ISG15 targets glycosylated PD-L1 and promotes its degradation to enhance antitumor immune effects in lung adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Immunocheckpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been widely used in the clinical treatment of lung cancer. Although clinical studies and trials have shown that patients can benefit significantly after PD-1/PD-L1 blocking therapy, less than 20% of patients can benefit from ICIs therapy due to tumor heterogeneity and the complexity of immune microenvironment. Several recent studies have explored the immunosuppression of PD-L1 expression and activity by post-translational regulation. Our published articles demonstrate that ISG15 inhibits lung adenocarcinoma progression. Whether ISG15 can enhance the efficacy of ICIs by modulating PD-L1 remains unknown. METHODS: The relationship between ISG15 and lymphocyte infiltration was identified by IHC. The effects of ISG15 on tumor cells and T lymphocytes were assessed using RT-qPCR and Western Blot and in vivo experiments. The underlying mechanism of PD-L1 post-translational modification by ISG15 was revealed by Western blot, RT-qPCR, flow cytometry, and Co-IP. Finally, we performed validation in C57 mice as well as in lung adenocarcinoma tissues. RESULTS: ISG15 promotes the infiltration of CD4+ T lymphocytes. In vivo and in vitro experiments demonstrated that ISG15 induces CD4+ T cell proliferation and invalidity and immune responses against tumors. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that the ubiquitination-like modifying effect of ISG15 on PD-L1 increased the modification of K48-linked ubiquitin chains thus increasing the degradation rate of glycosylated PD-L1 targeting proteasomal pathway. The expression of ISG15 and PD-L1 was negatively correlated in NSCLC tissues. In addition, reduced accumulation of PD-L1 by ISG15 in mice also increased splenic lymphocyte infiltration as well as promoted cytotoxic T cell infiltration in the tumor microenvironment, thereby enhancing anti-tumor immunity. CONCLUSIONS: The ubiquitination modification of PD-L1 by ISG15 increases K48-linked ubiquitin chain modification, thereby increasing the degradation rate of glycosylated PD-L1-targeted proteasome pathway. More importantly, ISG15 enhanced the sensitivity to immunosuppressive therapy. Our study shows that ISG15, as a post-translational modifier of PD-L1, reduces the stability of PD-L1 and may be a potential therapeutic target for cancer immunotherapy.

Photolithography-Mediated Area-Selective Immobilization of Biomolecules on Polydopamine Coating.

Functional microdomains consisting of multiple molecules have widespread applications. However, most of available methods reported so far have a common limitation for widespread practical use. Herein, we reported a facile method based on material-independent polydopamine surface chemistry to realize the area-selective immobilization of dual amine-/thiol-terminal bioactive molecules assisted by photolithography. We transferred the photoresist pattern to the polydopamine coating surface, and specific molecules were respectively covalently immobilized in the microdomain. The results demonstrated that molecular anchoring is area-selective and quantitatively controllable. Thus, this versatile method provides a new insight into the creation of regionally chemical multicomponent surfaces and could build a potential platform for promising application in sensors, molecular biology, and genetic diagnosis.

Hybrid Hydrogels for Immunoregulation and Proangiogenesis through Mild Heat Stimulation to Accelerate Whole-Process Diabetic Wound Healing.

Intense and persistent oxidative stress, excessive inflammation, and impaired angiogenesis severely hinder diabetic wound healing. Bioactive hydrogel dressings with immunoregulatory and proangiogenic properties have great promise in treating diabetic wounds. However, the therapeutic effects of dressings always depend on drugs with side effects, expensive cytokines, and cell therapies. Herein, a novel dynamic borate-bonds crosslinked hybrid multifunctional hydrogel dressings with photothermal properties are developed to regulate the microenvironment of diabetic wound sites and accelerate the whole process of its healing without additional medication. The hydrogel is composed of phenylboronic acid-modified chitosan and hyaluronic acid (HA) crosslinked by tannic acid (TA) through borate bonds and Prussian blue nanoparticles (PBNPs) with photothermal response characteristics are embedded in the polymer networks. The results indicate hydrogels show inherent broad-spectrum antioxidative activities through the integrated interaction of borate bonds, TA, and PBNPs. Meanwhile, combined with the regulation of macrophage phenotype by HA, the inflammatory microenvironment of diabetic wounds is transformed. Moreover, the angiogenesis is then enhanced by the mild photothermal effect of PBNPs, followed by promoted epithelialization and collagen deposition. In summary, this hybrid hydrogel system accelerates all stages of wound repair through antioxidative stress, immunomodulation, and proangiogenesis, showing great potential applications in diabetic wound management.

Multifunctional Hydrogels for the Healing of Diabetic Wounds.

The healing of diabetic wounds is hindered by various factors, including bacterial infection, macrophage dysfunction, excess proinflammatory cytokines, high levels of reactive oxygen species, and sustained hypoxia. These factors collectively impede cellular behaviors and the healing process. Consequently, this review presents intelligent hydrogels equipped with multifunctional capacities, which enable them to dynamically respond to the microenvironment and accelerate wound healing in various ways, including stimuli -responsiveness, injectable self-healing, shape -memory, and conductive and real-time monitoring properties. The relationship between the multiple functions and wound healing is also discussed. Based on the microenvironment of diabetic wounds, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, antioxidant, and pro-angiogenic strategies are combined with multifunctional hydrogels. The application of multifunctional hydrogels in the repair of diabetic wounds is systematically discussed, aiming to provide guidelines for fabricating hydrogels for diabetic wound healing and exploring the role of intelligent hydrogels in the therapeutic processes.

Eosinophilic Solid and Cystic Renal Cell Carcinoma: Morphologic and Immunohistochemical Study of 18 Cases and Review of the Literature.

CONTEXT.­: Eosinophilic solid and cystic renal cell carcinoma is now defined in the 5th edition of the 2022 World Health Organization classification of urogenital tumors. OBJECTIVE.­: To perform morphologic, immunohistochemical, and preliminary genetic studies about this new entity in China for the purpose of understanding it better. DESIGN.­: The study includes 18 patients from a regional tertiary oncology center in northern China (Tianjin, China). We investigated the clinical and immunohistochemical features of these cases. RESULTS.­: The mean age of patients was 49.6 years and the male to female ratio was 11:7. Macroscopically, 1 case had the classic cystic and solid appearance whereas the others appeared purely solid. Microscopically, all 18 tumors shared similar solid and focal macrocystic or microcystic growth pattern, and the cells were characterized by voluminous and eosinophilic cytoplasm, along with coarse amphophilic stippling. Immunohistochemically, most of the tumors had a predominant cytokeratin (CK) 20-positive feature, ranging from focal cytoplasmic staining to diffuse membranous accentuation. Initially, we separated these cases into different immunohistochemical phenotypes. Group 1 (7 of 18; 38.5%) was characterized by positive phospho-4EBP1 and phospho-S6, which can imply hyperactive mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling. Group 2 (4 of 18; 23%) was negative for NF2, probably implying a germline mutation of NF2. Group 3 (7 of 18; 38.5%) consisted of the remaining cases. One case had metastatic spread and exhibited an aggressive clinical course, and we detected cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A (CDKN2A) mutation in this case; other patients were alive and without disease progression. CONCLUSIONS.­: Our research proposes that eosinophilic solid and cystic renal cell carcinoma exhibits prototypical pathologic features with CK20 positivity and has aggressive potential.

Characterization of a distinct low-grade oncocytic renal tumor (CD117-negative and cytokeratin 7-positive) based on a tertiary oncology center experience: the new evidence from China.

To examine the clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical features of a group of newly defined low-grade oncocytic renal tumors (LOT) that have the "CD117 negative/cytokeratin (CK)7 positive" immunoprofile. We have queried our hospital database and found 4456 consecutive renal tumors between 2016 and 2019. Among these renal tumors, eight (8) cases meet the morphologic and immunohistochemical characterization for low-grade oncocytic renal tumor (LOT). The eight (8) patients' mean age is 56.6 years (range 39-70 years old), and the male to female ratio is 1:1. Macroscopically, these LOTs generally present with tan-brown and solid cut surfaces and demonstrate similar solid, compact nested growth pattern microscopically. Tumor cells exhibit oncocytic cytoplasm and uniformly rounded to oval nuclei. There are areas of edematous stroma containing dispersed single or small clustered tumor cells. All tumors are negative for CD117 and positive for CK7. Uniform reactivity is also found for BerEP4, cyclin D1, and SDHB. Besides, CD10, vimentin, and AMACR are either negative or only focally positive. All of the tumors are negative for CA9 and TFE. The Ki-67 index is less than 5% in the seven (7) internal cases. Seven (7) of the eight (8) patients who are available for follow-up are alive and without disease recurrence (mean follow-up period of 21.6 months, ranging from 6 to 43 months). We described a group of low-grade oncocytic renal tumors identified retrospectively in a large tertiary cancer center, which was probably the first report originated from China or even Asia in the English literature so far. These tumors demonstrated eosinophilic cytoplasm and low-grade appearing nuclei with a "CD117 negative/CK7 positive" immunoprofile. The incidence rate was about 3.7% of the oncocytic renal tumors and 0.18% of all the renal tumors that were received in our lab during the four-year period. It is necessary to separate this group of tumors by its characteristic morphologic and immunophenotypic features.

A nomogram-based immune-serum scoring system predicts overall survival in patients with lung adenocarcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: The immunoscore, which is used to quantify immune infiltrates, has greater relative prognostic value than tumor, node, and metastasis (TNM) stage and might serve as a new system for classification of colorectal cancer. However, a comparable immunoscore for predicting lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) prognosis is currently lacking. METHODS: We analyzed the expression of 18 immune features by immunohistochemistry in 171 specimens. The relationship of immune marker expression and clinicopathologic factors to the overall survival (OS) was analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier method. A nomogram was developed by using the optimal features selected by least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression in the training cohort (n = 111) and evaluated in the validation cohort (n = 60). RESULTS: The indicators integrated in the nomogram were TNM stage, neuron-specific enolase, carcino-embryonic antigen, CD8center of tumor (CT), CD8invasive margin (IM), FoxP3CT, and CD45ROCT. The calibration curve showed prominent agreement between the observed 2- and 5-year OS and that predicted by the nomogram. To simplify the nomogram, we developed a new immune-serum scoring system (I-SSS) based on the points awarded for each factor in the nomogram. Our I-SSS was able to stratify same-stage patients into different risk subgroups. The combination of I-SSS and TNM stage had better prognostic value than the TNM stage alone. CONCLUSIONS: Our new I-SSS can accurately and individually predict LUAD prognosis and may be used to supplement prognostication based on the TNM stage.

ISG15 induces ESRP1 to inhibit lung adenocarcinoma progression.

Our previous work demonstrated that Epithelial Splicing Regulatory Protein 1 (ESRP1) could inhibit the progression of lung adenocarcinoma (ADC). When ESRP1 was upregulated, the interferon (IFN) pathway was activated and Interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15) expression increased exponentially in our microarray result. In this study, we aim to explore the function of ISG15 and its interactions with ESRP1 and to provide new insights for ADC treatment. ISG15 expression in lung ADC tissues was determined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining. The effect of ISG15 on lung ADC progression was examined by in vitro and in vivo assays. The mechanism of action on ESRP1 regulating ISG15 was investigated using Western blotting, RT-qPCR, immunofluorescence staining, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and a dual luciferase reporter system. The ISGylation between ISG15 and ESRP1 was detected by co-immunoprecipitation. Patients with high ISG15 expression were associated with higher survival rates, especially those with ISG15 expression in the nucleus. In vitro and in vivo experiments showed that upregulation of ISG15 inhibited EMT in lung ADC. ESRP1 upregulated the expression of ISG15 through CREB with enriched ISG15 in the nucleus. Importantly, ISG15 promoted ISGylation of ESRP1 and slowed the degradation of ESRP1, which demonstrated that ESRP1 and ISG15 formed a positive feedback loop and jointly suppressed EMT of lung ADC. In conclusion, ISG15 serves as an independent prognostic marker for long-term survival in lung ADC patients. We have revealed the protective effect of ISG15 against lung ADC progression and the combinatorial benefit of ISG15 and ESRP1 on inhibiting EMT. These findings suggest that reconstituting ISG15 and ESRP1 may have the potential for treating lung ADC.

One-Pot but Two-Step Vapor-Based Amine- and Fluorine-Bearing Dual-Layer Coating for Improving Anticorrosion and Biocompatibility of Magnesium Alloy.

Hydrophobic coating is of great interest to enhance the corrosion resistance of magnesium alloy implants, which always suffer from rapid corrosion that leads to the failing application under physiological conditions. Plasma-polymerized fluorocarbon (C-F) coating has been widely studied as a substrate protection layer; however, the precise control of the deposition rate of C-F coating with fluorinated alkanes has been a challenge. In this study, a thin, uniform, pinhole-free, polymerlike, and hydrophobic C-F coating was successfully prepared using acetylene (C2H2) as a cross-linking agent, which endows the coating with tunable properties of deposition rate by incorporation of unsaturated bonds. Electrochemical corrosion and in vitro immersion test demonstrated that the C-F coating significantly slows down the corrosion rate of MgZnMn in phosphate-buffered saline solution at 37 °C. Furthermore, an additional layer of PPAam was deposited on the C-F coating to eliminate the adverse effect of C-F surface on cytocompatibility. Thus, such a stacked coating imparts MgZnMn with a significantly improved corrosion resistance and promotes cell adhesion and viability. Therefore, the strategy of acetylene-mediated C-F-based coating shows a great potential for tailoring ideal surface functionalities of magnesium-based medical devices.

Characterization and virulence retention of viable but nonculturable Vibrio harveyi.

Vibrio harveyi has been reported to enter into a viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state. Two clinical V. harveyi strains, SF1 and CW2, and the type strain, VIB295(T), were incubated in sterilized seawater at 4 degrees C. Plate counts in these strains declined to undetectable levels (<0.1 CFU mL(-1)) within 69, 67 and 65 days, respectively. The direct viable count (DVC) declined from 10(6) to 10(4) active cells mL(-1) and remained constant at this level by a DVC. VBNC cell numbers could be restored via a temperature upshift when grown in yeast extract with the addition of Tween 20 or compound vitamin B. Reverse transcriptase-PCR was used to monitor virulence gene expression within VBNC cells. No expression of the hemolysin gene was detected in VBNC cells. VBNC and resuscitative cells were intraperitoneally injected into zebra fish separately. No death was observed in the groups inoculated with VBNC cells. The fish inoculated with the resuscitative cells died within 7 days, the lethal dose 50% (LD(50)) being 2.85 x 10(4) CFU mL(-1), a value similar to that for groups inoculated with normal cells (2.28 x 10(4) CFU mL(-1)). This suggested that VBNC V. harveyi might retain pathogenic potential.