Publications by authors named "Ceng Zhang"

Background: Dysfunction of CD8 T cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) contributes to tumor immune escape and immunotherapy tolerance. The effects of hormones such as leptin, steroid hormones, and glucocorticoids on T cell function have been reported previously. However, the mechanism underlying thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH)/thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) signaling in CD8 T cell exhaustion and tumor immune evasion remain poorly understood.

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It is well-established that the combined use of nanostructured substrates and immunoaffinity agents can enhance the cell-capture performance of the substrates, thus offering a practical solution to effectively capture circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in peripheral blood. Developing along this strategy, this study first demonstrated a top-down approach for the fabrication of tetrahedral DNA nanostructure (TDN)-NanoGold substrates through the hierarchical integration of three functional constituents at various length-scales: a macroscale glass slide, sub-microscale self-organized NanoGold, and nanoscale self-assembled TDN. The TDN-NanoGold substrates were then assembled with microfluidic chaotic mixers to give TDN-NanoGold Click Chips.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers used techniques like digital spatial profiling and multiplex immunofluorescence to analyze tumor biopsies, identifying high levels of HLA-DR/MHC-II and CD20+ B cells as potential predictors of nCRT effectiveness.
  • * The study found that spatial profiling of the tumor microenvironment (TME) can help predict individual responses to nCRT, opening doors for more personalized cancer treatment strategies.
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Fluxional Wankel motor molecules have received considerable attention in recent years in both chemistry and nanoscience. Based on extensive first-principles theory calculations, we present herein the smallest neutral quasi-planar alkaline-earth metal-doped Wankel motor complex BeB (BeB@B), which is isovalent with B+13 (B@B). The global minimum (GM) BeB (1) and transition state (TS) BeB (2) correspond to the TS (4) and GM (3) of B+13, respectively.

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Optimizing outcomes in prostate cancer (PCa) requires precision in characterization of disease status. This effort was directed at developing a PCa extracellular vesicle (EV) Digital Scoring Assay (DSA) for detecting metastasis and monitoring progression of PCa. PCa EV DSA is comprised of an EV purification device (i.

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  • Current methods for detecting early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are not very effective, but extracellular vesicles (EVs) show potential as biomarkers for early detection.
  • This study developed an EV-based assay to identify specific surface protein markers and create an HCC EV ECG score, which helped differentiate early-stage HCC from cirrhosis in participants.
  • The assay demonstrated high accuracy in testing, with a receiver operating characteristic area of 0.95 in the training cohort and 0.93 in the validation cohort, suggesting it could improve current HCC surveillance methods and patient outcomes.*
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  • Circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) contain valuable molecular information for detecting gene changes in cancer patients, providing a noninvasive way to assess disease status and treatment response.
  • A new technology called "Click Beads" enables efficient isolation of EVs, making it easier to perform mRNA assays and analyze molecular data using advanced techniques like reverse transcription digital polymerase chain reaction (RT-dPCR).
  • The effectiveness of Click Beads is demonstrated by accurately detecting gene alterations, such as EWS rearrangements and KRAS mutations, in EVs from cancer patients, which can help track treatment efficacy and disease progression.
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Background: The abnormal expression of glutathione S-transferase P1 (GSTP1) is associated with the progression of several tumor types. However, its role and molecular mechanism in the progression of colorectal cancer (CRC) are largely unknown.

Objectives: To examine the effect of GSTP1 in CRC and determine its possible mechanisms.

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Circulating tumor cell (CTC) clusters are present in cancer patients with severe metastasis, resulting in poor clinical outcomes. However, CTC clusters have not been studied as extensively as single CTCs, and the clinical utility of CTC clusters remains largely unknown. In this study, we aim sought to explore the feasibility of NanoVelcro Chips to simultaneously detect both single CTCs and CTC clusters with negligible perturbation to their intrinsic properties in neuroendocrine tumors (NETs).

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Numerous studies in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have proposed tissue-based gene signatures for individualized prognostic assessments. Here, we develop a novel circulating tumor cell (CTC)-based transcriptomic profiling assay to translate tissue-based messenger RNA (mRNA) signatures into a liquid biopsy setting for noninvasive HCC prognostication. The HCC-CTC mRNA scoring system combines the NanoVelcro CTC Assay for enriching HCC CTCs and the NanoString nCounter platform for quantifying the HCC-CTC Risk Score (RS) panel in enriched HCC CTCs.

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Placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) is a high-risk obstetrical condition associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Current clinical screening modalities for PAS are not always conclusive. Here, we report a nanostructure-embedded microchip that efficiently enriches both single and clustered circulating trophoblasts (cTBs) from maternal blood for detecting PAS.

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Transcriptomic profiling of tumor tissues introduces a large database, which has led to improvements in the ability of cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. However, performing tumor transcriptomic profiling in the clinical setting is very challenging since the procurement of tumor tissues is inherently limited by invasive sampling procedures. Here, we demonstrated the feasibility of purifying hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from clinical patient samples with improved molecular integrity using Click Chips in conjunction with a multimarker antibody cocktail.

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The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) is an efficient and precise gene-editing technology that offers a versatile solution for establishing treatments directed at genetic diseases. Currently, CRISPR/Cas9 delivery into cells relies primarily on viral vectors, which suffer from limitations in packaging capacity and safety concerns. These issues with a nonviral delivery strategy are addressed, where Cas9•sgRNA ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes can be encapsulated into supramolecular nanoparticles (SMNP) to form RNP⊂SMNPs, which can then be delivered into targeted cells via supramolecular nanosubstrate-mediated delivery.

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