HSP90/LSD1 dual inhibitors against prostate cancer as well as patient-derived colorectal organoids.

The rational installation of pharmacophores targeting HSP90 and LSD1 axes has achieved significant anti-cancer capacity in prostate and colorectal cancer. Among the series of hybrids, inhibitor 6 exhibited remarkable anti-proliferative activity against prostate cancer cell lines PC-3 and DU145, with GI50 values of 0.24 and 0.30 µM, respectively. It demonstrated notable efficacy in combinatorial attack and cell death initiation towards apoptosis. The cell death process was mediated by PARP induction and γH2AX signaling, and was also characterized as caspase-dependent and Bcl-xL/Bax-independent. Notably, no difference in eye size or morphology was observed in the zebrafish treated with compound 6 compared to the reference group (AUY922). The profound treatment response in docetaxel-resistant PC-3 cells highlighted the dual inhibitory ability in improving docetaxel sensitivity. Additionally, at a minimum concentration of 1.25 µM, compound 6 effectively inhibited the growth of patient-derived colorectal cancer (CRC) organoids for up to 10 days in vitro. Together, the designed HSP90/LSD1 inhibitors present a novel route and significant clinical value for anti-cancer drug therapy.

Preparation of nitrogen doped hyper-crosslinked polymer-based hard carbon for high performance Li+/Na+ battery anode.

Hyper cross-linked polymers (HCPs), as a key precursor of hard carbon (HC) anode materials, stand out because of their capacity for molecular-scale structural design and comparatively straightforward preparation techniques, which are not seen in other porous materials synthesized procedure. A novel synthesis method of HCPs is developed in this paper, which is through the incorporation of functional macromolecules, the structural control and heteroatom doping of the product has been achieved, thus augmenting its electrochemical performance in batteries. In this work, carbonized tetraphenylporphyrin zinc (TPP-Zn) doped HCP-based hard carbon (CTHCP) with stable structure was prepared by Friedel-Crafts reaction and carbonization by using naphthalene and trace TPP-Zn as monomers, dimethoxybenzene (DMB) as crosslinking agent and FeCl3 as catalyst. The introduction of TPP-Zn, a functional macromolecule with unique two-dimensional structure, realized the pore structure regulation and N doping of the raw carbonized HCP-based hard carbon (CHCP). The results showed that CTHCP had higher mesoporous volume, N content and wider layer spacing than CHCP. In addition, CTHCP anode exhibited excellent Li+/Na+ storage performance, initial reversible capacity, rate performance and long cycle life. More amount of N-containing (N-5) active sites and mesoporous content in CTHCP anode was the main reason for the improvement of Na+ storage effect. While the increased interlayer spacing had a greater effect on the lithium storage capacity. This study uncovered the design rules of HC anode materials suitable for Li+/Na+ batteries and provided a new idea for the preparation of high-performance HC anode materials.

Amplified spontaneous emission via the coupling between Fabry-Perot cavity and surface plasmon polariton modes.

We demonstrated amplified spontaneous emission by embedding dye molecules within a dielectric layer of a metal-dielectric-metal subwavelength structure. It was reinforced when a strong coupling occurred between the Fabry-Perot mode supported by the dielectric layer and the surface plasmon polariton mode supported by the adjacent metallic grating. Here, we adjust the two mode interaction via tuning the depth of the metallic grating grooves. The stronger the interaction, the smaller the full width at half-maximum of the emission spectra and the lower the threshold of the amplified spontaneous emission.

Surface-enhanced fluorescence of a dye-doped polymer layer with plasmonic band edge tuning.

We investigated experimentally the influence of 1D rectangular Au gratings on fluorescence. The formation of a bandgap in the dispersion relation is confirmed by our experiment. At the edge of this bandgap, the fluorescence of the dye can be strongly enhanced due to the surface plasmon polaritons' large density of states. By structural design we tuned the plasmonic band edges to the wavelength of the fluorescence of the dye molecules. An optimized Au grating structure with a duty ratio of 3/4 is found to achieve up to 120 times stronger fluorescence than that of a planar metal surface.