Correction to: Clinical characterization, genetic profiling, and immune infiltration of TOX in diffuse gliomas

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

A simple and green method for direct determination of hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorite in household disinfectants based on personal glucose meter

A convenient and green method was developed using a personal glucose meter (PGM) for direct determination of hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorite in household disinfectants based on the acetylthiocholine iodide (ATCI)-mediated reaction. In this method, acetylcholinesterase catalyzes the hydrolysis of ATCI to generate thiocholine iodide, which can trigger the reduction of K3[Fe(CN)6] to K4[Fe(CN)6] and generate a PGM detectable signal. When the hydrogen peroxide or hypochlorite is pre-incubated with the ATCI, the yield of thiocholine will be decreased because the iodine molecules can initiate the oxidation of thiocholine to disulphides, leading to a lower PGM readout. Thus, the hydrogen peroxide or hypochlorite can be directly quantified by PGM as simple as detecting glucose in blood. After being systematically investigated, the optimum conditions of the PGM method are as follows: 5.0 min of enzymatic reaction time, 6.0 mM final concentration of ATCI solution, and 10.0 min of reaction time between ATCI/H2O2 and thiocholine. Moreover, the recoveries of hydrogen peroxide in real sample spiked with three different concentrations (final concentrations of 5.0, 10.0, and 20.0 mM) are in the range of 96.3-108.4%. The recoveries of hypochlorite in real sample spiked with three different concentrations (final concentrations of 1.0, 5.0, and 10.0 mM) are in the range of 99.4-117.0%. These results indicate that the developed method can be employed for the detection of hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorite in household disinfectants.

ACSS2-related autophagy has a dual impact on memory

Autophagy is an intracellular degenerative pathway which is responsible for neuronal survival. Under the condition of nutrient deprivation, autophagy can lead to dysfunction in memory consolidation. AMPK/mTOR pathway is currently the most studied autophagy mechanism, while recently researchers have proved ACSS2 can also affect autophagy. ACSS2 is phosphorylated at Ser659 by AMPK and then forms a translocation complex with Importin α5 to translocate into the nucleus. This process interacts with TFEB, resulting in upregulated expression of lysosomal and autophagosomal genes. These upregulations inhibit synaptic plasticity and hence memory functions. On the other hand, ACSS2 is also recognized as a regulator of histone acetylation. After recruiting CBP/p300 and activating CBP's HAT activity in the nucleus, ACSS2 maintains the level of localized histone acetylation by recapturing acetate from histone deacetylation to reform acetyl-CoA, providing substrates for HAT. The increase of histone acetylation locally enhanced immediate early gene transcription, including Egr2, Fos, Nr2f2, Sgk1, and Arc, to benefit neuronal plasticity and memory in many ways.

A Simple and Portable Personal Glucose Meter Method Combined with Molecular Docking for Screening of Lipase Inhibitors

With the increase of obesity incidence, the development of antiobesity drugs has aroused extensive interest. In this study, a simple and portable personal glucose meter (PGM) method based on the lipase-mediated reaction combined with molecular docking was developed for the screening of lipase inhibitors. Lipase can catalyse the hydrolysis of 4-acetamidophenyl acetate to form acetaminophen, which can directly trigger the reduction of K3[Fe(CN)6] to K4[Fe(CN)6] in the glucose test strips and generate an electrical signal that can be detected by the PGM. When lipase inhibitors exist, the yield of acetaminophen will be reduced and results in a corresponding decrease of the PGM signal. Therefore, the activity of lipase can be measured by the PGM. After optimization of the experimental conditions, the inhibitory activity of fourteen small-molecule compounds and fifteen natural product extracts on lipase were evaluated by the developed PGM method. The results indicate that tannic acid, (-)-epigallocatechin gallate, (-)-epigallocatechin, (-)-epicatechin gallate, and epicatechin have good inhibitory effect on lipase (% of inhibition higher than 40.0%). Besides, the natural product extracts of Galla Chinensis, lemon, and Rhei Radix et Rhizoma have a good inhibitory effect on lipase with % of inhibition of (97.5 ± 0.6)%, (88.1 ± 0.7)%, and (79.1 ± 1.6)%, respectively. Finally, the binding sites and modes of six small-molecule compounds on lipase were investigated by the molecular docking study. The results show that the developed PGM method is an effective approach for the discovery of potential lipase inhibitors.

Enzyme-Regulated In Situ Formation of Copper Hexacyanoferrate Nanoparticles with Oxidase-Mimetic Behaviour for Colorimetric Detection of Ascorbate Oxidase

In this study, a copper hexacyanoferrate nanoparticle with excellent oxidase-mimetic behaviour has been synthesized through a simple precipitation method. The synthesized copper hexacyanoferrate nanoparticle has intrinsic oxidase-like activity, which can catalyze the chromogenic reaction of 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonate) through an O₂^•- reactive oxygen-species-participated process. On the other hand, K₃[Fe(CN)₆] can be reduced by ascorbic acid (AA) to produce K₄[Fe(CN)₆], thereby inhibiting the formation of the copper hexacyanoferrate nanoparticles. Furthermore, ascorbate oxidase (AAO) can catalyze the oxidation of AA to produce dehydroascorbic acid, which cannot reduce K₃[Fe(CN)₆]. Thus, a system for an AAO-regulated in situ formation of copper hexacyanoferrate nanoparticles was constructed by coupling a prepared copper hexacyanoferrate nanozyme with AA for the detection of AAO activity. This colorimetric sensing assay shows high sensitivity and selectivity for the detection of AAO activity (the limit of detection is 0.52 U/L) with a linear range of 1.1-35.7 U/L. Finally, the developed method was applied to detect the activity of AAO in normal human serum with a satisfactory sample spiked recovery (87.4-108.8%). In short, this study provides a good strategy for the construction of nanozyme-based multi-enzyme cascade-signal amplification assay.

RUNX1/CD44 axis regulates the proliferation, migration, and immunotherapy of gliomas: A single-cell sequencing analysis

BACKGROUND

Glioma is one of the most common, primary, and lethal adult brain tumors because of its extreme aggressiveness and poor prognosis. Several recent studies relevant to the immune function of CD44, a transmembrane glycoprotein as a significant hyaluronic acid receptor, have achieved great success, revealing the critical role of CD44 in immune infiltration in gliomas. The overexpression of CD44 has been verified to correlate with cancer aggressiveness and migration, while the clinical and immune features of CD44 expression have not yet been thoroughly characterized in gliomas.

METHODS

Molecular and clinical data of glioma collected from publicly available genomic databases were analyzed.

RESULTS

CD44 was up-expressed in malignant gliomas, notably in the 1p/19q non-codeletion cases, isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) wild-type, and mesenchymal subtypes in GBM samples. CD44 expression level strongly correlates with stromal and immune cells, mainly infiltrating the glioma microenvironment by single-cell sequencing analysis. Meanwhile, CD44 can be a promising biomarker in predicting immunotherapy responses and mediating the expression of PD-L1. Finally, RUNX1/CD44 axis could promote the proliferation and migration of gliomas.

CONCLUSIONS

Therefore, CD44 was responsible for glioma growth and progression. It could potentially lead to a novel target for glioma immunotherapy or a prognostic biomarker.

Pericyte mediates the infiltration, migration, and polarization of macrophages by CD163/MCAM axis in glioblastoma

Microenvironment cells (MCs) play a critical role in tumor proliferation, progression, and metastasis. However, it has not been adequately addressed whether MCs could be used as a reliable prognostic marker in glioblastoma (GBM). In the current study, the cell pair (CP) score was constructed in 1137 GBM samples based on the cell pair algorithm and Gaussian finite mixture model (GMM) and was verified in 73 GBM samples from the Xiangya cohort. CP score predicted GBM patients' survival and response to anti-PD-1 treatment with high sensitivity. Macrophage markers CD68 and CD163 were co-expressed with pericyte markers MCAM and MG2. Pericyte could mediate the infiltration, migration, and M2 type polarization of macrophages by MCAM. The CP score was a valuable tool for predicting survival outcomes and guiding immunotherapy for GBM patients. Cell pair pericyte/macrophage and gene pair CD163/MCAM were biologically significant in the tumor microenvironment of GBM.

α-Glucosidase-Mediated Glucometer Readout for Portable Monitoring of Acarbose and Migliol

The α-glucosidase inhibitor is regarded as one of the most important drugs for the treatment of diabetes, which can control postprandial blood glucose levels via prolonging the carbohydrate digestion time and retarding the carbohydrates’ absorption. The present work aims to establish a facile bioanalytical method, based on α-glucosidase catalyzing the hydrolysis of 2-O-alpha-D-Glucopyranosyl-L-ascorbic acid (AA-2G), for the quantification of acarbose and migliol using a personal glucose meter (PGM). The hydrolysis products (ascorbic acid and glucose) can trigger the reduction of K3[Fe(CN)6] to K4[Fe(CN)6] in the glucose test strips, which results in the formation of the electron, which can be measured by PGM. Thus, ascorbic acid and glucose can be simultaneously measured by a simplified and miniaturized PGM method. However, the products produced by the hydrolysis of AA-2G will be decreased after the addition of acarbose or migliol to inhibit the activity of α-glucosidase, thereby resulting in a decreased PGM readout. After being incubated with α-glucosidase for 3.0 min and enzymatic reaction for 5.0 min, the quantitative detection of acarbose and migliol can be achieved within the ranges of 1.0–30.0 μM with the limit of detection of 0.33 μM and 3.0–33.3 μM with the limit of detection of 1.0 μM, respectively. IC50 values for acarbose and migliol are calculated to be 10.0 μM and 16.0 μM, respectively. The recoveries of the acarbose and migliol spiked with three different concentrations (final concentrations of 10.0, 20.0, and 30.0 μM) in human serum sample are in the ranges of 89.6–114.5% and 93.9–106.5%, respectively. These results demonstrate that the developed PGM method may be useful in future studies on therapeutic monitoring of acarbose and migliol.

Molecular insight into pentraxin-3: Update advances in innate immunity, inflammation, tissue remodeling, diseases, and drug role

Pentraxin-3 (PTX3) is the prototype of the long pentraxin subfamily, an acute-phase protein consisting of a C-terminal pentraxin domain and a unique N-terminal domain. PTX3 was initially isolated from human umbilical vein endothelial cells and human FS-4 fibroblasts. It was subsequently found to be also produced by synoviocytes, chondrocytes, osteoblasts, smooth muscle cells, myeloid dendritic cells, epithelial cells, and tumor cells. Various modulatory factors, such as miRNAs, cytokines, drugs, and hypoxic conditions, could regulate the expression level of PTX3. PTX3 is essential in regulating innate immunity, inflammation, angiogenesis, and tissue remodeling. Besides, PTX3 may play dual (pro-tumor and anti-tumor) roles in oncogenesis. PTX3 is involved in the occurrence and development of many non-cancerous diseases, including COVID-19, and might be a potential biomarker indicating the prognosis, activity,and severity of diseases. In this review, we summarize and discuss the potential roles of PTX3 in the oncogenesis and pathogenesis of non-cancerous diseases and potential targeted therapies based on PTX3.