Near-Infrared-Light-Triggered Antimicrobial Indium Phosphide Quantum Dots.

The emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens represents one of the most urgent global public health crises. Light-activated quantum dots (QDs) are alternative antimicrobials, with efficient transport, low cost, and therapeutic efficacy, and they can act as antibiotic potentiators, with a mechanism of action orthogonal to small-molecule drugs. Furthermore, light-activation enhances control over the spatiotemporal release and dose of the therapeutic superoxide radicals from QDs. However, the limited deep-tissue penetration of visible light needed for QD activation, and concern over trace heavy metals, have prevented further translation. Herein, we report two indium phosphide (InP) QDs that operate in the near-infrared and deep-red light window, enabling deeper tissue penetration. These heavy-metal-free QDs eliminate MDR pathogenic bacteria, while remaining non-toxic to host human cells. This work provides a pathway for advancing QD nanotherapeutics to combat MDR superbugs.

Photoactivated antibiotics to treat intracellular infection of bacteria.

Antibiotic resistance combined with pathogen internalization leads to debilitating infections. Here we test novel superoxide producing, stimuli-activated quantum dots (QDs), to treat an intracellular infection of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium in an osteoblast precursor cell line. These QDs are precisely tuned to reduce dissolved oxygen to superoxide and kill bacteria upon stimulation (e.g., light). We show QDs provide tunable clearance at various multiplicities of infection and limited host cell toxicity by modulating their concentration and stimuli intensity, proving the efficacy of superoxide producing QDs for intracellular infection treatment and establishing a framework for further testing in different infection models.

Photoexcited Quantum Dots as Efficacious and Nontoxic Antibiotics in an Animal Model.

Drug-resistant bacterial infections are a growing cause of illness and death globally. Current methods of treatment are not only proving less effective but also perpetuate evolution of new resistance. Here we propose, through an in vivo model, a new treatment for drug-resistant bacterial infection that uses semiconductor nanoparticles, called quantum dots (QDs), that can be activated by light to produce superoxide to specifically and effectively kill drug-resistant bacteria. We adapt this technology for in vivo assessment of toxicity and treatment of a subcutaneous infection in mice. As our cadmium telluride QDs with 2.4 eV band gap (CdTe-2.4 QDs) are activated by blue light, we engineered LED patches to adhere to the infection site on mice, thus providing the light necessary for the activity of injected QDs and treatment of the infection. We show, through assessment of body weight, histology, and inflammation and oxidative stress markers in serum, that the CdTe-2.4 QDs are nontoxic at concentrations that reduce drug-resistant bacterial viability in subcutaneous abscesses. Further, CdTe-2.4 QDs did not accumulate in the body and were safely excreted in urine via renal clearance. CdTe-2.4 QD treatment decreased abscess viability by as much as 7 orders of magnitude. We thus propose an alternative treatment approach for drug-resistant topical infections: the injection of a low concentration of QDs and the application of an adhesive patch comprising only an LED and a battery. This treatment could revolutionize last-resort treatments of burn wounds, cellulitis, and other skin infections.

Genomic landscape of platinum resistant and sensitive testicular cancers.

While most testicular germ cell tumours (TGCTs) exhibit exquisite sensitivity to platinum chemotherapy, ~10% are platinum resistant. To gain insight into the underlying mechanisms, we undertake whole exome sequencing and copy number analysis in 40 tumours from 26 cases with platinum-resistant TGCT, and combine this with published genomic data on an additional 624 TGCTs. We integrate analyses for driver mutations, mutational burden, global, arm-level and focal copy number (CN) events, and SNV and CN signatures. Albeit preliminary and observational in nature, these analyses provide support for a possible mechanistic link between early driver mutations in RAS and KIT and the widespread copy number events by which TGCT is characterised.

Quantum dot therapeutics: a new class of radical therapies.

Traditional therapeutics and vaccines represent the bedrock of modern medicine, where isolated biochemical molecules or designed proteins have led to success in treating and preventing diseases. However, several adaptive pathogens, such as multidrug-resistant (MDR) superbugs, and rapidly evolving diseases, such as cancer, can evade such molecules very effectively. This poses an important problem since the rapid emergence of multidrug-resistance among microbes is one of the most pressing public health crises of our time-one that could claim more than 10 million lives and 100 trillion dollars annually by 2050. Several non-traditional antibiotics are now being developed that can survive in the face of adaptive drug resistance. One such versatile strategy is redox perturbation using quantum dot (QD) therapeutics. While redox molecules are nominally used by cells for intracellular signaling and other functions, specific generation of such species exogenously, using an electromagnetic stimulus (light, sound, magnetic field), can specifically kill the cells most vulnerable to such species. For example, recently QD therapeutics have shown tremendous promise by specifically generating superoxide intracellularly (using light as a trigger) to selectively eliminate a wide range of MDR pathogens. While the efficacy of such QD therapeutics was shown using in vitro studies, several apparent contradictions exist regarding QD safety and potential for clinical applications. In this review, we outline the design rules for creating specific QD therapies for redox perturbation; summarize the parameters for choosing appropriate materials, size, and capping ligands to ensure their facile clearance; and highlight a potential path forward towards developing this new class of radical QD therapeutics.

Tuning Ternary Zn1-xCdxTe Quantum Dot Composition: Engineering Electronic States for Light-Activated Superoxide Generation as a Therapeutic against Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria.

Quantum-confined states of semiconductor nanocrystals offer unique opportunities for selective light-activated photochemistry and generation of specific reactive oxygen (ROS) and nitrogen (RNS) species. Recently, assessment of different ROS and RNS species identified intracellular light-activated superoxide as the prime candidate for selective nanotherapeutic treatments in countering the threat of multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens. Here, we show that by carefully tuning the composition of ternary zinc cadmium telluride (Zn1-xCdxTe) quantum dots (QDs), we can engineer the bandgap, electronic states, and the resultant reduction and oxidation potentials, thereby changing the light-activated superoxide generation by these QDs. Using QDs with low cadmium content as alternative candidates for selective light-activated therapy, we show negligible toxicity of these QDs to mammalian cells while maintaining high treatment efficacy against MDR pathogens. These low nanomolar doses of QDs required for therapeutic intervention contain less cadmium than other environmental factors like consuming tubular potatoes, leafy vegetables, animal meat, or even fresh water, further alleviating concerns of elemental toxicity. These results provide design principles for developing different QDs as selective therapeutics to counter the growing threat of antimicrobial-resistant infections.

Isolating the Escherichia coli Transcriptomic Response to Superoxide Generation from Cadmium Chalcogenide Quantum Dots.

Nanomaterials have been extensively used in the biomedical field and have recently garnered attention as potential antimicrobial agents. Cadmium telluride quantum dots (QDs) with a bandgap of 2.4 eV (CdTe-2.4) were previously shown to inhibit multidrug-resistant clinical isolates of bacterial pathogens via light-activated superoxide generation. Here we investigate the transcriptomic response of Escherichia coli to phototherapeutic CdTe-2.4 QDs both with and without illumination, as well as in comparison with the non-superoxide-generating cadmium selenide QDs (CdSe-2.4) as a negative control. Our analysis sought to separate the transcriptomic response of E. coli to the generation of superoxide by the CdTe-2.4 QDs from the presence of cadmium chalcogenide nanoparticles alone. We used comparisons between illuminated CdTe-2.4 conditions and all others to establish the superoxide generation response and used comparisons between all QD conditions and the no treatment condition to establish the cadmium chalcogenide QD response. In our analysis of the gene expression experiments, we found eight genes to be consistently differentially expressed as a response to superoxide generation, and these genes demonstrate a consistent association with the DNA damage response and deactivation of iron-sulfur clusters. Each of these responses is characteristic of a bacterial superoxide response. We found 18 genes associated with the presence of cadmium chalcogenide QDs but not the generation of superoxide by CdTe-2.4, including several that implicated metabolism of amino acids in the E. coli response. To explore each of these gene sets further, we performed both gene knockout and amino acid supplementation experiments. We identified the importance of leucyl-tRNA downregulation as a cadmium chalcogenide QD response and reinforced the relationship between CdTe-2.4 stress and iron-sulfur clusters through examination of the gene tusA. This study demonstrates the transcriptomic response of E. coli to CdTe-2.4 and CdSe-2.4 QDs and parses the different effects of superoxide versus material effects on the bacteria. Our findings may provide useful information toward the development of QD-based antibacterial therapy in the future.

Large-scale Sequencing of Testicular Germ Cell Tumour (TGCT) Cases Excludes Major TGCT Predisposition Gene.

Testicular germ cell tumour (TGCT), the most common cancer in young men, has a significant heritable basis that has long raised questions as to the existence of underlying major high-penetrance susceptibility gene(s). To determine the contribution of rare gene mutations to the inherited risk of TGCT, we analysed germline whole-exome data for 919 TGCT cases and 1609 cancer-free controls. We compared frequencies between TGCT cases and controls of rare (<1%) and low-frequency (1-5%) coding variants (1) individually and (2) collapsed at the gene level via burden testing (T1, disruptive; T2, all deleterious; and T3, all nonsynonymous) using Fisher's exact test with Bonferroni correction of significance thresholds. No individual variant or individual gene showed a significant association with TGCT after correction for multiple testing. In the largest whole-exome sequencing study of testicular cancer reported to date, our findings do not support the existence of a major high-penetrance TGCT susceptibility gene (of odds ratio >10 and allele frequency [combined]>0.01%). Owing to its power, this study cannot exclude the existence of susceptibility genes responsible for occasional TGCT families or of rare mutations that confer very modest relative risks. In concert with findings from genome-wide association studies, our data support the notion that inherited susceptibility is largely polygenic with substantial contribution from common variation. PATIENT SUMMARY: In the largest study of its kind, we sequenced ∼20 000 genes in 919 men with testicular germ cell tumour (TGCT) and 1609 TGCT-free individuals and found no evidence of a single major gene underlying predisposition to TGCT (in the manner of BRCA1 for breast cancer). Instead, familial risk of TGCT is likely to be due to varying dosages of hundreds of minor genetic factors.

Assessing Different Reactive Oxygen Species as Potential Antibiotics: Selectivity of Intracellular Superoxide Generation Using Quantum Dots.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) represent a broad range of chemical species including superoxide, hydroxyl, singlet oxygen, and hydrogen peroxide. Each species behaves differently in the cellular environment. Some can play specific roles as intracellular signaling molecules, while others act primarily as indiscriminate oxidants. Several recent reports have promoted the use of exogenous ROS as therapeutic agents with applications from cancer therapies to novel antimicrobials. However, therapeutics, specifically antibiotics, should either kill or inhibit the growth of harmful cells (bacteria here) without harming the host cells, and hence selectivity of action is of vital importance. Here, we show that among different ROS, only superoxide was found to be bactericidal, killing a range of multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens without affecting the viability or growth of mammalian cells. Superoxide has a high thermodynamic capacity to be a strong oxidant. However, its lack of reactivity with cellular components at a physiological pH, except for the inactivation of biosynthetic enzymes containing labile iron-sulfur clusters, is key to its selectivity. The role of iron in bacterial pathogenesis also makes superoxide a strong candidate for antimicrobial therapy. Additionally, using a series of selective scavengers, we show that the superoxide radical is therapeutically effective and selective compared to other ROS like hydroxyl radicals, confirming previous results that used Escherichia coli gene knockouts to show that superoxide selectively deactivates some enzymes rather than causing indiscriminate damage of cellular components. In our in vitro studies, intracellular superoxide generation using light-activated quantum dots yielded highly selective and effective antimicrobial action. We screened 45 clinical MDR bacterial isolates and observed inhibition/therapeutic action in all strains, highlighting the applicability of such nanoparticle superoxide therapy. These results can pave the way for rational design of nanoscale therapies as precision medicine.

Designing Superoxide-Generating Quantum Dots for Selective Light-Activated Nanotherapy.

The rapid emergence of superbugs, or multi-drug resistant (MDR) organisms, has prompted a search for novel antibiotics, beyond traditional small-molecule therapies. Nanotherapeutics are being investigated as alternatives, and recently superoxide-generating quantum dots (QDs) have been shown as important candidates for selective light-activated therapy, while also potentiating existing antibiotics against MDR superbugs. Their therapeutic action is selective, can be tailored by simply changing their quantum-confined conduction-valence band (CB-VB) positions and alignment with different redox half-reactions-and hence their ability to generate specific radical species in biological media. Here, we show the design of superoxide-generating QDs using optimal QD material and size well-matched to superoxide redox potential, charged ligands to modulate their uptake in cells and selective redox interventions, and core/shell structures to improve their stability for therapeutic action. We show that cadmium telluride (CdTe) QDs with conduction band (CB) position at -0.5 V with respect to Normal Hydrogen Electron (NHE) and visible 2.4 eV bandgap generate a large flux of selective superoxide radicals, thereby demonstrating the effective light-activated therapy. Although the positively charged QDs demonstrate large cellular uptake, they bind indiscriminately to cell surfaces and cause non-selective cell death, while negatively charged and zwitterionic QD ligands reduce the uptake and allow selective therapeutic action via interaction with redox species. The stability of designed QDs in biologically-relevant media increases with the formation of core-shell QD structures, but an appropriate design of core-shell structures is needed to minimize any reduction in charge injection efficiency to adsorbed oxygen molecules (to form superoxide) and maintain similar quantitative generation of tailored redox species, as measured using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Using these findings, we demonstrate the rational design of QDs as selective therapeutic to kill more than 99% of a priority class I pathogen, thus providing an effective therapy against MDR superbugs.

Validation of loci at 2q14.2 and 15q21.3 as risk factors for testicular cancer.

Testicular germ cell tumor (TGCT), the most common cancer in men aged 18 to 45 years, has a strong heritable basis. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have proposed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at a number of loci influencing TGCT risk. To further evaluate the association of recently proposed risk SNPs with TGCT at 2q14.2, 3q26.2, 7q36.3, 10q26.13 and 15q21.3, we analyzed genotype data on 3,206 cases and 7,422 controls. Our analysis provides independent replication of the associations for risk SNPs at 2q14.2 (rs2713206 at P = 3.03 × 10-2; P-meta = 3.92 × 10-8; nearest gene, TFCP2L1) and rs12912292 at 15q21.3 (P = 7.96 × 10-11; P-meta = 1.55 × 10-19; nearest gene PRTG). Case-only analyses did not reveal specific associations with TGCT histology. TFCP2L1 joins the growing list of genes located within TGCT risk loci with biologically plausible roles in developmental transcriptional regulation, further highlighting the importance of this phenomenon in TGCT oncogenesis.

Large-scale Analysis Demonstrates Familial Testicular Cancer to have Polygenic Aetiology.

Testicular germ cell tumour (TGCT) is the most common cancer in young men. Multiplex TGCT families have been well reported and analyses of population cancer registries have demonstrated a four- to eightfold risk to male relatives of TGCT patients. Early linkage analysis and recent large-scale germline exome analysis in TGCT cases demonstrate absence of major high-penetrance TGCT susceptibility gene(s). Serial genome-wide association study analyses in sporadic TGCT have in total reported 49 independent risk loci. To date, it has not been demonstrated whether familial TGCT arises due to enrichment of the same common variants underpinning susceptibility to sporadic TGCT or is due to shared environmental/lifestyle factors or disparate rare genetic TGCT susceptibility factors. Here we present polygenic risk score analysis of 37 TGCT susceptibility single-nucleotide polymorphisms in 236 familial and 3931 sporadic TGCT cases, and 12 368 controls, which demonstrates clear enrichment for TGCT susceptibility alleles in familial compared to sporadic cases (p=0.0001), with the majority of familial cases (84-100%) being attributable to polygenic enrichment. These analyses reveal TGCT as the first rare malignancy of early adulthood in which familial clustering is driven by the aggregate effects of polygenic variation in the absence of a major high-penetrance susceptibility gene. PATIENT SUMMARY: To date, it has been unclear whether familial clusters of testicular germ cell tumour (TGCT) arise due to genetics or shared environmental or lifestyle factors. We present large-scale genetic analyses comparing 236 familial TGCT cases, 3931 isolated TGCT cases, and 12 368 controls. We show that familial TGCT is caused, at least in part, by presence of a higher dose of the same common genetic variants that cause susceptibility to TGCT in general.

Potentiating antibiotics in drug-resistant clinical isolates via stimuli-activated superoxide generation.

The rise of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria is a growing concern to global health and is exacerbated by the lack of new antibiotics. To treat already pervasive MDR infections, new classes of antibiotics or antibiotic adjuvants are needed. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been shown to play a role during antibacterial action; however, it is not yet understood whether ROS contribute directly to or are an outcome of bacterial lethality caused by antibiotics. We show that a light-activated nanoparticle, designed to produce tunable flux of specific ROS, superoxide, potentiates the activity of antibiotics in clinical MDR isolates of Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Despite the high degree of antibiotic resistance in these isolates, we observed a synergistic interaction between both bactericidal and bacteriostatic antibiotics with varied mechanisms of action and our superoxide-producing nanoparticles in more than 75% of combinations. As a result of this potentiation, the effective antibiotic concentration of the clinical isolates was reduced up to 1000-fold below their respective sensitive/resistant breakpoint. Further, superoxide-generating nanoparticles in combination with ciprofloxacin reduced bacterial load in epithelial cells infected with S. enterica serovar Typhimurium and increased Caenorhabditis elegans survival upon infection with S. enterica serovar Enteriditis, compared to antibiotic alone. This demonstration highlights the ability to engineer superoxide generation to potentiate antibiotic activity and combat highly drug-resistant bacterial pathogens.

Identification of 19 new risk loci and potential regulatory mechanisms influencing susceptibility to testicular germ cell tumor.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have transformed understanding of susceptibility to testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs), but much of the heritability remains unexplained. Here we report a new GWAS, a meta-analysis with previous GWAS and a replication series, totaling 7,319 TGCT cases and 23,082 controls. We identify 19 new TGCT risk loci, roughly doubling the number of known TGCT risk loci to 44. By performing in situ Hi-C in TGCT cells, we provide evidence for a network of physical interactions among all 44 TGCT risk SNPs and candidate causal genes. Our findings implicate widespread disruption of developmental transcriptional regulators as a basis of TGCT susceptibility, consistent with failed primordial germ cell differentiation as an initiating step in oncogenesis. Defective microtubule assembly and dysregulation of KIT-MAPK signaling also feature as recurrently disrupted pathways. Our findings support a polygenic model of risk and provide insight into the biological basis of TGCT.

The genomic landscape of testicular germ cell tumours: from susceptibility to treatment.

The genomic landscape of testicular germ cell tumour (TGCT) can be summarized using four overarching hypotheses. Firstly, TGCT risk is dominated by inherited genetic factors, which determine nearly half of all disease risk and are highly polygenic in nature. Secondly KIT-KITLG signalling is currently the major pathway that is implicated in TGCT formation, both as a predisposition risk factor and a somatic driver event. Results from genome-wide association studies have also consistently suggested that other closely related pathways involved in male germ cell development and sex determination are associated with TGCT risk. Thirdly, the method of disease formation is unique, with tumours universally stemming from a noninvasive precursor lesion, probably of fetal origin, which lies dormant through childhood into adolescence and then eventually begins malignant growth in early adulthood. Formation of a 12p isochromosome, a hallmark of TGCT observed in nearly all tumours, is likely to be a key triggering event for malignant transformation. Finally, TGCT have been shown to have a distinctive somatic mutational profile, with a low rate of point mutations contrasted with frequent large-scale chromosomal gains. These four hypotheses by no means constitute a complete model that explains TGCT tumorigenesis, but advances in genomic technologies have enabled considerable progress in describing and understanding the disease. Further advancing our understanding of the genomic basis of TGCT offers a clear opportunity for clinical benefit in terms of preventing invasive cancer arising in young men, decreasing the burden of chemotherapy-related survivorship issues and reducing mortality in the minority of patients who have treatment-refractory disease.

Rare disruptive mutations in ciliary function genes contribute to testicular cancer susceptibility.

Testicular germ cell tumour (TGCT) is the most common cancer in young men. Here we sought to identify risk factors for TGCT by performing whole-exome sequencing on 328 TGCT cases from 153 families, 634 sporadic TGCT cases and 1,644 controls. We search for genes that are recurrently affected by rare variants (minor allele frequency <0.01) with potentially damaging effects and evidence of segregation in families. A total of 8.7% of TGCT families carry rare disruptive mutations in the cilia-microtubule genes (CMG) as compared with 0.5% of controls (P=2.1 × 10-8). The most significantly mutated CMG is DNAAF1 with biallelic inactivation and loss of DNAAF1 expression shown in tumours from carriers. DNAAF1 mutation as a cause of TGCT is supported by a dnaaf1hu255h(+/-) zebrafish model, which has a 94% risk of TGCT. Our data implicate cilia-microtubule inactivation as a cause of TGCT and provide evidence for CMGs as cancer susceptibility genes.

Population structure and genetic diversity of the parasite Trichomonas vaginalis in Bristol, UK.

The protozoan parasite Trichomonas vaginalis is the causative agent of trichomoniasis, an extremely common, but non-life-threatening, sexually-transmitted disease throughout the world. Recent population genetics studies of T. vaginalis have detected high genetic diversity and revealed a two-type population structure, associated with phenotypic differences in sensitivity to metronidazole, the drug commonly used for treatment, and presence of T. vaginalis virus. There is currently a lack of data on UK isolates; most isolates examined to date are from the US. Here we used a recently described system for multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of T. vaginalis to study diversity of clinical isolates from Bristol, UK. We used MLST to characterise 23 clinical isolates of T. vaginalis collected from female patients during 2013. Seven housekeeping genes were PCR-amplified for each isolate and sequenced. The concatenated sequences were then compared with data from other MLST-characterised isolates available from http://tvaginalis.mlst.net/ to analyse the population structure and construct phylogenetic trees. Among the 23 isolates from the Bristol population of T. vaginalis, we found 23 polymorphic nucleotide sites, 25 different alleles and 19 sequence types (genotypes). Most isolates had a unique genotype, in agreement with the high levels of heterogeneity observed elsewhere in the world. A two-type population structure was evident from population genetic analysis and phylogenetic reconstruction split the isolates into two major clades. Tests for recombination in the Bristol population of T. vaginalis gave conflicting results, suggesting overall a clonal pattern of reproduction. We conclude that the Bristol population of T. vaginalis parasites conforms to the two-type population structure found in most other regions of the world. We found the MLST scheme to be an efficient genotyping method. The online MLST database provides a useful repository and resource that will prove invaluable in future studies linking the genetics of T. vaginalis with the clinical manifestation of trichomoniasis.