Advances in the field of developing biomarkers for re-irradiation: a how-to guide to small, powerful data sets and artificial intelligence.

Introduction: Patient selection remains challenging as the clinical use of re-irradiation (re-RT) increases. Re-RT data is limited to retrospective studies and small prospective single-institution reports, resulting in small, heterogenous data sets. Validated prognostic and predictive biomarkers are derived from large-volume studies with long-term follow-up.

CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing Protects from the A53T-SNCA Overexpression-Induced Pathology of Parkinson's Disease .

Mutations in specific genes, including synuclein alpha () that encodes the α-synuclein protein, are known to be risk factors for sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD), as well as critical factors for familial PD. In particular, A53T-mutated (A53T-SNCA) is a well-studied familial pathologic mutation in PD. However, techniques for deletion of the mutated gene have not been developed.

A Review of Doses for Dental Imaging in 2010-2020 and Development of a Web Dose Calculator.

Dental imaging is one of the most common types of diagnostic radiological procedures in modern medicine. We introduce a comprehensive table of organ doses received by patients in dental imaging procedures extracted from literature and a new web application to visualize the summarized dose information. We analyzed articles, published after 2010, from PubMed on organ and effective doses delivered by dental imaging procedures, including intraoral radiography, panoramic radiography, and cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), and summarized doses by dosimetry method, machine model, patient age, and technical parameters.

Collagen-Immobilized Extracellular FRET Reporter for Visualizing Protease Activity Secreted by Living Cells.

Despite the diverse roles of cell-secreted proteases in the extracellular matrix (ECM), classical methods to analyze protease activity have not been explored at the cell culture site. Here, we report a stable, matrix-sticky, and protease-sensitive extracellular reporter that comprises a collagen-binding protein and a Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) coupler of an enhanced green fluorescent protein and a small dye molecule. The extracellular FRET reporter via split intein-mediated protein trans-splicing is able to adhere to collagen matrices, leading to fluorescence changes by matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP2) activity during living cell culture without impeding cell viability.

Fluorescent and Bioluminescent Nanoprobes for In Vitro and In Vivo Detection of Matrix Metalloproteinase Activity.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are zinc-dependent endopeptidases that degrade the extracellular matrix (ECM) and regulate the extracellular microenvironment. Despite the significant role that MMP activity plays in cell-cell and cell-ECM interactions, migration, and differentiation, analyses of MMPs in vitro and in vivo have relied upon their abundance using conventional immunoassays, rather than their enzymatic activities. To resolve this issue, diverse nanoprobes have emerged and proven useful as effective activity-based detection tools.

A boronate-based fluorescent probe for the selective detection of cellular peroxynitrite.

A boronate-based fluorescent probe 1 for the selective monitoring of intracellular peroxynitrite has been developed. The probe takes advantage of the fast reaction of an arylboronate group with peroxynitrite, yielding a corresponding phenol that undergoes spontaneous subsequent reactions to produce a strongly fluorescent product associated with a large turn-on signal.

A folate receptor-specific activatable probe for near-infrared fluorescence imaging of ovarian cancer.

We have developed a folate receptor-specific activatable probe for in vivo near-infrared fluorescence imaging of ovarian cancer. This probe becomes highly fluorescent only when its linker is cleaved by a tumor-associated lysosomal enzyme cathepsin B after internalization into folate receptor-positive cancer cells.

Syndecan-2 cytoplasmic domain regulates colon cancer cell migration via interaction with syntenin-1.

The cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycan, syndecan-2, is crucial for the tumorigenic activity of colon cancer cells. However, the role played by the cytoplasmic domain of the protein remains unclear. Using colon cancer cells transfected with various syndecan-2-encoding genes with deletions in the cytoplasmic domain, it was shown that syndecan-2-induced migration activity requires the EFYA sequence of the C-terminal region; deletion of these residues abolished the rise in cell migration seen when the wild-type gene was transfected and syndecan-2 interaction with syntenin-1, suggesting that syntenin-1 functioned as a cytosolic signal effector downstream from syndecan-2.

Shedding; towards a new paradigm of syndecan function in cancer.

Syndecans, cell surface heparansulfate proteoglycans, have been proposed to act as cell surface receptors and/or coreceptors to play critical roles in multiple cellular functions. However, recent reports suggest that the function of syndecans can be further extended through shedding, a cleavage of extracellular domain. Shedding constitutes an additional level for controlling the function of syndecans, providing a means to attenuate and/or regulate amplitude and duration of syndecan signals by modulating the activity of syndecans as cell surface receptors.