Engineering Prostate Cancer from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells-New Opportunities to Develop Preclinical Tools in Prostate and Prostate Cancer Studies.

One of the key issues hampering the development of effective treatments for prostate cancer is the lack of suitable, tractable, and patient-specific in vitro models that accurately recapitulate this disease. In this review, we address the challenges of using primary cultures and patient-derived xenografts to study prostate cancer. We describe emerging approaches using primary prostate epithelial cells and prostate organoids and their genetic manipulation for disease modelling. Furthermore, the use of human prostate-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is highlighted as a promising complimentary approach. Finally, we discuss the manipulation of iPSCs to generate 'avatars' for drug disease testing. Specifically, we describe how a conceptual advance through the creation of living biobanks of "genetically engineered cancers" that contain patient-specific driver mutations hold promise for personalised medicine.

The antibacterial activity of a photoactivatable diarylacetylene against Gram-positive bacteria.

The emergence of antibiotic resistance is a growing threat to human health, and therefore, alternatives to existing compounds are urgently needed. In this context, a novel fluorescent photoactivatable diarylacetylene has been identified and characterised for its antibacterial activity, which preferentially eliminates Gram-positive over Gram-negative bacteria. Experiments confirmed that the Gram-negative lipopolysaccharide-rich outer surface is responsible for tolerance, as strains with reduced outer membrane integrity showed increased susceptibility. Additionally, bacteria deficient in oxidative damage repair pathways also displayed enhanced sensitivity, confirming that reactive oxygen species production is the mechanism of antibacterial activity. This new diarylacetylene shows promise as an antibacterial agent against Gram-positive bacteria that can be activated in situ, potentially for the treatment of skin infections.

Modified CRISPR/Cas9 mediated generation of two MKK7 knockout human embryonic stem cell lines.

Two cell lines were generated by CRISPR/Cas9 mediated knockout of MKK7 (MAP2K7) by removal of exon 1 or exons 4 through 7. These knockouts were confirmed at the transcript and protein levels. These hESCs are pluripotent and maintain tri-lineage differentiation capacity. These cell lines are a useful resource for studying MKK7 function in humans.