Distinctive Chiral Conformations Induced to Poly (naphthalene-1,4-diyl) by Helix-sense-selective Polymerization and Circularly Polarized Light Irradiation.

Optically active poly(naphthalene-1,4-diyl) was prepared through helix-sense-selective polymerization of the corresponding monomers and also through circularly polarized light (CPL) irradiation, resulting in distinctive circular dichroism (CD) spectral patterns. Chirality of the helix-sense-selective polymerization -based polymer is ascribed to preferred-handed helicity while that of the CPL-based polymer to a non-helical, chiral conformation ('biased-dihedral conformation') with preferred-handedness which was stable only in the solid state. The helix of the helix-sense-selective polymerization-based polymer gradually racemized in tetrahydrofuran while it was stabilized by aggregate formation in a hexane-dichloromethane solution. Both helix-sense-selective polymerization- and CPL-based polymers exhibited efficient circularly polarized luminescence.

Dual-Armed Oncolytic Myxoma Virus Encoding IFN-γ and CD47 Promotes Lymphocyte Infiltration and Tumor Suppression of Syngeneic Murine Melanoma.

Myxoma virus (MyxV) is a rabbit-specific poxvirus. However, its ability to selectively target tumor cells has established it as a safe and effective anticancer therapy. To strengthen its preclinical efficacy, transgenes that can prolong cancer cell infection and enhance anti-tumor effector functions are currently being investigated. We engineered MyxV armed with CD47, to turn on a 'do not eat me' signal within infected cells with actively replicating viruses, and with IFN-γ to further activate host immune anticancer responses. Tumor suppressive activities were significantly enhanced by the dual-armed MyxV_CD47/IFN-γ compared to parental MyxV or single-armed MyxV_CD47 or MyxV_IFN-γ. In addition, significant increases in IFN-γ+ CD8+T-cells and CD4+ T-cells populations within tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) were observed after MyxV_CD47/IFN-γ treatment. Notably, all groups treated with MyxV showed a marked reduction in Foxp3+ CD4+ regulatory T-cells (Tregs) within TIL. We also show that MyxV infection induces PD-L1 up-regulation in cancer cells, and combinational treatment of MyxV with anti-mouse PD-L1 antibodies (αPD-L1) further controlled tumor burden and increased survival in the syngeneic melanoma model B16F10. Our data demonstrate that a CD47 and IFNγ dual-armed MyxV is an effective oncolytic viral immunotherapeutic. These findings strongly support further preclinical investigations to develop next-generation MyxV-based immunotherapy approaches.

Colorimetric hydrogen gas sensor based on PdO/metal oxides hybrid nanoparticles.

We have synthesized new colorimetric hydrogen-sensing materials, PdO/metal oxide hybrid nanoparticles, in which palladium oxide was loaded upon surface of substrate materials via an acid-base reaction between a H2PdCl4 solution and substrate materials, ZnO, MgO, TiO2, and SiO2 respectively at 25 °C. The colorimetric hydrogen gas sensing properties of all the samples, PdO/ZnO, PdO/MgO, PdO/TiO2 and PdO/SiO2, were characterized and compared in order to investigate how hydrogen gas sensitivity would be affected by surface property of substrate materials. It was confirmed that the amount of the loaded PdO, which was thought to be closely related with the colorimetric hydrogen sensitivity, was quite different according to the substrate materials and was increased with increasing of the basicity of substrate materials (ZnO > MgO > TiO2 > SiO2). Consequently, among the PdO/metal oxide hybrid nanoparticles, the largest amount of PdO was observed to be loaded on ZnO substrate nanoparticles due to its highest basicity. The best colorimetric hydrogen gas sensing properties (color difference, ΔE = 71.57) was observed in PdO/ZnO hybrid nanoparticles, showing the most prominent color change from brown to black, when the sample was exposed to hydrogen gas of 4 vol% balanced with nitrogen for 2 min.