H2 S-Scavenged and Activated Iron Oxide-Hydroxide Nanospindles for MRI-Guided Photothermal Therapy and Ferroptosis in Colon Cancer.

Overproduced hydrogen sulfide (H2 S) is of vital importance for the progress of colon cancer and promotes cancer cellular proliferation. Devising pharmacological nanomaterials for tumor-specific H2 S activation will be significant for precise colon cancer treatment. Herein, a biocompatible fusiform iron oxide-hydroxide nanospindles (FeOOH NSs) nanosystem for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ferroptosis, and H2 S based cascade reaction-enhanced combinational colon cancer treatment is developed. The FeOOH NSs can effectively scavenge endogenous H2 S via the reduction reaction to prohibit the growth of CT26 colon cancer. The cascade produced FeS driven by overexpressed H2 S exhibits near-infrared-triggered photothermal therapy capability and Fe2+ -mediated ferroptosis functionality. Meanwhile, the as-prepared FeOOH NSs can light up tumor tissues as a potent MRI contrast agent. Additionally, FeOOH NSs present desirable biosafety in a murine model for up to three months and avoid any long-term toxicity. Furthermore, it is found that these H2 S-responsible nanotheranostics do not cause any cure effects on other cancer types, such as 4T1 breast cancer. Overall, the findings illustrate that the biocompatible FeOOH NSs can be successfully employed as a theranostic for specifically treating colon cancer, which may promote the clinical translation and development of H2 S-responsive nanoplatforms.

[Diagnostic value of 3.0 T magnetic resonance imaging for early cesarean scar pregnancy].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the magnatic resonance imaging (MRI) features of cesarean scar pregnancy (CSP) and analyze the diagnostic value of MRI for early CSP. METHODS: The 3.0 T MRI and ultrasonic findings of 81 patients with CSP were analyzed. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of two methods was calculated respectively for the diagnosis of CSP. The diagnostic value of each method was evaluated with receiver-operating-characteristics (ROC) analysis. RESULTS: Among them, the final pathological diagnoses were CSP (n = 68) and early uterine pregnancy (n = 13). Among 68 cases of CSP, 52 cases were detected and 16 cases incorrectly diagnosed by ultrasound. Among 13 cases of early uterine pregnancy, 11 cases were correctly diagnosed and 2 cases misdiagnosed. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of ultrasound for diagnosing CSP were 76.5% (52/68), 11/13, 77.8% (63/81), 96.3% (52/54) and 40.7% (11/27) respectively. Among 68 cases of CSP, 64 cases were detected and 4 cases incorrectly diagnosed by MRI. Among 13 cases of uterine pregnancy, 10 cases were diagnosed correctly and 3 cases misdiagnosed. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of MRI for diagnosis of CSP were 94.1% (64/68), 10/13, 91.4% (74/81), 95.5% (64/67) and 10/14 respectively. The ROC analysis yield the area under curve (AUC) of MRI and ultrasonography were 0.941(P = 0.000) and 0.867(P = 0.000) respectively. CONCLUSION: The sensitivity and accuracy of MRI are better than those of ultrasound in the diagnosis of CSP. And MRI is quite important for choosing appropiate therapeutic protocols.

Gram-scale synthesis of highly biocompatible and intravenous injectable hafnium oxide nanocrystal with enhanced radiotherapy efficacy for cancer theranostic.

Based on the ionizing radiation applied to the malignant tumor tissue, radiation therapy (RT) is the frequently-used non-surgical approach for cancer treatment. Hafnium Oxide (HfO2) based nanoagent has been used in clinical trials for radiosensitized tumor therapy. However, the current reported clinically used HfO2 nanoparticles are relay on intratumoral injectable, and the unmodified HfO2 nanoparticles tend to be aggregated in serum and cannot be injected by intravenous route, which significantly limited the types of treatable cancer. To overcome the limitation, in this work, we developed a large-scalable, intravenously injectable, and clearable HfO2 nanoassemblies (NAs) to enhance the radiotherapeutic effects. The HfO2 NAs exhibited meaningfully promoted free-radical generation upon X-ray radiation for cancer cell killing due to the improved the sensitiveness of the breast cancer cells. The PEGylated HfO2 NAs demonstrated efficient tumor-homing ability via intravenous injection and manifested by HfO2 NAs enhanced CT imaging in a 4T1 breast tumor model. Utilizing the radiation sensitization function of HfO2 NAs, excellent tumor killing efficacy was achieved via both intratumoral and intravenously injection administration. Importantly, our HfO2 NAs could be degraded and excreted efficiently in a reasonable period in living body and avoid long-term toxicity. Taken together, our work provides a new technique by an injectable CT imaging-guided radio-sensitivitiable nanosystem for the further potential clinic translation.

Ex vivo (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy reveals systematic alterations in cerebral metabolites as the key pathogenetic mechanism of bilirubin encephalopathy.

BACKGROUND: Bilirubin encephalopathy (BE) is a severe neurologic sequelae induced by hyperbilirubinemia in newborns. However, the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying the clinical syndromes of BE remain ambiguous. Ex vivo (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was used to measure changes in the concentrations of cerebral metabolites in various brain areas of newborn 9-day-old rats subjected to bilirubin to explore the related mechanisms of BE. RESULTS: When measured 0.5 hr after injection of bilirubin, levels of the amino acid neurotransmitters glutamate (Glu), glutamine (Gln), and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in hippocampus and occipital cortex significantly decreased, by contrast, levels of aspartate (Asp) considerably increased. In the cerebellum, Glu and Gln levels significantly decreased, while GABA, and Asp levels showed no significant differences. In BE 24 hr rats, all of the metabolic changes observed returned to normal in the hippocampus and occipital cortex; however, levels of Glu, Gln, GABA, and glycine significantly increased in the cerebellum. CONCLUSIONS: These metabolic changes for the neurotransmitters are mostly likely the result of a shift in the steady-state equilibrium of the Gln-Glu-GABA metabolic cycle between astrocytes and neurons, in a region-specific manner. Changes in energy metabolism and the tricarboxylic acid cycle may also be involved in the pathogenesis of BE.