Antitumour effects of artesunate via cell cycle checkpoint controls in human oesophageal squamous carcinoma cells.

Artesunate (ART), an effective antimalarial semisynthetic derivative of artemisinin, exhibits antitumour properties, but the mechanism(s) involved remain elusive. In this study, we investigated the antitumour effects of ART on human oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cell lines. Treatment of ESCC cell lines with ART resulted in the production of excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) that induced DNA damage, reduced cell proliferation and inhibited clonogenicity via G1-S cell cycle arrest and/or apoptosis in vitro. The administration of ART to nude mice with ESCC cell xenografts inhibited tumour formation in vivo. However, the cytotoxicity of ART strongly differed among the ESCC cell lines tested. Transcriptomic profiling revealed that although the expression of large numbers of genes in ESCC cell lines was affected by ART treatment, these genes could be functionally clustered into pathways involved in regulating cell cycle progression, DNA metabolism and apoptosis. We revealed that p53 and Cdk4/6-p16-Rb cell cycle checkpoint controls were critical determinants required for mediating ART cytotoxicity in ESCC cell lines. Specifically, KYSE30 cells with p53Mut/p16Mut were the most sensitive to ART, KYSE150 and KYSE180 cells with p53Mut/p16Nor exhibited intermediate responses to ART, and Eca109 cells with p53Nor/p16Nor exhibited the most resistance to ATR. Consistently, perturbation of p53 expression using RNA interference (RNAi) and/or Cdk4/6 activity using the inhibitor palbociclib altered ART cytotoxicity in KYSE30 cells. Given that the p53 and Cdk4/6-cyclin D1-p16-Rb genes are commonly mutated in ESCC, our results potentially shed new light on neoadjuvant chemotherapy strategies for ESCC.

An effective two-stage NMBzA-induced rat esophageal tumor model revealing that the FAT-Hippo-YAP1 axis drives the progression of ESCC.

Rat model of N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine (NMBzA)-induced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is routinely used to study ESCC initiation, progression and new therapeutic strategies. However, the model is time-consuming and malignant tumor incidences are low. Here, we report the usage of multi-kinase inhibitor sorafenib as a tumor promoter to establish an efficient two-stage NMBzA-induced rat ESCC carcinogenesis model, resulting in increments of tumor incidences and shortened tumor formation times. By establishing the model and applying whole-genome sequencing, we discover that benign papillomas and malignant ESCCs harbor most of the "driver" events found in rat ESCCs (e.g. recurrent mutations in Ras family, the Hippo and Notch pathways and histone modifier genes) and the mutational landscapes of rat and human ESCCs overlap extensively. We generate tumor cell lines derived from NMBzA-induced papillomas and ESCCs, showing that papilloma cells retain more characteristics of normal epithelial cells than carcinoma cells, especially their exhibitions of normal rat cell karyotypes and inabilities of forming tumors in immunodeficient mice. Three-dimensional (3-D) organoid cultures and single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) indicate that, when compared to control- and papilloma-organoids, ESCC-organoids display salient abnormalities at tissue and single-cell levels. Multi-omic analyses indicate that NMBzA-induced rat ESCCs are accompanied by progressive hyperactivations of the FAT-Hippo-YAP1 axis and siRNA or inhibitors of YAP1 block the growth of rat ESCCs. Taken together, these studies provide a framework of using an effective rat ESCC model to investigate multilevel functional genomics of ESCC carcinogenesis, which justify targeting YAP1 as a therapeutic strategy for ESCC.

Serum ferritin level is an effective prognostic factor for lung cancer immunotherapy.

Immunotherapy of lung cancer has achieved promising clinical results. However, it is urgent to develop predictive biomarkers for effective immunotherapy. While ferroptosis plays a critical role in immunotherapy efficacy, ferritin is an important regulatory factor. We, therefore, hypothesize that basal serum ferritin levels before immunotherapy and their corresponding changes during immunotherapy can be useful predictors of immunotherapy response in patients with lung cancer. We measured serum ferritin levels in 107 patients with lung cancer before and during immune checkpoint blockade treatments and studied the correlation between ferritin levels, response rate, and survival. Moreover, the correlation between basal ferritin and PD-L1 expression, tumor stages and pathological types was also analyzed. Patients with lower basal serum ferritin levels before immunotherapy had longer progression-free survival (PFS) (median 7 vs 4 months, P = .023) and higher disease control rate (DCR) (X2 = 4.837, P = .028), those with downregulated serum ferritin levels during immunotherapy correlated with longer PFS (median 9.5 vs 4 months, P < .001) and higher DCR (X2 = 6.475, P = .011). However, the "integrated factor", which was calculated as the combination of lower basal serum ferritin levels before immunotherapy and downregulated serum ferritin levels during immunotherapy, correlated with prolonged PFS (P < .001). Multivariate analyses revealed that the basal serum ferritin levels before immunotherapy and the corresponding changes during immunotherapy were both strong independent prognostic factors (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.60, P = .041; HR = 2.65, P = .001). These findings suggest that serum ferritin levels can be used as a prognostic biomarker for lung cancer in predicting immunotherapy efficacy.

Chemoradiotherapy combined with immunotherapy in stage III non-small cell lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of efficacy and safety outcomes.

Background Since the success of the PACIFIC trial, durvalumab has become the clear standard of care for many patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT). However, the duration of immune consolidation and the efficacy and safety of different immune agents remain unclear. We conducted a systematic review of relevant studies. Methods We searched all the relevant studies in PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library databases. We also reviewed abstracts of relevant conferences, to prevent omissions. The meta-analysis was performed using Stata version 16.0. Results Chemoradiotherapy combined with immunotherapy can improve PFS (HR: 0.60, 95%CI :0.55-0.60) and OS (HR: 0.59, 95%CI :0.53-0.66) compared with no immunotherapy. The pooled 24-month PFS and 24-month OS rates were 48.1% (95% CI, 43.5%-52.7%) and 71.3% (95% CI, 67.3%-75.2%), respectively. Subgroup analysis showed that 24-month OS rates were 60.7% (95%CI, 51.0%-70.3%) and 77.4% (95%CI, 73.2%-81.7%) at 1 year and 2 years of immune consolidation, respectively. The pooled 1-year completion rate for immune consolidation was 35.6% (95%CI, 31.3%-39.8%). The pooled rate of pneumonitis for all grades was 41.7% (95%CI, 31.9%-51.9%). The pooled rate of pneumonitis ≥ grade 3 was 6.7% (95%CI, 5.0%-8.5%). The incidence of pneumonitis ≥ grade 3 after 1 year of immunotherapy is 4.8% (95%CI, 3.1%-6.5%). The incidence of pneumonitis ≥ grade 3 after 2 years of immunotherapy is 5.1% (95%CI, 2.9%-7.3%). Conclusions Prolonging the duration of immunotherapy consolidation increases survival benefits in patients with stage III NSCLC without causing higher side effects. Older patients, due to high incidence of pneumonia and low immunotherapy completion rate, have less survival benefit.

Advances in anti-tumor based on various anaerobic bacteria and their derivatives as drug vehicles.

Cancer therapies, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, are often unsatisfactory due to several limitations, including drug resistance, inability to cross biological barriers, and toxic side effects on the body. These drawbacks underscore the need for alternative treatments that can overcome these challenges and provide more effective and safer options for cancer patients. In recent years, the use of live bacteria, engineered bacteria, or bacterial derivatives to deliver antitumor drugs to specific tumor sites for controlled release has emerged as a promising therapeutic tool. This approach offers several advantages over traditional cancer therapies, including targeted drug delivery and reduced toxicity to healthy tissues. Ongoing research in this field holds great potential for further developing more efficient and personalized cancer therapies, such as E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria, and bacterial derivatives like outer membrane vesicles (OMVs), which can serve as vehicles for drugs, therapeutic proteins, or antigens. In this review, we describe the advances, challenges, and future directions of research on using live bacteria or OMVs as carriers or components derived from bacteria of delivery systems for cancer therapy.

Targeting complement C5a to improve radiotherapy sensitivity in non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Tumor local and distant relapse recurrence after radiotherapy (RT) is one of the critical factors leading to poor prognosis. The effective antitumor effects of RT are dependent upon the participation of innate and adaptive components of the immune system. C5a/C5aR1 signaling can regulate antitumor immune effect in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Thus, exploring the changes and mechanism in the TME induced by RT-mediated complement activation may provide a novel perspective for reversing radioresistance. Methods: First, fractionated radiation of 8 Gy ×3 fractions were targeted at Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) tumor-bearing female mice to measure the infiltration of CD8+ T cell and analyze the RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) in RT-recruited CD8+ T cells. Second, tumor growth was measured in LLC tumor-bearing mice treated with RT either with or without C5aR1 inhibitor to clarify the antitumor effect of RT combined with C5aR1 inhibitor. Third, we detected the expression of C5a/C5aR1 and their signaling pathways on radiated tumor tissues. Furthermore, we investigated the expression of C5a in tumor cells at different time points after different doses of RT. Results: In our system, RT induced the increased infiltration of CD8+ T cells and local activation of complement C5a/C5aR. Concurrent administration of RT and blocking of C5aR improved radiosensitivity and tumor-specific immune response, which was reflected by high C5aR expression in CD8+ T cells. The AKT/NF-κB pathway was found to be an important signaling pathway in C5a/C5aR axis mediation by RT. Conclusions: RT promotes the release of C5a from tumor cells and leads to up-regulation of C5aR1 expression via the AKT/NF-κB pathway. Inhibition of the combination of complement C5a and C5aR could improve RT sensitivity. Our work provides evidence that the combination of RT and C5aR blockade opens a new window of opportunity to promote anti-tumor therapeutic effects in lung cancer.

Ferritin in cancer therapy: A pleiotropic tumoraffin nanocage-based transport.

BACKGROUND: Ferritin, a ubiquitously distributed iron storage protein, can specifically target tumor cells through transferrin receptor 1. Due to its rearrangeable nanocage structure, ferritin can be loaded with anticancer drugs. Combined with amino acid modifications on the outer- and/or inner-spaces of the nanocage, ferritins can be further coupled with antigens, antibodies, and nucleotide sequences. Since ferritin is naturally presented in the human body, when used in vivo, ferritin exhibits good biocompatibility, and no immunogenic response occurs. These makes ferritin an ideal nanocarrier which shows broad application prospects in cancer therapy. METHODS: In this study, to find articles, a search was made in PubMed with the keywords ferritin, drug delivery, drug delivery, and cancer treatment. RESULTS: According to the investigation, some studies suggest that ferritin can be loaded with drugs and targeted for delivery to tumor tissue. Therefore, ferritin nanocarriers loaded with drugs can be used in chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy (PDT), photothermal therapy (PTT) and immunotherapy. Importantly, the specific targeting of ferritin nanocarriers to tumor cells increases the effectiveness of related therapies and reduces side effects. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude in this paper that the superior properties of ferritin nanocarriers as an emerging drug delivery system make them a promising cancer treatment strategy. In the future, it is worth conducting clinical trials to further investigate the safety and efficacy of ferritin nanocarriers in patients.

An approach to detecting diphenylamine content and assessing chemical stability of single-base propellants by near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy.

Diphenylamine (DPA) as a stabilizer component plays an important role in maintaining the chemical stability of single-base propellants (SBPs). This work investigated the feasibility of rapidly detecting the content of DPA in SBP by near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS). The quantitative NIR model was developed by intervals selection, spectral pretreatment and factor number optimization. The optimal spectral intervals were determined to be 1081 nm âˆ¼ 1280 nm and 1378 nm âˆ¼ 1602 nm based on the characteristic spectral peaks of DPA. By comparing the performance of the developed models with different preprocessing methods, the best preprocessing method was standard normal variate transformation (SNV) + de-trending (Dr) + Smoothing. The optimal number of factors was 6 for DPA model. Partial least squares (PLS) regression was used to establish the calibration models of DPA. For the developed model, the determination coefficients of calibration and prediction (Rc2, Rp2) were 0.9907 and 0.9884, respectively. The root mean square errors of calibration and prediction (RMSEC, RMSEP) were 0.0310 and 0.0342, respectively. The samples in the prediction set were predicted by the developed model, and the average absolute error of the proposed and reference method was only 0.0265. The developed model can be applied in rapid monitor the content of DPA in SBP. In addition, vieille test have demonstrated that the chemical stability of SBP became worse with the decrease of DPA content. The content of DPA contained in the SBP with qualified chemical stability is not less than 0.8753%. Thus, the developed model can be used to judge whether the chemical stability of SBP is qualified or unqualified.

Hedychium flavum flower essential oil: Chemical composition, anti-inflammatory activities and related mechanisms in vitro and in vivo.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Hedychium flavum, an ornamental, edible, and medicinal plant, is extensively cultivated as a source of aromatic essential oils (EO). Its flower is a traditional Chinese medicine for treating inflammation-related diseases like indigestion, diarrhea, and stomach pain. In particular, H. flavum flower EO has been used in cosmetics and as an aromatic stomachic to treat chronic gastritis in China. AIM OF THE STUDY: This research aimed to analyze H. flavum flower EO's chemical composition and explore its anti-inflammatory activities and related mechanisms in vitro and in vivo. MATERIALS AND METHODS: EO's chemical composition was determined by GC-FID/MS analysis. For in vitro test, the anti-inflammatory activity of EO was demonstrated by measuring the LPS-induced release of NO, PGE2, IL-1ß, TNF-α, and IL-6 in RAW264.7 macrophages, and then its related mechanisms were explored using qRT-PCR, western blot, and immunofluorescent staining analysis. Next, EO's in vivo anti-inflammatory potential was further evaluated using a xylene-induced ear edema model, in which ear swelling and TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1ß levels in serum and tissue were examined. RESULTS: The main components of EO were ß-pinene (20.2%), α-pinene (9.3%), α-phellandrene (8.3%), 1,8-cineole (7.1%), E-nerolidol (5.4%), limonene (4.4%), borneol (4.1%), and ß-caryophyllene (3.7%). For the anti-inflammatory activities in vitro, EO dramatically reduced the LPS-stimulated NO and PGE2 release by suppressing the mRNA and protein expression of iNOS and COX-2. Meanwhile, it remarkably decreased IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1ß production by inhibiting their mRNA levels. Related mechanism studies indicated that it not only inhibited IκBα phosphorylation and degradation, leading to blockade of NF-κB nuclear transfer but also suppressed MAPKs (ERK, p38, and JNK) phosphorylation in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. Further in vivo assay showed that EO ameliorated xylene-induced ear edema in mice and reduced TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1ß levels in serum and tissue. CONCLUSIONS: H. flavum EO exerted significant anti-inflammatory activity in vivo and in vitro, and its mechanism of action is related to the inhibition of MAPK and NF-κB activation. Thus, H. flavum EO could be considered a novel and promising anti-inflammatory agent and possess high potential for utilization in the pharmaceutical field.

Establishment of a NIR-based methodology for tracking the blend homogeneity of HTPB propellant slurry in the mixing process.

The hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) propellants with high level of solid loadings from 80 wt% to 90 wt% consist of aluminum (Al) powder, ammonium perchlorate (AP) and HTPB. The Al/AP/HTPB adhesive system full of solid grains appears high viscosity against flow. Therefore, the mixing is a crucial procedure in the production as it directly affects the structural integrity of the finished product. This work focused on the feasibility of tracking the blend homogeneity of Al/AP/HTPB adhesive system in the mixing process through using the near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and orthogonal partial least squares discrimination analysis (OPLS-DA). The OPLS-DA classification models were created by variable selection, spectral pretreatment and latent variables (LVs) optimization. It had been demonstrated that the developed models presented an excellent predictability with the root mean square error of cross-validation (RMSECV) for slurries in Ⅰ, Ⅱ groups of 0.1261 and 0.0789, respectively. Meanwhile, the well-fitted models for slurries in Ⅰ, Ⅱ groups with the squared correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.806 and 0.980, exhibited separately an acceptable predictive capability with the predictive squared correlation coefficient (Q2) > 0.5. Furthermore, Euclidean distance and move block standard deviation (MBSD) as reference methods were used to validate the predictive performance of the developed models with respect to the blend homogeneity of HTPB propellant slurry. The experimental results showed that the terminal time for each batch of slurry reaching to ideal uniformity predicted by Euclidean distance/MBSD and OPLS-DA were both at 26-30 min. Therefore, it had been proved that the method we proposed was a potential tool to monitor the variation of the uniform state of HTPB propellant slurry in the mixing process.

Antioxidant, Antibacterial, Enzyme Inhibitory, and Anticancer Activities and Chemical Composition of Alpinia galanga Flower Essential Oil.

Alpinia galanga is widely cultivated for its essential oil (EO), which has been used in cosmetics and perfumes. Previous studies of A. galanga focussed mostly on the rhizome but seldom on the flower. Therefore, this study was designed to identify the chemical composition of A. galanga flower EO and firstly estimate its antioxidant, antibacterial, enzyme inhibitory, and anticancer activities. According to the results of the gas chromatography with flame ionization or mass selective detection (GC-FID/MS) analysis, the most abundant component of the EO was farnesene (64.3%), followed by farnesyl acetate (3.6%), aceteugenol (3.2%), eugenol (3.1%), E-nerolidol (2.9%), decyl acetate (2.4%), octyl acetate (2.0%), sesquirosefuran (1.9%), (E)-ß-farnesene (1.7%), and germacrene D (1.5%). For the bioactivities, the EO exhibited moderate DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging effects with IC50 values of 138.62 ± 3.07 µg/mL and 40.48 ± 0.49 µg/mL, respectively. Moreover, the EO showed strong-to-moderate antibacterial activities with various diameter of inhibition zone (DIZ) (8.79−14.32 mm), minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) (3.13−6.25 mg/mL), and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) (6.25−12.50 mg/mL) values against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Proteus vulgaris. Interestingly, the EO possessed remarkable α-glucosidase inhibition (IC50 = 0.16 ± 0.03 mg/mL), which was equivalent to that of the positive control acarbose (IC50 = 0.15 ± 0.01 mg/mL) (p > 0.05). It showed moderate tyrosinase inhibition (IC50 = 0.62 ± 0.09 mg/mL) and weak inhibitory activity on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) (IC50 = 2.49 ± 0.24 mg/mL) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) (IC50 = 10.14 ± 0.59 mg/mL). Furthermore, the EO exhibited considerable selective cytotoxicity to K562 cells (IC50 = 41.55 ± 2.28 µg/mL) and lower cytotoxicity to non-cancerous L929 cells (IC50 = 120.54 ± 8.37 µg/mL), and it induced K562 cell apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Hence, A. galanga flower EO could be regarded as a bioactive natural product with great application potential in the pharmaceutical field.

Identification and characterization of stem cells in mammalian esophageal stratified squamous epithelia.

Somatic stem cells are essential for the maintenance of tissue homeostasis. Despite its importance, how the esophageal stratified squamous epithelium executes its self-renewal and maintenance remains elusive. In this study, using 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine label-chase in rats in vivo and rat esophageal organoids in vitro together with genome-wide DNA methylation and single-cell RNA sequencing, we identified a slow-cycling/quiescent stem cell population that contained high levels of hemidesmosomes (HDs) and low levels of Wnt signaling localized spatially and randomly at the basal layer of the esophageal epithelium. Pseudotime cell trajectory analysis indicated that tissue cells originated from quiescent basal stem cells in the basal layer. Perturbations of HD component expression and/or Wnt signaling reduced the stem cell population in the basal layer of esophageal keratinocyte organoids, resulting in alterations in the organoid formation rate, size, morphogenesis, and proliferation-differentiation homeostasis. Furthermore, not only high levels of HDs and low levels of Wnt signaling but also an interplay between HD and Wnt signaling defined the stem cells of the basal layer. Hence, HDs and Wnt signaling are critical determinants for defining the stem cells of the basal layer required for tissue homeostasis in mammalian esophagi.

The prognostic value of chemotherapy or/and radiotherapy in adenoid cystic carcinoma and adenoid basal carcinoma of the uterine cervix.

Background: Cervical adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) and adenoid basal carcinoma (ABC) are rare cervical cancer types and have unclarified clinicopathological features and survival outcomes. This retrospective study focused on predicting the value of radiotherapy or/and chemotherapy for cervical ACC and ABC patients. Methods: The clinical data of cervical ACC and ABC patients in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database from 1973 and 2013 were included. The clinicopathological features, Kaplan-Meier curves, and overall survival (OS) of patients were evaluated. The prognostic nomogram was established based on the multivariate Cox models. To validate the nomogram prediction, Harrell's Concordance index (C-index) was calculated and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated. Results: A total of 84 cervical ACC and 82 ABC patients were identified, and ABC patients had better 10-year OS than ACC patients (60.81% vs. 36.94%, P=0.001). Age, ACC, surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and regional node involvement were significantly correlated with patient prognosis. In the multivariate analysis, only age >80 years (HR =5.945, 95% CI: 1.912-18.485, P=0.002) and age 70-80 years (HR =4.803, 95% CI: 1.626-14.188, P=0.005) were independent predictors of patient prognosis. In subgroup analysis, patients who underwent surgery (HR =2.199, 95% CI: 1.085-4.455, P=0.029) and the ABC subgroup (HR =4.233, 95% CI: 1.532-11.696, P=0.005) received radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or chemoradiotherapy with a poor prognosis. Patients received radiotherapy (HR =1.936, 95% CI: 1.208-3.105, P=0.006) was associated with a poor prognosis, while surgical patients had a better prognosis (HR =0.535, 95% CI: 0.344-0.832, P=0.006). Conclusions: Cervical ABC patients had a better survival time than cervical ACC patients. We found that increased age was potentially an independent risk factor for poor prognosis, surgical patients had a better prognosis, and radiotherapy, or chemotherapy combination treatment had an unfavorable tendency to prognosis.

Targeting Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in Radioresistance: Crosslinked Mechanisms and Strategies.

Radiotherapy exerts a crucial role in curing cancer, however, its treatment efficiency is mostly limited due to the presence of radioresistance. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a biological process that endows the cancer cells with invasive and metastatic properties, as well as radioresistance. Many potential mechanisms of EMT-related radioresistance being reported have broaden our cognition, and hint us the importance of an overall understanding of the relationship between EMT and radioresistance. This review focuses on the recent progresses involved in EMT-related mechanisms in regulating radioresistance, irradiation-mediated EMT program, and the intervention strategies to increase tumor radiosensitivity, in order to improve radiotherapy efficiency and clinical outcomes of cancer patients.

PCGF1 is a prognostic biomarker and correlates with tumor immunity in gliomas.

Background: Polycomb group factor 1 (PCGF1) plays a vital role in the self-renewal of cancer stem cells (CSCs). However, the prognostic value and potential function of PCGF1 in glioma progression, especially in tumor immunity, remain unclear. Methods: This study investigated PCGF1 expression in pan-cancers and glioma using The Cancer Genome Atlas Project data, and conducted a logistic regression analysis to analyze the association between PCGF1 expression and the clinicopathological features of glioma patients. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were used to assess the prognostic roles of PCGF1. The functional analysis using gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes databases and a gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) were conducted to examine the PCGF1-related biological processes and signaling pathways. Finally, the roles of PCGF1 in immune infiltration were analyzed by a single sample GSEA (ssGSEA). Results: PCGF1 expression was upregulated in glioma tissues. The high expression of PCGF1 was significantly associated with an age >60 years (P<0.001), an increased World Health Organization grade (P<0.001), and wildtype isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) status (P<0.001), and predicted poor overall survival (OS) [hazards ratio (HR) =2.90, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.25-3.74; P<0.001], the progression-free interval (PFI) (HR =1.99, 95% CI: 1.60-2.46; P<0.001), and disease specific survival (DSS) (HR =2.84, 95% CI: 2.18-3.71; P<0.001). The multivariate regression analysis confirmed that PCGF1 expression was an independent prognostic factor of OS (HR =1.581, 95% CI: 1.161-2.153; P=0.004). Based on the functional enrichment analysis, we identified the PCGF1-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs), and found that PCGF1 was involved in regulating many oncogenic signaling pathways, such as the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and protein kinase B pathway, the Janus kinase/signal transducers and activators of transcription (JKT-STAT) signaling pathway, notch signaling and integrin signaling pathway. In addition, we found that PCGF1 expression was positively associated with the abundance of Th2, but negatively associated with T follicular helper, T central memory, and T gamma delta cells. Additionally, PCGF1 participated in the regulation of numerous immune-related processes in glioma. Conclusions: PCGF1 is a promising prognostic biomarker, and as it governs cancer-related pathways and tumor immunity, it plays an important role in glioma development.

Aspirin enhances the therapeutic efficacy of cisplatin in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma by inhibition of putative cancer stem cells.

BACKGROUND: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are related to the patient's prognosis, recurrence and therapy resistance in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Although increasing evidence suggests that aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid, ASA) could lower the incidence and improve the prognosis of ESCC, the mechanism(s) remains to be fully understood. METHODS: We investigated the role of ASA in chemotherapy/chemoprevention in human ESCC cell lines and an N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine-induced rat ESCC carcinogenesis model. The effects of combined treatment with ASA/cisplatin on ESCC cell lines were examined in vitro and in vivo. Sphere-forming cells enriched with putative CSCs (pCSCs) were used to investigate the effect of ASA in CSCs. Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin with high-throughput sequencing (ATAC-seq) was performed to determine the alterations in chromatin accessibility caused by ASA in ESCC cells. RESULTS: ASA inhibits the CSC properties and enhances cisplatin treatment in human ESCC cells. ATAC-seq indicates that ASA treatment results in remarkable epigenetic alterations on chromatin in ESCC cells, especially their pCSCs, through the modification of histone acetylation levels. The epigenetic changes activate Bim expression and promote cell death in CSCs of ESCC. Furthermore, ASA prevents the carcinogenesis of NMBzA-induced ESCC in the rat model. CONCLUSIONS: ASA could be a potential chemotherapeutic adjuvant and chemopreventive drug for ESCC treatment.

An approach for simultaneous monitoring the content of insensitive agent in the double-base oblate spherical propellant by application of near-infrared spectroscope and partial least squares.

The content of insensitive agent is an important parameter that has been shown correlated with the combustion characteristic of double-base oblate spherical propellant (DOSP). This work focused on the feasibility of simultaneous monitoring the content of insensitive agent (dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and N, N'-dimethyl-N, N'-diphenylurea (C2)) in DOSP by using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscope coupled with partial least squares (PLS). The optimal spectral intervals for creating models of DBP and C2 corresponded to 5964 cm-1-4212 cm-1 and 6240 cm-1-4380 cm-1, respectively. It had been demonstrated that derivative tools were more suitable for spectral preprocessing as which had the lowest root mean squares error of cross-validation (RMSECV). The best-performance models of DBP and C2 were built under 4 and 7 PLS factors, respectively. The results showed that the determination coefficients of calibration (Rc2) and the root mean squares error of calibration (RMSEC) were 0.9771 and 0.0173 for DBP; 0.984 and 0.0072 for C2, respectively. Besides, the developed models exhibited excellent ability in prediction with the determination coefficients in prediction (RP2) and the root mean squares error in prediction (RMSEP) of 0.9681 and 0.0275 for DBP, and of 0.9554 and 0.0107 for C2, respectively. The residual predictive deviation (RPD) of prediction set were 5.68 and 5.12 for DBP and C2, respectively. The average relative errors of the proposed and reference methods were 0.652% for DBP, and 0.429% for C2, revealing a good correlation between the reference values and predicted values. Therefore, it concluded that the proposed plan has shown to be an attractive means since its efficient and highly accurate which could provide a better option for quality control in the large-scale production of DOSP.

Radiotherapy programs neutrophils to an antitumor phenotype by inducing mesenchymal-epithelial transition.

BACKGROUND: Neutrophils can play a pro-tumor or anti-tumor role depending on the tumor microenvironment. The effects of concurrent treatment with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and radiotherapy (RT) on neutrophils have not yet to be described. METHODS: Hypofractionated radiation of 8 Gy ×3 fractions was administered with or without recombinant G-CSF to Lewis lung carcinoma tumor-bearing C57BL/6 model mice. The activation status of cytotoxic T cells in the mice was measured, along with the levels of tumor-associated neutrophils, cytotoxic T cells, and Treg cells. Tumor growth, survival, cytokine expression, and signaling pathways underlying anti-tumor effects of tumor-associated neutrophils after treatment were also studied. To ascertain the effects of concurrent RT and G-CSF on tumor-associated neutrophils, neutrophil depletion was performed. RESULTS: RT affected early neutrophil infiltration, which is the first-line immune response. Subsequently, enhanced accumulation of lymphocytes, particularly CD8 cytotoxic T cells, was observed. Notably, lymphocytic infiltration was inhibited by neutrophil depletion but enhanced by G-CSF treatment. RT generated persistent DNA damage, as evidenced by an accumulation of phosphorylation of histone H2AX (γH2AX), and subsequently triggered inflammatory chemokine secretion. The chemokines CXCL1, CXCL2, and CCL5 were upregulated in both radiation-treated cells and the corresponding supernatants. Neutrophils that were newly recruited after RT improved radiosensitivity by inhibiting epithelial-mesenchymal transition via the reactive oxygen species-mediated PI3K/Akt/Snail signaling pathway, and G-CSF treatment enhanced this effect. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that RT activates neutrophil recruitment and polarizes newly recruited neutrophils toward an antitumor phenotype, which is enhanced by the concurrent administration of G-CSF. Mesenchymal-epithelial transition induced by reactive oxygen species accumulation plays a major role in this process. Thus, the polarization of tumor-associated neutrophils might play a role in future cancer immunotherapies.

Systematic Modification of the Glass Transition Temperature of Ion-Pair Comonomer Based Polyelectrolytes and Ionomers by Copolymerization with a Chemically Similar Cationic Monomer.

Ion-pair comonomers (IPCs) where both the anion and cation contain polymerizable functional groups offer a route to prepare polyampholyte, ion-containing polymers. Polymerizing vinyl functional groups by free-radical polymerization produces bridging ion-pairs that act as non-covalent crosslinks between backbone segments. In particular the homopolymerization of the IPC vinyl benzyl tri-n-octylphosphonium styrene sulfonate produces a stiff, glassy polymer with a glass transition temperature (Tg) of 191 °C, while copolymerization with a non-ionic acrylate produces microphase separates ionomers with ion-rich and ion-poor domains. This work investigates the tuning of the Tg of the polyelectrolyte or ion-rich domains of the ionomers by copolymerizing with vinyl benzyl tri-n-octylphosphonium p-toluene sulfonic acid. This chemically similar repeat unit with pendant rather than bridging ion-pairs lowers the Tg compared to the polyelectrolyte or ionomer containing only the IPC segments. Rheological measurements were used to characterize the thermomechanical behavior and Tg of different copolymers. The Tg variation in the polyelectrolyte vs. weight fraction IPC could be fit with either the Gordon-Taylor or Couchman-Karasz equation. Copolymerization of IPC with a chemically similar cationic monomer offers a viable route to systematically vary the Tg of the resulting polymers useful for tailoring the material properties in applications such as elastomers or shape memory polymers.

Phytochemical Analysis, Antioxidant, Antibacterial, Cytotoxic, and Enzyme Inhibitory Activities of Hedychium flavum Rhizome.

Hedychium flavum Roxb., a medicinal, edible, and ornamental plant, is widely cultivated throughout China, India, and Southeast Asia. The rhizome from this plant has been used for food flavoring and in traditional Chinese medicine to treat diverse diseases, but the detailed constituents and bioactivities are still limited known. Therefore, phytochemical analysis by GC-MS and UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS, and antioxidant, antibacterial, cytotoxic, and enzyme inhibitory activities tests have been conducted in the current study. Based on the GC-MS results, the essential oil (EO) of rhizome was mainly composed of coronarin E (20.3%), ß-pinene (16.8%), E-nerolidol (11.8%), and linalool (8.5%). Among them, coronarin E was reported in H. flavum EO firstly. Furthermore, the spectrophotometric indicated rhizome had high total phenolic content (TPC, 50.08-57.42 mg GAEs/g extract) and total flavonoid content (TFC, 12.45-21.83 mg REs/g extract), no matter in water extract (WE) or in 70% ethanol extract (EE). UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS was applied to further characterize composition, and 86 compounds were putatively identified from WE and EE, including 13 phenolic components. For the bioactivities, both WE and EE showed remarkable antioxidant activity by DPPH and ABTS tests, being superior to the positive control (butylated hydroxytoluene, BTH). EO revealed significant antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Proteus vulgaris with DIZ (10.34-24.43 mm), MIC (78.13-312.50 µg/mL), and MBC (156.25-625.00 µg/mL). Moreover, EO exhibited a considerable selectivity to human tumor cell K562 (IC50 = 27.16 µg/mL), and its toxicity was more than 3.5-fold different from that of non-cancerous MRC-5 cell (IC50 = 95.96 µg/mL) and L929 cell (IC50 = 129.91 µg/mL). A series of apoptosis analysis demonstrated that EO induced apoptosis against K562 cells in a dose-dependent manner. In enzyme inhibitory effect assays, WE and EE showed strong α-glucosidase inhibition activity, being superior to the positive control (acarbose). Besides, the EO, WE, and EE didn't show a promising inhibition on tyrosinase (19.30-32.51 mg KAEs/g sample) and exhibited a weak inhibitory effect on cholinesterase. Based on the current results, H. flavum could be considered as a source of bioactive compounds and has high exploitation potential in the cosmetics, food, and pharmaceutical industries.