Neutrophil extracellular traps mediate TLR9/Merlin axis to resist ferroptosis and promote triple negative breast cancer progression.

Neutrophil and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) were reported to be associated with tumor development, but the exact role and concrete mechanisms are still poorly understood, especially in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). In this study, our results exhibited that NETs formation in TNBC tissues was higher than that in non-TNBC tissues, and NETs formation was distinctly correlated with tumor size, ki67 level and lymph node metastasis in TNBC patients. Subsequent in vivo experiments demonstrated that NETs inhibition could suppress TNBC tumor growth and lung metastasis. Further in vitro experiments uncovered that oncogenic function of NETs on TNBC cells were possibly dependent on TLR9 expression. We also found that neutrophils from peripheral blood of TNBC patients with postoperative fever were prone to form NETs and could enhance the proliferation and invasion of TNBC cells. Mechanistically, we revealed that NETs could interact with TLR9 to decrease Merlin phosphorylation which contributed to TNBC cell ferroptosis resistance. Our work provides a novel insight into the mechanism of NETs promoting TNBC progression and blocking the key modulator of NETs might be a promising therapeutic strategy in TNBC.

Bibliometric Profile of Global Microplastics Research from 2004 to 2019.

Microplastics (MPs) have generated worldwide attention due to their global distribution in the environment, and their potential harmful effects on human and animal health. To analyze MPs-related scientific publications from a global point of view, we created a bibliometric profile, by searching the Web of Science Core Collection database for the topic "microplastic* or (micro near/1 plastic*)", in publications dated from 2004 to 2019. The results revealed an increasing trend in publication output, and identified contributions of different countries and their collaborations, as well as influential authors and productive journals in the field of MPs research. Using co-citation network analysis in VOSviewer, we mined cited references for knowledge bases about analytical methods, potential sources and spatial distributions of MPs, the impacts of MPs on organisms, and the interaction of MPs with contaminants, as well as microorganisms. We also identified four global hotspots for MPs related research, using author keywords co-occurrence network analysis of all extracted publications, as well as Essential Science Indicators highly cited papers from Clarivate Analytics. Results of this study provide a valuable reference for ongoing MPs-related research, which may be of intrigue and awesome noteworthiness for relevant researchers.

[Occurrence and Gas-particle Partitioning of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Air of Liaodong Bay].

The gas-and particle-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were collected from the air of Liaodong Bay in May and August to investigate their occurrence and gas/particle distribution. The 24 PAHs were analyzed for gas-and particle-phase samples, and the concentrations of total gas-and particle-phase PAHs were found to be 28.8 ng·m-3 and 24.0 ng·m-3, respectively. The concentrations of the gas-phase PAHs were higher in August than in May, and the concentrations of the particle-phase PAHs were higher in May than in August. The low molecular weight PAHs were mainly distributed in the gas-phase, and the high molecular weight PAHs were mainly distributed in the particle-phase; the medium molecular weight PAHs were more easily affected by the environmental conditions than the low and high molecular weight PAHs. The value of Kp increased with an increase in the molecular weight. The slopes m for regressed lgKp-lgPL and lgKp-lgKOA plots were -0.35 and 0.37, deviated from -1 and+1 for the equilibrium states of gas/particle partitioning. The equilibrium states of the lgKp-lgKOA, lgKp-lgPL, and soot-air models were applied; the predicted results of the 5-ring PAHs fitted well with the field measure results. The predicted results of the soot-air model were much closer to the field measure results than the results of the lgKP-lgKOA and lgKP-lgPL models; compared to their heavier counterparts, the low and medium molecular weight PAHs were influenced to a greater extent by soot.

Induction of heat shock protein 27 by bicyclol attenuates d-galactosamine/lipopolysaccharide-induced liver injury.

Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are critical for cell survival under adverse environmental conditions. Bicyclol is a novel hepatoprotectant that has been shown to protect against liver injury by inducing Hsps, including Hsp27 and Hsp70. Although the role of Hsp70 in protecting against acute hepatic failure has been clearly explored, the precise function of Hsp27 in this setting is poorly defined. This study was undertaken to evaluate the role of Hsp27 in bicyclol-mediated hepatoprotection. Both primary hepatocytes and bone marrow-derived macrophages were subjected to bicyclol treatment, followed by detection of Hsp27 expression. Adenoviruses containing the mouse Hsp27 coding sequence or shRNA interference sequence targeting Hsp27 were used to manipulate Hsp27 expression in the liver before the mice were treated with bicyclol and/or confronted with D-galactosamine/lipopolysaccharide (Galn/LPS)-induced acute liver damage. Only hepatocytes increased their Hsp27 expression after bicyclol treatment and the time course of bicyclol-induced Hsp27 expression in hepatocytes was in line with the in vivo results. Although high-dose bicyclol could protect against liver failure without Hsp27, the effect of bicyclol given at a low dose was dependent on Hsp27 induction. Adenovirus-mediated transduction of Hsp27 protected against acute liver damage and partially replicated the protective effect afforded by bicyclol. These results demonstrated that bicyclol induced Hsp27 expression in hepatocytes, which was essential to bicyclol-mediated hepatoprotection. Overexpression of Hsp27 in hepatocytes could confer remarkable protection against acute liver damage.

[Characteristics of particle size structure of plankton community in turbidity zone of near-shore waters, Liaoning Province of Northeast China].

Estuary and nearshore waters have complicated environment, where plankton community has a frequent feedback regulation and a very unstable particle size structure. In this paper, an investigation was made on the particle size structure of plankton in the turbidity zone of nearshore and port area waters in Liaoning Province of Northeast China. In the waters with high concentration inorganic nitrogen, phytoplankton biomass was mainly of small particle sizes, with the equivalent sphere diameter (ESD) being primarily 20-100 micro m, while in low nutrient waters, the phytoplankton biomass was mainly of larger size particles, with the ESD>100 micro m, indicating that the phytoplankton feedback regulation caused the phytoplankton community to be comprised of small sized organisms as part of the biological responses to high concentration suspended solids, which reduced the individual number of larger organisms such as Coscinodiscus. sp. and other species, and in turn, directly affected the fisheries resources, including a variety of fish and shrimp larvae fed on phytoplankton. A normalized biomass size spectrum with the characteristics of nearshore shallow aquatic oceanic ecosystems exhibiting eutrophication was constructed. The spectrum slope indicated that the plankton community biomass would gradually increase in size. The feasibility of using dinoflagellates and cladocerans as the bio-indicators for eutrophication was discussed.