Coupling of pion condensate, chiral condensate and Polyakov loop in an extended NJL model

The Nambu Jona-Lasinio model with a Polyakov loop is extended to finite isospin chemical potential case, which is characterized by simultaneous coupling of pion condensate, chiral condensate and Polyakov loop. The pion condensate, chiral condensate and the Polyakov loop as functions of temperature and isospin chemical potential are investigated by minimizing the thermodynamic potential of the system. The resulting $(T,\mu_I)$ phase diagram is studied with emphasis on the critical point and Polyakov loop dynamics. The tricritical point for the pion superfluidity phase transition is confirmed and the phase transition for isospin symmetry restoration in high isospin chemical potential region perfectly coincides with the crossover phase transition for Polyakov loop. These results are in agreement with the Lattice QCD data.Comment: 15pages, 8 figure

Genetically engineered pre-microRNA-34a prodrug suppresses orthotopic osteosarcoma xenograft tumor growth via the induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary malignant bone tumor in children, and microRNA-34a (miR-34a) replacement therapy represents a new treatment strategy. This study was to define the effectiveness and safety profiles of a novel bioengineered miR-34a prodrug in orthotopic OS xenograft tumor mouse model. Highly purified pre-miR-34a prodrug significantly inhibited the proliferation of human 143B and MG-63 cells in a dose dependent manner and to much greater degrees than controls, which was attributed to induction of apoptosis and G2 cell cycle arrest. Inhibition of OS cell growth and invasion were associated with release of high levels of mature miR-34a from pre-miR-34a prodrug and consequently reduction of protein levels of many miR-34a target genes including SIRT1, BCL2, c-MET, and CDK6. Furthermore, intravenous administration of in vivo-jetPEI formulated miR-34a prodrug significantly reduced OS tumor growth in orthotopic xenograft mouse models. In addition, mouse blood chemistry profiles indicated that therapeutic doses of bioengineered miR-34a prodrug were well tolerated in these animals. The results demonstrated that bioengineered miR-34a prodrug was effective to control OS tumor growth which involved the induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest, supporting the development of bioengineered RNAs as a novel class of large molecule therapeutic agents