CEBPB regulates the migration, invasion and EMT of breast cancer cells by inhibiting THBS2 expression and O-fucosylation.

Breast cancer (bc) is the second most common type of human malignancies with highest morbidity and mortality in the female population. Therefore, it is essential to develop novel and effective therapies for bc treatment. The main aim of the current study is to investigate the functions of CEBPB and THBS2 in bc and the underlying mechanism. Reverse transcription-quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot were performed for the measurement of ribonucleic acids and proteins. Function and mechanism assays were, respectively, conducted for the evaluation of bc biological behaviors and exploration of the potential correlation of genes. According to bioinformatics analyses and experimental results, THBS2, up-regulated in bc tissues and cell lines, could facilitate cell migration, invasion and EMT in bc. CEBPB was validated to facilitate miR-29a-3p transcription, thus negatively modulating THBS2 expression. The results of rescue experiments reflected that CEBPB could regulate the malignant behaviors of bc cells via THBS2. Furthermore, CEBPB was ascertained to inhibit the transcription of B3GALTL to affect THBS2 protein O-fucosylation and secretion. The interaction between THBS2 and ITGB1 was confirmed, and THBS2 was found to activate the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. To conclude, CEBPB could restrain bc cell migration, invasion and EMT via inhibition on THBS2 expression and O-fucosylation.

Identification and validation of N7 -methylguanosine-associated gene NCBP1 as prognostic and immune-associated biomarkers in breast cancer patients.

We intend to evaluate the importance of N7 -methylguanosine (m7G) for the prognosis of breast cancer (BC). We gained 29 m7G-related genes from the published literature and among them, 16 m7G-related genes were found to have differential expression. Five differentially expressed genes (CYFIP1, EIF4E, EIF4E3, NCBP1 and WDR4) were linked to overall survival. This suggests that m7G-related genes might be prognostic or therapeutic targets for BC patients. We put the five genes to LASSO regression analysis to create a four-gene signature, including EIF4E, EIF4E3, WDR4 and NCBP1, that divides samples into two risky groups. Survival was drastically worsened in a high-risk group (p < 0.001). The signature's predictive capacity was demonstrated using ROC (10-year AUC 0.689; 10-year AUC 0.615; 3-year AUC 0.602). We found that immune status was significantly different between the two risk groups. In particular, NCBP1 also has a poor prognosis, with higher diagnostic value in ROC. NCBP1 also has different immune states according to its high or low expression. Meanwhile, knockdown of NCBP1 suppresses BC malignancy in vitro. Therefore, m7G RNA regulators are crucial participants in BC and four-gene mRNA levels are important predictors of prognosis. NCBP1 plays a critical target of m7G mechanism in BC.

PGM5P3-AS1 regulates MAP1LC3C to promote cell ferroptosis and thus inhibiting the malignant progression of triple-negative breast cancer.

PURPOSE: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents an aggressive subtype of breast cancer characteristic of high recurrence rate and poor prognosis. According to previous studies and bioinformatics prediction, PGM5P3-AS1 has been found to be significantly down-regulated in TNBC cells. In addition, cell ferroptosis has become a hotspot in breast cancer research and TNBC has been reported to be more sensitive to ferroptosis than receptor positive breast cancer. Hence, we aim at exploring the molecular mechanism of PGM5P3-AS1 in TNBC cells and further explore whether PGM5P3-AS1 can inhibit TNBC progression via promoting cell ferroptosis. METHODS: The expression of genes in TNBC cells was verified by RT-qPCR assay. Functional assays were taken to evaluate the impact PGM5P3-AS1 may exert on TNBC progression. The regulatory pattern of PGM5P3-AS1 on cell ferroptosis in TNBC was validated through mechanism assays. RESULTS: PGM5P3-AS1 was proved to be down-regulated in TNBC cells and suppressed TNBC cell proliferation as well as migration. PGM5P3-AS1 promoted cell ferroptosis in TNBC by recruiting RNA-binding protein (RBP) NOP58 to stabilize MAP1LC3C mRNA, and thus inhibiting TNBC progression. CONCLUSION: PGM5P3-AS1 regulated MAP1LC3C to promote cell ferroptosis and thus inhibiting the malignant progression of TNBC.

CircMMP11 regulates proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis of breast cancer cells through miR-625-5p/ZEB2 axis.

BACKGROUND: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been demonstrated to play significant roles in regulating gene expression in tumorigenesis, including breast cancer (BC). This study was designed to explore the role and underlying molecular mechanisms of circMMP11 in BC. METHODS: The real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assay was used for examining expression of circMMP11, microRNA-625-5p (miR-625-5p), and Zinc finger E-box binding homeobox-2 (ZEB2). The protein expression of ZEB2, Vimentin, and E-cadherin was assessed by western blot assay. The proliferation ability of BC cells was determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazol-3-ium bromide (MTT) and colony-forming assays. The transwell assay was used to measure migration and invasion of BC cells. The apoptotic cells were examined by flow cytometry assay. The interaction association among circMMP11, miR-625-5p, and ZEB2 was confirmed by RNA pull-down and dual-luciferase report assays. A xenograft experiment was established to clarify the role of circMMP11 silencing in vivo. RESULTS: We found that circMMP11 and ZEB2 were overexpressed in BC tissues and cells compared with controls. The suppression of circMMP11 or ZEB2 repressed proliferation, migration, and invasion while induced apoptosis of BC cells. Additionally, miR-625-5p, interacted with ZEB2, was a target of circMMP11 in BC cells. CircMMP11 regulated the expression of ZEB2 by targeting miR-625-5p. Knockdown of circMMP11-mediated effects on BC cells could be abolished by overexpression of ZEB2. Consistently, silencing of circMMP11 impeded the tumor growth in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: CircMMP11/miR-625-5p/ZEB2 axis affected proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis of BC cells through the mechanism of competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNA), indicating that circMMP11 was an oncogenic circRNA in BC.

Specific resistance and adsorption performance of acid-modified fly ash for escaped ammonia in flue gas.

Escaped ammonia emission following Selective Catalytic Reduction denitrification significantly influences subsequent flue gas treatment processes. This study investigates the adsorption capabilities of acid-modified fly ash concerning escaped ammonia (NH3) and its consequential impact on specific resistance. Furthermore, the adsorption mechanism of acid-modified fly ash on NH3 was explained. Acid activation facilitated the dissolution of a portion of Fe and Al constituents within the fly ash, the contents of Fe and Al in SFA decrease by 4.91% and 5.64%, respectively. In addition, the specific surface area and porosity of fly ash are obviously improved. The specific surface areas of HFA and SFA increased from 1.83 (OFA) to 4.69 and 7.71 m2/g, respectively. Adsorption kinetics adhered to the pseudo-first-order model. SFA showed the best adsorption performance, with NH3 adsorption up to 10.65 mg/g, which was 4.27 times higher than OFA. The creation of a surface liquid film during NH3 adsorption led to decreased specific resistance values across all fly ash samples after-adsorption. The highest specific resistance values recorded for original fly ash (OFA), hydrochloric acid-modified fly ash (HFA) and sulfuric acid-modified fly ash (SFA) were 6.21 × 1012, 3.37 × 1011 and 5.02 × 1010 Ω·cm, respectively. Sulfuric acid activation makes fly ash have stronger adsorption capacity for escaping ammonia, and SFA maintains good specific resistance characteristics, which has good application prospects in electrostatic precipitation and air pollution control.

Giant optical absorption of a PtSe2-on-silicon waveguide in mid-infrared wavelengths.

Low-dimensional platinum diselenide (PtSe2) is a promising candidate for high-performance optoelectronics in the short-wavelength mid-infrared band due to its high carrier mobility, excellent stability, and tunable bandgap. However, light usually interacts moderately with low-dimensional PtSe2, limiting the optoelectronic responses of PtSe2-based devices. Here we demonstrated a giant optical absorption of a PtSe2-on-silicon waveguide by integrating a ten-layer PtSe2 film on an ultra-thin silicon waveguide. The weak mode confinement in the ultra-thin waveguide dramatically increases the waveguide mode overlap with the PtSe2 film. Our experimental results show that the absorption coefficient of the PtSe2-on-silicon waveguide is in the range of 0.0648 dB µm-1 to 0.0704 dB µm-1 in a spectral region of 2200 nm to 2300 nm wavelengths. Furthermore, we also studied the optical absorption in an ultra-thin silicon microring resonator. Our study provides a promising approach to developing PtSe2-on-silicon hybrid optoelectronic integrated circuits.

[Clinical characteristics and survival analysis of 22 cases of pure epithelial breast metaplastic carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: Pure epithelial breast metaplastic carcinoma is a rare and highly malignant tumor. In this study, our purpose was to analyze the clinical features, treatment method and prognostic factors, so to explore the approach for early diagnosis and appropriate treatment of this cancer. METHODS: Clinical data of 22 patients with histopathologically confirmed pure epithelial breast metaplastic carcinoma and treated at Tianjin Cancer Hospital from 1974 to 2008, were reviewed retrospectively. Survival rate was calculated by life tables. Kaplan-Meier unvariate analysis and Log-rank test were used to compare the survival rates. Multivariate factors for survival were analyzed by Cox proportional hazards regression model. RESULTS: The median age of the 22 cases of pure epithelial breast metaplastic carcinoma was 52.5 years. Among them 20 cases went to see a doctor for painless mass, and two cases shown as skin inflammation. Clarifying a diagnosis was difficult before operation so that its diagnosis mainly depended on postoperative histopathologic examination. Twelve cases had axillary lymph node metastasis, 7 cases distant metastasis, and the lung was the most common metastatic organ. The 5-year survival rate was 55.6%, with a median follow-up of 46 months. It was found by Kaplan-Meier unvariate analysis that the age (P = 0.044), number of positive axillary lymph nodes (P = 0.011) and therapeutic schedule (P = 0,003) significantly influenced the outcome of the patients, but tumor size (P = 0.194) was not. Cox multivariate analysis results showed that number of positive axillary lymph nodes was independent prognostic factor for pure epithelial breast metaplastic carcinoma (P = 0.038). CONCLUSIONS: Pure epithelial breast metaplastic carcinoma is seldom seen. It is easy to cause distant metastasis and has a poor prognosis. ER, PR and HER-2 expressions in most samples are negative. The more axillary lymph nodes have metastasis, the poorer is the prognosis. A reasonable and comprehensive treatment can improve the prognosis obviously.

HER2 low expression breast cancer subtyping and their correlation with prognosis and immune landscape based on the histone modification related genes.

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) plays an important role in diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer (BRCA). The histone modification has been found to be related to the progression of cancer. This study aimed to probe the low HER2 expression BRCA heterogeneity by histone modification genes. The BRCA data and cell lines were collected from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis and non-negative matrix factorization clustering were jointly applied to obtain BRCA clusters. The expression of hub histone modification gene was detected using western blot assay. The gene ontology term and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were performed to reveal functional information. The overall survival analysis was performed using survival and survminer packages, and the immune landscape was mainly analyzed using CIBERSORT software. Totally 43 histone modification genes correlated with survival of BRCA patients with HER2 low expression were screened. Based on these 43 histone modification genes, the BRCA samples were classified into cluster1, cluster2 and cluster3. Histone modification gene NFKBIZ exhibited high expression, while RAD51 demonstrated low expression in low HER2 expression BRCA cell. Cluster1 exhibited the best prognosis, while cluster3 had the worse outcomes. Tumor mutational burden (TMB) was remarkably increased in cluster3 group compared to cluster1 and cluster2. Moreover, the relative proportion of 16 immune cell infiltration and 8 immune checkpoint expression were remarkably differential among cluster1, cluster2 and cluster3, and the drug sensitivity exhibited difference among cluster1, cluster2 and cluster3 in BRCA patients with low HER2 expression. This study identified three HER2 low expression BRCA clusters with different characteristics based on histone modification genes. The TMB, immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoints and drug sensitivity were different among the three clusters.

Identification of TUBB2A as a Cancer-Immunity Cycle-Related Therapeutic Target in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a malignant subtype of breast cancer characterized by the absence of ER, PR, and HER2. We aimed to explore target gene from the perspective of cancer-immunity cycle, providing insights into treatment of TNBC. METHODS: We obtained TNBC samples from METABRIC database and downloaded 4 datasets from GEO database, as well as an IMvigor210 dataset. WGCNA was applied to screen genes associated with cancer-immunity cycle in TNBC. GO, KEGG and GSEA analyses were performed to explore the target gene's potential functions and pathways. The binding motifs with transcription factors were predicted with FIMO. Immune infiltration analysis was conducted by CIBERSORT. RESULTS: TUBB2A was screened out as our target gene which was negatively correlated with T cell recruitment in cancer-immunity cycle. TUBB2A expressed higher in TNBC samples than in normal samples. High expression of TUBB2A was associated with poor prognosis of TNBC. 12 transcription factors and 5 miRNAs might regulate TUBB2A's expression. The infiltration ratios of 7 types of immune cells such as CD8+ T cells, naive CD4+ T cells and activated memory CD4+ T cells were significantly lower in TUBB2A high expression group. TUBB2A was a potential drug target. CONCLUSION: We screened a cancer-immunity cycle-related gene TUBB2A which was negatively correlated with T cell recruiting in TNBC. TUBB2A expressed higher in TNBC samples than in normal samples, associated with poor prognosis.

Application of Ca-based adsorbents in fixed-bed dry flue gas desulfurization (FGD): a critical review.

Sulfur dioxide, which comes from the flue gas emitted by the steel and coal power industries, is extremely harmful to humans and the natural environment. Due to its high efficiency and economy, dry fixed-bed desulfurization technology and Ca-based adsorbents have attracted wide attention. In this paper, a detailed outline of the process of the fixed-bed reactor, performance indexes, economic value, recent research, and industrial applications of the dry fixed-bed desulfurization process was summarized. The classification and properties, preparation method, desulfurization mechanism, and influencing factors of Ca-based adsorbents were discussed. This review indicated the challenges in the commercialization of dry Ca-based fixed-bed desulfurization and demonstrated the possible solutions. It is beneficial to promote industrial application by improving the utilization efficiency of Ca-based adsorbent, reducing the amount of adsorbent and operation cost, and developing ideal regeneration methods.

Investigation of Mg-doping effect on the activity and P tolerance of V2O5-MoO3 /TiO2 catalysts for NH3-SCR.

V2O5-MoO3/TiO2 catalyst modified by Mg was studied to obtain higher NOx SCR activity and higher P, SO2, and H2O resistance than the V2O5-MoO3/TiO2. The results show that Mg modification can promote the denitration activity of V2O5-MoO3/TiO2 catalyst, and the maximum NOx removal efficiency of Mg1-SCR catalyst was 97.5%; the optimum reaction temperature and flow rate were 350℃ and 1200 mL/min, respectively. Mg doping can broaden the reaction temperature window of the catalyst, and the denitration efficiency can reach more than 87% at 300℃. P2O5 solution was prepared as poisoning precursor and mixed with catalyst to simulate the process of catalyst P-poisoning. The step-wise study showed that Mg0.5-SCR and Mg1-SCR catalyst displays higher durable resistance to P, SO2, and H2O than original catalyst. The degree of denitrification efficiency reduction of Mg1-SCR is 4% smaller than that of Mg0-SCR after passing SO2. Mg0.5-SCR catalyst achieves 88% denitrification efficiency at 350 °C after simulating phosphorus poisoning. The catalysts have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, Brunner - Emmet - Teller, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscop, programmed temperature desorption, and programmed temperature reduction. The obtained results suggested that the Mg doping made the active components more dispersed on the surface of the supports, improved the thermal stability of the catalyst, promoted the transition of VOx from monomeric state to polymerized state, inhibited the interaction between P and V, and protected the acid site.

Graphene oxide promotes V-Cu-Ce-ZSM-5 to catalyze SO2 and NO at low temperature: performance and mechanism.

A catalyst (V-Cu-Ce-ZSM-5) was explored to simultaneously remove the SO2 and NOx from flue gas by use of the ZSM-5 molecular sieve as the carrier, V and Cu as the active components, and Ce as the additive in low temperature of 150 °C. The performance of V-Cu-Ce-ZSM-5 was evaluated for the oxidation of NO and SO2 before and after the addition of graphene oxide (GO). The results showed that V-Cu-Ce-ZSM-5@GO0.5 had the best performance at a reaction temperature of 150 °C, and the oxidation efficiency of SO2 and NO was 94.60% and 83.64%, respectively. The multiple structural characterizations (BET, SEM, Raman, XRD, and XPS) revealed that the loading of V and Cu with the additive Ce expanded the specific surface area and pore volume of ZSM-5, provided more adsorption sites for SO2 and NO, and had good desulfurization and denitration activity. The addition of GO further improved the dispersibility of active components and auxiliaries, increased the number of active sites in the reaction process, and significantly improved catalytic activity.

Toluene degradation using plasma-catalytic hybrid system over Mn-TiO2 and Fe-TiO2.

This paper proposed a hybrid system that combined dielectric barrier discharge plasma with catalysis (DPC) for toluene degradation. To improve the performance of DPC, photocatalysts TiO2 were doped by Mn and Fe, respectively. All prepared photocatalysts were characterized using UV-Visual DRS., SEM, XPS, BET, and XRD. The effects of the doping ratio, AC frequency, electric field intensity, gas flow rate, and initial concentration on toluene degradation efficiency, ozone decomposition capacity, and COx selectivity have been investigated. The best doping ratios of Mn and Fe were both 1.0 at%. The increase of electric field intensity in the range of 6.9-10.3 kV/cm could favor the synergism for DPC significantly, but the ascending of AC Frequency failed to do that. Fe-DPC showed slightly better performance than Mn-DPC in degradation efficiency and COx selectivity, while Mn-DPC was ahead of Fe-DPC for the ozone decomposition. Mn-DPC and Fe-DPC both could maintain the high toluene degradation efficiency, when gas flow rate and initial concentration increase from 2.5 to10.1 cm/s and from 700 to 2300 mg/cm3, respectively.

circRNA RPPH1 Facilitates the Aggravation of Breast Cancer Development by Regulating miR-542-3p/ARHGAP1 Pathway.

Background: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have important roles in human malignancies, including breast cancer (BC). In this study, we explored the function of circRNA ribonuclease P RNA component H1 (circ_RPPH1) in BC development and clarify the mechanistic pathway. Materials and Methods: Expression of circ_RPPH1, microRNA-542-3p (miR-542-3p), and Rho GTPase-activating protein 1 (ARHGAP1) in BC tissues and cells was determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction or Western blot assay. The stability of circ_RPPH1 was confirmed by RNase R and actinomycin D treatment. Cell viability and colony formation ability were measured by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay and colony formation assay, respectively. Western blot analysis was also used to detect proliferation biomarker (Ki67) and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) biomarkers (E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and vimentin). Flow cytometry and Transwell assays were performed to monitor cell apoptosis, migration, and invasion. The binding potency between miR-542-3p and circ_RPPH1 or ARHGAP1 was validated by dual-luciferase reporter assay. Functional role of circ_RPPH1 in vivo was investigated by xenograft tumor reporter assay. Results: Upregulation of circ_RPPH1 and ARHGAP1, and downregulation of miR-542-3p were detected in BC tissues and cells. circ_RPPH1 knockdown or miR-542-3p introduction inhibited BC cell proliferation and metastasis, while promoted apoptosis in vitro. circ_RPPH1 sponged miR-542-3p to upregulate ARHGAP1 expression, thereby affecting BC progression. Moreover, depletion of circ_RPPH1 suppressed tumor growth in vivo. Conclusions: circ_RPPH1 contributed to BC tumorigenesis by sponging miR-542-3p and upregulating ARHGAP1, affording a novel mechanistic pathway in BC development.

Removal of COD in wastewater by magnetic coagulant prepared from modified fly ash.

In this paper, magnetic coagulants (Fe-AFA, Fe-BFA) were prepared, by mixing acid-modified fly ash (AFA) and base-modified fly ash (BFA) with magnetic components, as adsorbents for chemical oxygen demand (COD) in desulfurization wastewater and their adsorption kinetics and mechanism are reported. BET, SEM, EDS, FTIR, XPS, magnetization intensity, and batch experiments on coagulation kinetic and adsorption isothermal characteristics of magnetic coagulants were carried out. The results show that Fe-AFA has the best COD adsorption performance and superparamagnetism, and the COD removal amounts can reach 5.69 mg/g, which is 112.43% higher than the raw fly ash. It was also found that the quasi-second-order kinetic and Langmuir equation could well describe the COD coagulation process. Thermodynamic tests results showed that the COD removal was a spontaneous, endothermic, and irreversible process. Reusability of magnetic coagulants was investigated. After five cycles, the COD removal amount of Fe-AFA was 2.74 mg/g. These findings provide a feasible method for environmental-benign utilization of fly ash as low-cost adsorbents in wastewater treatment.

Mercury removal from coal combustion flue gas by pyrite-modified fly ash adsorbent.

Pyrite and fly ash have certain advantages in adsorption and mercury oxidation. The pyrite-modified fly ash (PY + AC-FA) mercury adsorbent was prepared by mixing pyrite (PY) with acid-modified fly ash (AC-FA), which has better mercury removal effect than AC-FA. The experimental results of mercury adsorption show the following: when the reaction temperature is 50 °C, the best doping proportion of modified fly ash is 20 wt%, the mass proportion of pyrite to acid-modified fly ash is 4:1, and the flue gas flow rate is 1.0 L/min; the adsorbent has the best performance, and the adsorption rate of mercury reaches 91.92%. It was also found that the quasi-second-order kinetic model could describe the entire process of adsorption, and its adsorption process was mainly influenced by chemisorption. XRF, BET, SEM, XRD, and TG-DSG were used to characterize these adsorbents, and the mechanism of mercury removal of pyrite-modified fly ash adsorbent is inferred: Hg0 is first adsorbed on the surface of the adsorbent, and then oxidized to HgS by the active component FeS2 in pyrite-modified fly ash.

Long Noncoding-RNA Component of Mitochondrial RNA Processing Endoribonuclease Promotes Carcinogenesis in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells via the Competing Endogenous RNA Mechanism.

PURPOSE: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a subtype of breast cancer. Increasing evidence supports that dysregulation of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) plays a vital role in cancer progression. RNA component of mitochondrial RNA processing endoribonuclease (RMRP), a lncRNA, is characterized as a tumor-propeller in some cancers, but its mechanism in TNBC remains poorly understood. This study aimed to determine whether and how RMRP functions in TNBC. METHODS: Cell proliferation was determined by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and colony formation assays and cell apoptosis by flow cytometry analysis and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay. Cell migration and invasion were determined by transwell assays. RNA-binding protein immunoprecipitation (RIP), luciferase reporter, and RNA pulldown assays were implemented to assess the interaction of RMRP with other molecules in TNBC cells. RESULTS: RMRP expression was elevated in TNBC cells. RMRP knockdown repressed cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, but induced apoptosis in TNBC. In addition, RMRP was found to target microRNA-766-5p (miR-766-5p) in TNBC cells. Silencing miR-766-5p enhanced cell viability and decreased apoptosis, whereas miR-766-5p overexpression had opposite effects. Furthermore, miR-766-5p was found to bind to yes-associated protein 1 (YAP1). Moreover, miR-766-5p inhibition reversed the repressive effect of RMRP knockdown on the malignant progression of TNBC. CONCLUSION: The present study manifested that RMRP promotes the growth, migration, and invasion of TNBC cells via the miR-766-5p/YAP1 axis. These findings provide novel perspectives for TNBC treatment.

circHIPK3 (hsa_circ_0000284) Promotes Proliferation, Migration and Invasion of Breast Cancer Cells via miR-326.

PURPOSE: circHIPK3 has carcinogenic or anti-tumor effects on different cancers. However, there is no relevant research showing whether circHIPK3 was involved in breast cancer (BCa). In this research, the aim was to analyze the function and possible molecular mechanism of circHIPK3 in BCa. METHODS: The expression of circHIPK3 in human BCa tissues and cells was detected by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). CircInteractome and dual-luciferase assays were performed to detect circRNA-miRNA targeting relationship. Ribonuclease R treatment, RT-qPCR, Western blot and immunohistochemistry were performed to determine the stability, expressions, abundance of target genes. Loss-of-function or gain-of-function experiments were used to analyze the effects of circHIPK3 and miR-326 on BCa in vivo and in vitro. In vitro, MCF7 and BT20 cells were transfected with circHIPK3 or sicircHIPK3 or miR-326 mimic; in vivo, female BALB/c mice were subcutaneously injected with MCF7 cells (transfected with CirchipK3 or miR-326 mimic) to establish xenograft models. RESULTS: The circular structure of circHIPK3 was abundantly expressed in the cytoplasm and was up-regulated in BCa. Silenced circHIPK3 suppressed malignant phenotype of BCa cells. MiR-326 interacted with circHIPK3 and the two were negatively correlated. Overexpressed circHIPK3 promoted cell viability, proliferation, migration and invasion, but inhibited apoptosis. Moreover, overexpressed circHIPK3 promoted the expressions of EMT-related genes and antiapoptotic genes, but inhibited proapoptotic gene expressions. Overexpressed circHIPK3 promoted tumor growth and Ki-67 levels, inhibited apoptosis in vivo. The above mentioned effects of circHIPK3 were reversed by miR-326 in vitro or in vivo. CONCLUSION: circHIPK3 promoted proliferation, migration and invasion of BCa cells through regulating miR-326.

LINC00665 Stimulates Breast Cancer Progression via Regulating miR-551b-5p.

INTRODUCTION: Long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 665 (LINC00665) has been revealed to contribute cancer progression in many cancer types including liver and gastric cancer. However, the roles of LINC00665 in breast cancer (BC) remain to be explored. METHODS: We explored LINC00665 expression in BC tissues and normal tissues at GEPIA. Then, its expression in BC cells (HCC-1937, MDA-MB-231, and MCF-7) and normal cells (MCF10A) was analyzed with qRT-PCR. In addition, the mechanisms of LINC00665 in BC were explored using bioinformatic analyses, luciferase activity reporter assay, RNA pull-down assay, and rescue experiments. RESULTS: We showed LINC00665 expression was significantly increased in both BC tissues and cells. The knockdown of LINC00625 significantly inhibits BC cell growth and promotes cell apoptosis in vitro, while the overexpression of LINC00625 has the opposite effects on BC progression. LINC00665 could affect BC progression via regulating miR-551b-5p. DISCUSSION: Taken together, our study showed that the LINC00665/miR-551b-5p axis was involved in the progression of BC.

Inertial Separation of Particles Escaped from Electrostatic Precipitators.

For particles that escape from electrostatic precipitators (ESPs), inertial recapture is used to improve the efficiency of dust removal. A rod-grid inertial separator was designed. The electrostatic and fluid flow particle tracking modules were selected in the model established by the COMSOL software, and the dust removal efficiency of the proposed dust separator was evaluated. When the flue gas velocity was 20 m·s-1, the diameter of the round rod was 8 mm, and the spacing of the pipes was 15 mm, the removal efficiency of PM2.5 and PM10 reached 27.8 and 84.6%, respectively. Experiments were performed under laboratory conditions and actual working conditions in a coal-fired power plant flue. Results showed that an inertial separator can achieve more than 60% efficiency in recapturing fly ashes that have escaped from ESPs. It can effectively remove fine particles and aerosol pollutants represented by PM2.5 and PM10.