Diagnosis of malignant body fluids via cancer-universal methylation in cell-free DNA.

BACKGROUNDDifferentiating malignant from nonmalignant body fluids remains a clinical challenge because of the unsatisfying performance of conventional cytology. We aimed to improve the sensitivity and ubiquity of cancer cell detection by assaying universal cancer-only methylation (UCOM) markers in supernatant cell-free DNA (cfDNA).METHODSAn observational prospective cohort including 1,321 nonmalignant and malignant body fluids of multiple cancers was used to develop and validate a cfDNA UCOM methylation diagnostic assay. All samples were divided into 2 portions for cytology and supernatant cfDNA methylation analysis.RESULTSThe significant hypermethylation of a potentially novel UCOM marker, TAGMe, together with the formerly reported PCDHGB7, was identified in the cfDNA of malignant body fluid samples. The combined model, cell-free cancer-universal methylation (CUE), was developed and validated in a prospective multicancer cohort with markedly elevated sensitivity and specificity, and was further verified in a set containing additional types of malignant body fluids and metastases. In addition, it remained hypersensitive in detecting cancer cells in cytologically negative malignant samples.CONCLUSIONcfDNA methylation markers are robust in detecting tumor cells and are applicable to diverse body fluids and tumor types, providing a feasible complement to current cytology-based diagnostic analyses.TRIAL REGISTRATIONThis study was registered at Chictr.org.cn (ChiCTR2200060532).FUNDINGNational Natural Science Foundation of China (32270645, 31872814, 32000505, 82170088), the National Key R&D Program of Ningxia Hui Autonomous region (2022BEG01003), Shanghai Municipal Key Clinical Specialty (shslczdzk02201), Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (20DZ2261200, 20DZ2254400), and Major Special Projects of Basic Research of Shanghai Science and Technology Commission (18JC1411101).

PCDHGB7 hypermethylation-based Cervical cancer Methylation (CerMe) detection for the triage of high-risk human papillomavirus-positive women: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Implementation of high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) screening has greatly reduced the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer. However, a triage strategy that is effective, noninvasive, and independent from the subjective interpretation of pathologists is urgently required to decrease unnecessary colposcopy referrals in hrHPV-positive women. METHODS: A total of 3251 hrHPV-positive women aged 30-82 years (median = 41 years) from International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital were included in the training set (n = 2116) and the validation set (n = 1135) to establish Cervical cancer Methylation (CerMe) detection. The performance of CerMe as a triage for hrHPV-positive women was evaluated. RESULTS: CerMe detection efficiently distinguished cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse (CIN2 +) from cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 1 or normal (CIN1 -) women with excellent sensitivity of 82.4% (95% CI = 72.6 ~ 89.8%) and specificity of 91.1% (95% CI = 89.2 ~ 92.7%). Importantly, CerMe showed improved specificity (92.1% vs. 74.9%) in other 12 hrHPV type-positive women as well as superior sensitivity (80.8% vs. 61.5%) and specificity (88.9% vs. 75.3%) in HPV16/18 type-positive women compared with cytology testing. CerMe performed well in the triage of hrHPV-positive women with ASC-US (sensitivity = 74.4%, specificity = 87.5%) or LSIL cytology (sensitivity = 84.4%, specificity = 83.9%). CONCLUSIONS: PCDHGB7 hypermethylation-based CerMe detection can be used as a triage strategy for hrHPV-positive women to reduce unnecessary over-referrals. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ChiCTR2100048972. Registered on 19 July 2021.

Spaced-Confined Janus Engineering Enables Controlled Ion Transport Channels and Accelerated Kinetics for Secondary Ion Batteries.

The large grain boundary resistance between different components of the anode electrode easily leads to the low ion transport efficiency and poor electrochemical performance of lithium-/sodium-ion batteries (LIBs/SIBs). To address the issue, a Janus heterointerface with a Mott-Schottky structure is proposed to optimize the interface atomic structure, weaken interatomic resistance, and improve ion transport kinetics. Herein, Janus Co/Co2P@carbon-nanotubes@core-shell (Janus Co/Co2P@CNT-CS) refined urchin-like architecture derived from metal-organic frameworks is reported via a coating-phosphating process, where the Janus Co/Co2P heterointerface nanoparticles are confined in carbon nanotubes and a core-shell polyhedron. Such a Janus Co/Co2P heterointerface shows the strong built-in electric field, facilitating the controllable ion transport channels and the high ion transport efficiency. The Janus Co/Co2P@CNT-CS refined urchin-like architecture composed of a core-shell structure and the grafting carbon nanotubes enhances the structure stability and electronic conductivity. Benefiting from the spaced-confined Janus heterointerface engineering and synergistic effects between the core-shell structure and the grafting carbon nanotubes, the Janus Co/Co2P@CNT-CS refined urchin-like architecture demonstrates the fast ion transport rate and excellent pseudocapacitance performance for LIBs/SIBs. In this case, the Janus Co/Co2P@CNT-CS refined urchin-like architecture shows high specific capacities of 709 mA h g-1 (200 cycles) and 203 mA h g-1 (300 cycles) at a current density of 500 mA g-1 for LIBs/SIBs, respectively.

Semi-Coherent Heterointerface Engineering via In Situ Phase Transition for Enhanced Sodium/Lithium-Ions Storage.

To improve ion transport kinetics and electronic conductivity between the different phases in sodium/lithium-ion battery (LIB/SIB) anodes, heterointerface engineering is considered as a promising strategy due to the strong built-in electric field. However, the lattice mismatch and defects in the interphase structure can lead to large grain boundary resistance, reducing the ion transport kinetics and electronic conductivity. Herein, monometallic selenide Fe3 Se4 -Fe7 Se8 semi-coherent heterointerface embedded in 3D connected Nitrogen-doped carbon yolk-shell matrix (Fe3 Se4 -Fe7 Se8 @NC) is obtained via an in situ phase transition process. Such semi-coherent heterointerface between Fe3 Se4 and Fe7 Se8 shows the matched interfacial lattice and strong built-in electric field, resulting in the low interface impedance and fast reaction kinetics. Moreover, the yolk-shell structure is designed to confine all monometallic selenide Fe3 Se4 -Fe7 Se8 semi-coherent heterointerface nanoparticles, improving the structural stability and inhibiting the volume expansion effect. In particular, the 3D carbon bridge between multi-yolks shell structure improves the electronic conductivity and shortens the ion transport path. Therefore, the efficient reversible pseudocapacitance and electrochemical conversion reaction are enabled by the Fe3 Se4 -Fe7 Se8 @NC, leading to the high specific capacity of 439 mAh g-1 for SIB and 1010 mAh g-1 for LIB. This work provides a new strategy for constructing heterointerface of the anode for secondary batteries.

Reversibly growing crosslinked polymers with programmable sizes and properties.

Growth constitutes a powerful method to post-modulate materials' structures and functions without compromising their mechanical performance for sustainable use, but the process is irreversible. To address this issue, we here report a growing-degrowing strategy that enables thermosetting materials to either absorb or release components for continuously changing their sizes, shapes, compositions, and a set of properties simultaneously. The strategy is based on the monomer-polymer equilibrium of networks in which supplying or removing small polymerizable components would drive the networks toward expansion or contraction. Using acid-catalyzed equilibration of siloxane as an example, we demonstrate that the size and mechanical properties of the resulting silicone materials can be significantly or finely tuned in both directions of growth and decomposition. The equilibration can be turned off to yield stable products or reactivated again. During the degrowing-growing circle, material structures are selectively varied either uniformly or heterogeneously, by the availability of fillers. Our strategy endows the materials with many appealing capabilities including environment adaptivity, self-healing, and switchability of surface morphologies, shapes, and optical properties. Since monomer-polymer equilibration exists in many polymers, we envision the expansion of the presented strategy to various systems for many applications.

Self-growing photonic composites with programmable colors and mechanical properties.

Many organisms produce stunning optical displays based on structural color instead of pigmentation. This structural or photonic color is achieved through the interaction of light with intricate micro-/nano-structures, which are "grown" from strong, sustainable biological materials such as chitin, keratin, and cellulose. In contrast, current synthetic structural colored materials are usually brittle, inert, and produced via energy-intensive processes, posing significant challenges to their practical uses. Inspired by the brilliantly colored peacock feathers which selectively grow keratin-based photonic structures with different photonic bandgaps, we develop a self-growing photonic composite system in which the photonic bandgaps and hence the coloration can be easily tuned. This is achieved via the selective growth of the polymer matrix with polymerizable compounds as feeding materials in a silica nanosphere-polymer composite system, thus effectively modulating the photonic bandgaps without compromising nanostructural order. Such strategy not only allows the material system to continuously vary its colors and patterns in an on-demand manner, but also endows it with many appealing properties, including flexibility, toughness, self-healing ability, and reshaping capability. As this innovative self-growing method is simple, inexpensive, versatile, and scalable, we foresee its significant potential in meeting many emerging requirements for various applications of structural color materials.

Slippery Passive Radiative Cooling Supramolecular Siloxane Coatings.

Polymer coatings with comprehensive properties including passive radiative cooling, anti-fouling, and self-healing constitute a promising energy-saving strategy but have not been well documented yet. Herein, we reported a class of novel multifunctional supramolecular polysiloxane composite coatings showing the combination of these features. The coatings have a hybrid structure with a slippery liquid-infused porous surface and a gradient polymer-Al2O3 composite matrix constructed by reversible hydrogen bonding. The gradient matrix consists of a polymer-rich top and a particle-rich bottom favoring coating attachment on rigid substrates. Such a complex structure can be obtained by simply casting the suspending solutions of the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-urea copolymer and Al2O3 on substrates followed by swelling silicone oil. Obtained coatings display good passive daytime radiative cooling (a temperature drop of ∼2 °C), self-healing ability, and anti-fouling properties. Since the comprehensive performances and the facile fabrication, the coatings should have application potential for various thermal management purposes.

Reactivation of tumour suppressor in breast cancer by enhancer switching through NamiRNA network.

Dysfunction of Tumour Suppressor Genes (TSGs) is a common feature in carcinogenesis. Epigenetic abnormalities including DNA hypermethylation or aberrant histone modifications in promoter regions have been described for interpreting TSG inactivation. However, in many instances, how TSGs are silenced in tumours are largely unknown. Given that miRNA with low expression in tumours is another recognized signature, we hypothesize that low expression of miRNA may reduce the activity of TSG related enhancers and further lead to inactivation of TSG during cancer development. Here, we reported that low expression of miRNA in cancer as a recognized signature leads to loss of function of TSGs in breast cancer. In 157 paired breast cancer and adjacent normal samples, tumour suppressor gene GPER1 and miR-339 are both downregulated in Luminal A/B and Triple Negative Breast Cancer subtypes. Mechanistic investigations revealed that miR-339 upregulates GPER1 expression in breast cancer cells by switching on the GPER1 enhancer, which can be blocked by enhancer deletion through the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Collectively, our findings reveal novel mechanistic insights into TSG dysfunction in cancer development, and provide evidence that reactivation of TSG by enhancer switching may be a promising alternative strategy for clinical breast cancer treatment.

UHRF1 regulates alternative splicing by interacting with splicing factors and U snRNAs in a H3R2me involved manner.

The well-established functions of UHRF1 converge to DNA biological processes, as exemplified by DNA methylation maintenance and DNA damage repair during cell cycles. However, the potential effect of UHRF1 on RNA metabolism is largely unexplored. Here, we revealed that UHRF1 serves as a novel alternative RNA splicing regulator. The protein interactome of UHRF1 identified various splicing factors. Among them, SF3B3 could interact with UHRF1 directly and participate in UHRF1-regulated alternative splicing events. Furthermore, we interrogated the RNA interactome of UHRF1, and surprisingly, we identified U snRNAs, the canonical spliceosome components, in the purified UHRF1 complex. Unexpectedly, we found H3R2 methylation status determines the binding preference of U snRNAs, especially U2 snRNAs. The involvement of U snRNAs in UHRF1-containing complex and their binding preference to specific chromatin configuration imply a finely orchestrated mechanism at play. Our results provided the resources and pinpointed the molecular basis of UHRF1-mediated alternative RNA splicing, which will help us better our understanding of the physiological and pathological roles of UHRF1 in disease development.

Hypermethylated PCDHGB7 as a Biomarker for Early Detection of Endometrial Cancer in Endometrial Brush Samples and Cervical Scrapings.

Endometrial cancer (EC) is one of the most common gynecologic cancers in developed countries. Presently, it is imperative to develop a reliable, noninvasive, or minimally invasive detection method for EC. We explored the possibility of using DNA methylation marker from endometrial brush samples (with a "Tao brush") and cervical scrapes (with a "Pap brush") for early detection of EC. We analyzed the methylation data of EC and normal endometrial tissues from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data sets. An optimized methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme combined with real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR (MSRE-qPCR) was used for methylation detection. Included in the training set were 143 endometrial tissues, 103 Tao, and 109 Pap brush samples. The validation set included 110 Tao and 112 Pap brush samples. PCDHGB7 was significantly hypermethylated in EC compared with normal endometrial tissues in the TCGA and GEO data sets (AUC >0.95), which was verified in clinical samples. In the Pap brush samples, the AUC was 0.86 with 80.65% sensitivity and 82.81% specificity, whereas the Tao brush samples exhibited higher specificity (95.31%). The combination of Tao and Pap brush samples significantly increased the sensitivity to 90.32%. In the validation set, the final model yielded a sensitivity of 98.61%, specificity of 60.53%, positive predictive value of 82.56%, and negative predictive value of 95.83%. These results demonstrate the potential application of the novel methylation marker, hypermethylated PCDHGB7, in cervical scrapings and endometrial brush, which provides a viable, noninvasive, or minimally invasive method for early endometrial cancer detection across different clinical features and histologies to supplement current hysteroscopy diagnosis.

Droplets Self-Born in the Dynamic Polymer for Generating Functional Coatings.

Droplet-embedded structures are useful in functionalizing polymer composites but difficult to prepare. Herein, we report a facile self-born method for creating droplets in supramolecular gels to mediate the material's functions. This method is based on the amplification of the defects of polymer matrices generated in curing by swelling-driving reconfiguration of supramolecular polymer networks. The system of poly(urea-co-polydimethylsiloxane) that can cross-link via hydrogen-bond interaction is used to demonstrate our concept. The elastomer matrices are prepared via a casting method and exhibit a heterogeneous structure with both strong- and weak-cross-linking domains. When these materials are swelled in solvents, solvent molecules concentrate in the weak-cross-linking domains to nucleate. With the reconfiguration of the matrices, the nuclei grow into pure droplets, leading to the formation of droplet-embedded structures. This method is applicable to different material systems. We also show that obtained coatings with such droplet-embedded structures exhibit various interesting properties including self-replenishment of the surface liquid, mechanoresponsiveness, and self-healing ability. Moreover, after the droplets are consumed, this method can be used to regenerate the droplet-embedded structure for refunctionalizing the materials. Therefore, we envision its applications in preparation of many useful polymer composites.

Histone-Related Genes Are Hypermethylated in Lung Cancer and Hypermethylated HIST1H4F Could Serve as a Pan-Cancer Biomarker.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Cytologic examination is the current "gold standard" for lung cancer diagnosis, however, this has low sensitivity. Here, we identified a typical methylation signature of histone genes in lung cancer by whole-genome DNA methylation analysis, which was validated by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) lung cancer cohort (n = 907) and was further confirmed in 265 bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples with specificity and sensitivity of 96.7% and 87.0%, respectively. More importantly, HIST1H4F was universally hypermethylated in all 17 tumor types from TCGA datasets (n = 7,344), which was further validated in nine different types of cancer (n = 243). These results demonstrate that HIST1H4F can function as a universal-cancer-only methylation (UCOM) marker, which may aid in understanding general tumorigenesis and improve screening for early cancer diagnosis. SIGNIFICANCE: These findings identify a new biomarker for cancer detection and show that hypermethylation of histone-related genes seems to persist across cancers.

One-Step Route Synthesized Co2 P/Ru/N-Doped Carbon Nanotube Hybrids as Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for High-Performance Li-O2 Batteries.

The large-scale commercial application of lithium-oxygen batteries (LOBs) is overwhelmed by the sluggish kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) associated with insoluble and insulated Li2 O2 . Herein, an elaborate design on a highly catalytic LOBs cathode constructed by N-doped carbon nanotubes (CNT) with in situ encapsulated Co2 P and Ru nanoparticles is reported. The homogeneously dispersed Co2 P and Ru catalysts can effectively modulate the formation and decomposition behavior of Li2 O2 during discharge/charge processes, ameliorating the electronically insulating property of Li2 O2 and constructing a homogenous low-impedance Li2 O2 /catalyst interface. Compared with Co/CNT and Ru/CNT electrodes, the Co2 P/Ru/CNT electrode delivers much higher oxygen reduction triggering onset potential and higher ORR and OER peak current and integral areas, showing greatly improved ORR/OER kinetics due to the synergistic effects of Co2 P and Ru. Li-O2 cells based on the Ru/Co2 P/CNT electrode demonstrate improved ORR/OER overpotential of 0.75 V, excellent rate capability of 12 800 mAh g-1 at 1 A g-1 , and superior cycle stability for more than 185 cycles under a restricted capacity of 1000 mAh g-1 at 100 mA g-1 . This work paves an exciting avenue for the design and construction of bifunctional catalytic cathodes by coupling metal phosphides with other active components in LOBs.

Guide Positioning Sequencing identifies aberrant DNA methylation patterns that alter cell identity and tumor-immune surveillance networks.

Aberrant DNA methylation is a distinguishing feature of cancer. Yet, how methylation affects immune surveillance and tumor metastasis remains ambiguous. We introduce a novel method, Guide Positioning Sequencing (GPS), for precisely detecting whole-genome DNA methylation with cytosine coverage as high as 96% and unbiased coverage of GC-rich and repetitive regions. Systematic comparisons of GPS with whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) found that methylation difference between gene body and promoter is an effective predictor of gene expression with a correlation coefficient of 0.67 (GPS) versus 0.33 (WGBS). Moreover, Methylation Boundary Shift (MBS) in promoters or enhancers is capable of modulating expression of genes associated with immunity and tumor metabolism. Furthermore, aberrant DNA methylation results in tissue-specific enhancer switching, which is responsible for altering cell identity during liver cancer development. Altogether, we demonstrate that GPS is a powerful tool with improved accuracy and efficiency over WGBS in simultaneously detecting genome-wide DNA methylation and genomic variation. Using GPS, we show that aberrant DNA methylation is associated with altering cell identity and immune surveillance networks, which may contribute to tumorigenesis and metastasis.

Circulating Tumor DNA as a Sensitive Marker in Patients Undergoing Irreversible Electroporation for Pancreatic Cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is often diagnosed at an advanced stage, resulting in extremely poor 5-year survival. Late diagnosis of PDAC is mainly due to lack of a reliable method of early detection. Carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 is often used as a tumor biomarker in PDAC; however, the test lacks sensitivity and specificity. Therefore, new sensitive and minimally invasive diagnostic tools are required to detect pancreatic cancer. METHODS: Here, we investigated circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) which contained KRAS-mutated as a potential diagnostic tool for PDAC patients who underwent irreversible electroporation (IRE). We used droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) to detect the expression of KRAS-mutated genes in plasma samples of 65 PDAC patients who underwent IRE. RESULTS: In these 65 cases, ctDNA was detected in 20 (29.2%) samples. The median overall survival (OS) was 11.4 months with ctDNA+ patients and 14.3 months for ctDNA- patients. ctDNA+ patients had a obviously poorer prognosis associated to overall survival (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our results suggested that the existence of ctDNA was a predictor of survival for PDAC patients. Therefore, ctDNA may be a new sensitive biomarker for monitoring treatment outcome in PDAC.

Mesoporous Hollow Sb/ZnS@C Core-Shell Heterostructures as Anodes for High-Performance Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Combining the advantage of metal, metal sulfide, and carbon, mesoporous hollow core-shell Sb/ZnS@C hybrid heterostructures composed of Sb/ZnS inner core and carbon outer shell are rationally designed based on a robust template of ZnS nanosphere, as anodes for high-performance sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). A partial cation exchange reaction based on the solubility difference between Sb2 S3 and ZnS can transform mesoporous ZnS to Sb2 S3 /ZnS heterostructure. To get a stable structure, a thin contiguous resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) layer is introduced on the surface of Sb2 S3 /ZnS heterostructure. The effectively protective carbon layer from RF can be designed as the reducing agent to convert Sb2 S3 to metallic Sb to obtain core-shell Sb/ZnS@C hybrid heterostructures. Simultaneously, the carbon outer shell is beneficial to the charge transfer kinetics, and can maintain the structure stability during the repeated sodiation/desodiation process. Owing to its unique stable architecture and synergistic effects between the components, the core-shell porous Sb/ZnS@C hybrid heterostructure SIB anode shows a high reversible capacity, good rate capability, and excellent cycling stability by turning the optimized voltage range. This novel strategy to prepare carbon-layer-protected metal/metal sulfide core-shell heterostructure can be further extended to design other novel nanostructured systems for high-performance energy storage devices.