816 research outputs found
Engineered Knottin Peptide Enables Noninvasive Optical Imaging of Intracranial Medulloblastoma
Central nervous system tumors carry grave clinical prognoses due to limited effectiveness of surgical resection, radiation, and chemotherapy. Thus, improved strategies for brain tumor visualization and targeted treatment are critically needed. We demonstrate that mouse cerebellar medulloblastoma (MB) can be targeted and illuminated with a fluorescent, engineered cystine knot (knottin) peptide that binds with high affinity to α β , α β , and α β integrin receptors. This integrin-binding knottin peptide, denoted EETI 2.5F, was evaluated as a molecular imaging probe in both orthotopic and genetic models of MB. Following tail vein injection, fluorescence arising from dye-conjugated EETI 2.5F was localized to the tumor compared with the normal surrounding brain tissue, as measured by optical imaging. The imaging signal intensity correlated with tumor volume. Due to its unique ability to bind to α β integrin, EETI 2.5F showed superior in vivo and ex vivo brain tumor imaging contrast compared with other engineered integrin-binding knottin peptides and with c(RGDfK), a well-studied integrin-binding peptidomimetic. Next, EETI 2.5F was fused to an antibody fragment crystallizable (Fc) domain (EETI 2.5F-Fc) to determine if a larger integrin-binding protein could also target intracranial brain tumors. EETI 2.5F-Fc, conjugated to a fluorescent dye, illuminated MB following i.v. injection and was able to distribute throughout the tumor parenchyma. In contrast, brain tumor imaging signals were not detected in mice injected with EETI 2.5F proteins containing a scrambled integrin-binding sequence, demonstrating the importance of target specificity. These results highlight the potential of using EETI 2.5F and EETI 2.5-Fc as targeted molecular probes for brain tumor imaging
Observation of the nonlinear Hall effect under time reversal symmetric conditions
The electrical Hall effect is the production of a transverse voltage under an
out-of-plane magnetic field. Historically, studies of the Hall effect have led
to major breakthroughs including the discoveries of Berry curvature and the
topological Chern invariants. In magnets, the internal magnetization allows
Hall conductivity in the absence of external magnetic field. This anomalous
Hall effect (AHE) has become an important tool to study quantum magnets. In
nonmagnetic materials without external magnetic fields, the electrical Hall
effect is rarely explored because of the constraint by time-reversal symmetry.
However, strictly speaking, only the Hall effect in the linear response regime,
i.e., the Hall voltage linearly proportional to the external electric field,
identically vanishes due to time-reversal symmetry. The Hall effect in the
nonlinear response regime, on the other hand, may not be subject to such
symmetry constraints. Here, we report the observation of the nonlinear Hall
effect (NLHE) in the electrical transport of the nonmagnetic 2D quantum
material, bilayer WTe2. Specifically, flowing an electrical current in bilayer
WTe2 leads to a nonlinear Hall voltage in the absence of magnetic field. The
NLHE exhibits unusual properties sharply distinct from the AHE in metals: The
NLHE shows a quadratic I-V characteristic; It strongly dominates the nonlinear
longitudinal response, leading to a Hall angle of about 90 degree. We further
show that the NLHE directly measures the "dipole moment" of the Berry
curvature, which arises from layer-polarized Dirac fermions in bilayer WTe2.
Our results demonstrate a new Hall effect and provide a powerful methodology to
detect Berry curvature in a wide range of nonmagnetic quantum materials in an
energy-resolved way
Zinc Coordination Is Required for and Regulates Transcription Activation by Epstein-Barr Nuclear Antigen 1
Epstein-Barr Nuclear Antigen 1 (EBNA1) is essential for Epstein-Barr virus to immortalize naïve B-cells. Upon binding a cluster of 20 cognate binding-sites termed the family of repeats, EBNA1 transactivates promoters for EBV genes that are required for immortalization. A small domain, termed UR1, that is 25 amino-acids in length, has been identified previously as essential for EBNA1 to activate transcription. In this study, we have elucidated how UR1 contributes to EBNA1's ability to transactivate. We show that zinc is necessary for EBNA1 to activate transcription, and that UR1 coordinates zinc through a pair of essential cysteines contained within it. UR1 dimerizes upon coordinating zinc, indicating that EBNA1 contains a second dimerization interface in its amino-terminus. There is a strong correlation between UR1-mediated dimerization and EBNA1's ability to transactivate cooperatively. Point mutants of EBNA1 that disrupt zinc coordination also prevent self-association, and do not activate transcription cooperatively. Further, we demonstrate that UR1 acts as a molecular sensor that regulates the ability of EBNA1 to activate transcription in response to changes in redox and oxygen partial pressure (pO2). Mild oxidative stress mimicking such environmental changes decreases EBNA1-dependent transcription in a lymphoblastoid cell-line. Coincident with a reduction in EBNA1-dependent transcription, reductions are observed in EBNA2 and LMP1 protein levels. Although these changes do not affect LCL survival, treated cells accumulate in G0/G1. These findings are discussed in the context of EBV latency in body compartments that differ strikingly in their pO2 and redox potential
Observation of decays to and
Using a data sample of events collected with
the BESIII detector, we report the first observation of the four-lepton-decays
and utilizing the process
. The branching fractions are determined to be
and
, respectively. The
results deviate from theoretical predictions, by 2.8 and 5.2 ,
respectively. No significant signal is observed for , and an upper limit on the branching fraction is set at
at the 90 confidence level. A CP asymmetry observable
is constructed for the first two channels, which is measured to be
and , respectively. No
evidence for CP violation is observed in this process.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur
Amplitude analysis of
Utilizing the data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of
fb collected by the BESIII detector at a center-of-mass energy of 4.178
GeV, we perform an amplitude analysis of the decay.
The sample contains 13,797 candidates with a signal purity of 80%. The
amplitude and phase of the contributing wave are measured
based on a quasi-model-independent approach, along with the amplitudes and
phases of the and waves parametrized by Breit-Wigner
models. The fit fractions of different intermediate decay channels are also
reported.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure
Search for New Hadronic Decays of and Observation of
Ten hadronic final states of the decays are investigated via the
process , using a data sample of events collected with the BESIII detector. The
decay channel is observed for
the first time with a significance of . The corresponding branching
fraction is determined to be (the
first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematical). Evidence for the
decays and is found with a significance of and , respectively. The corresponding branching fractions
(and upper limits) are obtained to be and
. Upper limits on the branching fractions for the final
states , ,
, ,
, , and
are determined at a confidence level of 90\%.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
Measurement of Branching Fractions of Singly Cabibbo-suppressed Decays and
Based on a sample of 4.4 of annihilation data
collected in the energy region between 4.6 GeV and 4.7 GeV with the BESIII
detector at BEPCII, two singly Cabibbo-suppressed decays and
are studied. The ratio of the branching fraction relative to is measured to be , and the ratio of relative to is measured to be . After taking the world-average branching fractions of
the reference decay channels, the branching fractions and are determined to be and , respectively. The branching fraction of the
decay is measured for the first
time.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
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