Direct cytosol delivery of mRNA by micron-sized co-assembly with designer oligopeptides.

Inefficient endosomal escape has been regarded as the main bottleneck for intracellular nucleic acid delivery. While most research efforts have been spent on designing various nano-sized particles, we took a different path here, investigating micron-sized carriers for direct cytosol entry. Using the spontaneous co-assembly of mRNA and the designer 27 amino acid oligopeptide named pepMAX2, micron-sized co-assemblies were obtained with various sizes by altering the concentration of NaCl salt and time for pre-incubation.

Cancer Clinical Trial Participation: A Qualitative Study of Black/African American Communities' and Patient/Survivors' Recommendations.

Background: Black/African Americans experience a disproportionate cancer burden and mortality rates. Racial/ethnic variation in cancer burden reflects systemic and healthcare inequities, cancer risk factors, and heredity and genomic diversity. Multiple systemic, socio-cultural, economic, and individual factors also contribute to disproportionately low Black/African American participation in cancer clinical trials.

Megastigmane and hydroxybenzoic acid derivatives from aqueous leaves extract of lam.

The hot water extract of senescent leaves from is used in traditional Sri Lankan medicine for treating diabetes mellitus. This study aimed to isolate phytochemicals in the ethyl acetate soluble fraction of the hot water extract. Bioassay-guided fractionation led to the isolation of three megastigmane derivatives and two hydroxybenzoic acid derivatives from fractions, demonstrating both hypoglycaemic and antidiabetic activities.

Multi-scale analysis of the phase separation behavior of FUS mutants.

Fused in sarcoma (FUS) is an intrinsically disordered RNA-binding protein that helps to regulate transcription and RNA transport while reversibly assembling into membraneless organelles (MLOs). Some mutations of FUS can promote irreversible aggregation, contributing to neurodegenerative diseases. We previously reported a multi-scale computational framework combining a series of molecular dynamics simulations (MD) followed by lattice Monte Carlo (MC) simulations to describe the tendency and dynamics of the assembly and disassembly of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) using wild-type (WT)-FUS as an illustrative example.

Tumor-derived extracellular vesicles convey solute transporters to induce bioenergetic dependence shift contributing to treatment resistance.

Growing evidence points to the tumor microenvironment's role in developing drug resistance. A key element of this microenvironment is inter-cellular communication, which includes the release of membrane-encapsulated vesicles containing various cargo, known as extracellular vesicles (EVs). Understanding how EVs contribute to acquired resistance holds significant clinical implications.