Exploring CCL11 in breast cancer: unraveling its anticancer potential and immune modulatory effects involving the Akt-S6 signaling.

BACKGROUND: CCL11, a chemokine known for recruiting immune cells to the tumor microenvironment (TME), has an unclear role in the context of its expression, patient prognosis, and the presence of tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TILs) in breast cancer. METHODS: The expression of CCL11 in invasive breast cancer (BRCA) was analyzed using TCGA database. Survival curve and Cox regression analysis determined the potential of CCL11 as an independent prognostic indicator. GSEA performed functional analysis on genes related to CCL11. CIBERSORT algorithm quantified the infiltration level of immune cells with varying CCL11 expression. Lastly, the correlation between CCL11 expression and anticancer drug sensitivity was examined. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and qRT-PCR confirmed CCL11 expression in clinical tissue samples. The anti-tumor efficacy of CCL11 was investigated using CCK-8, plate formation, transwell assay, and Western blot. RESULTS: CCL11 expression was elevated in BRCA tumor tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) was longer in patients with high expression of CCL11. Enrichment and co-expression analyses revealed CCL11's association with numerous immune-related signaling pathways and genes. Validation studies confirmed high CCL11 expression in breast cancer tissues. In vitro experiments substantiated CCL11's anticancer effects in BRCA. CONCLUSION: CCL11 expression correlates with immune cell infiltration in breast cancer, indicating its potential as a prognostic biomarker for BRCA.

FIGNL1 is a potential biomarker of cisplatin resistance in non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Fidgetin-like 1 (FIGNL1) participates in tumor resistance by playing the function of homologous recombination repair(HRR). However, the role of FIGNL1 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still unclear. This study aims to understand the expression of FIGNL1 in NSCLC and preliminarily explore its relationship with cisplatin resistance. METHODS: FIGNL1 messenger RNA (mRNA) was analyzed in 1018 NSCLC tissues and 111 adjacent tissues using The Cancer Genome Atlas program. FIGNL1mRNA in cisplatin-resistant and cisplatin-sensitive cell lines was analyzed by the Gene Expression Omnibus project. FIGNL1 protein was detected in 58 NSCLC tissues and 58 adjacent tissues by immunohistochemistry. The relationship between FIGNL1, clinical pathological characteristics and disease-free survival was retrospectively analyzed. Gene ontology was used to analyze the biological process mainly involving FIGNL1, and STRING online constructed its protein interaction network and screened the key genes (hub genes). RESULTS: The Cancer Genome Atlas showed that FIGNL1mRNA was higher in 1018 NSCLC tissues than in 111 adjacent tissues (P < 0.05). In the dataset "GSE157692," FIGNL1mRNA was higher in cisplatin-resistant cell lines (P = 3.80e-05). The hub genes in FIGNL1 and HRR directions are RAD51 and CCDC36. Immunohistochemistry showed that the FIGNL1 protein in 58 NSCLC tissues was higher than that in 58 adjacent tissues (P < 0.01). FIGNL1 is associated with gender, histopathological type, and nerve invasion in NSCLC. The disease-free survival in NSCLC patients with high FIGNL1 expression was shorter (P = 0.032). CONCLUSION: FIGNL1 is associated with poor prognosis in NSCLC, and cisplatin resistance may be involved. These observations provide a clinical basis for exploring FIGNL1 as a potential biomarker for cisplatin resistance in NSCLC.

Effect of Various Defects on 4H-SiC Schottky Diode Performance and Its Relation to Epitaxial Growth Conditions.

In this paper, the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processing for 4H-SiC epilayer is investigated with particular emphasis on the defects and the noise properties. It is experimentally found that the process parameters of C/Si ratio strongly affect the surface roughness of epilayers and the density of triangular defects (TDs), while no direct correlation between the C/Si ratio and the deep level defect Z1/2 could be confirmed. By adjusting the C/Si ratio, a decrease of several orders of magnitudes in the noise level for the 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) could be achieved attributing to the improved epilayer quality with low TD density and low surface roughness. The work should provide a helpful clue for further improving the device performance of both the 4H-SiC SBDs and the Schottky barrier ultraviolet photodetectors fabricated on commercial 4H-SiC wafers.

Investigation of a noise source and its impact on the photocurrent performance of long-wave-infrared InAs/GaSb type-II superlattice detectors.

Electrical noise significantly limits the detectivity of infrared photodiode detectors. In this paper, we investigated the dark current and noise spectra for long-wave-infrared InAs/GaSb type-II superlattice (T2SL) detectors to study the origin of noise under various work conditions. The temperature-dependent I-V characteristics reveal a turning point near 90 K, below which the dominant dark current mechanism changes from Shockley-Hall-Read generation current and diffusion current to shunt current and trap-assisted tunneling (TAT) current. The contribution of shunt and tunneling process to the total 1/f noise are analyzed by fitting the noise power spectral density at 77 K for detectors. It is found that the TAT current dominates the 1/f noise at the reverse bias stronger than -0.1 V, while shunt current exhibits a larger contribution at the reverse bias less than -0.1 V with the shunt noise coefficient αshunt of 5×10-8. Furthermore, the leakage routes related to the shunt process and their temperature dependence are illustrated by two-dimensional photocurrent mapping.

The complete genome sequence of the algicidal bacterium Bacillus subtilis strain JA and the use of quorum sensing to evaluate its antialgal ability.

We describe the isolation of Bacillus subtilis strain JA and demonstrate that this bacterium exhibited strong algicidal effects on the algae Alexandrium minutum with an inhibition rate exceeding 80 % within 48 h. B. subtilis JA significantly reduced the photosynthetic efficiency of A. minutum and caused extensive morphological damage to the algae. Genomic analysis of B. subtilis JA demonstrated that a putative AI-2 type quorum sensing (QS) gene (LuxS) is present in its genome cluster, which is regulate pheromone biosynthesis. Interestingly, the exogenous addition of a QS-oligopeptide (ComX-pheromone) improved the algicidal efficiency of B. subtilis JA, thus indicating that the algicidal activity of this bacterium is potentially regulated by QS. Collectively, our data describe a potential antialgal bacterium and speculated that its behavior can be modulated by QS signal. B. subtilis JA may therefore represent a valuable tool for the development of novel chemical-ecological methods with which to control harmful algae.

Complete genome sequence of Acinetobacter baumanni J1, a quorum sensing-producing algicidal bacterium, isolated from Eastern Pacific Ocean.

The Acinetobacter baumanni J1 isolated from surface water of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, demonstrated significant algicidal activity on the algae Alexandrium tamarense. Interestingly, this strain showed the ability to produce an acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) quorum sensing molecule. To better understand its AHL producing mechanism and its ecological functions, the genome of A. baumanni strain J1 was completely sequenced. The genome contained a circular chromosome of 3,948,465 bp with an average GC content of 39.9 mol%. A total of 3707 protein coding genes, 41 tRNA genes and 16 rRNA genes were obtained. In silico genome annotation identified a LuxI putative gene located on contig 4. Subsequent thin-layer chromatography analysis indicated that C8-AHL could be produced by A. baumanni J1, which confirmed the authenticity of the LuxI gene. Taken together, this work describes an algicidal bacterium that is capable of producing an AHL molecule, which may represent a valuable tool for developing microbial methods to control harmful algae.

The clinical significance of serum adipocytokines level in patients with lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Adipocytokines were known to play a relevant role in metabolism, inflammation responses and carcinogenesis of several malignancies. Our aims were to detect the expression of serum adipocytokines, explore their potential diagnostic ability and relationship with clinicopathological characteristics of lung cancer. METHODS: Adipocytokines, insulin-like growth factor binding protein 1 (IGFBP-1), resistin, tumor necrosis factors (TNFα), TNF RI and TNF RII, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), leptin, interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10, chemerin, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) were assessed in 49 untreated lung cancer patients and 20 healthy controls. The protein chip was used to detect the serum levels of adipocytokines. RESULTS: Lung cancer patients exhibited significantly elevated serum IGFBP-1, TNF RI, VEGF, TNF RII, PAI-1 and IL-6 levels compared to controls (P<0.05) and most of these adipocytokines revealed a modest discriminative ability for the diagnosis of lung cancer, while BDNF were lower in patients (P<0.05). TNF RI was associated with distant metastasis of lung cancer, while there was no relation between other adipocytokines and the patient clinicopathological features. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that cytokines IGFBP-1, TNF RI, VEGF, TNF RII, PAI-1 and IL-6 may be involved in the development and progression of lung cancer, and TNF RI may be involved in distant metastasis of lung cancer. Additionally, IGFBP-1, TNF RI, VEGF and TNF RII probably represent potentially useful biomarkers for the diagnosis of lung cancer.