Evaluation of polarization rotation in the scattering responses from individual semiconducting oxide nanorods

We investigate the interaction of visible light with the solid matters of semiconducting oxide nanorods (NRs) of zinc oxide (ZnO), indium tin oxide (ITO), and zinc tin oxide (ZTO) at the single nanomaterial level. We subsequently identify an intriguing, material-dependent phenomenon of optical rotation in the electric field oscillation direction of the scattered light by systematically controlling the wavelength and polarization direction of the incident light, the NR tilt angle, and the analyzer angle. This polarization rotation effect in the scattered light is repeatedly observed from the chemically pure and highly crystalline ZnO NRs, but absent on the chemically doped NR variants of ITO and ZTO under all measurement circumstances. We further elucidate that the phenomenon of polarization rotation detected from single ZnO NRs is affected by the NR tilt angle, while the phenomenon itself occurs irrespective of the wavelength and incident polarization direction of the visible light. Combined with the widespread optical and optoelectronic use of the semiconducting oxide nanomaterials, these efforts may provide much warranted fundamental bases to tailor material-specific, single nanomaterial-driven, optically modulating functionalities which, in turn, can be beneficial for the realization of high-performance integrated photonic circuits and miniaturized bio-optical sensing devices

Genome-wide identification and analysis of A-to-I RNA editing events in the malignantly transformed cell lines from bronchial epithelial cell line induced by α-particles radiation.

Adenosine (A) to inosine (I) RNA editing is the most prevalent RNA editing mechanism in humans and plays critical roles in tumorigenesis. However, the effects of radiation on RNA editing were poorly understood, and a deeper understanding of the radiation-induced cancer is imperative. Here, we analyzed BEP2D (a human bronchial epithelial cell line) and radiation-induced malignantly transformed cell lines with next generation sequencing. By performing an integrated analysis of A-to-I RNA editing, we found that single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) might induce the downregulation of ADAR2 enzymes, and further caused the abnormal occurrence of RNA editing in malignantly transformed cell lines. These editing events were significantly enriched in differentially expressed genes between normal cell line and malignantly transformed cell lines. In addition, oncogenes CTNNB1 and FN1 were highly edited and significantly overexpressed in malignantly transformed cell lines, thus may be responsible for the lung cancer progression. Our work provides a systematic analysis of RNA editing from cell lines derived from human bronchial epithelial cells with high-throughput RNA sequencing and DNA sequencing. Moreover, these results provide further evidence for RNA editing as an important tumorigenesis mechanism

Elucidation of Novel Nanostructures by Time-Lapse Monitoring of Polystyrene-<i>block</i>-Polyvinylpyridine under Chemical Treatment

Nanoscale micellar structures of polystyrene-<i>block</i>-polyvinylpyridine (PS-<i>b</i>-PVP) diblock copolymers have proven their effectiveness in lithography and biological detection by serving as a choice material to produce nanoscale guides and delivery systems in a straightforward and rapid manner through self-assembly. Such applications can greatly benefit from having high versatility for the selection of template sizes (pattern repeat spacing) and shapes (pattern geometry), especially when reaching a size regime that conventional top-down fabrication techniques may not readily be able to provide desired feature dimensions. Selective chemical treatments of the diblock copolymers are one of the useful methods yielding a rich set of nanoscale features on PS-<i>b</i>-PVP. Exposure to selective vapor can induce reorganization of the polymeric chains of PS-<i>b</i>-PVP and alter the original micellar nanostructures. In this Article, we identify for the first time a host of new nanostructures formed at different stages of chloroform vapor annealing by performing time-lapse atomic force microscopy measurements. We determine key, time-dependent, topological parameters defining each nanostructure and present the likely scenario of polymeric chain reorganization during the morphological evolution of the diblock polymer nanodomains over time. We also ascertain intermediate morphological states containing the characteristic nanostructures from two consecutive phases as well as transition states appearing for a short time in between two subsequent phases. These research efforts may not only provide insight into the domain evolution steps of the micellar to the cylindrical structures of PS-<i>b</i>-PVP but may also be technologically advantageous for subwavelength mask design in nanolithography and high-density array fabrication in high throughput biodetection

Study on tumour cell-derived hybrid exosomes as dasatinib nanocarriers for pancreatic cancer therapy

AbstractPancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death. Therefore, we intend to explore novel strategies against PDAC. The exosomes-based biomimetic nanoparticle is an appealing candidate served as a drug carrier in cancer treatment, due to its inherit abilities. In the present study, we designed dasatinib-loaded hybrid exosomes by fusing human pancreatic cancer cells derived exosomes with dasatinib-loaded liposomes, followed by characterization for particle size (119.9 ± 6.10 nm) and zeta potential (−11.45 ± 2.24 mV). Major protein analysis from western blot techniques reveal the presence of exosome marker proteins CD9 and CD81. PEGylated hybrid exosomes showed pH-sensitive drug release in acidic condition, benefiting drug delivery to acidic cancer environment. Dasatinib-loaded hybrid exosomes exhibited significantly higher uptake rates and cytotoxicity to parent PDAC cells by two-sample t-test or by one-way ANOVA analysis of variance, as compared to free drug or liposomal formulations. The results from our computational analysis demonstrated that the drug-likeness, ADMET, and protein-ligand binding affinity of dasatinib are verified successfully. Cancer derived hybrid exosomes may serve as a potential therapeutic candidate for pancreatic cancer treatment

Discovery of novel covalent selective estrogen receptor degraders against endocrine-resistant breast cancer

Endocrine-resistance remains a major challenge in estrogen receptor α positive (ERα+) breast cancer (BC) treatment and constitutively active somatic mutations in ERα are a common mechanism. There is an urgent need to develop novel drugs with new mode of mechanism to fight endocrine-resistance. Given aberrant ERα activity, we herein report the identification of novel covalent selective estrogen receptor degraders (cSERDs) possessing the advantages of both covalent and degradation strategies. A highly potent cSERD 29c was identified with superior anti-proliferative activity than fulvestrant against a panel of ERα+ breast cancer cell lines including mutant ERα. Crystal structure of ERα‒29c complex alongside intact mass spectrometry revealed that 29c disrupted ERα protein homeostasis through covalent targeting C530 and strong hydrophobic interaction collied on H11, thus enforcing a unique antagonist conformation and driving the ERα degradation. These significant effects of the cSERD on ERα homeostasis, unlike typical ERα degraders that occur directly via long side chains perturbing the morphology of H12, demonstrating a distinct mechanism of action (MoA). In vivo, 29c showed potent antitumor activity in MCF-7 tumor xenograft models and low toxicity. This proof-of-principle study verifies that novel cSERDs offering new opportunities for the development of innovative therapies for endocrine-resistant BC