Dipstick and lateral-flow formats have dominated rapid diagnostics over the last three decades. These formats gained popularity in the consumer markets due to their compactness, portability and ...facile interpretation without external instrumentation. However, lack of quantitation in measurements has challenged the demand of existing assay formats in consumer markets. Recently, paper-based microfluidics has emerged as a multiplexable point-of-care platform which might transcend the capabilities of existing assays in resource-limited settings. However, paper-based microfluidics can enable fluid handling and quantitative analysis for potential applications in healthcare, veterinary medicine, environmental monitoring and food safety. Currently, in its early development stages, paper-based microfluidics is considered a low-cost, lightweight, and disposable technology. The aim of this review is to discuss: (1) fabrication of paper-based microfluidic devices, (2) functionalisation of microfluidic components to increase the capabilities and the performance, (3) introduction of existing detection techniques to the paper platform and (4) exploration of extracting quantitative readouts via handheld devices and camera phones. Additionally, this review includes challenges to scaling up, commercialisation and regulatory issues. The factors which limit paper-based microfluidic devices to become real world products and future directions are also identified.
A look at the 3-dimensional analyte-sensitive nanostructures of holographic sensors is presented. In addition, the applications of these holographic sensors are also examined.
Recurring deletions of chromosome 7 and 7q −7/del(7q) occur in myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and are associated with poor prognosis. However, the identity of functionally ...relevant tumor suppressors on 7q remains unclear. Using RNAi and CRISPR/Cas9 approaches, we show that an ∼50% reduction in gene dosage of the mixed lineage leukemia 3 (MLL3) gene, located on 7q36.1, cooperates with other events occurring in −7/del(7q) AMLs to promote leukemogenesis. Mll3 suppression impairs the differentiation of HSPC. Interestingly, Mll3-suppressed leukemias, like human −7/del(7q) AMLs, are refractory to conventional chemotherapy but sensitive to the BET inhibitor JQ1. Thus, our mouse model functionally validates MLL3 as a haploinsufficient 7q tumor suppressor and suggests a therapeutic option for this aggressive disease.
•MLL3 is a haploinsufficient 7q tumor suppressor in AML•Mll3 deficiency cooperates with other lesions occurring in −7/del(7q) MDS and AML•Mll3 suppressed AML mimics human −7/del(7q) AML phenotypically and molecularly•AML with Mll3 attenuation is chemoresistant but sensitive to BET inhibition
Chen et al. use RNAi and CRISPR/Cas9 approaches to identify MLL3 as a critical haploinsufficient tumor suppressor in −7/del(7q) acute myeloid leukemia. Although these leukemias are refractory to conventional chemotherapy, the authors show that they may be sensitive to BET inhibition.
Contact Lens Sensors in Ocular Diagnostics Farandos, Nicholas M.; Yetisen, Ali K.; Monteiro, Michael J. ...
Advanced healthcare materials,
04/2015, Letnik:
4, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Contact lenses as a minimally invasive platform for diagnostics and drug delivery have emerged in recent years. Contact lens sensors have been developed for analyzing the glucose composition of tears ...as a surrogate for blood glucose monitoring and for the diagnosis of glaucoma by measuring intraocular pressure. However, the eye offers a wider diagnostic potential as a sensing site and therefore contact lens sensors have the potential to improve the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases and conditions. With advances in polymer synthesis, electronics and micro/nanofabrication, contact lens sensors can be produced to quantify the concentrations of many biomolecules in ocular fluids. Non‐ or minimally invasive contact lens sensors can be used directly in a clinical or point‐of‐care setting to monitor a disease state continuously. This article reviews the state‐of‐the‐art in contact lens sensor fabrication, their detection, wireless powering, and readout mechanisms, and integration with mobile devices and smartphones. High‐volume manufacturing considerations of contact lenses are also covered and a case study of an intraocular pressure contact lens sensor is provided as an example of a successful product. This Review further analyzes the contact lens market and the FDA regulatory requirements for commercialization of contact lens sensors.
Contact lens sensors have been used as minimally invasive and continuous analytical devices to diagnose glaucoma by measuring intraocular pressure, and diabetes from lachrymal glucose. This Review covers contact lens sensors from concept to market by analyzing detection mechanisms, micro/nanofabrication, powering, readout techniques, and high‐volume manufacturing, supplemented by a case study. A market analysis and FDA approval process are also outlined.
CRISPR base editing enables the creation of targeted single-base conversions without generating double-stranded breaks. However, the efficiency of current base editors is very low in many cell types. ...We reengineered the sequences of BE3, BE4Gam, and xBE3 by codon optimization and incorporation of additional nuclear-localization sequences. Our collection of optimized constitutive and inducible base-editing vector systems dramatically improves the efficiency by which single-nucleotide variants can be created. The reengineered base editors enable target modification in a wide range of mouse and human cell lines, and intestinal organoids. We also show that the optimized base editors mediate efficient in vivo somatic editing in the liver in adult mice.
Synovial sarcoma is an aggressive cancer invariably associated with a chromosomal translocation involving genes encoding the SWI-SNF complex component SS18 and an SSX (SSX1 or SSX2) transcriptional ...repressor. Using functional genomics, we identify KDM2B, a histone demethylase and component of a non-canonical polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1.1), as selectively required for sustaining synovial sarcoma cell transformation. SS18-SSX1 physically interacts with PRC1.1 and co-associates with SWI/SNF and KDM2B complexes on unmethylated CpG islands. Via KDM2B, SS18-SSX1 binds and aberrantly activates expression of developmentally regulated genes otherwise targets of polycomb-mediated repression, which is restored upon KDM2B depletion, leading to irreversible mesenchymal differentiation. Thus, SS18-SSX1 deregulates developmental programs to drive transformation by hijacking a transcriptional repressive complex to aberrantly activate gene expression.
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•An RNAi screen identifies KDM2B as an epigenetic dependency in synovial sarcoma•KDM2B depletion abolishes neurogenic programs inducing mesenchymal differentiation•KDM2B-PRC1.1 recruits SS18-SSX and SWI/SNF to unmethylated CpG islands•SS18-SSX hijacks a repressive complex to aberrantly activate gene expression
Banito et al. show that SS18-SSX fusions characteristic of synovial sarcoma associate with KDM2B-PRC1.1, a non-canonical polycomb repressive complex 1, to aberrantly activate the expression of developmentally regulated transcription factors that are normally targets of polycomb-mediated gene repression.
Epigenetic pathways can regulate gene expression by controlling and interpreting chromatin modifications. Cancer cells are characterized by altered epigenetic landscapes, and commonly exploit the ...chromatin regulatory machinery to enforce oncogenic gene expression programs. Although chromatin alterations are, in principle, reversible and often amenable to drug intervention, the promise of targeting such pathways therapeutically has been limited by an incomplete understanding of cancer-specific dependencies on epigenetic regulators. Here we describe a non-biased approach to probe epigenetic vulnerabilities in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), an aggressive haematopoietic malignancy that is often associated with aberrant chromatin states. By screening a custom library of small hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) targeting known chromatin regulators in a genetically defined AML mouse model, we identify the protein bromodomain-containing 4 (Brd4) as being critically required for disease maintenance. Suppression of Brd4 using shRNAs or the small-molecule inhibitor JQ1 led to robust antileukaemic effects in vitro and in vivo, accompanied by terminal myeloid differentiation and elimination of leukaemia stem cells. Similar sensitivities were observed in a variety of human AML cell lines and primary patient samples, revealing that JQ1 has broad activity in diverse AML subtypes. The effects of Brd4 suppression are, at least in part, due to its role in sustaining Myc expression to promote aberrant self-renewal, which implicates JQ1 as a pharmacological means to suppress MYC in cancer. Our results establish small-molecule inhibition of Brd4 as a promising therapeutic strategy in AML and, potentially, other cancers, and highlight the utility of RNA interference (RNAi) screening for revealing epigenetic vulnerabilities that can be exploited for direct pharmacological intervention.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a dismal prognosis, and new therapies are needed. Altered metabolism is a cancer vulnerability, and several metabolic pathways have been shown to promote ...PDAC. However, the changes in cholesterol metabolism and their role during PDAC progression remain largely unknown. Here we used organoid and mouse models to determine the drivers of altered cholesterol metabolism in PDAC and the consequences of its disruption on tumor progression. We identified sterol O-acyltransferase 1 (SOAT1) as a key player in sustaining the mevalonate pathway by converting cholesterol to inert cholesterol esters, thereby preventing the negative feedback elicited by unesterified cholesterol. Genetic targeting of Soat1 impairs cell proliferation in vitro and tumor progression in vivo and reveals a mevalonate pathway dependency in p53 mutant PDAC cells that have undergone p53 loss of heterozygosity (LOH). In contrast, pancreatic organoids lacking p53 mutation and p53 LOH are insensitive to SOAT1 loss, indicating a potential therapeutic window for inhibiting SOAT1 in PDAC.
Although human cancers have complex genotypes and are genomically unstable, they often remain dependent on the continued presence of single-driver mutations-a phenomenon dubbed "oncogene addiction." ...Such dependencies have been demonstrated in mouse models, where conditional expression systems have revealed that oncogenes able to initiate cancer are often required for tumor maintenance and progression, thus validating the pathways they control as therapeutic targets. Here, we implement an integrative approach that combines genetically defined mouse models, transcriptional profiling, and a novel inducible RNAi platform to characterize cellular programs that underlie addiction to MLL-AF9-a fusion oncoprotein involved in aggressive forms of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We show that MLL-AF9 contributes to leukemia maintenance by enforcing a Myb-coordinated program of aberrant self-renewal involving genes linked to leukemia stem cell potential and poor prognosis in human AML. Accordingly, partial and transient Myb suppression precisely phenocopies MLL-AF9 withdrawal and eradicates aggressive AML in vivo without preventing normal myelopoiesis, indicating that strategies to inhibit Myb-dependent aberrant self-renewal programs hold promise as effective and cancer-specific therapeutics. Together, our results identify Myb as a critical mediator of oncogene addiction in AML, delineate relevant Myb target genes that are amenable to pharmacologic inhibition, and establish a general approach for dissecting oncogene addiction in vivo.
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