BST2 promotes gastric cancer metastasis under the regulation of HOXD9 and PABPC1.

Gastric cancer (GC) constitutes substantial cancer mortality worldwide. Several cancer types aberrantly express bone marrow stromal cell antigen 2 (BST2), yet its functional and underlying mechanisms in GC progression remain unknown. In our study, RNA sequencing data revealed that BST2 was transcriptionally activated by homeobox D9 (HOXD9). BST2 was significantly upregulated in GC tissues and promoted epithelial-mesenchymal transition and metastasis of GC. BST2 knockdown reversed HOXD9's oncogenic effect on GC metastasis. Moreover, BST2 messenger RNA stability could be enhanced by poly(A) binding protein cytoplasmic 1 (PABPC1) through the interaction between BST2 3'-UTR and PABPC1 in GC cells. PABPC1 promoted GC metastasis, which BST2 silencing attenuated in vitro and in vivo. In addition, positive correlations among HOXD9, BST2, and PABPC1 were established in clinical samples. Taken together, increased expression of BST2 induced by HOXD9 synergizing with PABPC1 promoted GC cell migration and invasion capacity.

Construction of a Dual-Function Mo-ZIS@Ti for Photocatalytic Benzyl Alcohol Oxidation and Hydrogen Evolution Performance.

The photocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol and the simultaneous evolution of hydrogen from water are efficient dual-optimal routes. It is important to develop composite catalysts that combine redox properties and facilitate electron-hole separation and transport. Herein, the bimetallic-doped Mo-ZIS@Ti photocatalyst was designed and synthesized, and the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol and hydrogen evolution by water splitting was realized at the same time. Under visible light irradiation, benzyl alcohol was completely converted with more than 99% selectivity for benzaldehyde, and the H2 production rate was 5.6 times higher than the initial ZIS. The exceptional catalytic performance was ascribed to utilizing Ti-MIL-125 as a precursor, wherein slowly releasing-doped Ti formed robust Ti-S bonds that quickly transfer electrons and reduce sites. Meanwhile, doping Mo effectively captures photogenerated holes and acts as active sites for oxidation reactions. Both experimental characterization and work function calculations demonstrate that the bimetallic synergism effectively modulates the electronic structure of ZIS, promotes the directional separation of electrons and holes, and significantly improves the photoactivity and stability of ZIS. This work contributes a route to obtain benzaldehyde and green hydrogen at the same time and also gives new insights for the construction and mechanism study of bimetallic-doping catalysts.

Adsorption Behavior of Diclofenac on Polystyrene and Poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) Microplastics: Influencing Factors and Adsorption Mechanism.

To unveil the intricacies surrounding the interaction between microplastics (MPs) and pollutants, diligent investigation is warranted to mitigate the environmental perils they pose. This exposition delves into the sorption behavior and mechanism of diclofenac sodium (DCF), a contaminant, upon two distinct materials: polystyrene (PS) and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT). Experimental adsorption endeavors solidify the observation that the adsorption capacity of DCF onto the designated MPs amounts to Q(PBAT) = 9.26 mg g-1 and Q(PS) = 9.03 mg g-1, respectively. An exploration of the factors governing these discrepant adsorption phenomena elucidates the influence of MPs and DCF properties, environmental factors, as well as surfactants. Fitting procedures underscore the suitability of the pseudo-second-order kinetic and Freundlich models in capturing the intricacies of the DCF adsorption process onto MPs, corroborating the notion that the mentioned process is characterized by non-homogeneous chemisorption. Moreover, this inquiry unveils that the primary adsorption mechanisms of DCF upon MPs encompass electrostatic interaction, hydrogen bonding, and halo hydrogen bonding. An additional investigation concerns the impact of commonly encountered surfactants in aqueous environments on the adsorption of DCF onto MPs. The presence of surfactants elicits modifications in the surface charge properties of MPs, consequently influencing their adsorption efficacy vis-à-vis DCF.

Construction of ZnxCdyS with a 3D Hierarchical Structure for Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production from Water Splitting.

The ZnxCdyS has been proven to have unique photoelectric properties, but its synthesis method and photocatalytic water cracking performance need to be further improved. In this paper, Cd-MOF@ZIF-8 with a MOF-on-MOF (MOF = metal-organic framework) structure was prepared by a simple ion adsorption method. Then, a CdS/ZnxCdyS heterojunction with a 3D hierarchical structure was formed by solvothermal sulfidation. The prepared catalysts with different Zn/Cd ratios show an improved hydrogen production performance for photocatalytic water splitting, and the hydrogen evolution rate of Zn1Cd1S can reach up to 29.2 mmol·g-1·h-1. The excellent photocatalytic activity not only benefits from ZnxCdyS strong light conversion ability but also is closely related to the hierarchical structure and large specific surface area. A type II heterojunction also plays an important role in the spatial separation of photogenerated carriers. This paper provides a simple and feasible idea for the synthesis of a photocatalyst with a large specific surface area using a MOF-on-MOF synthesis strategy.

Disruption of the CCDC43-FHL1 interaction triggers apoptosis in gastric cancer cells.

The coiled-coil domain-containing protein 43 (CCDC43) is essential to promote gastric cancer (GC) proliferation and invasion, while four and a half LIM domains 1 (FHL1) involves GC cells apoptosis. We attempted to address inter-relationship between CCDC43 and FHL1 in modulating GC cells growth and apoptosis. Levels of protein expression were assessed by western blot, immunofluorescence. Using EdU, plate colony formation, Matrigel invasion and animal models, we evaluated the function in vitro and in vivo. Apoptosis was evaluated by flow cytometry and Hoechst 33258 staining. Reciprocal co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) analyses indicated that CCDC43 physically interacted with FHL1. The expression of CCDC43 was negatively correlated with FHL1. Moreover, up-regulation of CCDC43 resulted in FHL1 level decline, and the reverse is also true. CCDC43 expressed jointly with FHL1 group significantly decreases the ability of the growth, metastasis and invasion of GC cells compared with that of the CCDC43 group. Furthermore, siRNA-mediated repression of CCDC43 results in dissociation from FHL1 and causes suppression of GC cell proliferation and metastasis. CCDC43 repression mediates the stability of FHL1 protein. In addition, CCDC43 interacts with FHL1. Knockdown of CCDC43 plus FHL1 overexpression inhibits proliferation and migration and induces apoptosis of GC cells in vitro and vivo.

Desorption of sulfamethoxazole from polyamide 6 microplastics: Environmental factors, simulated gastrointestinal fluids, and desorption mechanisms.

Microplastics (MPs) can enrich pollutants after being released into the environment, and the contaminants-loaded MPs are usually ingested by organisms, resulting in a potential dual biotoxic effect. In this paper, the adsorption behavior of Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) on Polyamide 6 (PA6) MPs was systematically investigated and simulated by the kinetic and isotherm models. The effect of environmental conditions (pH, salinity) on the adsorption process was studied, and the desorption behavior of SMX-loaded PA6 MPs was focused on simulating the seawater, ultrapure water, gastric and intestinal fluids. We found that lower pH and solubilization of SMX by gastrointestinal components (bovine serum albumin (BSA), sodium taurocholate (NaT), and pepsin) can reduce the electrostatic interaction between the surface charge of PA6 MPs and SMX. The result will lead to an increase in the desorption capacity of SMX-loaded PA6 MPs in gastrointestinal fluids and therefore will provide a reasonable mechanism for the desorption of SMX-loaded PA6 MPs in the gastrointestinal fluids. This study will provide a theoretical reference for studying the desorption behavior of SMX-loaded PA6 MPs under gastrointestinal conditions.

Competition adsorption of malachite green and rhodamine B on polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride microplastics in aqueous environment.

Microplastics (MPs) will cause compound pollution by combining with organic pollutants in the aqueous environment. It is important for environmental protection to study the adsorption mechanism of different MPs for pollutants. In this study, the adsorption behaviors of malachite green (MG) and rhodamine B (RhB) on polyethylene (PE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) were studied in single systems and binary systems, separately. The results show that in single system, the adsorptions of between MPs for pollutants (MG and RhB) are more consistent with the pseudo-second-order kinetics and Freundlich isotherm model, the adsorption capacity of both MPs for MG is greater than that of RhB. The adsorption capacities of MG and RhB were 7.68 mg/g and 2.83 mg/g for PVC, 4.52 mg/g and 1.27 mg/g for PE. In the binary system, there exist competitive adsorption between MG and RhB on MPs. And the adsorption capacities of PVC for the two dyes are stronger than those of PE. This is attributed to the strong halogen-hydrogen bond between the two dyes and PVC, and the larger specific surface area of PVC. This study revealed the interaction and competitive adsorption mechanism between binary dyes and MPs, which is of great significance for understanding the interactions between dyes and MPs in the multi-component systems.

Magnetic porous carbon derived from Zn/Co metal-organic framework as an adsorbent for extraction and determination of carbamates.

A novel magnetic porous carbon with a high specific surface and magnetization saturation, derived from a Zn/Co-MOF-5, was fabricated by direct carbonization of Zn/Co-MOF-5 without the need of additional carbon precursors under optimum pyrolysis temperature. The material was employed as an adsorbent for magnetic solid-phase extraction of four carbamates from water and tomato samples prior to high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry analysis. Under optimum conditions, the method displayed good linearity (r > 0.9987) within the concentration range 0.05-20 ng mL-1 for water samples and 0.1-40 ng g-1 for tomato samples. The limits of detection (S/N = 3) for the four carbamate pesticides were in the range 0.0006-0.013 ng mL-1 for water samples and 0.001-0.01 ng g-1 for tomato samples and satisfactory spiked recoveries in the range 86.1 to 109.1% were obtained with the relative standard deviation values from 2.1 to 14.0%. Graphical abstract.

The FOXK1-CCDC43 Axis Promotes the Invasion and Metastasis of Colorectal Cancer Cells.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The CCDC43 gene is conserved in human, rhesus monkey, mouse and zebrafish. Bioinformatics studies have demonstrated the abnormal expression of CCDC43 gene in colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the role and molecular mechanism of CCDC43 in CRC remain unknown. METHODS: The functional role of CCDC43 and FOXK1 in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) was determined using immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, western blot, EdU incorporation, luciferase, chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and cell invasion assays. RESULTS: The CCDC43 gene was overexpressed in human CRC. High expression of CCDC43 protein was associated with tumor progression and poor prognosis in patients with CRC. Moreover, the induction of EMT by CCDC43 occurred through TGF-ß signaling. Furthermore, a positive correlation between the expression patterns of CCDC43 and FOXK1 was observed in CRC cells. Promoter assays demonstrated that FOXK1 directly bound and activated the human CCDC43 gene promoter. In addition, CCDC43 was necessary for FOXK1- mediated EMT and metastasis in vitro and vivo. Taken together, this work identified that CCDC43 promoted EMT and was a direct transcriptional target of FOXK1 in CRC cells. CONCLUSION: FOXK1-CCDC43 axis might be helpful to develop the drugs for the treatment of CRC.

Snail/FOXK1/Cyr61 Signaling Axis Regulates the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Metastasis in Colorectal Cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Metastasis is the primary cause of colorectal cancer (CRC)-related death. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying metastasis in CRC remain unclear. METHODS: We evaluated mRNA and protein expression levels by quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR, western blotting, immunofluorescence, tissue microarrays, and immunohistochemistry assays. We also assessed the migration and invasion abilities of CRC cells in vitro by wound healing assays, invasion and migration assays, western blot analysis, and immunofluorescence. Tumor metastasis was evaluated in nude mice in vivo. RESULTS: A positive correlation was observed between the expression patterns of Forkhead box k1 (FOXK1) and Snail in CRC. Luciferase reporter and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays demonstrated that Snail directly bound to and activated the human FOXK1 gene promoter. Moreover, the Snail-FOXK1 axis promote epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT)-mediated CRC cell invasion and metastasis. FOXK1 and Snail expression levels were correlated with tumor progression and served as significant predictors of overall survival in patients with CRC. Furthermore, overexpression of FOXK1 induced the EMT by upregulating the expression of cysteine-rich angiogenic inducer 61 (Cyr61). Luciferase assays showed that Cyr61 was a direct transcriptional target of FOXK1. Down regulation of Cyr61 decreased FOXK1-enhanced "CRC cell" migration, invasion, and metastasis. Additionally, FOXK1 expression was positively correlated with Cyr61 expression and was associated with poor prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: The Snail/FOXK1/Cyr61 signaling axis regulates the EMT and metastasis of CRC.

Cell surface-anchored syndecan-1 ameliorates intestinal inflammation and neutrophil transmigration in ulcerative colitis.

Syndecan-1 (SDC1), with a variable ectodomain carrying heparan sulphate (HS) chains between different Syndecans, participates in many steps of inflammatory responses. In the process of proteolysis, the HS chains of the complete extracellular domain can be shed from the cell surface, by which they can mediate most of SDC1's function. However, the exact impact on SDC1 which anchored on the cell surface has not been clearly reported. In our study, we established the models by transfection with the cleavable resistant SDC1 mutant plasmid, in which SDC1 shedding can be suppressed during stimulation. Role of membrane SDC1 in inflammatory pathway, pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion as well as neutrophil transmigration, and how suppressing its shedding will benefit colitis were further investigated. We found that the patients suffered ulcerative colitis had high serum SDC1 levels,presented with increased levels of P65, tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and IL-1ß and higher circulating neutrophils. NF-κB pathway was activated, and secretion of TNF-α, interleukin-1beta (IL-1ß), IL-6 and IL-8 were increased upon lipopolysaccharide stimuli in intestinal epithelial cells. Syndecan-1, via its anchored ectodomain, significantly lessened these up-regulation extents. It also functioned in inhibiting transmigration of neutrophils by decreasing CXCL-1 secretion. Moreover, SDC1 ameliorated colitis activity and improved histological disturbances of colon in mice. Taken together, we conclude that suppression of SDC1 shedding from intestinal epithelial cells relieves severity of intestinal inflammation and neutrophil transmigration by inactivating key inflammatory regulators NF-κB, and down-regulating pro-inflammatory cytokine expressions. These indicated that compenstion and shedding suppression of cytomembrane SDC1 might be the optional therapy for intestinal inflammation.

Simultaneous determination of 106 pesticides in nuts by LC-MS/MS using freeze-out combined with dispersive solid-phase extraction purification.

As a result of the low water content and high fat matrices in nuts, it is very difficult to simultaneously determine multi-pesticides in trace levels. Here, a sample pretreatment method was developed in which, microwave-assisted solvent extraction was firstly used to extract pesticides, and then a two-step cleanup method was conducted combining freeze-out with dispersive solid-phase extraction to remove the lipidic matrix. By this way, 106 pesticides were simultaneously determined in the complicated nut sample by using an ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography coupled with a tandem mass spectrometer. Average recoveries were 75.3-119.3% with relative standard deviations < 14% at three concentration levels. The limits of detection and quantification were in the ranges of 0.3-3.0 and 1.0-10.0 µg/kg, respectively. Furthermore, the method was successfully applied to the determination of pesticides in 180 commercial nut samples.

Iron-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks as Catalysts for Visible Light-Driven Water Oxidation.

The development of earth-abundant, active, and stable catalysts is important for solar energy conversion. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been viewed as a promising class of porous materials, which may have innovative application in photocatalysis. In this paper, three types of Fe-based MOFs and their aminofunctionalized derivatives have been fabricated and systematically studied as water oxidation catalysts (WOCs) for oxygen evolution under visible light irradiation. MIL-101(Fe) possesses a higher current density and earlier onset potential and exhibits excellent visible light-driven oxygen evolution activity than the other Fe-based catalysts. It speeds up the oxygen evolution reaction rate with the higher initial turnover frequencies value of 0.10 s(-1). Our study demonstrates that Fe-based MOFs as efficient WOCs are promising candidates for photocatalytic water oxidation process.

Electrospinning of magnetic cellulose tris-(4-methylbenzoate) microparticles for enantioselective adsorption of racemic drug.

In this work, we introduce electrospinning to prepare magnetic enantioselective material for the first time. Multianalytical tools were used to characterize the resulted magnetic cellulose tris-(4-methylbenzoate) particles including transmission electron microscopy, SEM, FTIR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffractometer. Under the optimum conditions, the resulted particles were well-shaped sphere with a diameter range of 800 nm to 2 µm and high magnetic sensitivity. The enantioselectivity of the adsorbents was evaluated using racemic ibuprofen as a model drug; an e.e. value of -4.78% (where e.e. is enantiomeric excess) was achieved in a single adsorption stage. We hope that our finding provides an efficient and economical procedure for the preparation of magnetic enantioselective materials with high selectivity and reproducibility.

Tough dual nanocomposite hydrogels with inorganic hybrid crosslinking.

A dual nanocomposite hydrogel with inorganic hybrid crosslinking was fabricated through a simultaneous sol-gel technique and free radical polymerization. Due to the multi-strengthening mechanism of the dual nanocomposite, the hydrogel was super tough and strong with a compressive stress of 32.00 MPa without rupture even at 100% strain, while it exhibited excellent fatigue resistant properties.

Dual-template magnetic molecularly imprinted particles with multi-hollow structure for the detection of dicofol and chlorpyrifos-methyl.

In this work, a novel dual-template magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer particle for dicofol and chlorpyrifos-methyl was prepared through oil-in-water emulsifier-free emulsion technology. The resulting magnetic particles were characterized with electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. It was found that as-prepared particles were well-shaped spheres with multi-hollow structures and of a size around 125 µm. Meanwhile it showed a good magnetic sensitivity. The results testified that multi-hollow magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers possessed excellent recognition capacity and fast kinetic binding behavior to the objective molecules. The maximum binding amounts toward dicofol and chlorpyrifos-methyl were 31.46 and 25.23 mg/g, respectively. The feasibility of the use of the particles as a solid-phase extraction sorbent was evaluated. Satisfactory recoveries ranging from 90.62 to 111.47 and 91.07 to 94.03% were obtained for dicofol and chlorpyrifos-methyl, respectively, spiked at three concentration levels from real samples. The Langmuir isotherm equation provided an excellent fit to the equilibrium sorption data of either dicofol or chlorpyrifos-methyl. It provided a novel way to advise dual-template magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer particles to adsorb pesticides with high selectivity.

Preparation of Concanavalin A-Chelating Magnetic Nanoparticles for Selective Enrichment of Glycoproteins.

In this work, a soft and nondestructive approach was developed to prepare concanavalin A-chelating magnetic nanoparticles (Con A-MNPs) for selective enrichment of glycoproteins. Ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid-modified-MNPs (EDTA-MNPs) were prepared by a one-pot chemical coprecipitation method first, and then, Cu(II) cations were used as bridge groups to immobilize Con A on EDTA-MNPs. The as-prepared absorbents with a mean diameter of 15 nm showed a strong magnetic response to an externally applied magnetic field. The results of thermogravimetric analysis showed the content of immobilized Con A was up to 28 wt %. For glycoprotein ovalbumin, the maximum capacity and equilibrium constant were 72.41 mg/g and 0.6035 L/mg, respectively. The as-prepared nanocomposites exhibited a remarkable selectivity for glycoproteins and can enrich glycoproteins specifically from a mixture of glycoprotein and nonglycoprotein even at a molar ratio of 1:600. It was also successfully applied for the enrichment of glycoproteins from real egg white samples. We expect that our finding will serve as a helpful template for others to design new adsorbents for enriching glycoproteins.

The effect of polysaccharide types on adsorption properties of LbL assembled multilayer films.

Three types of biocompatible films were fabricated via electrostatic layer-by-layer (LbL) adsorption of oppositely charged cationic polyurethane and anionic polysaccharides with different primary structures, including sodium hyaluronate, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose and sodium alginate. The adsorption behaviors of films were investigated by using the cationic dye methylene blue (MB) as a model drug at various pH values and salt concentrations. The relationship between the type of polysaccharide and the adsorption behavior of LbL films was comparatively studied. It was found that the adsorption capacity increased with an increase of the initial concentration of MB in the concentration range of the experiment to all of the films, and the pH of environment ranged from 3.0 to 9.0. The Langmuir equation fit perfectly to the experiment data. In addition, a pseudo second-order adsorption model can well describe the adsorption behaviors of MB for three films. The results showed that the type of side chains and the charge density of the polysaccharides played key roles in the adsorption properties of the PU/polysaccharide multilayer films.

Preparation of a multi-hollow magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer for the selective enrichment of indolebutyric acid.

A simple strategy was developed for the preparation of multi-hollow magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers by incorporating 3-indolebutyric acid and ferroferric oxide nanoparticles simultaneously into a poly(styrene-co-methacrylic acid) copolymer matrix. The as prepared absorbents were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and mercury porosimetry. The adsorption isotherms of indolebutyric acid revealed that there are two types of affinity binding sites in the absorbents. The apparent maximum binding capacity and dissociation constant were 17.88 mg/g and 158.7 µg/mL for high-affinity binding sites and 9.310 mg/g and 35.04 µg/mL for low-affinity binding sites, respectively. The results testified that multi-hollow magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers possessed excellent recognition capacity and fast kinetic binding behavior to the objective molecules due to the high specific surface area as large as 511.3 m(2) /g. Recoveries of 75.5-86.8% were obtained for the indolebutyric acid spiked at three concentration levels in blank and pear samples.

Effects of different postharvest treatments on the physiology and quality of 'Xiaobai' apricots at room temperature.

The effect of postharvest treatments on storage characteristics of harvested apricots in relation to fruit quality was investigated. 'Xiaobai' apricots treated with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), chlorine dioxide (ClO2), calcium, and heat in sealed container and then stored at 20 °C with 90 % relative humidity (RH) for 10 days. Results showed that the treatments could reduce respiration production and MDA content, delay softening, postharvest decay, the decrease of soluble solids (SSC), and visual changes. Furthermore, the polyphenol oxidase (PPO), polygalacturonase (PG), and pectin methylesterase (PME), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) activities were reduced by treatments. Taken together, it is suggested that ClO2 treatment might be an effective way to maintain the quality of apricot fruit except 1-MCP treatment.