The ECM protein EFEMP1 (fibulin‐3) is associated with all types of solid tumor through its cell context‐dependent dual function. A variant of fibulin‐3 was engineered by truncation and mutation to ...alleviate its oncogenic function, specifically the proinvasive role in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells at stem‐like state. ZR30 is an in vitro synthesized 39‐kDa protein of human fibulin‐3 variant. It has a therapeutic effect in intracranial xenograft models of human GBM, through suppression of epidermal growth factor receptor/AKT and NOTCH1/AKT signaling in GBM cells and extracellular MMP2 activation. Glioblastoma multiforme is highly vascular, with leaky blood vessels formed by tumor cells expressing endothelial cell markers, including CD31. Here we studied GBM intracranial xenografts, 2 weeks after intratumoral injection of ZR30 or PBS, by CD31 immunohistochemistry. We found a 70% reduction of blood vessel density in ZR30‐treated xenografts compared with that of PBS‐treated ones. Matrigel plug assays showed the effect of ZR30 on suppressing angiogenesis. We further studied the effect of ZR30 on genes involved in endothelial transdifferentiation (ETD), in 7 primary cultures derived from 3 GBMs under different culture conditions. Two GBM cultures formed mesh structures with upregulation of ETD genes shortly after culture in Matrigel Matrix, and ZR30 suppressed both. ZR30 also downregulated ETD genes in two GBM cultures with high expression of these genes. In conclusion, multifaceted tumor suppression effects of human fibulin‐3 variant include both suppression of angiogenesis and vasculogenic mimicry in GBM.
Vascularization in glioblastoma multiforme intracranial xenograft was reduced by intratumoral injection of ZR30, an in vitro synthesized 39‐kDa protein of human fibulin‐3 variant.
Solar-driven water splitting to produce hydrogen may be an ideal solution for global energy and environment issues. Among the various photocatalytic systems, platinum has been widely used to ...co-catalyse the reduction of protons in water for hydrogen evolution. However, the undesirable hydrogen oxidation reaction can also be readily catalysed by metallic platinum, which limits the solar energy conversion efficiency in artificial photosynthesis. Here we report that the unidirectional suppression of hydrogen oxidation in photocatalytic water splitting can be fulfilled by controlling the valence state of platinum; this platinum-based cocatalyst in a higher oxidation state can act as an efficient hydrogen evolution site while suppressing the undesirable hydrogen back-oxidation. The findings in this work may pave the way for developing other high-efficientcy platinum-based catalysts for photocatalysis, photoelectrochemistry, fuel cells and water-gas shift reactions.
Biodiversity endows similar species with subtle differences in composition, microstructure, and surface chemistry, making biomass a promising precursor to control the resulting active structure for ...heterocatalysis. Here, it is shown that Tremella fuciformis (Tfu), possessing an abundant porous structure and favorable metal affinity, is favorably serves as a precursor for confining uniform metal nanoparticles, by comparing the chemical characteristics of six varieties of agarics. The modest size of Co in the Tfu derived composite, Co@NPC‐Tfu (NPC = N, P co‐doped carbon), is suitable for in situ semi‐oxidation during oxygen evolution reaction (OER), forming a stable core‐shell structure of Co3O4@Co. Thus, Co@NPC‐Tfu can be used as a state‐of‐the‐art electrocatalyst for OER with an overpotential of 213.6 ± 4.1 mV at 10 mA cm−2, and a significant turnover frequency of 3.21 s−1 at 300 mV, benefitting from the optimum trade‐off between the atom utilization and electrical conductivity. Operando spectroscopy and theoretical calculations unveil the occupied state modulation of the robust carbon‐bonded POx groups, which optimizes the intermediate adsorption to accelerate OER kinetics. Moreover, Tfu derived Ni@NPC‐Tfu can be also prepared as a high‐performance hydrogen evolution reaction electrocatalyst, which can be utilized for efficient overall water splitting coupled with Co@NPC‐Tfu.
Biodiversity is used to control the sizes of metal nanoparticles for resulting modest particle size to achieve in situ semi‐oxidation, forming a stable core‐shell nanostructure of Co3O4@Co supported by P‐doped carbon. The trade‐off between conductivity and atom utilization, as well as the carbon‐bonded POx groups jointly promote electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction.
Economical nanocomposites based on π‐stacking of N‐acetyl glycosyl rhodamine B to graphene oxide (GO) are simply prepared. These “sweet” GO‐materials are proven to be admirable for the fluorogenic ...recognition of specific intercellular sugar‐based ligand‐glycoprotein receptor interactions of interest.
The assembly of gigantic heterometallic metal clusters remains a great challenge for synthetic chemistry. Herein, based on the slow release strategy of lanthanide ions and in situ formation of ...lacunary polyoxometalates, two giant 3d‐4f polyoxometalate inorganic clusters LaNi12W35Sb3P3O139(OH)623− (LaNi12) and La10Ni48W140Sb16P12O568(OH)24(H2O)2086− (La10Ni48) are obtained. The nanoscopic inorganic cluster La10Ni48 possesses a super tetrahedron structure, which can be viewed as assembly from four LaNi12 molecules encapsulating a central La6(SbO3)4(H2O)206+ octahedron core. This giant aesthetic La10Ni48 tetrahedron containing 214 metal ions is the largest 3d‐4f cluster reported thus far in polyoxometalate system. More interestingly, the LaNi12 and La10Ni48 display high stability in solution and La10Ni48 displays excellent proton conductivity.
Two giant heterometallic 3d‐4f polyoxometalate inorganic clusters LaNi12 and La10Ni48 are obtained based on the slow release strategy of lanthanide ions. This giant La10Ni48 tetrahedron containing 214 metal ions is the largest 3d‐4f cluster reported thus far in polyoxometalate system. More interestingly, the LaNi12 and La10Ni48 display high stability in solution and La10Ni48 displays excellent proton conductivity.
Vasculogenic mimicry (VM), the formation of vessel-like structures by highly invasive tumor cells, has been considered one of several mechanisms responsible for the failure of anti-angiogenesis ...therapy in glioma patients. Therefore, inhibiting VM formation might be an effective therapeutic method to antagonize the angiogenesis resistance. This study aimed to show that an extracellular protein called Tenascin-c (TNC) is involved in VM formation and that TNC knockdown inhibits VM in glioma. TNC was upregulated with an increase in glioma grade. TNC and VM formation are potential independent predictors of survival of glioma patients. TNC upregulation was correlated with VM formation, and exogenous TNC stimulated VM formation. Furthermore, TNC knockdown significantly suppressed VM formation and proliferation in glioma cells in vitro and in vivo, with a reduction in cellular invasiveness and migration. Mechanistically, TNC knockdown decreased Akt phosphorylation at Ser
and Thr
and subsequently downregulated matrix metalloproteinase 2 and 9, both of which are important proteins associated with VM formation and migration. Our results indicate that TNC plays an important role in VM formation in glioma, suggesting that TNC is a potential therapeutic target for anti-angiogenesis therapy for glioma.
Intestinal dysbiosis is implicated in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). However, the evidence of gut microbiome changes in SLE is limited, and the association of changed gut microbiome with the ...activity of SLE, as well as its functional relevance with SLE still remains unknown. Here, we sequenced 16S rRNA amplicon on fecal samples from 40 SLE patients (19 active patients, 21 remissive patients), 20 disease controls (Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients), and 22 healthy controls (HCs), and investigated the association of functional categories with taxonomic composition by Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt). We demonstrated SLE patients, particularly the active patients, had significant dysbiosis in gut microbiota with reduced bacterial diversity and biased community constitutions. Amongst the disordered microbiota, the genera Streptococcus, Campylobacter, Veillonella, the species anginosus and dispar, were positively correlated with lupus activity, while the genus Bifidobacterium was negatively associated with the disease activity. PICRUSt analysis showed metabolic pathways were different between SLE and HCs, and also between active and remissive SLE patients. Moreover, we revealed that a random forest model could distinguish SLE from RA and HCs (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.792), and another random forest model could well predict the activity of SLE patients (AUC = 0.811). In summary, SLE patients, especially the active patients, show an apparent dysbiosis in gut microbiota and its related metabolic pathways. Amongst the disordered microflora, four genera and two species are associated with lupus activity. Furthermore, the random forest models are able to diagnose SLE and predict disease activity.
Abstract
Aims
Interleukin (IL)-5 mediates the development of eosinophils (EOS) that are essential for tissue post-injury repair. It remains unknown whether IL-5 plays a role in heart repair after ...myocardial infarction (MI). This study aims to test whether IL-5-induced EOS population promotes the healing and repair process post-MI and to reveal the underlying mechanisms.
Methods and results
MI was induced by permanent ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery in wild-type C57BL/6 mice. Western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed elevated expression of IL-5 in the heart at 5 days post-MI. Immunohistostaining indicated that IL-5 was secreted mainly from macrophages and CD127+ cells in the setting of experimental MI. External supply of recombinant mouse IL-5 (20 min, 1 day, and 2 days after MI surgery) reduced the infarct size and increased ejection fraction and angiogenesis in the border zone. A significant expansion of EOS was detected in both the peripheral blood and infarcted myocardium after IL-5 administration. Pharmacological depletion of EOS by TRFK5 pretreatment muted the beneficial effects of IL-5 in MI mice. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that IL-5 increased the accumulation of CD206+ macrophages in infarcted myocardium at 7 days post-MI. In vitro co-culture experiments showed that EOS shifted bone marrow-derived macrophage polarization towards the CD206+ phenotypes. This activity of EOS was abolished by IL-4 neutralizing antibody, but not IL-10 or IL-13 neutralization. Western blot analyses demonstrated that EOS promoted the macrophage downstream signal transducer and activator of transcription 6 (STAT6) phosphorylation.
Conclusion
IL-5 facilitates the recovery of cardiac dysfunction post-MI by promoting EOS accumulation and subsequent CD206+ macrophage polarization via the IL-4/STAT6 axis.
Graphical Abstract
Graphical Abstract
BACKGROUNDGastric cancer is a prevalent malignant cancer with a high incidence and significantly affects the health of modern people globally. Cisplatin (DDP) is one of the most common and effective ...chemotherapies for patients with gastric cancer, but DDP resistance remains a severe clinical challenge. AIMTo explore the function of M2 polarized macrophages-derived exosomal microRNA (miR)-588 in the modulation of DDP resistance of gastric cancer cells. METHODSM2 polarized macrophages were isolated and identified by specific markers using flow cytometry analysis. The exosomes from M2 macrophages were identified by transmission electron microscopy and related markers. The uptake of the PKH67-labelled M2 macrophages-derived exosomes was detected in SGC7901 cells. The function and mechanism of exosomal miR-588 from M2 macrophages in the modulation of DDP resistance of gastric cancer cells was analyzed by CCK-8 assay, apoptosis analysis, colony formation assay, Western blot analysis, qPCR analysis, and luciferase reporter assay in SGC7901 and SGC7901/DDP cells, and by tumorigenicity analysis in nude mice. RESULTSM2 polarized macrophages were isolated from mouse bone marrow stimulated with interleukin (IL)-13 and IL-4. Co-cultivation of gastric cancer cells with M2 polarized macrophages promoted DDP resistance. M2 polarized macrophages-derived exosomes could transfer in gastric cancer cells to enhance DDP resistance. Exosomal miR-588 from M2 macrophages contributed to DDP resistance of gastric cancer cells. miR-588 promoted DDP-resistant gastric cancer cell growth in vivo. miR-588 was able to target cylindromatosis (CYLD) in gastric cancer cells. The depletion of CYLD reversed miR-588 inhibition-regulated cell proliferation and apoptosis of gastric cancer cells exposed to DDP. CONCLUSIONIn conclusion, we uncovered that exosomal miR-588 from M2 macrophages contributes to DDP resistance of gastric cancer cells by partly targeting CYLD. miR-588 may be applied as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of gastric cancer.
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