Advanced Peptide Nanomedicines for Bladder Cancer Theranostics.

Cancer is still a global public health problem. Although remarkable success has been achieved in cancer diagnosis and treatment, the high recurrence and mortality rates remain severely threatening to human lives and health. In recent years, peptide nanomedicines with precise selectivity and high biocompatibility have attracted intense attention in biomedical applications. In particular, there has been a significant increase in the exploration of peptides and their derivatives for malignant tumor therapy and diagnosis. Herein, we review the applications of peptides and their derivatives in the diagnosis and treatment of bladder cancer, providing new insights for the design and development of novel peptide nanomedicines for the treatment of bladder cancer in the future.

Comparison of Health-Related Quality of Life Between Ileal Conduit Diversion and Orthotopic Neobladder in Women: A Meta-Analysis.

Background: Orthotopic neobladder (ONB) reconstruction and ileal conduit diversion (ICD) can have different impacts on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with bladder cancer. Purpose: To conduct a meta-analysis to explore the comparison of HRQOL between ICD and ONB in women. Methods: PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched for available papers published from inception up to December 2020. The outcomes were the score data from HRQOL questionnaires. The random-effects model was used for all analyses. Results: Four studies (six datasets; 283 patients) were included. In the EORTC-QLQ-C30, there were no differences between ICD and ONB regarding cognitive functioning (weighted mean difference (WMD)=1.18, 95% confidence interval (CI): -20.52,22.88, P=0.915), global health (WMD=1.98, 95%CI: -15.26,19.22, P=0.822), emotional functioning (WMD=0.86, 95%CI: -19.62,21.33, P=0.935), physical functioning (WMD=0.94, 95%CI: -11.61,13.49, P=0.883), role functioning (WMD=-4.94, 95%CI: -12.15,2.27, P=0.180), and social functioning (WMD=-4.71, 95%CI: -20.83,11.40, P=0.567). There were no differences between ONB and ICD for specific symptoms (fatigue, nausea and vomiting, and pain) and single items (dyspnea, insomnia, appetite loss, constipation, diarrhea, and financial difficulties) (all P>0.05). In EORTC-QLQ-BLM30, there were no differences between ICD and ONB regarding bowel symptoms (WMD=5.45, 95%CI: -15.30,26.20, P=0.607), body image (WMD=-13.12, 95%CI: -31.15,4.92, P=0.154), sexual functioning (WMD=-5.55, 95%CI: -14.96,3.85, P=0.247), and urinary symptom (WMD=5.50, 95%CI: -7.34,18.34, P=0.401), but one study reported better future perspective with ONB (WMD=-14.9, 95%CI: -27.14,-2.66, P=0.017). Conclusion: Women who underwent ONB do not appear to have a statistically significantly better HRQOL than women who underwent ICD, based on EORTC-QLQ-C30 and EORTC-QLQ-BML30.

A Straightforward Approach to Fluorinated Pyrimido[1,2-b]indazole Derivatives via Metal/Additive-Free Annulation with Enaminones, 3-Aminoindazoles, and Selectfluor.

A novel and efficient three-component reaction with two C-N bonds and one C-F bond formation has been reported, which provides a straightforward route to a variety of fluorinated pyrimido[1,2-b]indazole derivatives. This transformation has the advantage of excellent functional group compatibility, including aliphatic and aromatic substituents enaminones. Moreover, metal and additives are not necessary for this reaction, which is of great significance for the synthesis and application of fluorinated heterocycles.

Merging cobalt and photoredox catalysis for the C8-H alkoxylation of 1-naphthylamine derivatives with alcohols.

A combined cobalt and photoredox catalysis system to realize the C8-H alkoxylation of 1-naphthylamine derivatives with alcohols was developed. Using commercially available alkyl alcohols as raw materials and Co(OAc)2 and rose bengal as catalysts, 1-naphthylamine derivatives reacted with alcohols to generate the corresponding C8-H alkoxylation products in good yields.

Visible-Light-Driven Multicomponent Cyclization by Trapping a 1,3-Vinylimine Ion Intermediate: A Direct Approach to Pyrimido[1,2-b]indazole Derivatives.

Here we develop a novel visible-light-driven three-component cyclization by trapping an 1,3-vinylimine ion intermediate for the direct synthesis of pyrimido[1,2-b]indazole derivatives from bromodifluoroacetic acid derivatives, enaminones, and 3-aminoindazoles under mild conditions. Notably, the robust methodology provides a valuable opportunity for the introduction of aliphatic substituents and enables good compatibility of complex bioactive molecules. Furthermore, this is the first example of photoinduced multicomponent reaction by employing bromodifluoroacetic acid derivatives as a C1-synthon.

Boosting Photothermal Theranostics via TICT and Molecular Motions for Photohyperthermia Therapy of Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer.

The development of photothermal agents with high photothermal conversion efficiency (PCE) can help to reduce drug and laser dosage, but still remains a big challenge. Herein, a novel approach is reported to design photothermal agents with high PCE values by promoting nonradiative heat generation processes through the cooperation of twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) and molecular motions. Within the designed molecule 2DMTT-BBTD, the tetraphenylethenes act as molecular rotors, the long alkyl chain grafted thiophene helps to twist the molecular geometry to facilitate TICT state formation and preserve molecular motions in aggregate, while the strong electron-withdrawing BBTD unit enhances TICT effect. 2DMTT-BBTD exhibits NIR-absorption and a high PCE value of 74.8% under 808 nm laser irradiation. Gambogic acid (GA) which surmounts tumor cell thermotolerance by inhibiting heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) expression is coloaded into the nanoparticles, RGD peptide is further introduced to the nanoparticle surface to improve tumor accumulation. The resultant nanoparticles facilitate the effective low-temperature hyperthermia therapy of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) with minimal damage to surrounding heathy tissues. This work delivers a new design concept for development of highly efficient photothermal agents, which also provides a safer approach for noninvasive treatment of MIBC and other malignant tumors.

The effect of mast cells on the biological characteristics of prostate cancer cells.

AIM OF THE STUDY: To investigate the effects of mast cells on the proliferation, invasion, and metastasis of prostate cancer cells. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The mast cell P815 and prostate cancer LNCaP cells were chosen using a Transwell chamber to construct a two-cell cocultured in vitro model to observe the migration of mast cells to prostate cancer cells. RESULTS: In the migration experiment, the migration rate of mast cells from the experimental group (%) was 10.167 ±0.833, the mast cell migration rate (%) of the control group was 0.833 ±0.208, and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The MTT test showed that the OD value of cells in each group over time increased gradually, and 24 h after LNCaP cells were cocultured with different concentrations of mast cells, the OD value was significantly higher than that of the control group (p < 0.05). QRT-PCR and western blot results showed that, compared with the control group, E-cad expression from the experimental group was significantly weakened; N-cad and vimentin expression increased (p < 0.05), and c-kit and SCF expression from experimental group were significantly higher than that of the control group (p < 0.05). After the addition of c-kit neutralising antibodies, compared with the control group, the mast cell migration rate of experimental group decreased significantly and prostate cancer cell proliferation significantly decreased (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Mast cells could promote the proliferation of prostate cancer cells and the occurrence of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), which could promote the invasion and metastasis of prostate cancer cells.