Publications by authors named "Zefeng Zhou"

Background: Lenalidomide-based therapies are recommended as first-line treatment for multiple myeloma (MM) patients, regardless of the transplant eligibility. Resistance to lenalidomide is a clinical problem that urgently needs to be addressed. The expression of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) is abnormally high in a variety of tumor tissues including MM.

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Article Synopsis
  • Scientists are studying a new treatment called Adoptive Cell Transfer Therapy (ACT) for solid tumors, which hasn't worked as well as for blood cancers.
  • A recent study by Garcia and colleagues found that adding a special gene called CARD11-PIK3R3 to T cells can make them better at fighting tumors.
  • This new approach could reduce the amount of T cells needed and may help treat solid tumors safely, but more research is needed to understand how well it works in the long run.
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Cellulose serves as a sustainable biomaterial for a wide range of applications in biotechnology and materials science. While chemical and enzymatic glycan assembly methods have been developed to access modest quantities of synthetic cellulose for structure-property studies, chemical polymerization strategies for scalable and well-controlled syntheses of cellulose remain underdeveloped. Here, we report the synthesis of precision cellulose via living cationic ring-opening polymerization (CROP) of glucose 1,2,4-orthopivalates.

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Cyclic ketene acetals (CKAs) are among the most well-studied monomers for radical ring-opening polymerization (rROP). However, ring-retaining side reactions and low reactivities in homopolymerization and copolymerization remain significant challenges for the existing CKAs. Here, we report that a class of monosaccharide CKAs can be facilely prepared from a short and scalable synthetic route and can undergo quantitative, regiospecific, and stereoselective rROP.

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Article Synopsis
  • Sulfation is a common modification in eukaryotic proteins, but understanding its roles has been challenging due to limited methods for controlling its placement in proteins.
  • Researchers have discovered that fluorosulfate can act as a precursor to sulfate, which can be easily converted to sulfate using hydroxamic acid in conditions similar to those in the body.
  • By using light to activate hydroxamic acid, scientists can control the timing and location of sulfate addition in peptides, providing a new tool for studying the functions of sulfation in proteins.
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The composition, sequence, length and type of glycosidic linkage of polysaccharides profoundly affect their biological and physical properties. However, investigation of the structure-function relationship of polysaccharides is hampered by difficulties in accessing well-defined polysaccharides in sufficient quantities. Here we report a chemical approach to precision polysaccharides with native glycosidic linkages via living cationic ring-opening polymerization of 1,6-anhydrosugars.

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Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignancy. Immunoinvasion of tumor microenvironment was positively correlated with overall cancer survival. is a little-reported gene in tumors, and its mechanism of action remains unclear.

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Degradable vinyl polymers by radical ring-opening polymerization are promising solutions to the challenges caused by non-degradable vinyl plastics. However, achieving even distributions of labile functional groups in the backbone of degradable vinyl polymers remains challenging. Herein, we report a photocatalytic approach to degradable vinyl random copolymers via radical ring-opening cascade copolymerization (rROCCP).

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We report an electrochemical method for coupling biomass-derived C5/C6 compounds to value-added fuel precursors. Using only 2 % of equivalent charges, 2-methylfuran (2-MF) was oxidized to yield a cation radical, which readily reacted with 3-hexene-2,5-dione, a derivate of 2,5-dimethylfuran, to produce 3-(5-methylfuran-2-yl)hexane-2,5-dione. The product was converted to 4-ethylnonane (a component of biodiesel/jet fuel) in a single step in excellent yield.

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A novel strategy for the synthesis of main-chain polymers through radical ring-closing/ring-opening cascade polymerization is reported. Efficient radical cyclopolymerization was achieved through systematic optimization of the electronic properties of 1,6-diene structures. Fusing 1,6-diene with allylic sulfide or allylic sulfone motifs enabled a ring-closing/ring-opening cascade reaction that provides a strong driving force for the ring-opening polymerization of large macrocyclic monomers.

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We report herein an atom-economical and sustainable approach to access amidinyl radical intermediates through the anodic cleavage of N-H bonds. The resulting nitrogen-centered radicals undergo cyclizations with (hetero)arenes, followed by rearomatization, to afford functionalized tetracyclic benzimidazoles in a highly straightforward and efficient manner. This metal- and reagent-free C-H/N-H cross-coupling reaction exhibits a broad substrate scope and proceeds with high chemoselectivity.

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