Screening for metastasis-related genes in mouse melanoma cells through sequential tail vein injection.

Tumor metastasis, responsible for approximately 90% of cancer-associated mortality, remains poorly understood. Here in this study, we employed a melanoma lung metastasis model to screen for metastasis-related genes. By sequential tail vein injection of mouse melanoma B16F10 cells and the subsequently derived cells from lung metastasis into BALB/c mice, we successfully obtained highly metastatic B16F15 cells after five rounds of in vivo screening. RNA-sequencing analysis of B16F15 and B16F10 cells revealed a number of differentially expressed genes, some of these genes have previously been associated with tumor metastasis while others are novel discoveries. The identification of these metastasis-related genes not only improves our understanding of the metastasis mechanisms, but also provides potential diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for metastatic melanoma.

Three Birds with One Sulfur: Construction of Sulfur-Bridged Porous Organic Polymers for Efficient Gold Adsorption.

Sulfur is a massive byproduct of the petrochemicals industry and hardly employed as a building block for porous organic polymers (POPs). Here, a new family of sulfur-bridged POPs has been prepared via a C-H insertion reaction between sulfur and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Sulfur works as a solvent, external cross-linker, and porogen simultaneously during the polymerization process. The products demonstrate high porosity and maximum surface area of 1050 m2 g-1 with abundant accessible active sites, contributing to the nanometerization of sulfur and significantly enhancing the inherent affinity between heteroatoms toward soft metal ions. Therefore, they exhibit a high absorption capacity for Au(III) of 3287 mg g-1 and excellent absorption selectivity and removal efficiency via a performance evaluation even in real electronic wastewater. This synthetic strategy to prepare high added-value functional POPs with sulfur not only sheds light on designing high-performance gold adsorption materials and emerging POPs, but also promotes a sustainable development protocol.

Solvothermal Preparation of Microporous Polyureas for Au(III) Adsorption.

The enrichment and recovery of gold from wastewater are an alternative method to obtain this noble metal, which benefits reducing hazardous emissions from the conventional ore mining process and reserving natural gold for sustainable development. Inspired by our previous work (Lei et al., Macromol. Rapid Comm. 2022, 2200712), four families of microporous polyureas (mPPUs) with a large surface area (690 m2 g-1) and abundant heteroatom sites have been prepared via the factor-optimized solvothermal protocol. The resultant sample NPU-A starting from 1,5-naphthalene diisocyanate (NDI) and tri(4-aminophenyl) amine (TAPA) exhibits the maximum Au(III) adsorption capacity of 1300 mg g-1 and high selectivity even when the Au(III) concentration is as low as 0.1 mg L-1. This study not only demonstrates the robustness of the high-throughput synthetic strategy but also promotes the investigation of the structure-activity correlation between the mPPU chemical structure and Au(III) adsorption performance.

Encapsulation of 4-terpineol with ß-cyclodextrin: Inclusion mechanism, characterization and relative humidity-triggered release.

4-Terpineol (4-TA), a typical monocyclic monoterpene essential oil compound with important biological activities, poor stability and solubility severely hamper its biological activities. To date, ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) encapsulating essential oil to form inclusion complexes (ICs) is considered as a satisfactory treatment. Nevertheless, the detailed inclusion mechanism of ß-CD for 4-TA especially the behavior of 4-TA during inclusion formation have not available yet. Herein, 4-TA/ß-CD ICs were successfully synthesized by the co-precipitation method, and hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions played a key role in the formation of ICs, and the isopropyl of 4-TA entered the cavity through the wide rim of ß-CD. Moreover, the release profile demonstrated that high RH (85 % and 99 %) triggered the release of TA from ICs. This study suggests the great potential of cyclodextrin inclusion strategy for improving the stability and sustained release of 4-TA in food preservation application.

circRNA-CPA4 Regulates Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis of Non-small Cell Lung Cancer via the miR-1183/PDPK1 Axis.

Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) stands as a prevalent subtype of lung cancer, with circular RNAs emerging as key players in cancer development. This study elucidates the role of circRNA-CPA4 in NSCLC. Elevated circRNA-CPA4 expression in NSCLC lines was confirmed through qRT-PCR. Silencing circRNA-CPA4 with shRNA revealed, through CCK-8, colony formation, and flow cytometry assays, a notable constraint on proliferation and promotion of apoptosis in NSCLC cells. Subcellular localization analysis, RNA immunoprecipitation, and expression level assessments were employed to decipher the intricate interplay among miR-1183, circRNA-CPA4, and PDPK1. Results demonstrated heightened circRNA-CPA4 levels in NSCLC, and its knockdown curtailed NSCLC growth in vivo. Acting as a molecular sponge for miR-1183, circRNA-CPA4 regulated PDPK1 expression. Conversely, inhibiting miR-1183 counteracted the impact of circRNA-CPA4 silencing, reinstating NSCLC cell proliferation, and impeding apoptosis. Overall, this study unveils a novel mechanism: circRNA-CPA4 promotes PDPK1 expression by sequestering miR-1183, fostering NSCLC cell proliferation, and hindering apoptosis.

Expression of PD-1 mitigates phagocytic activities TAM in osteosarcoma.

The high expression of programmed death 1 (PD-1) is a hallmark of T cell exhaustion, consequently inhibiting the anti-tumor immunity, tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) aggravate Osteosarcoma (OS) progression. However, PD-1 expression on TAMs in OS metastasis remains unclear. Here, we used scRNA-Seq of 15500 individual cells from human OS lung metastatic lesion, identified thirteen major cell clusters. Our data revealed that tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) OS lung metastatic accompanied by accumulation of exhausted T cells and regulatory T cells (Tregs). CD3+ T cells from human OS lung metastatic exhibited lower proliferation than in primary tissue. Importantly, TAMs mainly comprise immunosuppressive M2 phenotype in OS metastasis. Mechanistically, we found that PD-1 of TAMs inhibits the phagocytic potency, further promoting the progression of OS metastasis. Therefore, the study provides a strong technical support for OS immunotherapy based on PD-1 inhibitors.

Preoperative pulmonary nodule localization: A comparison of hook wire and Lung-pro-guided surgical markers.

In minimally invasive thoracoscopic surgery, for solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs) far from the pleura, it is difficult to resected by only relying on imaging data, and effective preoperative localization can significantly improve the success rate of surgery. Therefore, preoperative localization is particularly important for accurate resection. Here, we compare the value of a novel Lung-pro-guided localization technique with Hook-wire localization in video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. METHOD: In this study, 70 patients who underwent CT-guided Hook-wire localization and Lung-pro guided surgical marker localization before VATS-based SPNs resection between May 2020 and March 2021 were analyzed, and the clinical efficacy and complication rate of the two groups were compared. RESULT: Thirty-five patients underwent Lung-pro guided surgical marker localization, and 35 patients underwent CT-guided Hook-wire localization. The localization success rates were 94.3% and 88.6%, respectively (p = 0.673). Compared with the puncture group, the locating time in the Lung-pro group was significantly shorter (p = 0.000), and the wedge resection time was slightly shorter than that in the puncture group (P = 0.035). There were no significant differences in the success rate of localization, localization complications, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative hospital stay, and the number of staplers used. CONCLUSION: The above studies show that the Lung-pro guided surgical marker localization and the CT-guided Hook-wire localization have shown good safety and effectiveness. However, the Lung-pro guided surgical marker localization may show more safety than the Hook-wire and can improve the patient's perioperative experience.