Promoting copper catalysts with C60Ethylene glycol, a commodity chemical used as a feedstock and antifreeze agent, is synthesized industrially from dimethyl oxalate (DMO) by hydrogenation over ...precious-metal palladium catalysts at high pressures (typically 20 bars). Copper-chromium catalysts supported on silica as an alternative have required even high pressures. Zheng et al. show the addition of fullerene (C60) onto copper-silica allows DMO hydrogenation to be performed at ambient pressures with high yield (98%) and without deactivation after 1000 hours (see the Perspective by Gravel and Doris). The use of C60 to stabilize electron-deficient copper species that enhance hydrogen adsorption could likely be applied to other hydrogenation reactions catalyzed by copper. —PDS
The one-step quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) (
Sci. Bull.
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, 367 (2022)) can effectively simplify QSDC’s operation and reduce message loss. For enhancing its security under practical ...experimental condition, we propose two measurement-device-independent (MDI) one-step QSDC protocols, which can resist all possible attacks from imperfect measurement devices. In both protocols, the communication parties prepare identical polarization-spatial-mode two-photon hyperentangled states and construct the hyperentanglement channel by hyperentanglement swapping. The first MDI one-step QSDC protocol adopts the nonlinear-optical complete hyperentanglement Bell state measurement (HBSM) to construct the hyperentanglement channel, while the second protocol adopts the linear-optical partial HBSM. Then, the parties encode the photons in the polarization degree of freedom and send them to the third party for the hyperentanglement-assisted complete polarization Bell state measurement. Both protocols are unconditionally secure in theory. The simulation results show the MDI one-step QSDC protocol with complete HBSM attains the maximal communication distance of about 354 km. Our MDI one-step QSDC protocols may have potential applications in the future quantum secure communication field.
Forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) is a transcription factor in the forkhead (FOX) family, which is required for cellular proliferation in normal and neoplastic cells. FOXM1 is highly expressed in many ...different cancers, and its expression is associated with a higher tumor stage and worse patient-related outcomes. Abnormally high expression of FOXM1 in cancers compared to normal tissue makes FOXM1 an attractive target for pharmacological inhibition. FOXM1-inhibiting agents and specific FOXM1-targeted small-molecule inhibitors have been developed in the lab and some of them have shown promising efficacy and safety profiles in mouse models. While the future goal is to translate FOXM1 inhibitors to clinical trials, potential synergistic drug combinations can maximize anti-tumor efficacy while minimizing off-target side effects. Hence, we discuss the rationale and efficacy of all previously studied drug combinations with FOXM1 inhibitors for cancer therapies.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a malignant cancer and chemotherapy ineffectively treats PDAC, leading to the requirement for alternative tumor-targeted treatment. Human amniotic fluid ...mesenchymal stem cells (hAFMSCs) have been revealed to suppress tumor growth in various cancers and they are a strong candidate for treating PDAC.
To evaluate the effects of hAFMSCs on human pancreatic carcinoma cells (PANC1, AsPC1 and BxPC3 cell lines) and the possible mechanism involved, an in vitro cell coculture system was used. A PANC1 orthotopic xenograft mouse model was established and hAFMSCs were injected intravenously at 4 weeks post-xenograft.
An in vitro coculture assay showed that hAFMSCs inhibited PANC1 cell proliferation by inducing S phase cell cycle arrest and increased cell apoptosis in a time-dependent manner. In PANC1 cells, hAFMSCs caused the downregulation of Cyclin A and Cyclin B1 as well as the upregulation of p21 (CDKN1A) at 24 h post coculture. The upregulation of pro-apoptotic factors Caspase-3/-8 and Bax at 24 h post coculture reduced the migration and invasion ability of PANC1 cells through inhibiting the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process. In a PANC1 orthotopic xenograft mouse model, a single injection of hAFMSCs showed significant tumor growth inhibition with evidence of the modulation of cell cycle and pro-apoptotic regulatory genes and various genes involved in matrix metallopeptidase 7 (MMP7) signaling-triggered EMT process. Histopathological staining showed lower Ki67 levels in tumors from hAFMSCs-treated mice.
Our data demonstrated that hAFMSCs strongly inhibit PDAC cell proliferation, tumor growth and invasion, possibly by altering cell cycle arrest and MMP7 signaling-triggered EMT.
A smart supramolecular nanosystem integrating targeting, chemotherapy, and photothermal therapy was constructed based on carboxylatopillar5arene (CP5A)-functionalized CuS nanoparticles (CuS@CP ...NPs). CuS@CP NPs with good monodispersibility and strong near-infrared absorption were synthesized in aqueous solution through a facile one-pot supramolecular capping method, followed by surface installation of a liver cancer-targeted galactose derivative through host–guest binding interaction. The resulting smart supramolecular nanosystem, namely, CuS@CPG, exhibited excellent photothermal ablation capability to HepG2 cells upon irradiation with laser at 808 nm. Chemotherapeutic drug, doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX), was further loaded on CuS@CPG via electrostatic interactions between positively charged DOX and negatively charged CP5A to give CuS@CPG–DOX with a high drug-loading capacity up to 48.4%. The weakening of DOX–CP5A interactions in an acidic environment promoted the pH-responsive drug release from CuS@CPG–DOX. Significantly, this multifunctional supramolecular nanosystem showed a remarkably enhanced therapeutic effect through the combination of targeted chemotherapy and photothermal therapy upon in vitro cell study. Moreover, preliminary in vivo study demonstrated that CuS@CPG and CuS@CPG–DOX had good biocompatibility and excellent tumor inhibition effects upon near-infrared laser irradiation.
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have been surface-functionalized with choline moieties encircled by sulfonatocalix4arenes. Two enzyme cleavable sites are incorporated in the stalks for ...specific enzymes to regulate the release of loaded cargos from MSNs. These gated materials show a clear enzymatic response and proven orthogonality.
Gut microbiota plays important roles in the host health. The host and symbiotic gut microbiota coproduce a large number of metabolites during the metabolism of food and xenobiotics. The analysis of ...fecal metabolites can provide a noninvasive manner to study the outcome of the host-gut microbiota interaction. Herein, we reported the comprehensive profiling of fecal metabolome of mice by an integrated chemical isotope labeling combined with liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (CIL-LC-MS) analysis. The metabolites are categorized into several submetabolomes based on the functional moieties (i.e., carboxyl, carbonyl, amine, and thiol) and then analysis of the individual submetabolome was performed. The combined data from the submetabolome form the metabolome with relatively high coverage. To this end, we synthesized stable isotope labeling reagents to label metabolites with different groups, including carboxyl, carbonyl, amine, and thiol groups. We detected 2302 potential metabolites, among which, 1388 could be positively or putatively identified in feces of mice. We then further confirmed 308 metabolites based on our established library of chemically labeled standards and tandem mass spectrometry analysis. With the identified metabolites in feces of mice, we established mice fecal metabolome database, which can be used to readily identify metabolites from feces of mice. Furthermore, we discovered 211 fecal metabolites exhibited significant difference between Alzheimer’s disease (AD) model mice and wild type (WT) mice, which suggests the close correlation between the fecal metabolites and AD pathology and provides new potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of AD.
A dynamic cross-linked supramolecular network of poly(glycidyl methacrylate)s derivative chains was constructed on mesoporous silica nanoparticles via disulfide bond and ion–dipole interactions ...between cucurbit7urils and protonated diamines in the polymer chains. This kind of multifunctional organic–inorganic hybrid material with pH- and glutathione- (GSH-) stimuli responsiveness can be applied to anticancer drug delivery and controlled release. Good release performance toward doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) was achieved under the simulative tumor intracellular environment (pH = 5.0, C GSH = 2–10 mM). Significantly, the release amount of DOX increased upon lowering the solution pH value and increasing the concentration of GSH, as demonstrated by a series of controlled release experiments. Furthermore, the DOX-loaded hybrid nanomaterials displayed apparent cell-growth inhibition effects to cancer cell lines, as evidenced by MTT assay and confocal laser scanning microscopy.
E7050 is a potent inhibitor of c-Met receptor tyrosine kinase and has potential for cancer therapy. However, the underlying molecular mechanism involved in the anti-cancer property of E7050 has not ...been fully elucidated. The main objective of this study was to investigate the anti-tumor activity of E7050 in multidrug-resistant human uterine sarcoma MES-SA/Dx5 cells in vitro and in vivo, and to define its mechanisms. Our results revealed that E7050 reduced cell viability of MES-SA/Dx5 cells, which was associated with the induction of apoptosis and S phase cell cycle arrest. Additionally, E7050 treatment significantly upregulated the expression of Bax, cleaved PARP, cleaved caspase-3, p21, p53 and cyclin D1, while it downregulated the expression of survivin and cyclin A. On the other hand, the mechanistic study demonstrated that E7050 inhibited the phosphorylation of c-Met, Src, Akt and p38 in HGF-stimulated MES-SA/Dx5 cells. Further in vivo experiments showed that treatment of athymic nude mice carrying MES-SA/Dx5 xenograft tumors with E7050 remarkably suppressed tumor growth. E7050 treatment also decreased the expression of Ki-67 and p-Met, and increased the expression of cleaved caspase-3 in MES-SA/Dx5 tumor sections. Therefore, E7050 is a promising drug that can be developed for the treatment of multidrug-resistant uterine sarcoma.
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