Spectroscopic Investigation on the Interactions between Cationic Surfactants and Bovine Serum Albumin

<div><p>Physicochemical studies on the interaction of cationic surfactants dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB), <i>N</i>-dodecyl-<i>N</i>-2-hydroxyethyl-<i>N,N</i>-dimethylammonium bromide (C₁₂HDAB), and <i>N</i>-dodecyl-<i>N,N</i>-2-dihydroxyethyl-<i>N</i>-methyl ammonium bromide (C₁₂DHAB) with bovine serum albumin (BSA) were performed by fluorimetry, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, and ξ-potential measurements. The quenching efficiency of the intrinsic fluorescence of BSA and the interaction strength with BSA increased with increasing numbers of hydroxyethyl constituents in the head group. In each of the surfactant/BSA systems studied, the specific binding site was Trp-213 and the hydrophobic interaction was predominant while a contribution of the hydrogen bond was also observed in the presence of hydroxyethyl.</p></div

Comparative Investigations on Mixing Behaviors of Cationic Gemini Surfactant with Surface Active Ionic Liquid in Water and in Ethylammonium Nitrate

The properties of mixed surfactants of 1-tetradecyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide (C₁₄mimBr) and the gemini surfactant <i>N</i>,<i>N</i>′-bis­(dimethyldodecyl)-1,2-ethanediammonium dibromide (12-2-12) in water and in ethylammonium nitrate (EAN) were studied by surface tensiometry. The critical micelle concentration (cmc) values of the mixed surfactants were determined and found to be much larger in EAN than in water. The nonideal mixing behaviors were observed at the air/solvent interface and in the mixed micelle both in water and in EAN. The surface pressure at the cmc (π_cmc), the maximum surface excess (Γ_max), the minimum surface area per molecule (<i>A</i>_min), the standard Gibbs free energies of micellization (Δ<i>G</i>_m⁰) and adsorption (Δ<i>G</i>_ads⁰), and the excess Gibbs free energy of mixed micelles (Δ<i>G</i>^E) were determined. It was found that physicochemical properties of C₁₄mimBr/12-2-12 mixed systems in water and in EAN were significantly different, which was discussed in terms of different properties of the solvents

DataSheet_1_MD2 Is a Potential Biomarker Associated with Immune Cell Infiltration in Gliomas.zip

BackgroundGlioma is the most common primary malignant tumor in the central nervous system. Myeloid differentiation protein 2 (MD2) acts as a coreceptor of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) to mediate innate immune response. However, the actual roles of MD2 in the regulation of progression and immune cell infiltration in gliomas remain largely unclear. This study aims to explore whether MD2 could be an independent prognostic factor through the mediation of immune cell infiltration in gliomas.MethodsThe mRNA expression and DNA methylation differential analyses of MD2 were performed using CGGA, TCGA and Rembrandt databases and survival analyses were performed using Kaplan-Meier plotter. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression was applied to analyze the prognostic value of MD2 and nomograms were constructed to evaluate the clinical value of MD2. Then, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were utilized to analyze MD2-related signal pathways. Furthermore, correlations between MD2 and immune cell infiltration were calculated by TIMER and CIBERSOPT. The correlation between MD2 expression and the infiltrations of macrophages and neutrophils was experimentally verified by the knockdown of MD2 expression using small interfering RNA (siRNA) in glioma cells.ResultsWe found that MD2 was overexpressed and associated with a poor prognosis in gliomas. Meanwhile, higher expression of MD2 could be a result of lower DNA methylation of MD2 gene in gliomas. In addition, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that MD2 could be an independent prognostic factor for gliomas. Further functional enrichment analysis revealed that the functions of MD2 were closely related to immune responses. Moreover, the expression level of MD2 was strongly correlated with the infiltration and polarization of pro-tumor phenotype of tumor-associated macrophages and tumor-associated neutrophils in gliomas.ConclusionsThese findings have provided strong evidence that MD2 could be served as a valuable immune-related biomarker to diagnose and predict the progression of gliomas.</p

DataSheet_2_MD2 Is a Potential Biomarker Associated with Immune Cell Infiltration in Gliomas.zip

BackgroundGlioma is the most common primary malignant tumor in the central nervous system. Myeloid differentiation protein 2 (MD2) acts as a coreceptor of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) to mediate innate immune response. However, the actual roles of MD2 in the regulation of progression and immune cell infiltration in gliomas remain largely unclear. This study aims to explore whether MD2 could be an independent prognostic factor through the mediation of immune cell infiltration in gliomas.MethodsThe mRNA expression and DNA methylation differential analyses of MD2 were performed using CGGA, TCGA and Rembrandt databases and survival analyses were performed using Kaplan-Meier plotter. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression was applied to analyze the prognostic value of MD2 and nomograms were constructed to evaluate the clinical value of MD2. Then, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were utilized to analyze MD2-related signal pathways. Furthermore, correlations between MD2 and immune cell infiltration were calculated by TIMER and CIBERSOPT. The correlation between MD2 expression and the infiltrations of macrophages and neutrophils was experimentally verified by the knockdown of MD2 expression using small interfering RNA (siRNA) in glioma cells.ResultsWe found that MD2 was overexpressed and associated with a poor prognosis in gliomas. Meanwhile, higher expression of MD2 could be a result of lower DNA methylation of MD2 gene in gliomas. In addition, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that MD2 could be an independent prognostic factor for gliomas. Further functional enrichment analysis revealed that the functions of MD2 were closely related to immune responses. Moreover, the expression level of MD2 was strongly correlated with the infiltration and polarization of pro-tumor phenotype of tumor-associated macrophages and tumor-associated neutrophils in gliomas.ConclusionsThese findings have provided strong evidence that MD2 could be served as a valuable immune-related biomarker to diagnose and predict the progression of gliomas.</p

Data_Sheet_1_Chemodiversity of Soil Dissolved Organic Matter and Its Association With Soil Microbial Communities Along a Chronosequence of Chinese Fir Monoculture Plantations.docx

The total dissolved organic matter (DOM) content of soil changes after vegetation transformation, but the diversity of the underlying chemical composition has not been explored in detail. Characterizing the molecular diversity of DOM and its fate enables a better understanding of the soil quality of monoculture forest plantations. This study characterized the chemodiversity of soil DOM, assessed the variation of the soil microbial community composition, and identified specific linkages between DOM molecules and microbial community composition in soil samples from a 100-year chronosequence of Chinese fir monoculture plantations. With increasing plantation age, soil total carbon and dissolved organic carbon first decreased and then increased, while soil nutrients, such as available potassium and phosphorus and total nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, increased significantly. Lignin/carboxylic-rich alicyclic molecule (CRAM)-like structures accounted for the largest proportion of DOM, while aliphatic/proteins and carbohydrates showed a decreasing trend along the chronosequence. DOM high in H/C (such as lipids and aliphatic/proteins) degraded preferentially, while low-H/C DOM (such as lignin/CRAM-like structures and tannins) showed recalcitrance during stand development. Soil bacterial richness and diversity increased significantly as stand age increased, while soil fungal diversity tended to increase during early stand development and then decrease. The soil microbial community had a complex connectivity and strong interaction with DOM during stand development. Most bacterial phyla, such as Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Firmicutes, were very significantly and positively correlated with DOM molecules. However, Verrucomicrobia and almost all fungi, such as Basidiomycota and Ascomycota, were significantly negatively correlated with DOM molecules. Overall, the community of soil microorganisms interacted closely with the compositional variability of DOM in the monoculture plantations investigated, both by producing and consuming DOM. This suggests that DOM is not intrinsically recalcitrant but instead persists in soils as a result of simultaneous consumption, transformation, and formation by soil microorganisms with extended stand ages of Chinese fir plantations.</p

Supplemental Figure S2 from MSK1-Mediated β-Catenin Phosphorylation Confers Resistance to PI3K/mTOR Inhibitors in Glioblastoma

PI3K/mTOR inhibition induced MSK1 mRNA expression</p

Supplemental Figure S3 from MSK1-Mediated β-Catenin Phosphorylation Confers Resistance to PI3K/mTOR Inhibitors in Glioblastoma

ERK signaling pathway was activated by PI3K/mTOR inhibitor and mediated MSK1 phosphorylation</p

Supplemental data from MSK1-Mediated β-Catenin Phosphorylation Confers Resistance to PI3K/mTOR Inhibitors in Glioblastoma

Supplemental table 1. shRNA targeting sequences;Supplemental table 2. Primers for Q-PCR; Legends for 6 Supplemental Figures</p

Supplemental Figure S6 from MSK1-Mediated β-Catenin Phosphorylation Confers Resistance to PI3K/mTOR Inhibitors in Glioblastoma

β-catenin depletion decreased cell resistance to PI3K/mTOR inhibition</p

Supplemental Figure S5 from MSK1-Mediated β-Catenin Phosphorylation Confers Resistance to PI3K/mTOR Inhibitors in Glioblastoma

Gene expression in GSC20-SCR and GSC20-MSK1-sh cells was analyzed by microarray and top down-regulated genes were listed</p