A sub‐population of chemoresistant cells exhibits biological properties similar to cancer stem cells (CSCs), and these cells are believed to be a main cause for tumor relapse and metastasis. In our ...study, we explored the role of SOX8 and its molecular mechanism in the regulation of the stemness properties and the epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) of cisplatin‐resistant tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) cells. We found that SOX8 was upregulated in cisplatin‐resistant TSCC cells, which displayed CSC‐like properties and exhibited EMT. SOX8 was also overexpressed in chemoresistant patients with TSCC and was associated with higher lymph node metastasis, advanced tumor stage and shorter overall survival. Stable knockdown of SOX8 in cisplatin‐resistant TSCC cells inhibited chemoresistance, tumorsphere formation, and EMT. The Wnt/β‐catenin pathway mediated the cancer stem‐like properties in cisplatin‐resistant TSCC cells. Further studies showed that the transfection of active β‐catenin in SOX8 stable‐knockdown cells partly rescued the SOX8 silencing‐induced repression of stem‐like features and chemoresistance. Through chromatin immunoprecipitation and luciferase assays, we observed that SOX8 bound to the promoter region of Frizzled‐7 (FZD7) and induced the FZD7‐mediated activation of the Wnt/β‐catenin pathway. In summary, SOX8 confers chemoresistance and stemness properties and mediates EMT processes in chemoresistant TSCC via the FZD7‐mediated Wnt/β‐catenin pathway.
What's new?
Tongue cancer frequently spreads to the lymph nodes, and while chemotherapy with cisplatin has improved 5‐year survival rates, all too often the cancer becomes resistant to chemotherapy and returns. Here, the authors show that tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) cells that have acquired cisplatin resistance express more SOX‐8 mRNA than their parent TSCC cells. Getting rid of SOX‐8, they showed, hampered the cells' chemoresistance as well as the epithelial to mesenchymal transition. Adding active beta‐catenin to the cells lacking SOX‐8 partially restored these properties, showing that SOX‐8 acts through the Wnt/beta‐catenin pathway.
This study aimed to assess the prognostic value of the serum albumin to globulin ratio (AGR) in cholangiocarcinoma patients after surgery.
We retrospectively enrolled 123 cholangiocarcinoma patients ...who underwent surgical treatment between June 2003 and September2014 at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University. Univariate and multivariate analyses using the Cox regression model were performed to determine the prognostic value of AGR.
Univariate analysis suggested that AGR was a predictive factor for (overall survival) OS but not for recurrence free survival (RFS). After adjustment for other risk factors, multivariate analysis showed that AGR remained independently associated with OS. The optimal cut-off point for AGR was determined to be 1.44. Kaplan–Meier curves showed that there was a significantly lower mean survival time in the low AGR group compared to the high AGR group. A low AGR was found to be significantly associated with high alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, total bilirubin levels and an advanced American Joint Committee on Cancer TNM stage, but a low hemoglobin level.
In summary, patients with higher AGRs have better outcomes than those with lower AGRs. Preoperative AGR can be a reliable marker for evaluating the prognosis of cholangiocarcinoma patients.
Topological materials with exotic quantum properties are promising candidates for quantum spin electronics. Different classes of topological materials, including Weyl semimetal, topological ...superconductor, topological insulator and Axion insulator, etc., can be connected to each other via quantum phase transition. For example, it is believed that a trivial band insulator can be twisted into topological phase by increasing spin-orbital coupling or changing the parameters of crystal lattice. With the results of LDA calculation and measurement by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), we demonstrate in this work that the electronic structure of SrSn2As2 single crystal has the texture of band inversion near the critical point. The results indicate the possibility of realizing topological quantum phase transition in SrSn2As2 single crystal and obtaining different exotic quantum states.
Summary
The ingenious approach of Chatterjee (2021) to estimate a measure of dependence first proposed by Dette et al. (2013) based on simple rank statistics has quickly caught attention. This ...measure of dependence has the appealing property of being between 0 and 1, and being 0 or 1 if and only if the corresponding pair of random variables is independent or one is a measurable function of the other almost surely. However, more recent studies (Cao & Bickel 2020; Shi et al. 2022b) showed that independence tests based on Chatterjee’s rank correlation are unfortunately rate inefficient against various local alternatives and they call for variants. We answer this call by proposing an improvement to Chatterjee’s rank correlation that still consistently estimates the same dependence measure, but provably achieves near-parametric efficiency in testing against Gaussian rotation alternatives. This is possible by incorporating many right nearest neighbours in constructing the correlation coefficients. We thus overcome the ‘ only one disadvantage’ of Chatterjee’s rank correlation (Chatterjee, 2021, § 7).
•Anthocyanin binds pectic fractions at pH 2, 3.6 and 4.5, with least binding at pH 4.5.•Anthocyanin binds water soluble pectin the least.•Anthocyanin binds chelator soluble pectin 2 times greater at ...pH 2 and 3.6 than pH 4.5.•At pH 4.5, anthocyanin binds alkali soluble pectin more than other pectic fractions.•Binding mechanisms may be ionic interaction and anthocyanin intermolecular stacking.
Pectin was extracted from blueberry powder into three fractions of water soluble (WSF), chelator soluble (CSF) and sodium carbonate soluble (NSF). The fractions were incubated with cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3G), a mixture of five anthocyanidins (cyanidin, pelargonidin, malvidin, petunidin and delphinidin) or blueberry juice at pH 2.0–4.5. Free anthocyanins and bound anthocyanin–pectin mixtures were separated by ultrafiltration. WSF bound the least amount of anthocyanin at all pH values. CSF had stronger anthocyanin binding ability at pH 2.0–3.6, while NSF had stronger anthocyanin binding ability at pH 3.6–4.5. The pectin and anthocyanin binding was lowest at pH 4.5 and higher at pH 2.0–3.6. Nearly doubling C3G pigment content increased bound anthocyanin percentage by 16–23% at pH 3.6, which favored anthocyanin aromatic stacking, compared to 3–9% increase at pH 2.0. Ionic interaction between anthocyanin flavylium cations and free pectic carboxyl groups, and anthocyanin stacking may be two major mechanisms for pectin and anthocyanin binding.
To develop a multivariable prediction model for preoperative differentiation of ganglioneuroma (GN) from schwannoma in mediastinum and retroperitoneum based on clinical data and enhanced computed ...tomography (CT).
This was a retrospective diagnostic study. Patients diagnosed with mediastinum or retroperitoneal GN or schwannoma at Zhongshan Hospital between July 2006 and March 2022 were divided into a training cohort and a validation cohort at a ratio of 7:3. Clinical information and CT features were collected. Histopathology was the reference standard for diagnosis. The model was developed using binary logistic regression. The predictive performance of the model was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, calibration curves, and decision curve analysis (DCA).
A total of 105 patients (47 men and 58 women; mean age of 41 ± 15 years) were enrolled. There were significant differences in symptoms (p=0.006), location (p=0.008), ratio of the craniocaudal diameter (CC) to the major axis on axial images (CC/M; p=0.025), ratio of the CC to the diameter on axial images (CC/D; p<0.001), density homogeneity (p=0.001), enhancement homogeneity (p<0.001), enhancement degree (p<0.001), venous phase CT attenuation value (V; p=0.011), and blood vessels changes (p=0.045) between GN and schwannoma. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) and accuracy in the validation cohort were 0.841 (95% confidence interval CI 0.672, 1.000) and 0.839 (95% CI: 0.674, 0.929), respectively. Calibration curves and DCA showed that the model was beneficial for patients.
The multivariable prediction model exhibited good predictive performance and may facilitate preoperative planning.
•Preoperative differentiation of ganglioneuroma from schwannoma remains challenging.•Clinical and CT features differs between ganglioneuroma and schwannoma.•The multivariable prediction model exhibits good predictive performance.
During the consumption of alkanes,
Alcanivorax borkumensis
will form a biofilm around an oil droplet, but the role this plays during degradation remains unclear. We identified a shift in biofilm ...morphology that depends on adaptation to oil consumption: Longer exposure leads to the appearance of dendritic biofilms optimized for oil consumption effected through tubulation of the interface. In situ microfluidic tracking enabled us to correlate tubulation to localized defects in the interfacial cell ordering. We demonstrate control over droplet deformation by using confinement to position defects, inducing dimpling in the droplets. We developed a model that elucidates biofilm morphology, linking tubulation to decreased interfacial tension and increased cell hydrophobicity.
Editor’s summary
Certain marine bacteria can degrade small-molecule hydrocarbons, but there is still limited understanding on how this process works in biofilms. Prasad
et al
. show that one such bacterium,
Alcanivorax borkumensis
, initially forms a spherical biofilm around a droplet of hexadecane, which subsequently grows and buckles (see the Perspective by McGenity and Laissue). This transition is caused by an initial limited interaction with the oil by only some of the cells, followed by rapid cell growth and division that distorts the shape of the biofilm, leading to an increase in the surface area and acceleration in the rate of consumption. Adhesion of aligned rod-shaped bacterial cells to the oil stabilizes the tube-like protrusions. The addition of surfactants commonly used to disperse marine oil spills disrupts the biofilms, and the cells return to their spherical morphology. —Marc S. Lavine
A type of oil-eating bacteria adapts its biofilm interfacial properties to accelerate the rate of oil consumption.
Visibly fluorescent proteins (FPs) from jellyfish and corals have revolutionized many areas of molecular and cell biology, but the use of FPs in intact animals, such as mice, has been handicapped by ...poor penetration of excitation light. We now show that a bacteriophytochrome from Deinococcus radiodurans, incorporating biliverdin as the chromophore, can be engineered into monomeric, infrared-fluorescent proteins (IFPs), with excitation and emission maxima of 684 and 708 nm, respectively; extinction coefficient >90,000 M⁻¹ cm⁻¹; and quantum yield of 0.07. IFPs express well in mammalian cells and mice and spontaneously incorporate biliverdin, which is ubiquitous as the initial intermediate in heme catabolism but has negligible fluorescence by itself. Because their wavelengths penetrate tissue well, IFPs are suitable for whole-body imaging. The IFPs developed here provide a scaffold for further engineering.
Abstract
Schrödinger cat states, quantum superpositions of macroscopically distinct classical states, are an important resource for quantum communication, quantum metrology and quantum computation. ...Especially, cat states in a phase space protected against phase-flip errors can be used as a logical qubit. However, cat states, normally generated in three-dimensional cavities and/or strong multi-photon drives, are facing the challenges of scalability and controllability. Here, we present a strategy to generate and preserve cat states in a coplanar superconducting circuit by the fast modulation of Kerr nonlinearity. At the Kerr-free work point, our cat states are passively preserved due to the vanishing Kerr effect. We are able to prepare a 2-component cat state in our chip-based device with a fidelity reaching 89.1% under a 96 ns gate time. Our scheme shows an excellent route to constructing a chip-based bosonic quantum processor.
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