β-glucan: a potent adjuvant in immunotherapy for digestive tract tumors.

The immunotherapy for gastrointestinal tumors, as a significant research direction in the field of oncology treatment in recent years, has garnered extensive attention due to its potential therapeutic efficacy and promising clinical application prospects. Recent advances in immunotherapy notwithstanding, challenges persist, such as side effects, the complexity of the tumor immune microenvironment, variable patient responses, and drug resistance. Consequently, there is a pressing need to explore novel adjunctive therapeutic modalities.

Fungal Plasma Membrane H-ATPase: Structure, Mechanism, and Drug Discovery.

The fungal plasma membrane H-ATPase (Pma1) pumps protons out of the cell to maintain the transmembrane electrochemical gradient and membrane potential. As an essential P-type ATPase uniquely found in fungi and plants, Pma1 is an attractive antifungal drug target. Two recent Cryo-EM studies on Pma1 have revealed its hexameric architecture, autoinhibitory and activation mechanisms, and proton transport mechanism.

Structure of a fungal 1,3-β-glucan synthase.

1,3-β-Glucan serves as the primary component of the fungal cell wall and is produced by 1,3-β-glucan synthase located in the plasma membrane. This synthase is a molecular target for antifungal drugs such as echinocandins and the triterpenoid ibrexafungerp. In this study, we present the cryo-electron microscopy structure of 1,3-β-glucan synthase (Fks1) at 2.

Gut microbiota and transcriptome dynamics in every-other-day fasting are associated with neuroprotection in rats with spinal cord injury.

Introduction: Every-other-day fasting (EODF) is a classical intermittent fasting (IF) mode with neuroprotective effects that promotes motor function recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats. However, its dynamic effects on the gut microbiota and spinal cord transcriptome remain unknown.

Methods: In this study, 16S rRNA sequencing and RNA-seq analysis were used to investigate the effects of ad libitum (AL) and EODF dietary modes on the structural characteristics of rat gut microbiota in rats and the spinal cord transcriptome at various time points after SCI induction.

RNA atlas and competing endogenous RNA regulation in tissue-derived exosomes from luminal B and triple-negative breast cancer patients.

Background: Luminal B and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) are malignant subtypes of breast cancer (BC), which can be attributed to the multifaceted roles of tissue-derived exosomes (T-exos). Competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks can regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally.

Methods: RNAs in T-exos from luminal B BC (=8) and TNBC (=8) patients were compared with those from persons with benign breast disease (=8).

Preliminary Application of a Quantitative Collateral Assessment Method in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients With Endovascular Treatments: A Single-Center Study.

To develop an efficient and quantitative assessment of collateral circulation on time maximum intensity projection CT angiography (tMIP CTA) in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Eighty-one AIS patients who underwent one-stop CTA-CT perfusion (CTP) from February 2016 to October 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Single-phase CTA (sCTA) and tMIP CTA were developed from CTP data.

Circulating cell-free DNA-based methylation patterns for breast cancer diagnosis.

Mammography is used to detect breast cancer (BC), but its sensitivity is limited, especially for dense breasts. Circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) methylation tests is expected to compensate for the deficiency of mammography. We derived a specific panel of markers based on computational analysis of the DNA methylation profiles from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).

Silencing of PGK1 Promotes Sensitivity to Paclitaxel Treatment by Upregulating XAF1-Mediated Apoptosis in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is known to have aggressive clinical course and a high risk of recurrence. Given the lack of effective targeted therapy options, paclitaxel-based chemotherapy is still the primary option for TNBC patients. However, patients who fail to achieve a complete response during neoadjuvant chemotherapy may be mainly due to sensitivity and resistance to chemotherapy.

Expression and prognostic values of ARID family members in breast cancer.

The ARID family is a superfamily of 15 members containing a domain that interacts with AT-rich DNA elements. However, the expression and prognostic roles of each ARID in breast cancer are still elusive. We used the TCGA and Kaplan-Meier plotter databases to assess the expression and prognostic values of ARID mRNA levels in breast cancer respectively.

LncRNA TINCR favors tumorigenesis via STAT3-TINCR-EGFR-feedback loop by recruiting DNMT1 and acting as a competing endogenous RNA in human breast cancer.

The long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) TINCR has recently been found to be associated with the progression of human malignancies, but the molecular mechanism of TINCR action remains elusive, particularly in breast cancer. The oncogenic role of TINCR was examined in vitro and in vivo in breast cancer. Next, the interaction between TINCR, DNMT1, and miR-503-5p methylation was explored.

Long noncoding RNA PVT1 acts as an oncogenic driver in human pan-cancer.

Increasing evidence indicates that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play pivotal roles during tumorigenesis in multiple types of cancers. However, little is known about the exact role of plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) in human pan-cancer. Here, we report the oncogenic role and function of PVT1 in human pan-cancer, including breast cancer.

Parallel Analyses of Somatic Mutations in Plasma Circulating Tumor DNA (ctDNA) and Matched Tumor Tissues in Early-Stage Breast Cancer.

Purpose: Early detection and intervention can decrease the mortality of breast cancer significantly. Assessments of genetic/genomic variants in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) have generated great enthusiasm for their potential application as clinically actionable biomarkers in the management of early-stage breast cancer. In this study, 861 serial plasma and matched tissue specimens from 102 patients with early-stage breast cancer who need chemotherapy and 50 individuals with benign breast tumors were deeply sequenced via next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques using large gene panels.

Long noncoding RNA FER1L4 acts as an oncogenic driver in human pan-cancer.

The function of Fer-1 like family member 4 (FER1L4) in human pan-cancer is unknown. Expression of FER1L4 in tumor tissues and nontumor tissues, upstream regulation of FER1L4, and the relationship between its expression with prognosis and chemoresistance were examined by The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus databases. Next, these results were validated in breast tumor and paired nontumor tissues in our cohort.

Prognostic implications of fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 polymorphisms in primary breast cancer.

Fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) belongs to the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) family, and FGFR4 polymorphisms have been implicated in both normal development and cancer, including breast cancer. In the present study, we investigated correlations between polymorphisms in FGFR4 and breast cancer prognosis. The FGFR4 SNPs rs1966265 and rs351855 were genotyped in 747 breast cancer patients using the SNaPshot method.

PSAT1 is regulated by ATF4 and enhances cell proliferation via the GSK3β/β-catenin/cyclin D1 signaling pathway in ER-negative breast cancer.

Background: A growing amount of evidence has indicated that PSAT1 is an oncogene that plays an important role in cancer progression and metastasis. In this study, we explored the expression and function of PSAT1 in estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer.

Method: The expression level of PSAT1 in breast cancer tissues and cells was analyzed using real-time-PCR (RT-PCR), TCGA datasets or immunohistochemistry (IHC).

A High-Quality Biobank Supports Breast Cancer Research in Harbin, China.

We established a standard breast cancer biobank at Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital (HMUCH) in 2009. More than 100,000 biospecimens, including high-quality human breast cancer samples, matched blood samples, and adjacent normal tissues, were collected from patients and healthy donors in HMUCH and were then deposited in the repository. We reported the establishment of a biobank in our hospital and its crucial role in translational medicine research.

The long non-coding RNA EPB41L4A-AS2 inhibits tumor proliferation and is associated with favorable prognoses in breast cancer and other solid tumors.

EPB41L4A-AS2 is a novel long non-coding RNA of unknown function. In this study, we investigated the expression of EPB41L4A-AS2 in breast cancer tissues and evaluated its relationship with the clinicopathological features and prognosis of patients with breast cancer. This entailed conducting a meta-analysis and prognosis validation study using two cohorts from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO).

Downregulation of long noncoding RNA MALAT1 induces epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition via the PI3K-AKT pathway in breast cancer.

The metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) regulates cell motility via the transcriptional or post-transcriptional control of motility-related genes. Whether MALAT1 plays a critical role in cancer progression in breast cancer remains unclear. In this study, we found that MALAT1 was downregulated in breast tumor cell lines and cancer tissue, and showed that knockdown of MALAT1 in breast cancer cell lines induced an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) program via phosphatidylinositide-3 kinase-AKT pathways.

Downregulation of the long noncoding RNA EGOT correlates with malignant status and poor prognosis in breast cancer.

Eosinophil granule ontogeny transcript (EGOT) is a long noncoding RNA involved in the regulation of eosinophil granule protein transcript expression. However, little is known about the role of EGOT in malignant disease. This study aimed to assess the potential role of EGOT in the pathogenesis of breast cancer.