Pcolce2 overexpression promotes supporting cell reprogramming in the neonatal mouse cochlea.

Hair cell (HC) damage is a leading cause of sensorineural hearing loss, and in mammals supporting cells (SCs) are unable to divide and regenerate HCs after birth spontaneously. Procollagen C-endopeptidase enhancer 2 (Pcolce2), which encodes a glycoprotein that acts as a functional procollagen C protease enhancer, was screened as a candidate regulator of SC plasticity in our previous study. In the current study, we used adeno-associated virus (AAV)-ie (a newly developed adeno-associated virus that targets SCs) to overexpress Pcolce2 in SCs.

Rps14 upregulation promotes inner ear progenitor proliferation and hair cell regeneration in the neonatal mouse cochlea.

Sensorineural hearing loss a result from hair cell damage, which is irreversible in mammals owing to the lack of hair cell regeneration, but recent researches have shown that Lgr5 supporting cells are progenitors capable of regenerating hair cells. RPS14 (ribosomal protein S14) is a 40S ribosomal subunit component and is associated with erythrocyte differentiation, and in this study, we used a novel adeno-associated virus-inner ear system to upregulate Rps14 expression in cultured hair cell progenitors and observed an enhancement on their ability to proliferate and differentiate into hair cells. Similarly, Rps14 overexpression in the mice cochlea could promote supporting cells proliferation by activating the Wnt signalling pathway.

Tumor specificity of WNT ligands and receptors reveals universal squamous cell carcinoma oncogenes.

Background: The WNT signal pathway has myriad family members, which are broadly involved in embryonic development and human cancer. Over-activation of WNT-β-Catenin signaling promotes cancer cell proliferation and survival. However, how diverse components of WNT signaling specifically engaged in distinct tumor types remains incompletely understood.

Development of a Gateway-compatible pCAMBIA binary vector for RNAi-mediated gene knockdown in plants.

RNA interference (RNAi), based on hairpin RNA (hpRNA) expression, plays an important role in functional analysis of plant genes. Traditional methods for making RNAi constructs usually involve multiple time-consuming cloning steps. We have developed a Gateway-compatible binary vector for RNAi-mediated gene knockdown in plants from pCAMBIA2301 and pHANNIBAL vectors.

Crystallization, mechanical properties, and controlled enzymatic degradation of biodegradable poly(epsilon-caprolactone)/multi-walled carbon nanotubes nanocomposites.

Biodegradable poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL)/multi-walled carbon nanotubes containing carboxylic groups (f-MWNTs) nanocomposites were prepared via simple melt compounding at low f-MWNTs loading in this work. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy observations indicate a homogeneous and fine distribution of f-MWNTs throughout the PCL matrix. The effect of low f-MWNTs loading on the crystallization, mechanical properties, and controlled enzymatic degradation of PCL in the nanocomposites were studied in detail with various techniques.