Cancer nanotheranostics, integrating both diagnostic and therapeutic functions into nanoscale agents, are advanced solutions for cancer management. Herein, a light‐responsive biodegradable ...nanorattle‐based perfluoropentane‐(PFP)‐filled mesoporous‐silica‐film‐coated gold nanorod (GNR@SiO2‐PFP) is strategically designed and prepared for enhanced ultrasound (US)/photoacoustic (PA) dual‐modality imaging guided photothermal therapy of melanoma. The as‐prepared nanorattles are composed of a thin mesoporous silica film as the shell, which endows the nanoplatform with flexible morphology and excellent biodegradability, as well as large cavity for PFP filling. Upon 808 nm laser irradiation, the loaded PFP will undergo a liquid–gas phase transition due to the heat generation from GNRs, thus generating nanobubbles followed by the coalescence into microbubbles. The conversion of nanobubbles to microbubbles can improve the intratumoral permeation and retention in nonmicrovascular tissue, as well as enhance the tumor‐targeted US imaging signals. This nanotheranostic platform exhibits excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability, distinct gas bubbling phenomenon, good US/PA imaging contrast, and remarkable photothermal efficiency. The results demonstrate that the GNR@SiO2‐PFP nanorattles hold great potential for cancer nanotheranostics.
A cancer‐theranostic nanorattle with excellent uniformity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability is prepared. Light‐responsive nanobubble generation allows ultrasound/photoacoustic dual‐modality imaging‐guided photothermal therapy of melanoma.
Abstract
Microbial communities of wetlands play key roles in the earth’s ecology and stability. To elucidate the cold adaptation mechanisms of bacteria in plateau wetlands, we conducted comparative ...genomic analyses of
Pseudomonas sivasensis
and closely related lineages. The genome of
P. sivasensis
W-6, a cold-adapted bacterium isolated from the Napahai plateau wetland, was sequenced and analyzed. The genome length was 6,109,123 bp with a G+C content of 59.5%. Gene prediction yielded 5360 protein-coding sequences, 70 tRNAs, 24 gene islands, and 2 CRISPR sequences. The isolate contained evidence of horizontal gene transfer events during its evolution. Two prophages were predicted and indicated that W-6 was a lysogen. The cold adaptation of the W-6 strain showed psychrophilic rather than psychrotrophic characteristics. Cold-adapted bacterium W-6 can utilize glycogen and trehalose as resources, associated with carbohydrate-active enzymes, and survive in a low-temperature environment. In addition, the cold-adapted mechanisms of the W-6 included membrane fluidity by changing the unsaturated fatty acid profile, the two-component regulatory systems, anti-sense transcription, the role played by
rpsU
genes in the translation process, etc. The genome-wide analysis of W-6 provided a deeper understanding of cold-adapted strategies of bacteria in environments. We elucidated the adaptive mechanism of the psychrophilic W-6 strain for survival in a cold environment, which provided a basis for further study on host-phage coevolution.
In this study, we report the construction of a ternary flexible nanocomposite of bacterial cellulose/graphene/polyaniline (BC/GE/PANI) via a facile two-step strategy. Bacterial cellulose/graphene ...(BC/GE) is first prepared by a novel in situ membrane-liquid-interface method, in which the three-dimensional continuous BC nanofibers can be maintained and the introduced GE can improve the mechanical properties mainly due to the uniform dispersion of GE in the BC matrix. To construct the effectively interconnected conductive paths between separated GE nanosheets, polyaniline (PANI) is simultaneously deposited on the surfaces of both BC nanofibers and GE nanosheets to obtain BC/GE/PANI with excellent electrical conductivity. It is found that the as-prepared BC/GE/PANI has an electrical conductivity of 1.7 ± 0.1 S cm−1, which is higher than most of PANI-based composites. It is believed that the BC/GE/PANI nanocomposite possesses great potential for applications in electromagnetic shielding and flexible electrodes.
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•Polyaniline was simultaneously coated on bacterial cellulose (BC) and graphene (GE).•Distribution of polyaniline on BC and GE can be controlled by processing variables.•Polyaniline coating greatly improves the electrical properties of BC/GE composite.
Viruses play important roles in ecosystems by interfering with the central metabolic pathways of the host during infection via the expression of auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs), altering the ...productivity of ecosystems and thus affecting geochemical cycling. In this study, the genetic diversity of phosphorus metabolism AMGs phoH, phoU and pstS was investigated by phylogenetic analysis, PCoA analysis, and alpha diversity analysis based on metagenomic data. It was found that the majority of the sequences were unique to Napahai plateau wetland. It was shown that the genetic diversity of phoH, phoU and pstS genes was independent of both habitats and host origins. In addition, the metabolic pathway of AMGs associated with the phosphorus cycling was identified based on metagenomic data. When phosphorus is deficient, virus utilizes AMGs to affect the metabolic pathway, contributing to higher phosphorus levels in the host and facilitating virus survival, replication, and propagation in the host cell.
Emerging evidence indicates that microRNAs play critical roles in carcinogenesis and cancer progression. In this study, miR-133a was found to be significantly downregulated in colon tumor tissues. We ...aimed to determine its biological function, molecular mechanisms, and direct target genes in colorectal cancer. From these results, we found that miR-133a was significantly downregulated in primary tumor tissues and colon cancer cell lines. Ectopic expression of miR-133a in colon cancer cell lines significantly suppressed cell growth, as evidenced by cell viability and colony formation assays, as well as reduced xenograft tumor growth in nude mice. However, the effect of miR-133a was abolished by the overexpression of eIF4A1. Moreover, miR-133a inhibited cellular migration and invasiveness. A luciferase activity assay revealed oncogene eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A1 as a direct target gene of miR-133a, whose expression was inversely correlated with that of miR-133a. Our results demonstrate that miR-133a plays a pivotal role in colorectal cancer by inhibiting cell proliferation, invasion, and migration by targeting oncogenic eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A1, which acts as a tumor suppressor and may provide a new potential therapeutic target in colorectal cancer.
To protect Cr–50Nb alloys from high-temperature oxidation, the silicide diffusion coating and Si–Al coating were produced by pack cementation. The results indicate that the two coatings have ...three-layer structure and the interfaces are smooth. Uncoated Cr–50Nb alloy occur catastrophic oxidation at the initial oxidation stage at 1200°C. However, the scale spalling resistance of the two coatings are improved significantly, and Si–Al coating exhibits excellent resistance to oxidation. During cyclic oxidation in air at 1200°C for 100h, the weight loss of Si–Al coating is 1.39mg/cm2 and the mass gain is 6.01mg/cm2.
Thermomechanical behavior has an important effect on reliability and lifetime of high-power diode lasers (HPDLs). Finite-element analysis (FEA) model and analytical solution model of the ...conduction-cooled package (CS) HPDL are established to analyze the thermomechanical behavior including normal stress, shearing stress, and displacement in reflowing process and working process. Moreover, in order to simulate and analyze the thermomechanical behavior in total process, reflowing thermal stress and displacement are considered as the residual stress and the initial condition of working process. We find that shearing stress is the origin of other thermomechanical behavior due to coefficient thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch, while both CTE mismatch and temperature gradient cause the thermal stress and displacement in working process. Although thermal stresses and displacement induced in reflowing process are larger than working process, the working process has great impact on smile and causes much worse total smile. The influence of different working temperatures on smile is also studied in total process with analytical solution, FEA, and experiment. For analytical solution, the total smile value is inversely proportional to the working temperature, while for FEA the smile value is proportional to the working temperature and FEA result accords with experimental result.
Based on previous experimental results, a series of FeCr/Ni interface models have been constructed and analyzed using a first-principles pseudopotential plane-wave method. Several parameters, such as ...the ideal work of separation (
W
), formation enthalpy (Δ
H
), cohesive energy (Δ
E
), and electronic structure were calculated in order to analyze the bonding performance and adhesion mechanisms of elements along an FeCr/Ni interface. The largest ideal work of separation was obtained for the Fe(100)/Ni(100) interface, which implies that this interface model presented the most stable structure among a series of crystal interface indices, e.g., (100), (110), and (111). With Cr doping, the
W
of the FeCr(100)/Ni(100) interface was increased by 101.571 mJ/m
2
. The corresponding ΔH and ΔE values also indicated that the FeCr(100)/Ni(100) interface model was strengthened by doping with chromium. Furthermore, the overlap population ratio,
R
LBOP
(
R
LBOP
= 1.04), of FeCr(100)/Ni(100) was smaller than that of Fe(100)/Ni(100) (
R
LBOP
= 1.35), which implies that the toughness of the Fe(100)/Ni(100) interface can be improved by the presence of chromium impurities. Moreover, electronic structure analysis provided an understanding of the mechanical performance of the various Fe(Cr)/Ni interface models. Thus, our findings open a potential avenue for the comprehensive study of composite material designs.
Macrophages are a dominant leukocyte population in the tumor microenvironment and actively promote cancer progression. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the role of macrophages remains ...poorly understood. Here we show that polarized M2 macrophages enhance 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 (PDPK1)-mediated phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1) threonine (T) 243 phosphorylation in tumor cells by secreting interleukin-6 (IL-6). This phosphorylation facilitates a PGK1-catalyzed reaction toward glycolysis by altering substrate affinity. Inhibition of PGK1 T243 phosphorylation or PDPK1 in tumor cells or neutralization of macrophage-derived IL-6 abrogates macrophage-promoted glycolysis, proliferation, and tumorigenesis. In addition, PGK1 T243 phosphorylation correlates with PDPK1 activation, IL-6 expression, and macrophage infiltration in human glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Moreover, PGK1 T243 phosphorylation also correlates with malignance and prognosis of human GBM. Our findings demonstrate a novel mechanism of macrophage-promoted tumor growth by regulating tumor cell metabolism, implicating the therapeutic potential to disrupt the connection between macrophages and tumor cells by inhibiting PGK1 phosphorylation.
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•Macrophages regulate tumor cell aerobic glycolysis through PGK1•PGK1 T243 phosphorylation regulates the direction of PGK1-catalyzed reaction•Inhibition of PGK1 T243 phosphorylation abrogates protumoral function of macrophages•PGK1 T243 phosphorylation correlates with grades and prognosis of GBM patients
Macrophages are a dominant leukocyte population in the tumor microenvironment and actively promote cancer progression. Zhang et al. demonstrate that resident tissue macrophages secrete IL-6 to regulate the direction of a PGK1-catalyzed reaction by increasing PDPK1-dependent PGK1 phosphorylation in tumor cells, promoting tumor cell glycolysis and tumorigenesis.
To explore the preventive and therapeutic effects of simvastatin on rats with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and examine the mechanism of airway inflammation and airway mucus ...hypersecretion.
The rat model of COPD was established by cigarette smoking and an intratracheal injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). A total of 18 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into control, COPD and simvastatin groups (n=6 each). The control and COPD groups received normal saline once daily via intragastric administration (i.g.) while the simvastatin group had simvastatin (0.5 g/L) 1 ml/100 g once daily via i.g. Pulmonary function was tested and pathological changes in bronchus and lung were observed. The bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8), interleukin-17 (IL-17) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The protein expressions of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), mucin 5AC (MUC5AC) an
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