Protective effect of Korean red ginseng water extract on levothyroxine-induced hyperthyroidism and propylthiouracil-induced hypothyroidism in rats.

Background: Korean red ginseng extract (KRGE) (Family: Araliaceae) is one of the most widely used traditional herbs in Asia. Multiple studies have shown that KRGE has anti-inflammation, anti-fatigue, anti-obesity, anti-oxidant, and anti-cancer effects. Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five groups for PTU-induced hypothyroidism and six groups for LT4-induced hyperthyroidism. At the experiment's conclusion, rats were sacrificed, and blood, thyroid gland, and liver samples were collected. Body weight was recorded weekly, and serum hormone levels were assessed using enzyme-linked immunoassay. Thyroid gland and liver tissues were stained with hematoxylin and eosin. KRGE was prepared in 0.5% CMC and stored at 4 °C before administration. Results: In the LT4-induced hyperthyroidism model, KRGE prevented decreases in body weight, thyroid gland weight, liver weight, serum glucose, and thyroid hormone levels compared to the PTU group. It also reduced increases in T3, T4, and serum aspartate aminotransferase levels after LT4 treatment. Additionally, KRGE improved thyroid gland and liver histopathology, effects not observed in the PTU-induced hypothyroidism model. Conclusion: All things considered, our research points to KRGE's potential protective role in rat hyperthyroidism caused by LT4 by lowering thyroid hormone production.

Insights into Fungal Mitochondrial Genomes and Inheritance Based on Current Findings from Yeast-like Fungi.

The primary functions of mitochondria are to produce energy and participate in the apoptosis of cells, with them being highly conserved among eukaryotes. However, the composition of mitochondrial genomes, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) replication, and mitochondrial inheritance varies significantly among animals, plants, and fungi. Especially in fungi, there exists a rich diversity of mitochondrial genomes, as well as various replication and inheritance mechanisms. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of fungal mitochondria is crucial for unraveling the evolutionary history of mitochondria in eukaryotes. In this review, we have organized existing reports to systematically describe and summarize the composition of yeast-like fungal mitochondrial genomes from three perspectives: mitochondrial genome structure, encoded genes, and mobile elements. We have also provided a systematic overview of the mechanisms in mtDNA replication and mitochondrial inheritance during bisexual mating. Additionally, we have discussed and proposed open questions that require further investigation for clarification.

Overexpression of tonoplast Ca2+-ATPase in guard cells synergistically enhances stomatal opening and drought tolerance.

Stomata play a crucial role in plants by controlling water status and responding to drought stress. However, simultaneously improving stomatal opening and drought tolerance has proven to be a significant challenge. To address this issue, we employed the OnGuard quantitative model, which accurately represents the mechanics and coordination of ion transporters in guard cells. With the guidance of OnGuard, we successfully engineered plants that overexpressed the main tonoplast Ca2+-ATPase gene, ACA11, which promotes stomatal opening and enhances plant growth. Surprisingly, these transgenic plants also exhibited improved drought tolerance due to reduced water loss through their stomata. Again, OnGuard assisted us in understanding the mechanism behind the unexpected stomatal behaviors observed in the ACA11 overexpressing plants. Our study revealed that the overexpression of ACA11 facilitated the accumulation of Ca2+ in the vacuole, thereby influencing Ca2+ storage and leading to an enhanced Ca2+ elevation in response to abscisic acid. This regulatory cascade finely tunes stomatal responses, ultimately leading to enhanced drought tolerance. Our findings underscore the importance of tonoplast Ca2+-ATPase in manipulating stomatal behavior and improving drought tolerance. Furthermore, these results highlight the diverse functions of tonoplast-localized ACA11 in response to different conditions, emphasizing its potential for future applications in plant enhancement.

Erratum: Enhanced Blood Suspensibility and Laser-Activated Tumor-specific Drug Release of Theranostic Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles by Functionalizing with Erythrocyte Membranes: Erratum.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.7150/thno.17259.].

A phenomics-based approach for the detection and interpretation of shared genetic influences on 29 biochemical indices in southern Chinese men.

BACKGROUND: Phenomics provides new technologies and platforms as a systematic phenome-genome approach. However, few studies have reported on the systematic mining of shared genetics among clinical biochemical indices based on phenomics methods, especially in China. This study aimed to apply phenomics to systematically explore shared genetics among 29 biochemical indices based on the Fangchenggang Area Male Health and Examination Survey cohort. RESULT: A total of 1999 subjects with 29 biochemical indices and 709,211 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were subjected to phenomics analysis. Three bioinformatics methods, namely, Pearson's test, Jaccard's index, and linkage disequilibrium score regression, were used. The results showed that 29 biochemical indices were from a network. IgA, IgG, IgE, IgM, HCY, AFP and B12 were in the central community of 29 biochemical indices. Key genes and loci associated with metabolism traits were further identified, and shared genetics analysis showed that 29 SNPs (P < 10- 4) were associated with three or more traits. After integrating the SNPs related to two or more traits with the GWAS catalogue, 31 SNPs were found to be associated with several diseases (P < 10- 8). Using ALDH2 as an example to preliminarily explore its biological function, we also confirmed that the rs671 (ALDH2) polymorphism affected multiple traits of osteogenesis and adipogenesis differentiation in 3 T3-L1 preadipocytes. CONCLUSION: All these findings indicated a network of shared genetics and 29 biochemical indices, which will help fully understand the genetics participating in biochemical metabolism.

Traceable Bioinspired Nanoparticle for the Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer via NIR-Trigged Intracellular Delivery of Methylene Blue and Cisplatin.

Cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) eliminates abnormal cells through target recognition-triggered intracellular toxin delivery. Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell improves cancer cell recognition of CTL, but its effectiveness and safety in solid tumor treatment are still hampered by poor tumor infiltration, suppressive tumor microenvironment, and severe on-target off-tumor toxicity. Given the functionality and challenges of CTL in cancer therapy, herein, a CTL-inspired nanovesicle (MPV) with a cell membrane-derived shell and a methylene blue (MB) and cisplatin (Pt) loaded gelatin nanogel core is created. The MPV generates contrast for tumor photoacoustic imaging, and produces hyperthermia upon laser irradiation, enabling photothermal imaging and deep tumor penetration. Meanwhile, it releases MB and Pt, and then delivers them into the cytosol of cancer cells, which process can be visualized by imaging the recovery of MB-derived fluorescence. The localized hyperthermia, photodynamic therapy, and chemotherapy together kill 4T1 breast cancer cells effectively, resulting in primary tumor regression and 97% inhibition of pulmonary metastasis, without significant toxicity to the animals. Taken together, the MPV shows tumor-specific and stimuli-triggered intracellular toxin delivery with advantages in traceable accumulation and activation, high tumor penetration, and triple combination therapy, and thus can be an effective nanomedicine for combating metastatic breast cancer.

Chemical antagonism between photodynamic agents and chemotherapeutics: mechanism and avoidance.

We report a photochemical reaction-induced antagonism between the photodynamic agent (PS) and anti-cancer drugs during combined therapy. The annihilation of singlet oxygen and alkene-containing drugs into inactive drug hydroperoxides is responsible for the antagonism, and results in decreased efficacy against several cancer cell lines. Experimental and simulation results reveal that the annihilation abates with increasing distance between the PS and drugs via confining the PS and drugs into separated vehicles. As a result, antagonism can be switched to synergism in treating both drug sensitive and resistant cancer cells.

Preparation and Application of Cell Membrane-Camouflaged Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy.

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Many treatments have been developed so far, although effective, suffer from severe side effects due to low selectivity. Nanoparticles can improve the therapeutic index of their delivered drugs by specifically transporting them to tumors. However, their exogenous nature usually leads to fast clearance by mononuclear phagocytic system. Recently, cell membrane-camouflaged nanoparticles have been investigated for cancer therapy, taking advantages of excellent biocompatibility and versatile functionality of cell membranes. In this review, we summarized source materials and procedures that have been used for constructing and characterizing biomimetic nanoparticles with a focus on their application in cancer therapy.

Enhanced Blood Suspensibility and Laser-Activated Tumor-specific Drug Release of Theranostic Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles by Functionalizing with Erythrocyte Membranes.

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs), with their large surface area and tunable pore sizes, have been widely applied for anticancer therapeutic cargos delivery with a high loading capacity. However, easy aggregation in saline buffers and limited blood circulation lifetime hinder their delivery efficiency and the anticancer efficacy. Here, new multifunctional MSNs-supported red-blood-cell (RBC)-mimetic theranostic nanoparticles with long blood circulation, deep-red light-activated tumor imaging and drug release were reported. High loading capacities were achieved by camouflaging MSNs with RBC membrane to co-load an anticancer drug doxorubicin (Dox) (39.1 wt%) and a near-infrared photosensitizer chlorin e6 (Ce6) (21.1 wt%). The RBC membrane-coating protected drugs from leakage, and greatly improved the colloidal stability of MSNs, with negligible particle size change over two weeks. Upon an external laser stimuli, the RBC membrane could be destroyed, resulting in 10 times enhancement of Dox release. In a 4T1 breast cancer mouse model, the RBC-mimetic MSNs could realize in vivo tumor imaging with elongated tumor accumulation lifetime for over 24 h, and laser-activated tumor-specific Dox accumulation. The RBC-mimetic MSNs could integrate the Ce6-based photodynamic therapy and Dox-based chemotherapy, completely suppress the primary tumor growth and inhibit metastasis of breast cancer, which could provide a new strategy for optimization of MSNs and efficient anticancer drug delivery.

Dual pH-sensitive micelles with charge-switch for controlling cellular uptake and drug release to treat metastatic breast cancer.

For successful chemotherapy against metastatic breast cancer, the great efforts are still required for designing drug delivery systems that can be selectively internalized by tumor cells and release the cargo in a controlled manner. In this work, the chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxel (PTX) was loaded with the dual-pH sensitive micelle (DPM), which consisted of a pH-sensitive core, an acid-cleavable anionic shell, and a polyethylene glycol (PEG) corona. In the slightly acidic environment of tumor tissues, the anionic shell was taken off, inducing the conversion of the surface charge of DPM from negative to positive, which resulted in more efficient cellular uptake, stronger cytotoxicity and higher intra-tumor accumulation of PTX in the murine breast cancer 4T1 tumor-bearing mice models compared to the micelles with irremovable anionic or non-ionic shell. Meanwhile, the pH-sensitive core endowed DPM with rapid drug release in endo/lysosomes. The inhibitory rates of DPM against tumor growth and lung metastasis achieved 77.7% and 88.3%, respectively, without significant toxicity. Therefore, DPM is a promising nanocarrier for effective therapy of metastatic breast cancer due to satisfying the requirements of both selective uptake by tumor cells and sufficient and fast intracellular drug release.

Cancer-Cell-Biomimetic Nanoparticles for Targeted Therapy of Homotypic Tumors.

A unique biomimetic drug-delivery system composed of 4T1-breast-cancer-cell membranes and paclitaxel-loaded polymeric nanoparticles (PPNs) (cell-membrane-coated PPNs), demonstrates superior interactions to its source tumor cells and elongated blood circulation, and displays highly cell-specific targeting of the homotypic primary tumor and metastases, with successful inhibition of the growth and lung metastasis of the breast cancer cells.

Silibinin and indocyanine green-loaded nanoparticles inhibit the growth and metastasis of mammalian breast cancer cells in vitro.

AIM: To improve the therapeutic efficacy of cancer treatments, combinational therapies based on nanosized drug delivery system (NDDS) has been developed recently. In this study we designed a new NDDS loaded with an anti-metastatic drug silibinin and a photothermal agent indocyanine green (ICG), and investigated its effects on the growth and metastasis of breast cancer cells in vitro. METHODS: Silibinin and ICG were self-assembled into PCL lipid nanoparticles (SIPNs). Their physical characteristics including the particle size, zeta potential, morphology and in vitro drug release were examined. 4T1 mammalian breast cancer cells were used to evaluate their cellular internalization, cytotoxicity, and their influences on wound healing, in vitro cell migration and invasion. RESULTS: SIPNs showed a well-defined spherical shape with averaged size of 126.3±0.4 nm and zeta potential of -10.3±0.2 mV. NIR laser irradiation substantially increased the in vitro release of silibinin from the SIPNs (58.3% at the first 8 h, and 97.8% for the total release). Furthermore, NIR laser irradiation markedly increased the uptake of SIPNs into 4T1 cells. Under the NIR laser irradiation, both SIPNs and IPNs (PCL lipid nanoparticles loaded with ICG alone) caused dose-dependent ablation of 4T1 cells. The wound healing, migration and invasion experiments showed that SIPNs exposed to NIR laser irradiation exhibited dramatic in vitro anti-metastasis effects. CONCLUSION: SIPNs show temperature-sensitive drug release following NIR laser irradiation, which can inhibit the growth and metastasis of breast cancer cells in vitro.

Inhibition of Breast Cancer Metastasis by Pluronic Copolymers with Moderate Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Balance.

Metastasis is the primary cause resulting in the high mortality of breast cancer. The inherent antimetastasis bioactivity of Pluronic copolymers with a wide range of hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) including Pluronic L61, P85, P123, F127, F68, and F108 was first explored on metastatic 4T1 breast cancer cells. The results indicated that P85 and P123 could strongly inhibit the migration and invasion of 4T1 cells. The effects of the polymers on cell healing, migration, and invasion exhibited bell-shaped dependencies on HLB of Pluronic copolymers, and the better antimetastasis effects of Pluronic copolymers could be achieved with the HLB between 8 and 16. P85 and P123 themselves could significantly inhibit pulmonary metastasis in 4T1 mammary tumor metastasis model in situ. In addition, a synergetic antimetastasis effect could be achieved during drug combination of doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) and P85 or P123 intravenously. The metastasis effects of P85 and P123 both in vitro and in vivo were partially attributed to the downregulation of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9). Therefore, Pluronic copolymers with moderate HLB 8-16 such as P85 and P123 could be promising excipients with therapeutics in drug delivery systems to inhibit breast cancer metastasis.

Inhibition of metastasis and growth of breast cancer by pH-sensitive poly (ß-amino ester) nanoparticles co-delivering two siRNA and paclitaxel.

Breast cancer is the most vicious killer for women's health, while metastasis is the main culprit, which leads to failure of treatment by increasing relapse rate. In this work, a new complexes nanoparticles loading two siRNA (Snail siRNA (siSna) and Twist siRNA (siTwi)) and paclitaxel (PTX) were designed and constructed using two new amphiphilic polymer, polyethyleneimine-block-poly[(1,4-butanediol)-diacrylate-ß-5-hydroxyamylamine] (PEI-PDHA) and polyethylene glycol-block-poly[(1,4-butanediol)-diacrylate-ß-5-hydroxyamylamine] (PEG-PDHA) by self-assembly. The experimental results showed that in the 4T1 tumor-bearing mice models, PEI-PDHA/PEG-PDHA/PTX/siSna/siTwi) complex nanoparticles (PPSTs) raised the accumulation and retention of both PTX and siRNA in tumor after administrated intravenously, resulted in the strong inhibition of the tumor growth and metastasis simultaneously. It was found that co-delivery of siSna and siTwi had more significant anti-metastasis effect than delivering a single siRNA, as a result of simultaneously inhibiting the motility of cancer cells and degradation of ECM. Therefore, PPSTs could be a promising co-delivery vector for effective therapy of metastatic breast cancer.

Brain delivery and cellular internalization mechanisms for transferrin conjugated biodegradable polymersomes.

Transferrin conjugated biodegradable polymersomes (Tf-PO) were exploited for efficient brain drug delivery, and its cellular internalization mechanisms were investigated. Tf-PO was prepared by a nanoprecipitation method with an average diameter of approximately 100 nm and a surface Tf molecule number per polymersome of approximately 35. It was demonstrated that the uptake of Tf-PO by bEnd.3 was mainly through a clathrin mediated energy-dependent endocytosis. Both the Golgi apparatus and lysosomes are involved in intracellular transport of Tf-PO. Thirty minutes after a 50mg/kg dose of Tf-PO or PO was injected into rats via the tail vein, fluorescent microscopy of brain coronal sections showed a higher accumulation of Tf-PO than PO in the cerebral cortex, the periventricular region of the lateral ventricle and the third ventricle. The brain delivery results proved that the blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability surface area product (PS) and the percentage of injected dose per gram of brain (%ID/g brain) for Tf-PO were increased to 2.8-fold and 2.3-fold, respectively, as compared with those for PO. These results indicate that Tf-PO is a promising brain delivery carrier.