Epithelial cell adhesion molecule–positive (EpCAM+) hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells may constitute a tumor‐initiating subpopulation in tumorigenic cell lines and HCC specimens. In the present ...study, EpCAM+ circulating tumor cells (CTCs) were identified prospectively in HCC patients undergoing curative resection, and the prognostic significance and their stem cell–like characteristics were investigated further. Blood samples from 123 HCC patients were tested prior to resection and 1 month thereafter. CTCs were present in 66.67% of patients, and the cell count measured in 7.5 mL of blood (CTC7.5) ranged between 1 and 34. Fifty‐one patients had CTC7.5 of ≥2 preoperatively, and these patients developed tumor recurrence earlier than those with CTC7.5 of <2 CTCs (P < 0.001). A preoperative CTC7.5 of ≥2 was an independent prognostic factor for tumor recurrence (P < 0.001). Its prognostic significance also applied to patients with alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP) levels of ≤400 ng/mL or subgroups with low recurrence risk (all P < 0.05). A significant decrease of CTC‐positive rates (66.67% to 28.15%, P < 0.05) and CTC7.5 values (2.60 ± 0.43 to 1.00 ± 0.36, P < 0.05) was observed 1 month after resection. Patients with consistent CTC7.5 <2 had lower recurrence rates than those with values consistently ≥2 (15.5% versus 87.50%, P < 0.001). EpCAM+ CTCs displayed cancer stem cell biomarkers (CD133 and ABCG2), epithelial‐mesenchymal transition, Wnt pathway activation, high tumorigenic potential, and low apoptotic propensity. Conclusion: Stem cell–like phenotypes are observed in EpCAM+ CTCs, and a preoperative CTC7.5 of ≥2 is a novel predictor for tumor recurrence in HCC patients after surgery, especially in patient subgroups with AFP levels of ≤400 ng/mL or low tumor recurrence risk. EpCAM+ CTCs may serve as a real‐time parameter for monitoring treatment response and a therapeutic target in HCC recurrence. (HEPATOLOGY 2013)
The high toxicity and mobility of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) allow it to easily spread and bioaccumulate, and its detection is a major part of environmental protection. In this work, an innovative ...method is developed for preparation of cerium oxide nanorod-templated metal–organic frameworks (CeO2NRs-MOF). The in situ growth of MOF on the surface of CeO2 nanorods (CeO2NRs) enhances its oxidase-like activity. In the presence of a trace amount of Cr(VI), CeO2NRs-MOF can significantly accelerate the oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) due to Cr(VI)-boosted oxidation, resulting in a blue colored oxidation product. It can detect Cr(VI) over a range of 0.03–5 μM with high selectivity. Moreover, this method can be applied to the detection of Cr(VI) in different water environment samples with satisfactory recoveries, demonstrating the potential application of CeO2NRs-MOF for the direct monitoring of Cr(VI) in environmental water systems. Thus, this work provides a facile host-templated MOF preparation method, which could possibly be extended to other fields.
Abstract
Little is known about the transcriptomic plasticity and adaptive mechanisms of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) during hematogeneous dissemination. Here we interrogate the transcriptome of 113 ...single CTCs from 4 different vascular sites, including hepatic vein (HV), peripheral artery (PA), peripheral vein (PV) and portal vein (PoV) using single-cell full-length RNA sequencing in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. We reveal that the transcriptional dynamics of CTCs were associated with stress response, cell cycle and immune-evasion signaling during hematogeneous transportation. Besides, we identify chemokine CCL5 as an important mediator for CTC immune evasion. Mechanistically, overexpression of CCL5 in CTCs is transcriptionally regulated by p38-MAX signaling, which recruites regulatory T cells (Tregs) to facilitate immune escape and metastatic seeding of CTCs. Collectively, our results reveal a previously unappreciated spatial heterogeneity and an immune-escape mechanism of CTC, which may aid in designing new anti-metastasis therapeutic strategies in HCC.
We present for the first time complete next-to-next-to-leading-order coefficient functions to match flavor nonsinglet quark correlation functions in position space, which are calculable in lattice ...QCD, to parton distribution functions (PDFs). Using PDFs extracted from experimental data and our calculated matching coefficients, we predict valence-quark correlation functions that can be confronted by lattice QCD calculations. The uncertainty of our predictions is greatly reduced with higher order matching coefficients. By performing Fourier transformation, we also obtain matching coefficients for corresponding quasi-PDFs and pseudo-PDFs. Our method of calculations can be readily generalized to evaluate the matching coefficients for sea-quark and gluon correlation functions, making the program to extract partonic structure of hadrons from lattice QCD calculations comparable with and complementary to that from experimental measurements.
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The x dependence of hadrons' generalized parton distributions (GPDs) F(x,ξ,t) is the most difficult to extract from the existing known processes, while the ξ and t dependence are uniquely determined ...by the kinematics of the scattered hadron. We study the single diffractive hard exclusive processes for extracting GPDs in the photoproduction. We demonstrate quantitatively the enhanced sensitivity on extracting the x dependence of various GPDs from the photoproduction cross sections, as well as the asymmetries constructed from photon polarization and hadron spin that could be measured at JLab Hall D by GlueX Collaboration and future facilities.
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Due to the low efficiency of traditional sewage treatment methods, the effective removal of zwitterionic fluoroquinolone (FQs) antibiotics is of vital significant for environment protection. In this ...work, a SO3H-anchored covalent organic framework (TpPa-SO3H) was deliberately designed by linking phenolic trialdehyde with triamine through Schiff reaction, then low-content Tb3+ ions were loaded onto covalent organic framework according to wet-chemistry immersion dispersion method which benefitting for efficient FQs antibiotics uptaking. Tb@TpPa-SO3H functionalized with regularly distributed sulfonic acid groups and terbium ions which could provide difunctional binding sites. Tb3+ sites could capture carboxylic acid group of FQs molecules according to the complexes coordination effect and sulfonic acid sites play a significant role in the adsorption of FQs molecules through electrostatic interaction with amine group. Tb@TpPa-SO3H with dual complementary function sites exhibited ultra-fast adsorption kinetics (< 2 min, average over 99% removing rate) and high adsorption capacities of 989, 956, and 998 mg g−1 for Norfloxacin (NOR), ciprofloxacin (CIP), enrofloxacin (ENR), respectively. Furthermore, Tb@TpPa-SO3H showed excellent selectivity for the adsorption of FQs in tanglesome system. This work not only explored synergistic adsorption in ion-functionalized 2D covalent organic framework with dual binding sites, but also delineated a promising strategy for the elimination of organic pollutants in environmental remediation.
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•A difunctional Covalent Organic Framework Hybrid Material was prepared for efficient uptake of fluoroquinolone antibiotics.•Difunctional Tb@TpPa-SO3H exhibits outstanding adsorption capacity and short adsorption equilibrium time for FQs.•Tb@TpPa-SO3H shows excellent selectivity for the adsorption of FQs in tanglesome systems.•Plausible FQs adsorbed mechanisms were coordination with metal and electrostatic interaction.
Heavy metal ion pollution has threatened environmental and human safety. Therefore, there is a remarkable demand to detect heavy metal ions in a fast, sensitive, and selective way. Although ...conventional sensors have been designed and widely applied in heavy metal ion determination, they present many limitations and challenges. Graphene-based nanotechnology overcomes these challenges and endows the sensing platform a better performance. In this overview, studies concerning graphene-based optical nanosensors for heavy metal ion detection have been summarized, paying special attention to sensors based on graphene, graphene oxide, and graphene quantum dots. In addition, the prospects and developing trends of nanosensors for heavy metal ion analysis are also proposed.
•Graphene-based hybridized nanocomposites for metal ion optical detection were reviewed.•Graphene or GO as fluorescence probes for heavy metal ion detection was summarized.•Graphene or GO as the fluorescence quencher for heavy metal ion analysis was described.•Applications of GQD and CD probes in heavy metal ion sensing were discussed.
Aim
The pattern of biodiversity and biogeography is crucial to informing management and conservation strategy. But a lack of study across multiple ridge systems, especially for the Carlsberg Ridge, ...has hampered the conception of the overall picture for the Indian Ocean vents, a top target for deep‐sea exploration of massive sulphides. Here, we aim to characterize fauna from three new vent fields on the Carlsberg Ridge for the first time, and answer 1) what is the biogeographic pattern for vent fauna within the Indian Ocean and 2) how does this pattern guide the future environmental management on the Indian Ocean ridges.
Location
Vents on the Carlsberg Ridge (CR), Central Indian Ridge (CIR), and Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR).
Taxon
Macrofauna.
Methods
Samples, still images and videos were collected from vent fields by either submersible or TV‐guided grab. A comprehensive dataset of 11 fields on Indian Ocean ridges were obtained based on taxa identification and compilation. Genetic connectivity was analysed for six species using COI sequences. A framework for identifying biogeographic regions based on beta diversity measurement βsim was employed to reveal species turnover along the Indian Ocean ridges.
Results
Faunal assemblages at three new vents on the CR hosted a total of 34 species. Significant genetic differentiation was detected between southern SWIR and CIR (plus Tiancheng) for three species, and between CIR (plus Tiancheng) and CR for four species. Hierarchical clustering of βsim support division of the Indian Ocean vents into three clades.
Main conclusions
Species turnover along the ridges supported the separation of Indian Ocean vents into three discrete biogeographic units, boundaries between which largely corresponded to genetic breaks for shared species with lower dispersal capabilities. The results clearly show that the conservation of Indian Ocean vents must target three provinces, simultaneously.
The type of reactions and the availability of monomers for the synthesis of sp
-c linked covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are considerably limited by the irreversibility of the C=C bond. Herein, ...inspired by the Claisen-Schmidt condensation reaction, two propenone-linked (C=C-C=O) COFs (named Py-DAB and PyN-DAB) are developed based on the base-catalyzed nucleophilic addition reaction of ketone-activated α-H with aromatic aldehydes. The introduction of propenone structure endows COFs with high crystallinity, excellent physicochemical stability, and intriguing optoelectronic properties. Benefitting from the rational design on the COFs skeleton, Py-DAB and PyN-DAB are applied to the extraction of radionuclide uranium. In particular, PyN-DAB shows excellent removal rates (>98%) in four uranium mine wastewater samples. We highlight that such a general strategy can provide a valuable avenue toward various functional porous crystalline materials.
The sense of it: A new type of rapid, sensitive, and specific photoluminescence (PL)‐based assay has been proposed for the detection of phosphate (Pi) based on the competition of oxygen‐donor atoms ...from Pi with those from the carboxylate groups on a graphene‐quantum‐dot (GQD) surface for Eu3+ ions (see scheme). The graphene‐like structures combined with QD‐like optical properties suggest the promising nature of the GQDs as versatile tools in the fields of analytical science and biotechnology.
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