Pancreatic cancer-initiating cell exosome message transfer into noncancer-initiating cells: the importance of CD44v6 in reprogramming

Background: Cancer-initiating cell (CIC) exosomes (CIC-TEX) are suggested reprogramming Non-CIC. Mode of message transfer and engagement of CIC-markers being disputed, we elaborated the impact of CD44v6 and Tspan8 on the response of Non-CIC. Methods: Non-metastasizing CD44v6- and Tspan8-knockdown (kd) pancreatic cancer cells served as Non-CIC. CIC-TEX coculture-induced changes were evaluated by deep-sequencing and functional assays. Tumor progression was surveyed during in vivo CIC-TEX treatment. Results: Deep-sequencing of CIC-TEX-cocultured CD44v6kd-Non-CIC revealed pronounced mRNA changes in signaling, transport, transcription and translation; altered miRNA affected metabolism, signaling and transcription. CIC-TEX coculture-induced changes in Tspan8kd-Non-CIC mostly relied on CIC-TEX-Tspan8 being required for targeting. CIC-TEX transfer supported apoptosis resistance and significantly promoted epithelial mesenchymal transition, migration, invasion and (lymph)angiogenesis of the kd Non-CIC in vitro and in vivo, deep-sequencing allowing individual mRNA and miRNA assignment to altered functions. Importantly, CIC-TEX act as a hub, initiated by CD44v6-dependent RTK, GPCR and integrin activation and involving CD44v6-assisted transcription and RNA processing. Accordingly, a kinase inhibitor hampered CIC-TEX-fostered tumor progression, which was backed by an anti-Tspan8 blockade of CIC-TEX binding. Conclusions: This in depth report on the in vitro and in vivo impact of CIC-TEX on CD44v6kd and Tspan8kd Non-CIC unravels hub CIC-TEX activity, highlighting a prominent contribution of the CIC-markers CD44v6 to signaling cascade activation, transcription, translation and miRNA processing in Non-CIC and of Tspan8 to CIC-TEX targeting. Blocking CIC-TEX binding/uptake and uptake-initiated target cell activation significantly mitigated the deleterious CIC-TEX impact on CD44v6kd and Tspan8kd Non-CIC

Therapeutic potential of single-nucleotide polymorphism-mediated interleukin-6 receptor blockade in cancer treatment: A Mendelian randomization study

Background: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a crucial member of the cytokine network and plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of various diseases, including cancer. IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) blockade is widely employed as a therapeutic strategy; however, its efficacy in anticancer therapy remains ambiguous. Methods: An inverse variance-weighted Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was conducted to assess the causal effects exerted by IL-6R blockade in remediating cancer. Drug-targeted single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were introduced within 300 kb of the IL-6R gene. An instrumental variable comprising 26 SNPs represented IL-6 signaling downregulation and C-reactive protein level reduction. Datasets pertaining to the 33 types of cancer investigated in this study were acquired from the FinnGen genome-wide association study. Results: The selected instrumental variable lowered fibrinogen levels, confirming its ability to mimic IL-6R blockade. IL-6R blockade exhibited therapeutic effects on five different cancer types documented in the FinnGen database (N = 334,364, including 76,781 cancer patients): bladder (odds ratios (OR) = 0.563), laryngeal (OR = 0.293), eye (OR = 0.098), gallbladder (OR = 0.059), and myeloid leukemia (OR = 0.442); however, it simultaneously elevated the risk of developing basal cell carcinoma (OR = 1.312) and melanoma (OR = 1.311). Sensitivity analyses did not alter the primary results. Conclusion: Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the potential and efficacy of SNP-based IL-6R blockade in treating cancer

Effects of Compound Probiotics on Growth Performance, Serum Biochemical and Immune Indices, Antioxidant Capacity, and Intestinal Tissue Morphology of Shaoxing Duck

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of compound probiotics on growth performance, serum biochemical and immune indices, antioxidant capacity, and the intestinal tissue morphology of Shaoxing ducks. A total of 640 1-day-old healthy Shaoxing ducks of similar body weight were randomly divided into two treatment groups with eight replicates each and forty ducks per replicate. The ducks were fed a basal diet (Ctrl) or a basal diet supplemented with 0.15% compound probiotics (CP) for 125 d. The results revealed that the live body weight (BW; day 85 and 125) and the average daily gain (ADG; 28–85 and 85–125 d) of the CP group were significantly higher (p p p p p p p p p p p p p < 0.05) on day 28. In summary, the compound probiotics improved the growth performance, increased serum biochemical and immune indices, increased antioxidant capacity, and improved the intestinal tissue morphology of Shaoxing ducks

Innovative nanoporous carbons with ultrahigh uptakes for capture and reversible storage of CO2 and volatile iodine

Porous carbons as solid-state adsorbents have recently attracted considerable interest in the areas of storage and capture of CO2 as well as the adsorption of radioactive matters. In this work, cigarette butts, one kind of common wastes referring to the filters, were utilized to prepare highly porous carbons by KOH activation in argon atmosphere. The resulting porous carbon shows a high specific surface area of up to 2751 m(2) g(-1) with abundant micropores. The resulting porous carbon exhibits excellent iodine uptake of 262 wt% and high CO2 adsorption capacity of 6.0 mmol g(-1) at ambient pressure and 273 K, which both are among the highest values reported to date. Given these excellent iodine uptake, CO2 adsorption capacity, ease of preparation as well as good physiochemical stability, the porous carbons derived from cigarette butts show great potential in the reversible adsorption of radioactive iodine and CO2. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Pressure-Sensitive and Conductive Carbon Aerogels from Poplars Catkins for Selective Oil Absorption and Oil/Water Separation

Multifunctional carbon aerogels that are both highly compressible and conductive have broad potential applications in the range of sound insulator, sensor, oil absorption, and electronics. However, the preparation of such carbon aerogels has been proven to be very challenging. Here, we report fabrication of pressure-sensitive and conductive (PSC) carbon aerogels by pyrolysis of cellulose aerogels composed of poplars catkin (PC) microfibers with a tubular structure. The wet PC gels can be dried directly in an oven without any deformation, in marked contrast to the brittle nature of traditional carbon aerogels. The resultant PSC aerogels exhibit ultralow density (4.3 mg cm^–3), high compressibility (80%), high electrical conductivity (0.47 S cm^–1), and high absorbency (80–161 g g^–1) for oils and organic liquids. The PSC aerogels have potential applications in various fields such as elastomeric conductors, absorption of oils from water and oil/water separation, as the PSC aerogels feature simple preparation process with low-cost biomass as the precursor

Novel Sugar Alcohol/Carbonized Kapok Fiber Composites as Form-Stable Phase-Change Materials with Exceptionally High Latent Heat for Thermal Energy Storage

Photograph of a scene following the Edmond Post Office Massacre

Three-Dimensional Superwetting Mesh Film Based On Graphene Assembly for Liquid Transportation and Selective Absorption

Superwetting membranes or porous absorbent materials have recently attracted considerable interest from both commercial and academic communities due to their excellent performance for separation or selective absorption of organic compounds and oils from water, which shows great potential for addressing environmental issues. Herein, the first example of engineering a commercially available stainless-steel grid based on the assembly of graphene for the fabrication of superwetting mesh films (SMFs) is reported. An excellent surface wettability of the SMFs, which exhibit a unique adhesion force to liquids, is observed; this makes it possible to transfer small quantities of liquid samples to perform microsample analysis. A three-dimensional SMF shows unprecedented performance in the separation, transportation, and selective absorption of organic compounds or oils from water. The performance is considerably improved in comparison to traditional separation/absorption technologies and may useful for a wide range of applications such as purification, water treatment, or oil-spill cleanup

Superhydrophobic Copper Foam Supported Phase Change Composites with High Thermal Conductivity for Energy Storage

<div><p>Superhydrophobic and superoleophilic oxidized copper foam (OCF) was prepared by oxidation of copper foam using (NH4)2S2O8 to generate rough surface then followed by modification with low surface energy substance polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and stearic acid (SA). Based on sperwetting, form-stable phase change materials (PCMs) composites were obtained by facile absorbing of organic PCMs into PDMS-OCF network. In this way, the organic PCMs can be spontaneously adsorbed and remain stable without leakage even at high temperature over their melting points, and the thermal storage capacity of the as-synthesized PCMs composites were analyzed using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The latent heats of the PDMS-OCF/PCMs composites were measured to be 36.87 J g-1 and 36.81 J g-1 for PDMS-OCF/paraffin and PDMS-OCF/SA, respectively, which is greater than that of untreated copper form (CF)/paraffin composite (8.50 J g-1). The PDMS-OCF/PCMs composite shows better thermal stability and the loaded organic PCM has been reduced by 0.64% after 100 times of melting-cooling recycling for PDMS-OCF/paraffin. The thermal conductivity of PDMS-OCF/paraffin composite is about 9 times that of pure paraffin. Such excellent thermal conductivity as well as good thermal stability of the PDMS-OCF/PCMs makes it promising candidate for thermal energy storage.</p></div