Publications by authors named "Shulun Ai"

The shortage of freshwater resources is a serious problem faced by mankind in the 21st century. To maximize the acquisition of freshwater resources, numerous fog collectors have been constructed. In the process of fog collection accompanied by the movement of the wind, the mechanical energy brought about by the wind is often ignored.

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Cytochrome C (Cytc) has received considerable attention due to its ability to induce tumor apoptosis and generate oxygen to improve photodynamic therapy (PDT) efficiency. However, the damage to normal tissues caused by nonspecific accumulation of Cytc limits its application. Herein, in order to reduce its toxicity to normal tissues while retaining its activity, a charge conversional biomimetic nanosystem (CA/Ce6@MSN-4T1) is proposed to improve the tumor targeting ability and realize controlled release of Cytc in the tumor microenvironment.

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By collecting water in the air, it is an important way to solve the problem of water shortage in arid and semi-arid areas. Improving the efficiency of fog harvesting is still a great challenge to be overcome. The use of 3D structure is an excellent strategy, here, a Multiple-biomimetic 3D hydrophilic and superhydrophobic fog harvester with a hump-valley structure was prepared by the combination of thermal processing and spraying.

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Oxygen-dependent photodynamic therapy (PDT) is hindered by the limited availability of endogenous oxygen in solid tumors and low tumor accumulation of photosensitizers. Herein, we developed a biocompatible cancer-targeted therapeutic nanosystem based on cRGD conjugated bovine serum albumin (CBSA) co-loaded with a photosensitizer (chlorin e6, Ce6) and a therapeutic protein (cytochrome c, Cytc) for synergistic photodynamic and protein therapy. The nanosystem (Ce6/Cytc@CBSA) can target αβ integrin overexpressed cancer cells to improve tumor accumulation due to incorporation of cRGD.

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Effective reversal of tumor immunosuppression is of critical importance in cancer therapy. A multifunctional delivery vector that can effectively deliver CRISPR-Cas9 plasmid for β-catenin knockout to reverse tumor immunosuppression is constructed. The multi-functionalized delivery vector is decorated with aptamer-conjugated hyaluronic acid and peptide-conjugated hyaluronic acid to combine the tumor cell/nuclear targeting function of AS1411 with the cell penetrating/nuclear translocation function of TAT-NLS.

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Excessive amounts of Al3+ in the human body can cause adverse effects on immune function and induce several neurodegenerative disorders. So far, most of the reported fluorescent probes for Al3+ present some common drawbacks, such as low sensitivity and poor water solubility. In addition, a number of traditional fluorescent probes failed to image Al3+ in tumor cells due to the lack of tumor cell targeting capacity and cell penetrating abilities.

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To efficiently deliver CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) to macrophages for the reversal of cancer-induced immunosuppression, nanoparticles ODN@MCBSA with mannosylated cationic albumin (MCBSA) as a macrophage targeting vector were constructed. Compared with ODN@CBSA with cationic albumin (CBSA) as a vector, ODN@MCBSA exhibited significantly improved cellular uptake mediated by mannose moieties, resulting in significantly enhanced secretion of proflammatory cytokines including IL-12, IL-6, TNF-α, and iNOS. The modulation of macrophages toward the favorable M1 phenotype was confirmed by the upregulated CD80 expression after being treated by ODN delivery systems.

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To develop multifunctional anticancer nanomedicines, photothermal nanogels with multistimulative properties are fabricated by hybridizing graphene oxide (GO) with poly(-isopropylacrylamide, PNIPAM) matrix. This technique allows for easy monomer-intercalation between GO sheets, followed by in situ polymerization to promote GO exfoliation as nanoplatelets inside emulsified PNIPAM nanodrops, followed by fixation using a disulfide-containing cross-linker. The resulting nanogels own significantly improved colloidal stability and biocompatibility as compared to native GO.

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Although the special architecture of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials endows them with unique properties, their poor colloidal stability remains a main bottleneck to fully exploit their applications in the biomedical field. Herein, this study aims to develop a simple and effective approach to in situ incorporate 2D graphene oxide (GO) nanoplatelets into a thermosensitive matrix to acquire hybrid nanogels with good stability and photothermal effect. In order to improve its stability, GO firstly underwent silanization to its surface with double bonds, followed by intercalation with N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) in the presence of a disulfide-containing crosslinker via an emulsion method.

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Proteins have been extensively explored as versatile nanocarriers for drug delivery due to their complete biocompatibility, ease of surface modification, and lack of toxicity and immunogenicity. In this study, a facile strategy was used to construct aptamer-functionalized albumin-based nanoparticles for effective drug delivery and targeted cancer therapy. A hydrophobic drug, doxorubicin (DOX) was employed to trigger the self-assembly of bovine serum albumin (BSA) to from stable nanoparticles via hydrophobic interaction, and then a tumor targeting aptamer AS1411 was incorporated to the surface of DOX loaded BSA.

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One of critical steps in genome editing by CRISPR-Cas9 is to deliver the CRISPR-Cas9 system into targeted cells. In this study, we developed a dual-targeting delivery system based on polymer/inorganic hybrid nanoparticles to realize highly efficient genome editing in targeted tumor cells as well as in situ detection on the related protein expression in edited cells. The CRISPR-Cas9 plasmid for CDK11 knockout was encapsulated in the core of the delivery system composed of protamine sulfate, calcium carbonate, and calcium phosphate by coprecipitation, and functional derivatives of carboxymethyl chitosan (biotinylated carboxymethyl chitosan with biotin ligands and aptamer-incorporated carboxymethyl chitosan with AS1411 ligands) were decorated on the nanovector surface by electrostatic interactions to form the dual-targeting delivery system.

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To overcome cancer-associated immunosuppression, we prepared a dual-targeting vector to deliver CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) to macrophages. The dual-targeting system composed of mannosylated carboxymethyl chitosan (MCMC)/hyaluronan (HA) for macrophage targeting and protamine sulfate for ODN complexation was prepared by self-assembly. The effects of ODN delivery on immune cells was studied in J774A.

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