an overall lack of confidence in the presented results. The authors were asked for an explanation to account for these concerns, but the Editorial Office did not receive a satisfactory reply. The Editor apologizes to the readership for any inconvenience caused. [Molecular Medicine Reports 8: 626­630, 2013; DOI: 10.3892/mmr.2013.1501].

microRNA-125b inhibits cell migration and invasion by targeting matrix metallopeptidase 13 in bladder cancer.

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.3892/ol.2013.1123.].

[Corrigendum] MicroRNA­335 is downregulated in bladder cancer and inhibits cell growth, migration and invasion via targeting ROCK1.

Subsequently to the publication of this paper, an interested reader drew to the authors' attention that, in Fig. 3 on p. 4382, the 'Invasion' assay data for the negative control (NC) experiments for the T24 and EJ cell lines appeared to contain an overlap of data, such that they may have been derived from the same original source even though the data were purportedly intended to show the results from differently peformed experiments. The authors have re­examined their original data, and realize that this figure was inadvertently assembled incorrectly. The revised version of Fig. 3, showing alternative data from one of the repeated experiments, is shown below. Note that this error did not significantly affect either the results or the conclusions reported in this paper, and all the authors agree to this corrigendum. Furthermore, the authors thank the Editor of Molecular Medicine Reports for allowing them the opportunity to publish this corrigendum, and apologize to the readership for any inconvenience caused. [Molecular Medicine Reports 13: 4379-4385, 2016; DOI: 10.3892/mmr.2016.5055].

[Corrigendum] MicroRNA­379­5p plays a tumor­suppressive role in human bladder cancer growth and metastasis by directly targeting MDM2.

Following the publication of the above article, an interested reader drew to the authors' attention that the cell and invasion migration assay data featured in Figs. 2C and 5D contained two pairs of overlapping panels, such that the data appeared to have been derived from the same original sources, even though the data panels were intending to show the results from differently performed experiments. Moreover, there was also an instance of duplicated data panels comparing between the si­NC/cell invasion and si­NC/cell migration assay panels in Fig. 4C. After having examined their original data, the authors have realized that inadvertent errors were made during the process of compiling these figures. Corrected versions of Figs. 2, 4 and 5, incorporating all the data from one of the repeated experiments, are shown opposite and on the next page. The authors all agree to the publication of this corrigendum, and are grateful to the Editor of Oncology Reports for allowing them the opportunity to publish this. They also regret any inconvenience caused to the readership of the Journal. [Oncology Reports 57: 3502­3508, 2017; DOI: 10.3892/or.2017.5607].

miR-143 decreases prostate cancer cells proliferation and migration and enhances their sensitivity to docetaxel through suppression of KRAS.

MicroRNAs have been implicated in regulating diverse cellular pathways. Emerging evidence indicates that miR-143 plays causal roles in cancer tumorigenesis as a tumor suppress gene; however, its role in prostate cancer tumorigenesis remains largely unknown. The aims of this study were to verify the effect of miR-143 on proliferation and migration abilities of prostate cancer cells. The expression level of miR-143 and its target gene KRAS were measured by realtime PCR and western blotting, respectively. Effects of miR-143 in cell proliferation, migration and chemosensitivity were evaluated by MTT assay, FACS cell cycle analysis, colony formation assay, and transwell migratory assay. Our results revealed an inverse correlation of expression between miR-143 and KRAS protein in prostate cancer samples (Pearson's correlation scatter plots: R = -0.707, P < 0.05). Moreover, over-expression of miR-143 in prostate cancer cells suppressed their proliferation and migration and increased their sensitivity to docetaxel by targeting EGFR/RAS/MAPK pathway. These findings suggest that miR-143 plays an important role in prostate cancer proliferation, migration and chemosensitivity by suppressing KRAS and subsequent inactivation of MAPK pathway, which provides a potential development of a new approach for the treatment of prostate cancer.

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor LY294002 suppresses proliferation and sensitizes doxorubicin chemotherapy in bladder cancer cells.

BACKGROUND: Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT signaling is a well-characterized pathway involved in control of cell proliferation, apoptosis and oncogenesis. LY294002 is a commonly used pharmacologic inhibitor which acts at the ATP-binding site of the PI3K enzyme, and thus selectively inhibits the PI3K-AKT nexus. The purpose of the study was to examine whether PI3K inhibited by LY294002 had effects in human bladder cancer cells. METHODS: After treatment with LY294002, MTT assay, a chemosensitivity test, colony formation assay, apoptosis assay and Western blot analysis were conducted in EJ cells. RESULT: EJ cells treated with LY294002 showed significant AKT phosphorylation suppressing in a dose-response manner. Additionally, the PI3K/AKT signaling inhibitor LY294002 suppressed cell proliferation and enhanced chemosensitivity to doxorubicin in human bladder cancer EJ cells. Furthermore, LY294002 increased cell apoptosis to doxorubicin. CONCLUSION: The augmentation of doxorubicin with the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 may resolve the multidrug resistance of bladder cancer, and this may be a new strategy for achieving tolerance for chemotherapeutic agents in bladder cancer therapy.

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor LY294002 suppresses proliferation and sensitizes doxorubicin chemotherapy in bladder cancer cells.

BACKGROUND: Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT signaling is a well-characterized pathway involved in the control of cell proliferation, apoptosis and oncogenesis. LY294002 is a commonly used pharmacologic inhibitor which acts at the ATP-binding site of the PI3K enzyme, thus selectively inhibiting the PI3K-AKT nexus. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether PI3K inhibited by LY294002 had an effect on human bladder cancer cells. METHODS: After treatment with LY294002, MTT assay, chemosensitivity test, colony formation assay, apoptosis assay and Western blot analysis were conducted in EJ cells. RESULT: EJ cells treated with LY294002 showed significant AKT phosphorylation suppression in a dose-response manner. Also, PI3K/AKT signaling inhibitor LY294002 suppressed cell proliferation and enhanced the chemosensitivity of doxorubicin in human bladder cancer EJ cells. Furthermore, LY294002 increased cell apoptosis to doxorubicin. CONCLUSION: The augmentation of doxorubicin with PI3K inhibitor LY294002 may resolve the multidrug resistance of bladder cancer, and this may be a new strategy for achieving tolerance for chemotherapeutic agents in bladder cancer therapy.

A functional polymorphism in Pre-miR-146a gene is associated with prostate cancer risk and mature miR-146a expression in vivo.

BACKGROUND: A G > C polymorphism (rs2910164) which is located in the sequence of miR-146a precursor, results in a change from a G:U pair to a C:U mismatch in its stem region. To explore whether rs2910164 plays any role in prostate cancer (CaP), we analyzed the association between miR-146a polymorphism and risk of CaP and the expression of miR-146a with different genotypes in CaP tissues in southern Chinese Han population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two hundred fifty-one CaP and 280 control subjects were included in the cancer association study, and 15 CaP tissue samples were used to test the expression of the miRNA precursors by real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR. RESULTS: We found that subjects carrying CC homozygotes had a 0.65-fold reduced risk (95% CI = 0.43-0.99) than those carrying GG/GC genotypes (P = 0.03), and the C allele displayed a lower prevalence of CaP compared with the G allele (OR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.57-0.94, P = 0.01). Moreover, hsa-miR-146a quantification showed that homozygous carriers of the C-variant had significantly decreased miRNA levels compared to the carriers of the GG/GC genotype. CONCLUSIONS: The natural genetic variation in pre-miR-146a affects the amount of mature miR-146a, contributes to the genetic predisposition to CaP.