Ionizable lipid nanoparticles enhance lung delivery of gold nanoclusters for improving acute lung injury alleviation.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is one of the most common and highly prevailing respiratory system diseases. However, there is still a lack of effective specialized medicines for the treatment of ALI. Biocompatible gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have shown great potential in alleviating ALI, but their lung-targeted delivery needs to be enhanced.

S1R mediates NRF2 dependent ferroptosis of renal tubular epithelial cells to promote renal fibrosis in diabetic nephropathy.

: Tubulointerstitial fibrosis is a key pathological aspect of diabetic nephropathy (DN) linked to reduced kidney function. Recent research has identified varied functions of the sigma-1 receptor (S1R) in the pathological fibrosis processes of cardiac, pulmonary, and trabecular meshwork tissues. Nonetheless, the specific roles of S1R in renal fibrosis remain inadequately understood.

Advances in precise synthesis of metal nanoclusters and their applications in electrochemical biosensing of disease biomarkers.

Metal nanoclusters (NCs), comprising tens to hundreds of metal atoms, are condensed matter with concrete molecular structures and discrete energy levels. Compared to metal atoms and nanoparticles, metal NCs exhibit unique physicochemical properties, especially fascinating electrocatalytic activities. This review focuses on recent progress in the precise synthesis of metal NCs and their applications in electrochemical analysis of various disease biomarkers.

Environmental Low-Dose Radiation Activates Th1 Immunity through the Mitochondria-STING Pathway.

The presence of low-dose radiation (LDR) in the environment has become more prevalent. However, the effect of LDR exposure on the immune system remains elusive. Here, we interestingly found that LDR specifically elevated the percentage of CD4IFNγ Th1 splenocytes, both in vitro and in vivo, without affecting the percentage of CD8IFNγ Tc1 cells and regulatory T cells.

Drug nanocrystals: Surface engineering and its applications in targeted delivery.

Drug nanocrystals have received significant attention in drug development due to their enhanced dissolution rate and improved water solubility, making them effective in overcoming issues related to drug hydrophobicity, thereby improving drug bioavailability and treatment effectiveness. Recent advances in preparation techniques have facilitated research on drug surface properties, leading to valuable surface engineering strategies. Surface modification can stabilize drug nanocrystals, making them suitable for versatile drug delivery platforms.

Disturbing microtubule-endoplasmic reticulum dynamics by gold nanoclusters for improved triple-negative breast cancer treatment.

Microtubules are highly dynamic structures, and their dynamic instability is indispensable for not only cell growth and movement, but also stress responses, such as endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Docetaxel, a microtubule targeting agent (MTA), is the first-line drug for cancer treatment by simultaneously promoting microtubule dysregulation- and ER stress-induced cell death. However, it also causes adverse effects and drug resistance, especially in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) with a poor prognosis and high mortality rate.

β-galactosidase instructed in situ self-assembly fluorogenic probe for prolonged and accurate imaging of ovarian tumor.

Fluorescent probes are essential for optical imaging and have been extensively employed for precise cancer diagnosis studies. β-galactosidase (β-gal) serves as a primary biomarker for ovarian cancer and has been utilized to develop imaging probes for accurate tumor diagnosis. However, traditional small molecular probes have limitations in terms of rapid diffusion and metabolic clearance from the target lesion, resulting in a short imaging window and compromised tumor-to-background ratios (TBR).

Induction of Non-Canonical Ferroptosis by Targeting Clusters Suppresses Glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most aggressive brain tumor. There is a pressing need to develop novel treatment strategies due to the poor targeting effect of current therapeutics. Here, a gold cluster coated with optimized GBM-targeting peptide is engineered, namely NA.

Site-Specific Cascade-Activatable Fluorogenic Nanomicelles Enable Precision and Accuracy Imaging of Pulmonary Metastatic Tumor.

The precise localization of metastatic tumors with subtle growth is crucial for timely intervention and improvement of tumor prognosis but remains a paramount challenging. To date, site-specific activation of fluorogenic probes for single-stimulus-based diagnosis typically targets an occult molecular event in a complex biosystem with limited specificity. Herein, we propose a highly specific site-specific cascade-activated strategy to enhance detection accuracy, aiming to achieve the accurate detection of breast cancer (BC) lung metastasis in a cascade manner.

A probe for NIR-II imaging and multimodal analysis of early Alzheimer's disease by targeting CTGF.

To date, earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is still challenging. Recent studies revealed the elevated expression of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in AD brain is an upstream regulator of amyloid-beta (Aβ) plaque, thus CTGF could be an earlier diagnostic biomarker of AD than Aβ plaque. Herein, we develop a peptide-coated gold nanocluster that specifically targets CTGF with high affinity (KD ~ 21.

Organ-Targeted Ionizable Lipid Nanoparticles Facilitate Sequence-Activated Fluorogenic Probe for Precise Imaging of Inflammatory Liver Disease.

Activatable near-infrared (NIR) fluorogenic probes offer a potent tool for real-time, in situ detection of hepatic biomarkers, significantly advancing the precision in diagnosing inflammatory liver disease (ILD). However, the limited distribution of small molecule fluorogenic probes in the liver and their rapid clearance impair the accuracy of fluorescence imaging and in ILD diagnosis. In this study, an effective utilization of ionizable lipid nanoparticles (iLNPs) is presented as liver-targeted carriers for efficient delivery of fluorogenic probes, aiming to overcome biodistribution barriers and achieve accurate detection of hepatic biomarkers.

An Efficient Strategy for Constructing Fluorescent Nanoprobes for Prolonged and Accurate Tumor Imaging.

Activatable near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probes possess advantages of high selectivity, sensitivity, and deep imaging depth, holding great potential in the early diagnosis and prognosis assessment of tumors. However, small-molecule fluorescent probes are largely limited due to the rapid diffusion and metabolic clearance of activated fluorophores . Herein, we propose an efficient and reproducible novel strategy to construct activatable fluorescent nanoprobes through bioorthogonal reactions and the strong gold-sulfur (Au-S) interactions to achieve an enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect, thereby achieving prolonged and high-contrast tumor imaging .

Enhancing Liver Delivery of Gold Nanoclusters via Human Serum Albumin Encapsulation for Autoimmune Hepatitis Alleviation.

Peptide-protected gold nanoclusters (AuNCs), possessing exceptional biocompatibility and remarkable physicochemical properties, have demonstrated intrinsic pharmaceutical activity in immunomodulation, making them a highly attractive frontier in the field of nanomedicine exploration. Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a serious autoimmune liver disease caused by the disruption of immune balance, for which effective treatment options are still lacking. In this study, we initially identified glutathione (GSH)-protected AuNCs as a promising nanodrug candidate for AIH alleviating in a Concanavalin A (Con A)-induced mice model.

One-Base-Gap Circular Probe-Mediated Dual Amplification for Isothermal Detection of N-Methyladenosine Modifications.

N-Methyladenosine (mA) stands out as the predominant internal modification in mammalian RNA, exerting crucial regulatory functions in the metabolism of mRNA. Currently available methods have been limited by an inability to quantify mA modification at precise sites. In this work, we screened a Bst 2.

Visual genetic typing of glioma using proximity-anchored in situ spectral coding amplification.

Gliomas are histologically and genetically heterogeneous tumors. However, classical histopathological typing often ignores the high heterogeneity of tumors and thus cannot meet the requirements of precise pathological diagnosis. Here, proximity-anchored in situ spectral coding amplification (ProxISCA) is proposed for multiplexed imaging of RNA mutations, enabling visual typing of brain gliomas with different pathological grades at the single-cell and tissue levels.

Colon-Accumulated Gold Nanoclusters Alleviate Intestinal Inflammation and Prevent Secondary Colorectal Carcinogenesis via Nrf2-Dependent Macrophage Reprogramming.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is one of the main factors leading to colitis-associated colorectal cancer (CAC). Therefore, it is critical to develop an effective treatment for IBD to prevent secondary colorectal carcinogenesis. M2 macrophages play crucial roles in the resolution phase of intestinal inflammation.

The role of m6A methylation in prenatal maternal psychological distress and birth outcome.

Background: Prenatal maternal psychological distress (PMPD) is a known risk factor for adverse birth outcomes. N6-methyladenosine RNA (m6A) methylation is crucial in moderating RNA biology. This study aimed to evaluate the relationships between PMPD, birth outcomes, and placental m6A methylation.

Fabrication of modified electrode by reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and polyaniline (PANI) for enhancing azo dye decolorization in bio-electrochemical systems (BESs).

Bio-electrochemical systems (BESs) have attracted wide attention in the field of wastewater treatment owing to their fast electron transfer rate and high performance. Unfortunately, the low electro-chemical activity of carbonaceous materials commonly used in BESs remains a bottleneck for their practical applications. Especially, for refractory pollutants remediation, the efficiency is largely limited by the cathode property in term of (bio)-electrochemical reduction of highly oxidized functional groups.

Observation of the protein expression level naked eye: Pt clusters catalyze non-color molecules into brown-colored molecules in cells.

is overexpressed in various tumor cells and plays a key role in tumor genesis, invasion, and metastasis. Therefore, it is of great significance to precisely detect the level in cells via a simple method. For this purpose, we have constructed a peptide-coated platinum (Pt) cluster.

Peptide-Protected Gold Nanoclusters Efficiently Ameliorate Acute Contact Dermatitis and Psoriasis via Repressing the TNF-α/NF-κB/IL-17A Axis in Keratinocytes.

Immune-mediated skin diseases have a high prevalence and seriously affect patients' quality of life. Gold compounds have been considered promising therapeutic agents in dermatology, but the high incidence of adverse reactions have limited their clinical application. There is a great need to develop more effective and less toxic gold-based drugs.

Liver-Targeted Near-Infrared Fluorescence/Photoacoustic Dual-Modal Probe for Real-Time Imaging of Hepatic Inflammation.

Early diagnosis of hepatic inflammation is the key to timely treatment and avoid the worsening of liver inflammation. Near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) probes have high sensitivity but low spatial resolution in lesion imaging, while photoacoustic (PA) imaging has good spatial location information. Therefore, the development of a NIRF/PA dual-modal probe integrated with high sensitivity and spatial location feedback can achieve an accurate early diagnosis of hepatic inflammation.

Clusterbody Enables Flow Sorting-Assisted Single-Cell Mass Spectrometry Analysis for Identifying Reversal Agent of Chemoresistance.

Identifying effective reversal agents overcoming multidrug resistance with causal mechanisms from an efflux pump protein is of vital importance for enhanced tumor chemotherapy in clinic. To achieve this end, we construct a metal cluster-based probe, named clusterbody, to develop flow sorting-assisted single-cell mass spectrometry analysis. This clusterbody synthesized by biomimetic mineralization possesses an antibody-like property to selectively recognize an efflux pump protein.

Cell-Penetrating Peptide Conjugated Au Nanoclusters Selectively Suppress Refractory Lymphoma Cells Targeting Both Canonical and Noncanonical NF-κB Signaling Pathways.

Activated B cell-like diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (ABC-DLBCL) is the most aggressive form of DLBCL, with a significantly inferior prognosis due to resistance to the standard R-CHOP immunochemotherapy. Survival of ABC-DLBCL cells addicted to the constitutive activations of both canonical and noncanonical NF-κB signaling makes them attractive therapeutic targets. However, a pharmaceutical approach simultaneously targeting the canonical and noncanonical NF-κB pathway in the ABC-DLBCL cell is still lacking.