Beclin 1 prevents ISG15-mediated cytokine storms to secure fetal hematopoiesis and survival.

Proper control of inflammatory responses is essential for embryonic development, but the underlying mechanism is poorly understood. Here, we show that under physiological conditions, inactivation of ISG15, an inflammation amplifier, is associated with the interaction of Beclin 1 (Becn1), via its ECD domain, with STAT3 in the major fetal hematopoietic organ of mice. Conditional loss of Becn1 caused sequential dysfunction and exhaustion of fetal liver hematopoietic stem cells, leading to lethal inflammatory cell-biased hematopoiesis in the fetus.

Preliminary study of differentiating smears from cancerous and non-cancerous nasopharyngeal tissue using confocal Raman spectroscopy.

Purpose: Current practice for diagnosing nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is based on invasive tissue biopsy. This study aims to explore the feasibility of using Raman spectroscopy to differentiate cancerous and non-cancerous nasopharyngeal tissue smears, expecting to realize minimal invasive diagnosis using smears from in vivo mucosa tissue by Raman spectroscopy.

Methods: Biopsy tissue smears were acquired from 74 patients with pathologically diagnosed nasopharyngeal diseases and measured using confocal Raman spectroscopy.