Treating myocardial infarction via a nano-ultrasonic contrast agent-mediated high-efficiency drug delivery system targeting macrophages.

Following myocardial infarction (MI), the accumulation of CD86-positive macrophages in the ischemic injury zone leads to secondary myocardial damage. Precise pharmacological intervention targeting this process remains challenging. This study engineered a nanotherapeutic delivery system with CD86-positive macrophage-specific targeting and ultrasound-responsive release capabilities.

Genetic inhibition of nicotinamide N-methyltransferase and prevention of alcohol-associated fatty liver in humans.

Recent studies of animal models reported Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) as a potential therapeutic target for preventing alcohol-associated fatty liver (AFL), yet its efficacy and safety in humans remain unknown. We aim to estimate the effectiveness and safety of inhibiting NNMT in humans. We leveraged Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) data coupled with genetic information to perform a retrospective drug target validation study.

High-Spin States of Manganese(III) Enable Robust Cold-Adapted Activity of MnO Nanozymes.

Developing novel cold-adapted nanozymes and elucidating their mechanisms of action remains a great challenge. Inspired by natural oxidases that utilize high-spin and high-valent metal-oxygen intermediates to achieve high efficiency at low temperatures, in this study, a series of MnO nanomaterials with varied valence and spin states are synthesized. The activity assay revealed that the oxygen vacancy-engineered ε-MnO nanozyme displayed excellent cold-adapted oxidase-like properties, and no observable activity loss is observed in the temperature range of -20 to 45 °C.

Sonocatalysis Regulates Tumor Autophagy for Enhanced Immunotherapy.

Immunotherapy stands as a groundbreaking strategy for cancer treatment, due to its ability to precisely and safely detect and eradicate tumors. However, the efficacy of immunotherapy is often limited by tumor autophagy, a natural defense mechanism that tumors exploit to resist immune attacks. Herein, we introduce a spatiotemporally controlled method to modulate tumor autophagy via sonocatalysis, aiming to improve immunotherapeutic outcomes.

Clinical Grade Fibroin Sutures with Bioactive Gold Clusters Enhance Surgical Wound Healing via Inflammation Modulation.

Silk sutures are common in surgeries, and silk-based textiles are widely used in clinical medicine on account of their great mechanical properties and biodegradability. However, due to the lack of biocatalytic activity, silk sutures show unsatisfactory anti-inflammatory properties and healing speed. To address this constraint, we construct clinical grade bioactive gold cluster-sutures through a heterojunction.

A clinically used anti-human papilloma virus agent (3-hydroxyphthalic anhydride-modified bovine β-lactoglobulin) has a potential for topical application to prevent sexual transmission of monkeypox virus.

A global outbreak of monkeypox (mpox) caused by the mpox virus (MPXV) has posed a serious threat to public health worldwide, thus calling for the urgent development of antivirals and vaccines to curb its further spread. In this study, we screened 41 anhydride-modified proteins and found that 3-hydroxyphthalic anhydride-modified β-lactoglobulin (3HP-β-LG), a clinically used anti-HPV agent, was highly effective in inhibiting infection of vaccinia virus Tiantan strain (VACV-VTT) and MPXV. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that 3HP-β-LG bound to the virus, not the host cell, by targeting the early stage of virus entry, possibly through the interaction between the amino acids with negatively charges in 3HP-β-LG and the key amino acids with positive charges in the target region of A29L, a key surface protein of MPXV.

Nanomaterial-Based Strategies for Attenuating T-Cell-Mediated Immunodepression in Stroke Patients: Advancing Research Perspectives.

This review article discusses the potential of nanomaterials in targeted therapy and immunomodulation for stroke-induced immunosuppression. Although nanomaterials have been extensively studied in various biomedical applications, their specific use in studying and addressing immunosuppression after stroke remains limited. Stroke-induced neuroinflammation is characterized by T-cell-mediated immunodepression, which leads to increased morbidity and mortality.

Optimization and validation of a virus-like particle pseudotyped virus neutralization assay for SARS-CoV-2.

Spike-protein-based pseudotyped viruses were used to evaluate vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they cannot be used to evaluate the envelope (E), membrane (M), and nucleocapsid (N) proteins. The first generation of virus-like particle (VLP) pseudotyped viruses contains these four structural proteins, but their titers for wild-type severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are relatively low, even lower for the omicron variant, rendering them unsuitable for neutralizing antibody detection.

Low-Dose Colchicine Ameliorates Doxorubicin Cardiotoxicity Via Promoting Autolysosome Degradation.

Background: The only clinically approved drug that reduces doxorubicin cardiotoxicity is dexrazoxane, but its application is limited due to the risk of secondary malignancies. So, exploring alternative effective molecules to attenuate its cardiotoxicity is crucial. Colchicine is a safe and well-tolerated drug that helps reduce the production of reactive oxygen species.

variant rs3889348 is associated with metformin-induced gastrointestinal among Chinese Type 2 diabetes patients.

This study examined intronic gene variants for their association with metformin intolerance in a Chinese population, focusing on the plasma monoamine transporter () cis-protein expression quantitative trait loci (cis-eQTL) variant rs3889348. We recruited Type 2 diabetes patients from two hospitals and identified 111 metformin-intolerant patients using a questionnaire, and selected 206 metformin-tolerant patients from 2180 Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Genetic testing revealed an association between adverse gastrointestinal (GI) effects and and .

Bioinspired copper single-atom nanozyme as a superoxide dismutase-like antioxidant for sepsis treatment.

Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response syndrome with high morbidity and mortality mediated by infection-caused oxidative stress. Early antioxidant intervention by removing excessively produced reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) is beneficial to the prevention and treatment of sepsis. However, traditional antioxidants have failed to improve patient outcomes due to insufficient activity and sustainability.

CAS Array: design and assessment of a genotyping array for Chinese biobanking.

Background: Chronic diseases are becoming a critical challenge to the aging Chinese population. Biobanks with extensive genomic and environmental data offer opportunities to elucidate the complex gene-environment interactions underlying their aetiology. Genome-wide genotyping array remains an efficient approach for large-scale genomic data collection.

Implication of Tc-sum IL-2 SPECT/CT in immunotherapy by imaging of tumor-infiltrating T cells.

Background: Although immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) and adoptive T cell transfer (ACT) therapy have achieved impressive clinical outcomes, majority of patients do not respond to immunotherapy. Tumor-infiltrating T cells, a critical factor to immunotherapy, is dynamically changing. Therefore, a reliable real-time in vivo imaging system for tumor-infiltrating T cells, but not immunohistochemical analyses, will be more valuable to predict response and guide immunotherapy.

A Manganese-Based Metal-Organic Framework as a Cold-Adapted Nanozyme.

The development of cold-adapted enzymes with high efficiency and good stability is an advanced strategy to overcome the limitations of catalytic medicine in low and cryogenic temperatures. In this work, inspired by natural enzymes, a novel cold-adapted nanozyme based on a manganese-based nanosized metal-organic framework (nMnBTC) is designed and synthesized. The nMnBTC as an oxidase mimetic not only exhibits excellent activity at 0 °C, but also presents almost no observable activity loss as the temperature is increased to 45 °C.

Distinct gut microbiota and health outcomes in asymptomatic infection, viral nucleic acid test re-positive, and convalescent COVID-19 cases.

Gut microbiota composition is suggested to associate with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity, but the impact of gut microbiota on health outcomes is largely unclear. We recruited 81 individuals from Wuhan, China, including 13 asymptomatic infection cases (Group A), 24 COVID-19 convalescents with adverse outcomes (Group C), 31 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) re-positive cases (Group D), and 13 non-COVID-19 healthy controls (Group H). The microbial features of Groups A and D were similar and exhibited higher gut microbial diversity and more abundant short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing species than Group C.

Nanozyme for tumor therapy: Surface modification matters.

As the next generation of artificial enzymes, nanozymes have shown unique properties compared to its natural counterparts, such as stability in harsh environment, low cost, and ease of production and modification, paving the way for its biomedical applications. Among them, tumor catalytic therapy mediated by the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) has made great progress mainly from the peroxidase-like activity of nanozymes. FeO nanozymes, the earliest type of nanomaterial discovered to possess peroxidase-like activity, has consequently received wide attention for tumor therapy due to its ROS generation ability and tumor cell killing ability.

From mouse to mouse-ear cress: Nanomaterials as vehicles in plant biotechnology.

Biological applications of nanomaterials as delivery carriers have been embedded in traditional biomedical research for decades. Despite lagging behind, recent significant breakthroughs in the use of nanocarriers as tools for plant biotechnology have created great interest. In this Perspective, we review the outstanding recent works in nanocarrier-mediated plant transformation and its agricultural applications.

LncRNA-encoded microproteins: A new form of cargo in cell culture-derived and circulating extracellular vesicles.

Advancements in omics-based technologies over the past few years have led to the discovery of numerous biologically relevant peptides encoded by small open reading frames (smORFs) embedded in long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) transcripts (referred to as microproteins here) in a variety of species. However, the mechanisms and modes of action that underlie the roles of microproteins have yet to be fully characterized. Herein, we provide the first experimental evidence of abundant microproteins in extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from glioma cancer cells, indicating that the EV-mediated transfer of microproteins may represent a novel mechanism for intercellular communication.

Functional Features and Current Applications of the RNA-Targeting Type VI CRISPR-Cas Systems.

CRISPR-Cas systems are a form of prokaryotic adaptive immunity that employs RNA-guided endonucleases (Cas effectors) to cleave foreign genetic elements. Due to their simplicity, targeting programmability, and efficiency, single-effector CRISPR-Cas systems have great potential for application in research, biotechnology, and therapeutics. While DNA-targeting Cas effectors such as Cas9 and Cas12a have become indispensable tools for genome editing in the past decade, the more recent discovery of RNA-targeting CRISPR-Cas systems has opened the door for implementation of CRISPR-Cas technology in RNA manipulation.

CD146 is a Novel ANGPTL2 Receptor that Promotes Obesity by Manipulating Lipid Metabolism and Energy Expenditure.

Obesity and its related complications pose an increasing threat to human health; however, targetable obesity-related membrane receptors are not yet elucidated. Here, the membrane receptor CD146 is demonstrated to play an essential role in obesity. In particular, CD146 acts as a new adipose receptor for angiopoietin-like protein 2 (ANGPTL2), which is thought to act on endothelial cells to activate adipose inflammation.

Mucosal Vaccination for Influenza Protection Enhanced by Catalytic Immune-Adjuvant.

Influenza poses a severe threat to global health. Despite the whole inactivated virus (WIV)-based nasal vaccine being a promising strategy for influenza protection, the mucosal barrier is still a bottleneck of the nasal vaccine. Here, a catalytic mucosal adjuvant strategy for an influenza WIV nasal vaccine based on chitosan (CS) functionalized iron oxide nanozyme (IONzyme) is developed.

Non-coding RNA in bladder cancer.

Bladder cancer is the tenth most common cancer worldwide and has been associated with high mortality and morbidity. Although the treatment of bladder cancer is based on well-defined tumor classifications and gradings, patients still experience different clinical response. The heterogeneity of this disease calls for substantial research with more in-depth molecular characterization, with the hope of identifying new diagnostic and treatment options.