Publications by authors named "Zizhen Zhao"

Concurrent infection in breast cancer patients is the direct cause of the high mortality rate of the disease. However, there is no available method to increase the survival rate until now. To address the problem, we propose one drug with two target strategy to treat the refractory disease.

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To date, Alzheimer's disease (AD) has grown to be a predominant health challenge that disturbs the elderly population. Studies have shown that mitochondrial dysfunction is one of the most significant features of AD. Transplantation therapy of healthy mitochondria (mitotherapy), as a novel therapeutic strategy to restore mitochondrial function, is proposed to treat the mitochondria-associated disease.

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This paper describes the design and synthesis of a conjugate, which is composed of a percarboxylated water-soluble pillar[6]arene and three fluorescent pyrene chromophores on alternating methylene bridges. The optical characteristics are investigated. This conjugate is capable of encapsulating polycationic guest spermine, which results in an enhancement in the fluorescence intensity of pyrene.

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The blood cholesterol level is strongly associated with cardiovascular disease. It is necessary to develop a rapid method to determine the cholesterol concentration of blood. In this study, a discretized butterfly optimization algorithm-partial least squares (BOA-PLS) method combined with near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is firstly proposed for rapid determination of the cholesterol concentration in blood.

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The rapid recombination of interfacial charges is considered to be the main obstacle limiting the photocatalytic CO reduction. Thus, it is a challenge to research an accurate and stable charge transfer control strategy. MIL-53 (Al)-S/CdZnS (MAS/CZS-0.

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Article Synopsis
  • * When temoporfin is delivered through these nanosponges, its cancer-fighting ability is significantly improved—7.5 times more effective against HeLa cancer cells and 20.8 times more effective against B16-F10 cancer cells.
  • * Studies show that these nanosponges promote better absorption of the drug in cells and are safe for use, enhancing tumor suppression in animal models without being toxic.
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A new ratiometric fluorescent probe is designed and prepared based on the concept of supramolecular encapsulation and dye competition. This supramolecular probe is based on two commercially-available dyes, one common guest and a simple-to-synthesize host. Fluorescence spectroscopy confirms that the supramolecular probe is capable of detecting thiols quantitatively with a broad linear region in phosphate buffered saline or fetal bovine serum.

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Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common digestive tract tumor worldwide. Specific microorganisms, including () and (), are abundant in colonic mucosa and can promote the cancer progression and malignancy. Therefore, a therapeutic strategy is proposed to deliver effective drugs to colorectum for both anticancer and antibacteria.

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A new design concept for pH-sensing supramolecular fluorescent probes is reported. Supramolecular fluorescent pH probes based on pro-guest are designed and prepared. Pro-guests are designed to degrade under acidic condition and convert to competitive guests to displace encapsulated dyes, which leads to a significant enhancement in fluorescence intensity.

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Trichophyton rubrum (T. rubrum) is the most common causative agent of dermatophytosis worldwide. The development of antifungal drugs will contribute to treating the disease.

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Mitochondrial dysfunction plays a vital role in growth and malignancy of tumors. In recent scenarios, mitochondrial transplantation therapy is considered as an effective method to remodel mitochondrial function in mitochondria-related diseases. However, the mechanism by which mitochondrial transplantation blocks tumor cell proliferation is still not determined.

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Currently, cancer patients with microbial infection are a severe challenge in clinical treatment. To address the problem, we synthesized hemiprotonic compounds based on the unique structure of hemiprotonic nucleotide base pairs in a DNA i-motif. These compounds were produced from phenanthroline (ph) dimerization with phenanthroline as a proton receptor and ammonium as a donor.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Water-soluble supramolecular-organic frameworks (SOFs) and temoporfin (THPC) create uniform self-assembled nanoparticles that enhance oxygen generation efficiency by minimizing aggregation-related issues.
  • - These self-assembled nanoparticles are biocompatible, making them safe for use in biological applications.
  • - In tests, the nanoparticles exhibit increased effectiveness in killing four types of human cancer cells and significantly suppress tumor growth in a mouse model.
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Non-alcoholic liver injury (NLI) is a common disease worldwide. Since free radical damage in the liver is a crucial initiator leading to diseases, scavenging excess free radicals has become an essential therapeutic strategy. To enhance the antioxidant capacity of histidine, we synthesized a protonated dimeric histidine, H-bihistidine, and investigated its anti-free radical potential in several free-radical-induced NLI.

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Today mitochondria are considered much more than a energy plant in cells. Mitochondrial transplantation therapy has been an active research area for treating mitochondria-associated diseases from animal studies to clinical trials. However, the specific mechanism involved in the anti-tumor activity of healthy mitochondria remain to be characterized.

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Carbon tetrachloride (CCl)-induced liver injury is predominantly caused by free radicals, in which mitochondrial function of hepatocytes is impaired, accompanying with the production of ROS and decreased ATP energy supply in animals intoxicated with CCl. Here we explored a novel therapeutic approach, mitochondrial transplantation therapy, for treating the liver injury. The results showed that mitochondria entered hepatocytes through macropinocytosis pathway, and thereby cell viability was recovered in a concentration-dependent manner.

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Mitochondrion is a multifunctional organelle in cells and responsible for energy production, cell apoptosis and various life processes. Dysfunctional mitochondria are associated with hundreds of diseases. Increasing evidences have shown that extracellular mitochondria can be endocytosed by cells, directly into cells, and then play roles in cells.

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Photodynamic theranostics/therapy (PDT) is a potential strategy for selectively imaging malignant sites and treating cancer via a non-invasive therapeutic method. Photosensitizers, the crucial components of PDT, enable colocalization of photons and light, and photon/light therapy in the therapeutic window of 400-900 nm exhibits photocytotoxicity to tumor cells. Due to their high biostability and photocytotoxicity, nanophotosensitizers (NPSs) are of much interest for malignant tumor theranostics at present.

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Changes in mitochondrial structure and function are mostly responsible for aging and age-related features. Whether healthy mitochondria could prevent aging is, however, unclear. Here we intravenously injected the mitochondria isolated from young mice into aged mice and investigated the mitotherapy on biochemistry metabolism and animal behaviors.

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A novel organic acid-base-co-catalyzed conversion of styrylepoxides into [1,1'-biaryl]-3-carbaldehydes was realized under microwave irradiation. Styrylepoxides first underwent an acid-catalyzed Meinwald rearrangement followed by a tandem base-catalyzed Michael addition, aldol addition, and aromatization sequence to generate [1,1'-biaryl]-3-carbaldehydes.

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() is one of the most well-known zoonotic fungal pathogens. Cryptococcal encephalitis remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised hosts. Effective and targeting killing of in the brain is an essential approach to prevent and treat cryptococcal encephalitis.

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Tumor mitochondria alter their functions to reprogram cell metabolism and then allow tumor cells to rapidly proliferate in the hypoxic and acidic microenvironment. However, roles of normal mitochondria played in tumor progression are still unclear. Here we investigate the normal mitochondrial effect on abnormal metabolism of tumors, and to clarify why the mitochondria have to undergo functional changes in the tumor growth.

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An essential characteristic of quantum dots (QDs) is their antimicrobial activity. Compared with conventional antibiotics, QDs not only possess photoluminescence properties for imaging and photodynamic therapy but also have high structural stability. To enhance their antimicrobial efficiency, QDs usually are functionalized by polymers, including poly(ethylene glycol), polyethyleneimine, and poly-l-lysine.

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Glioma is the most aggressive and lethal brain tumor in humans. Mutations of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are commonly found in tumor cells and are closely associated with tumorigenesis and progress. However, glioma-specific inhibitors that reflect the unique feature of tumor cells are rare.

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