Clinical characteristics and MRI features of autoimmune glial fibrillary acidic protein astrocytopathy: a case series of 34 patients.

Objectives: To analyze the clinical and imaging characteristics of autoimmune glial fibrillary acidic protein astrocytopathy (GFAP-A). Methods: Forty-three patients diagnosed with GFAP-A between March 2017 and July 2023 were retrospectively recruited. The clinical characteristics and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features were collected. Results: Twenty-one patients (61.8%) had a fever and 16 (47.1%) had a headache. Five patients (14.7%) had coexisting neural autoantibodies and one patient (2.9%) had a coexisting neoplasm. The most common presentation was meningoencephalomyelitis (13/34, 38.3%), followed by meningoencephalitis (12/34, 35.3%). The other clinical manifestations included blurred visions (5/34, 14.7%) and peripheral nervous system involvement (4/34, 11.8%). Twenty-six patients (76.5%) had elevated nucleated cell count, predominantly lymphocytes (15/15, 100%), and 27 (79.4%) had elevated protein levels of cerebrospinal fluid. One-half (50%) of the patients presented with hyponatremia. A majority of the patients (30/33, 90.9%) exhibited abnormal hyperintense lesions on T2WI, which were often located in juxtacortical white matter (18/33, 54.5%), followed by periventricular white matter (16/33, 48.5%), basal ganglia (15/ 33, 45.5%), brainstem (11/33, 33.3%), and thalamic lesions (9/33, 27.3%). Twenty-four patients (72.7%) had abnormal brain enhancement, with supratentorial leptomeningeal enhancement being the most frequent enhancement pattern (15/33, 45.5%), followed by linear perivascular radial enhancement (14/33, 42.4%). Nineteen patients (70.4%) had hyperintense intramedullary spinal cord lesions, with long segments (15/27, 55.6%) and transverse lesions (14/27, 51.9%) being the most frequent lesions. Most cases were sensitive to immunotherapy, such as glucocorticoids, intravenous immunoglobulin, and tacrolimus, with three patients (8.8%) experiencing relapses. Patients with brainstem lesions had higher onset modified Rankin scale scores and were more prone to intensive care unit admissions. Linear perivascular radial enhancement was positively associated with poor prognosis (p < 0.05). Conclusion: GFAP-A presented with meningoencephalomyelitis and meningoencephalitis. The brain lesions were often located in juxtacortical white matter, periventricular white matter, basal ganglia, brainstem, and thalamus. Long segments and transverse were the most frequent spine lesions. Leptomeningeal enhancement was the most frequent enhancement pattern, followed by linear perivascular radial enhancement, which may provide new insight into the differential diagnosis of GFAP-A.

Research progress in the application of colloidal motors for precision medicine.

Colloidal motors have unique capabilities of self-propulsion, cargo loading and active target delivery, and have great potential for precision disease therapy. Currently, colloidal motors with different functions have been designed for diverse disease treatments. However, the application of colloidal motors in precision disease treatment is still in the exploratory stage and faces many practical challenges. This review highlights the therapeutic functions of colloidal motors, such as anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammation, hypoglycemic, immune activation and hemostasis functions. Furthermore, the application progress of multifunctional colloidal motors in various diseases has also been summarized, including cerebral diseases, ophthalmic diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, cardiovascular diseases and bladder diseases. Finally, the current limitations and challenges of colloidal motors as well as future research directions are discussed. This review aims to help readers become clearly acquainted with the achievements of colloidal motors that have been made in disease treatment and to promote the further development of colloidal motors in clinical medicine.

AIE-active polysiloxane-based fluorescent probe for identifying cancer cells by locating lipid drops.

Comparing with normal cells, Lipid droplets (LDs) of cancer cells show lower polarity and less quantity, which can be utilized as a marker for cancer diagnosis. However, the investigation of LDs in living cancer cells is restricted by the lack of effective molecular tools. Herein, we first reported a novel polysiloxane-based polymer fluorescent polar probe TR-1 with AIE properties, which realized the possibilities for locating LDs. It can aggregate in the LDs of cancer cells and show a stronger fluorescent signal to conduct cancer diagnosis. Moreover, the excellent photostability of TR-1 enable stable fluorescence to exhibit in cancer cells during effective time.

Novel fluorescent probe with a bridged Si-O-Si bond for the reversible detection of hypochlorous acid and biothiol amino acids in live cells and zebrafish.

Herein, we report the design of a novel fluorescent probe consisting of a naphthalimide fluorophore and a silicone small molecule for the reversible detection of hypochlorous acid and biothiol amino acids. The response mechanism of BSi-1 is based on the concept of the S-based oxidation/reduction. The probe was found to be suitable for imaging HOCl in HeLa, RAW 264.7 cells and zebrafish, demonstrating its utility in biological applications.

Binding Reaction Sites to Polysiloxanes: Unique Fluorescent Probe for Reversible Detection of ClO-/GSH Pair and the in Situ Imaging in Live Cells and Zebrafish.

PDMS is biocompatible, economically viable, transparent, and facile to handle and thus is suitable for fluorescent microscopy and biological research. However, there has been no report about polysiloxane-based fluorescent probes applied in bioimaging. In this report, a two-photon polysiloxane-based reversible luminescent probe (P1) was fabricated for the first time. P1 is a powerful tool for detecting the ClO-/GSH cycle in situ both in live cells and in zebrafish. This work demonstrates the potential of polysiloxane-based fluorescent probes for versatile in vivo or in vitro applications in the future.