Utilizing chemotherapy-induced tumor RNA nanoparticles to improve cancer chemoimmunotherapy.

Chemotherapy has become a popular combination strategy to improve the response rate of immunotherapy since certain chemotherapeutic drugs kill tumor cells by an immunogenic cell death (ICD) pathway, which activates antitumor immune responses. Unfortunately, the synergistic effect of chemoimmunotherapy can be impaired due to the toxicities of chemotherapeutic agent-induced lymphatic depletion and immunosuppression. In this study, we present an approach to improve immunotherapy by using tumor RNA nanoparticles (RNA-NPs) where RNA is directly extracted from chemotherapy-treated cancer cells and then condensed by protamine via electrostatic interactions to form complexes.

Red blood cell-based vaccines for ameliorating cancer chemoimmunotherapy.

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy has shown promising antitumor effects, but its immune response rate remains unsatisfactory. In recent years, chemotherapy has been proven to have synergistic effects with ICB therapy because some chemotherapeutic agents can enhance the immunogenicity of tumor cells by inducing immunogenic cell death (ICD). However, it cannot be ignored that chemotherapy often shows limited therapeutic efficacy due to high cytotoxicity, drug resistance, and some other side effects.

Advances of functional nanomaterials for magnetic resonance imaging and biomedical engineering applications.

Functional nanomaterials have been widely used in biomedical fields due to their good biocompatibility, excellent physicochemical properties, easy surface modification, and easy regulation of size and morphology. Functional nanomaterials for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can target specific sites in vivo and more easily detect disease-related specific biomarkers at the molecular and cellular levels than traditional contrast agents, achieving a broad application prospect in MRI. This review focuses on the basic principles of MRI, the classification, synthesis and surface modification methods of contrast agents, and their clinical applications to provide guidance for designing novel contrast agents and optimizing the contrast effect.

Nanotechnology's application in Type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) is an autoimmune disease caused by the immune system attacking islet cells. T1D, with a long prediabetes period, and the incidence of T1D increases with age during childhood and peaks at 10-14 years. And once it gets overt, it requires lifelong insulin replace treatment.

Carboxylesterase-Cleavable Biotinylated Nanoparticle for Tumor-Dual Targeted Imaging.

Near-infrared (NIR) nanoprobes with fluorescence "Turn-On" property are advantageous in cancer diagnosis but, to the best of our knowledge, "smart" nanoprobe that simultaneously targets both biotin receptor and carboxylesterase (CES) for HepG2 tumor-dual targeted imaging has not been reported. : Using CBT-Cys click condensation reaction, we rationally designed a "smart" NIR fluorescence probe HN-Cys(StBu)-Lys(Biotin)-Ser(Cy5.5)-CBT () and used it to facilely prepare the fluorescence-quenched nanoparticle .

DIS3L2 Promotes Progression of Hepatocellular Carcinoma via hnRNP U-Mediated Alternative Splicing.

DIS3-like 3'-5' exoribonuclease 2 (DIS3L2) degrades aberrant RNAs, however, its function in tumorigenesis remains largely unexplored. Here, aberrant DIS3L2 expression promoted human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression via heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNP) U-mediated alternative splicing. DIS3L2 directly interacted with hnRNP U through its cold-shock domains and promoted inclusion of exon 3b during splicing of pre-Rac1 independent of its exonuclease activity, yielding an oncogenic splicing variant, Rac1b, which is known to stimulate cellular transformation and tumorigenesis.

Legumain-Specific Near-Infrared Fluorescence "Turn On" for Tumor-Targeted Imaging.

Legumain is one of the cysteine proteases which can serve as an essential indicator for cancer diagnosis. Near-infrared (NIR) nanoprobes with fluorescence "Turn On" property are advantageous in cancer diagnosis. However, to the best of our knowledge, using a completely organic NIR nanoprobe to image legumain activity either in vitro or in vivo has not been reported.

[The Ala379Val polymorphism of platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase gene in Chinese patients with pre-eclampsia].

Objective: To investigate the relationship between the Ala379Val polymorphism of the platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase gene (PAF-AH) and pre-eclampsia (PE) in Chinese pregnant women.

Methods: A total of 592 subjects (210 patients with PE and 382 healthy pregnant women) in Chengdu area were included in this study. The Ala379Val polymorphism of the PAF-AH gene was determined by PCR amplification and restriction analysis.