A pocket-based 3D molecule generative model fueled by experimental electron density.

We report for the first time the use of experimental electron density (ED) as training data for the generation of drug-like three-dimensional molecules based on the structure of a target protein pocket. Similar to a structural biologist building molecules based on their ED, our model functions with two main components: a generative adversarial network (GAN) to generate the ligand ED in the input pocket and an ED interpretation module for molecule generation. The model was tested on three targets: a kinase (hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1), protease (SARS-CoV-2 main protease), and nuclear receptor (vitamin D receptor), and evaluated with a reference dataset composed of over 8000 compounds that have their activities reported in the literature.

Engineered targeting tLyp-1 exosomes as gene therapy vectors for efficient delivery of siRNA into lung cancer cells.

Natural exosomes can express specific proteins and carbohydrate molecules on the surface and hence have demonstrated the great potentials for gene therapy of cancer. However, the use of natural exosomes is restricted by their low transfection efficiency. Here, we report a novel targeting tLyp-1 exosome by gene recombinant engineering for delivery of siRNA to cancer and cancer stem cells.

Regulating Stem Cell-Related Genes Induces the Plastic Differentiation of Cancer Stem Cells to Treat Breast Cancer.

Relapse of cancer is associated with multidirectional differentiation and unrestricted proliferative replication potential of cancer stem cells. Herein, we propose the plastic differentiation strategy for irreversible differentiation of cancer stem cells; further, salinomycin and its newly constructed functional liposomes are used to implement this strategy. Whole gene, cancer stem cell-related RNA, and protein expression analyses reveal that salinomycin induces the cancer stem cells into normal cells, dormant cells, and mature cancer cells.

Nanosized functional miRNA liposomes and application in the treatment of TNBC by silencing Slug gene.

Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy is an effective strategy for improving treatment of breast cancers. However, the efficacy of this treatment strategy is limited for treatment of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Gene therapy may be a more effective strategy for improving the prognosis of TNBC.

Functional chlorin gold nanorods enable to treat breast cancer by photothermal/photodynamic therapy.

Background: The existing chemo/radiotherapy fail to eliminate cancer cells due to the restriction of either drug resistance or radio tolerance. The predicament urges researchers to continuously explore alternative strategy for achieving a potent curative effect.

Methods: Functional chlorin gold nanorods (Ce6-AuNR@SiO-d-CPP) were fabricated aiming at treating breast cancer by photothermal/photodynamic therapy (PTT/PDT).

Fabrication of paclitaxel hybrid nanomicelles to treat resistant breast cancer via oral administration.

Aim: Oral chemotherapy using anticancer drugs would improve the clinical practice and the life quality of patients. The aim of the present study was to develop paclitaxel hybrid nanomicelles for oral administration to treat resistant breast cancer.

Methods: Evaluations were performed on human breast cancer MCF-7 cells, drug-resistant breast cancer MCF-7/Adr cells, and in MCF-7/Adr-xenografted BALB/c nude mice.