Leaf decomposition and flammability are largely decoupled across species in a tropical swamp forest despite sharing some predictive leaf functional traits.

Decomposition and fire are major carbon pathways in many ecosystems, yet potential linkages between these processes are poorly understood. We test whether variability in decomposability and flammability across species are related to each other and to key plant functional traits in tropical swamp forests, where habitat degradation is elevating decomposition and fire regimes. Using senesced and fresh leaves of 22 swamp tree species in Singapore, we conducted an in situ decomposition experiment and a laboratory flammability experiment.

TACI Constrains T17 Pathogenicity and Protects against Gut Inflammation.

TACI (transmembrane activator and calcium modulator and cyclophilin ligand interactor) plays critical roles in B cells by promoting immunoglobulin class switching and plasma cell survival. However, its expression and function in T cells remain controversial. We show here that TACI expression can be strongly induced in murine CD4 T cells by cytokines responsible for T17 but not T1 or T2 differentiation.

Clinical Use of Programmed Cell Death-1 and Its Ligand Expression as Discriminatory and Predictive Markers in Ovarian Cancer.

We aimed to establish whether programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) and programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, in ovarian cancer tumor tissue and blood, could be used as biomarkers for discrimination of tumor histology and prognosis of ovarian cancer. Immune cells were separated from blood, ascites, and tumor tissue obtained from women with suspected ovarian cancer and studied for the differential expression of possible immune biomarkers using flow cytometry. PD-L1 expression on tumor-associated inflammatory cells was assessed by immunohistochemistry and tissue microarray.

Co-delivery of drugs and plasmid DNA for cancer therapy.

Cancer is an extremely complex disease involving multiple signaling pathways that enable tumor cells to evade programmed cell death, thus making cancer treatment extremely challenging. The use of combination therapy involving both gene therapy and chemotherapy has resulted in enhanced anti-cancer effects and has become an increasingly important strategy in medicine. This review will cover important design parameters that are incorporated into delivery systems for the co-administration of drug and plasmid-based nucleic acids (pDNA and shRNA), with particular emphasis on polymers as delivery materials.

Ovarian cancer immunotherapy using PD-L1 siRNA targeted delivery from folic acid-functionalized polyethylenimine: strategies to enhance T cell killing.

Adoptive T cell immunotherapy is a promising treatment strategy for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). However, programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1), highly expressed on EOC cells, interacts with programmed death-1 (PD-1), expressed on T cells, causing immunosuppression. This study aims to block PD-1/PD-L1 interactions by delivering PD-L1 siRNA, using various folic acid (FA)-functionalized polyethylenimine (PEI) polymers, to SKOV-3-Luc EOC cells, and investigate the sensitization of the EOC cells to T cell killing.

Hydrophobic modification of low molecular weight polyethylenimine for improved gene transfection.

Hydrophobic modification of low molecular weight (LMW) polyethylenimine (PEI) is known to increase gene transfection efficiency of LMW PEI. However, few studies have explored how the conjugated hydrophobic groups influence the properties of the modified LMW PEI mainly due to difficulties in obtaining well defined final product compositions and limitations in current chemical synthesis routes. The aim of this study was to modify LMW PEI (Mn 1.

Mitigated cytotoxicity and tremendously enhanced gene transfection efficiency of PEI through facile one-step carbamate modification.

Extremely efficacious gene transfection vector: The rapid and facile modification of PEI with commercially available TMC produces an extremely efficacious gene delivery vector with minimal cytotoxicity. Functionalization of PEI is easily controlled by PEI:cyclic carbonate feed ratios and allows for the addition of functionality. Modified PEIs hold great potential as gene delivery systems due to easy synthesis, scalability, low cost, low toxicity, and outstanding transfection capacity.

Generation of easily accessible human kidney tubules on two-dimensional surfaces in vitro.

The generation of tissue-like structures in vitro is of major interest for various fields of research including in vitro toxicology, regenerative therapies and tissue engineering. Usually 3D matrices are used to engineer tissue-like structures in vitro, and for the generation of kidney tubules, 3D gels are employed. Kidney tubules embedded within 3D gels are difficult to access for manipulations and imaging.