Chimeric TßRII-SE/Fc overexpression by a lentiviral vector exerts strong antitumoral activity on colorectal cancer-derived cell lines in vitro and on xenografts.

The TGF signaling pathway is a key regulator of cancer progression. In this work, we report for the first time the antitumor activity of TßRII-SE/Fc, a novel peptibody whose targeting domain is comprised of the soluble endogenous isoform of the human TGF-ß type II receptor (TßRII-SE). Overexpression of TßRIISE/Fc reduces in vitro cell proliferation and migration while inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human colorectal cancer-derived cell lines. Moreover, TßRII-SE/Fc overexpression reduces tumorigenicity in BALB/c nude athymic mice. Our results revealed that TRII-SE/Fc-expressing tumors were significantly reduced in size or were even incapable of developing. We also demonstrated that the novel peptibody has the ability to inhibit the canonical TGF-ß and BMP signaling pathways while identifying SMAD-dependent and independent proteins involved in tumor progression that are modulated by TßRII-SE/Fc. These findings provide insights into the underlying mechanism responsible for the antitumor activity of TßRII-SE/Fc. Although more studies are required to demonstrate the effectiveness and safety of the novel peptibody as a new therapeutic for the treatment of cancer, our initial in vitro and in vivo results in human colorectal tumor-derived cell lines are highly encouraging. Our results may serve as the foundation for further research and development of a novel biopharmaceutical for oncology.

Complete coding sequences of eastern equine encephalitis virus and venezuelan equine encephalitis virus strains isolated from human cases.

We obtained the complete coding genome of an eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) strain, EEEV V105-00210, and the complete genome of a Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) strain, VEEV INH-9813. They were obtained from human cases and are proposed as reference challenge strains for vaccine and therapeutic development in animal models.

Catalytic nanomotors: self-propelled sphere dimers.

Experimental and theoretical studies of the self-propelled motional dynamics of a new genre of catalytic sphere dimer, which comprises a non-catalytic silica sphere connected to a catalytic platinum sphere, are reported for the first time. Using aqueous hydrogen peroxide as the fuel to effect catalytic propulsion of the sphere dimers, both quasi-linear and quasi-circular trajectories are observed in the solution phase and analyzed for different dimensions of the platinum component. In addition, well-defined rotational motion of these sphere dimers is observed at the solution-substrate interface. The nature of the interaction between the sphere dimer and the substrate in the aqueous hydrogen peroxide phase is discussed. In computer simulations of the sphere dimer in solution and the solution-substrate interface, sphere-dimer dynamics are simulated using molecular-dynamics methods and solvent dynamics are modeled by mesoscopic multiparticle collision methods taking hydrodynamic interactions into account. The rotational and translational dynamics of the sphere dimer are found to be in good accord with the predictions of computer simulations.