Publications by authors named "Yun-kai Zhang"

Six iridium complexes were designed and studied using the DFT approach, (ppy)Ir(pic) (1), (fppy)Ir(pic) (2), (ppy)Ir(tmd) (3), (fppy)Ir(tmd) (4), (ppy)Ir(tpip) (5) and (fppy)Ir(tpip) (6). Here ppy denotes phenylpyridine, fppy denotes 2-(2,3,4,5-tetrafluorophenyl) pyridine, pic denotes benzoic acid, tmd denotes 5-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylhept-4-en-3-one and tpip denotes tetraphenylimido-diphosphinate. The geometries, absorptions, emissions, frontier molecular orbitals, and spin-orbit coupling (SOC) constants of the 6 complexes were evaluated.

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Unlabelled: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have transformed cancer treatment. However, only a minority of patients achieve a profound response. Many patients are innately resistant while others acquire resistance to ICIs.

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Based on the concentration data of seven heavy metal elements[As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Hg, Ni, and Cr(Ⅵ)] in the surface soil of a typical industrial park in northwest China, the characteristics of heavy metal pollution in the industrial park were analyzed, and the ecological risk and pollution were evaluated using the potential ecological risk index and the index of geo-accumulation. The positive matrix factorization (PMF) model and random forest (RF) model were used for quantitative source analysis, and the emission data of sampling enterprises and empirical data of the source emission component spectrum were combined to identify the characteristic elements and determine the emission source category. The results showed that the heavy metals at all sampling points in the park did not exceed the second-class screening value of construction land in the soil pollution risk control standard for construction land (GB 36600-2018).

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Oncogenic mutations within the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are found in 15 to 30% of all non-small-cell lung carcinomas. The term exon 19 deletion (ex19del) is collectively used to refer to more than 20 distinct genomic alterations within exon 19 that comprise the most common EGFR mutation subtype in lung cancer. Despite this heterogeneity, clinical treatment decisions are made irrespective of which EGFR ex19del variant is present within the tumor, and there is a paucity of information regarding how individual ex19del variants influence protein structure and function.

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Introduction: The programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) immune checkpoint inhibitors, atezolizumab and durvalumab, have received regulatory approval for the first-line treatment of patients with extensive-stage SCLC. Nevertheless, when used in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy, these PD-L1 inhibitors only improve overall survival by 2 to 3 months. This may be due to the observation that less than 20% of SCLC tumors express PD-L1 at greater than 1%.

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Article Synopsis
  • Understanding the mechanisms behind oncogenic variants helps improve treatment strategies for cancers, specifically focusing on the EGFR Kinase Domain Duplication (EGFR-KDD) found in tumors.
  • EGFR-KDD exhibits unique dimerization patterns, forming both EGF-independent and EGF-dependent dimers, which play a role in cancer development.
  • Targeting and inhibiting these dimerization processes can enhance therapeutic interventions and personalize treatments for patients with tumors containing EGFR-KDD, highlighting its significance in various human cancers.
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Although the judicious use of anticancer drugs that target one or more receptor tyrosine kinases constitutes an effective strategy to attenuate tumor growth, drug resistance is commonly encountered in cancer patients. The ATP-binding cassette transporters are one of the major contributors to the development of multidrug resistance as their overexpression significantly decreases the intracellular concentration and thus, the efficacy of certain anticancer drugs. Therefore, the development of treatment strategies that would not be susceptible to efflux or excretion by specific ABC transporters could overcome resistance to treatment.

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MLN4924 (pevonedistat) is a first-in-class NEDD8-activating enzyme (NAE) inhibitor in clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. Despite the promising activity of MLN4924 observed in early trials, drug resistance has been noted in some patients. Identifying the underlying cause of treatment failure may help to better stratify patients that are most likely to benefit from this novel agent.

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The enhancement of drug efflux caused by ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters (including ABCG2 and ABCB1) overexpression is an important factor for multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancers. After testing the reversal activities of 19 chalcone and bis-chalcone derivatives on MDR cancer cell lines, we found that non-basic chalcone CYB-2 exhibited the most potent reversal activities against both ABCG2- and ABCB1-mediated MDR. The mechanistic studies show that this compound can increase the accumulation of anticancer drugs in both ABCG2- and ABCB1-overexpressing cancer cell lines, resulting from the blocked efflux function of the MDR cancer cell lines.

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Ko143, a potent ABCG2 inhibitor that reverses multidrug resistance in cancer, cannot be used clinically due to its unsuitable metabolic stability. We identified benzoyl indoles as reversal agents that reversed ABCG2-mediated multidrug resistance (MDR), with synthetic tractability and enhanced metabolic stability compared to Ko143. Bisbenzoyl indole 2 and monobenzoyl indole 8 significantly increased the accumulation of mitoxantrone (MX) in ABCG2-overexpressing NCI-H460/MX20 cells, and sensitized NCI-H460/MX20 cells to mitoxantrone.

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Multidrug resistance mediated by the overexpression of ABC transporters is a major challenge in cancer chemotherapy. Here, we report the synthesis of an organoruthenium complex, RuF, that was designed to surmount multidrug resistance by combining ABCG2 inhibition and cancer cell cytotoxicity, yielding synergistic efficacy.

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Purpose: The third-generation EGFR inhibitor, osimertinib, is the first mutant-selective inhibitor that has received regulatory approval for the treatment of patients with -mutant lung cancer. Despite the development of highly selective third-generation inhibitors, acquired resistance remains a significant clinical challenge. Recently, we and others have identified a novel osimertinib resistance mutation, G724S, which was not predicted in screens.

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Overexpression of breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) has been shown to produce multidrug resistance (MDR) in colon cancer, leading to major obstacles for chemotherapy. In this study, we evaluated the effect of regorafenib, an oral multi-kinase inhibitor, in inhibiting BCRP-mediated MDR in silico, in vitro and in vivo. We found that regorafenib significantly sensitized MDR colon cancer cells to BCRP substrates by increasing their intracellular accumulation.

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We report the patterned synthesis of ZnO nanorod arrays of diameters between 50 nm and 130 nm and various spacings. This was achieved by patterning hole arrays in a polymethyl methacrylate layer with electron beam lithography, followed by chemical synthesis of ZnO nanorods in the patterned holes using the hydrothermal method. The fabrication of ZnO nanorod waveguide arrays is also demonstrated by embedding the nanorods in a silver film using the electroplating process.

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One of the major mediators of multidrug resistance (MDR) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the overexpression of ATP-binding cassette subfamily G member 2 (ABCG2). In this study, we conducted in vitro and in vivo experiments to determine whether PD153035, an inhibitor of EGFR, could reverse ABCG2-mediated MDR in human NSCLC and transfected cells overexpressing ABCG2. The efficacy of SN-38, topotecan, and mitoxantrone (MX) were significantly increased by PD153035, PD153035 significantly reversed ABCG2-mediated MDR by attenuating the efflux activity of this transporter.

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Background/aims: The overexpression of ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC) transporters has known to be one of the major obstacles impeding the success of chemotherapy in drug resistant cancers. In this study, we evaluated voruciclib, a CDK 4/6 inhibitor, for its chemo-sensitizing activity in ABCB1- and ABCG2- overexpressing cells.

Methods: Cytotoxicity and reversal effect of voruciclib was determined by MTT assay.

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Previous reports have shown that some tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) could inhibit the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters involved in multidrug resistance (MDR). Quizartinib (AC220), a potent class III receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), was synthesized to selectively inhibit FMS-like tyrosine kinase-3 (FLT3), a target in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Quizartinib is currently under clinical trials for ITD and wild-type AML and is tested in combination with chemotherapy.

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Arsenic trioxide (ATO) is used as a chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia. However, increasing drug resistance is reducing its efficacy. Therefore, a better understanding of ATO resistance mechanism is required.

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Cancer cells can acquire resistance to a wide variety of diverse and unrelated drugs, this phenomenon is termed multidrug resistance (MDR). Multidrug resistance has been an obstacle to the success of cancer chemotherapy. The present study investigated the reversal effect of Y6, a new compound obtained by chemically modifying the structure of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) extracted from green tea.

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Chemotherapeutic multidrug resistance (MDR) is a significant challenge to overcome in clinic practice. Several mechanisms contribute to MDR, one of which is the augmented drug efflux induced by the upregulation of ABCB1 in cancer cells. Regorafenib, a multikinase inhibitor targeting the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway, was approved by the FDA to treat metastatic colorectal cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

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Paclitaxel is one of the most widely used antineoplastic drugs in the clinic. Unfortunately, the occurrence of cellular resistance has limited its efficacy and application. The ATP-binding cassette subfamily B member 1 (ABCB1/P-glycoprotein) and subfamily C member 10 (ABCC10/MRP7) are the major membrane protein transporters responsible for the efflux of paclitaxel, constituting one of the most important mechanisms of paclitaxel resistance.

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The expression of breast cancer resistant protein (BCRP) in lung cancer is correlated with development of multidrug resistance (MDR) and therefore leads to lower response to chemotherapy. ZM323881, a previously developed selective VEGFR-2 inhibitor, was found to have inhibitory effects on BCRP-mediated MDR in this investigation. ZM323881 significantly decreased the cytotoxic doses of mitoxantrone and SN-38 in BCRP-overexpressing NCI-H460/MX20 cells.

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Multidrug resistance (MDR) attenuates the chemotherapy efficacy and increases the probability of cancer recurrence. The accelerated drug efflux mediated by ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters is one of the major MDR mechanisms. This study investigated if TTT-28, a newly synthesized thiazole-valine peptidomimetic, could reverse ABCB1-mediated MDR in vitro and in vivo.

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The cytotoxicity of the natural ent-kaurene diterpenoid, oridonin, has been extensively studied. However, the application of oridonin for cancer therapy was hampered primarily by its moderate potency. In this study, a series of oridonin A-ring modified analogues, and their derivatives bearing various substituents on 14-OH position, were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for anticancer efficacy.

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