LINC01094 promotes human nasal epithelial cell epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and pyroptosis via upregulating HMGB1

BACKGROUND

Excessive epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of nasal epithelial cells (NECs) play a prominent role in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) pathogenesis. Long intergenic non-coding RNA 01094 (LINC01094) was previously reported to be overexpressed in CRSwNP, while the regulatory mechanism by which LINC01094 regulates CRSwNP progression remains unclear. Our study aimed to investigate the role of LINC01094 in CRSwNP development.

METHODS

hNEC were isolated from tissues of controls and CRSwNP patients and stimulated with interleukin (IL)-13. 3-(4, 5-Dimethylthiazolyl2)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was employed to analyze hNEC viability. Flow cytometry was employed to analyze pyroptosis. Immunofluorescence was employed to analyze Snail nuclear translocation. The interactions between LINC01094, fused in sarcoma (FUS) and high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) were analyzed by RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) and RNA pull-down assays.

RESULTS

LINC01094 and EMT-related proteins were markedly upregulated in nasal polyp tissues of CRSwNP. LINC01094 knockdown inhibited IL-13-induced hNEC EMT and pyroptosis. LINC01094 promoted HMGB1 expression in CRSwNP by binding with FUS. HMGB1 promoted Snail nuclear import in GSK-B phosphorylation-dependent manner.

CONCLUSION

LINC01094 facilitated hNEC EMT and pyroptosis in CRSwNP by activating the HMGB1/GSK-B Snail axis, which suggested that LINC01094 might serve as a biomarker and therapeutic target in CRSwNP.

Photoinduced fluorescence modulation through controllable intramolecular [2+2] photocycloaddition in single molecules and molecular aggregates

We report a general molecular design strategy of spatial proximity, which allows intramolecular [2+2] photocycloaddition reaction to take place in both single molecules and molecular aggregates. Sharply contrasting photoinduced fluorescence changes in solution and in the solid state were found and attributed to the aggregation-induced quenching property of the monomers and the aggregation-induced emission nature of the photodimers.

Palladium nanospheres-embedded metal-organic frameworks to enhance the ECL efficiency of 2,6-dimethyl-8-(3-carboxyphenyl)4,4'-difluoroboradiazene in aqueous solution for ultrasensitive Cu2+ detection

Nowadays, organic emitters suffer from insufficient electrochemiluminescence (ECL) efficiency in aqueous solutions, and their practical applications are severely restricted in the bio-sensing field. In this work, palladium nanospheres-embedded metal-organic frameworks (Pd@MOFs) were exploited to enhance the ECL efficiency of 2,6-dimethyl-8-(3-carboxyphenyl)4,4'-difluoroboradiazene (BET) prepared by a one-pot method in aqueous environment. First, the Pd@MOFs were generated via in situ reduction of Pd nanospheres anchored onto the MOFs, and fabricated by orderly coordination of palladium chloride (PdCl2) with 1,2,4,5-benzenetetramine (BTA) tetrahydrochloride. Then, the influence of protons on the ECL response of BET was studied in detail to obtain stronger ECL emission using potassium persulfate (K2S2O8) as co-reactant in aqueous environment. As a result, a 1.47-fold ECL efficiency enlargement of BET/K2S2O8 was harvested at the Pd@MOFs/GCE, where Ru(bpy)32+ behaved as a standard. Based on the fact that the ECL signals of the BET-covered Pd@MOFs modified glassy carbon electrode (simplified as BET/Pd@MOFs/GCE) can be quenched by Cu2+, the as-built ECL sensor showed a wide linear range (1.0-100.0 pM) and a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 0.12 pM. Hence, such research offers huge potential to promote the development of organic emitters in ECL biosensors and environmental monitoring.

Self-enhanced Electrochemiluminescence Luminophore Based on Pd Nanocluster-Anchored Metal Organic Frameworks via Ion Annihilation for Sensitive Cell Assay of Human Lung Cancer

Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) has attracted significant interest in the analysis of cancer cells, where the ruthenium(II)-based emitter demonstrates urgency and feasibility to improve the ECL efficiency. In this work, the self-enhanced ECL luminophore was prepared by covalent anchoring of Pd nanoclusters on aminated metal organic frameworks (Pd NCs@MOFs), followed by linkage with bis(2,2'-bipyridine)-5-amino-1,10-phenanthroline ruthenium(II) (RuP). The resultant luminophore showed 214-fold self-magnification in the ECL efficiency over RuP alone, combined by promoting the interfacial photoelectron transfer. The enhanced mechanism through ion annihilation was critically proved by controlled experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Based on the above, a "signal off" ECL biosensor was built by assembly of tyrosine kinase 7 (PTK-7) aptamer (Apt) on the established sensing platform for analysis of human lung cancer cells (A549). The built sensor showed a lower detection limit of 8 cells mL-1, achieving the single-cell detection. This work reported a self-enhanced strategy for synthesis of advanced ECL emitters, combined by exploring the ECL biosensing devices in the single-cell analysis of cancers.

Photoactivation of Solid-State Fluorescence through Controllable Intermolecular [2+2] Photodimerization

Intermolecular [2+2] photodimerization provides a distinctive approach to construct photoresponsive fluorescent materials in a manner of switching on solid-state fluorescence. Herein, we report efficient photoactivation of bright solid-state fluorescence based on controllable intermolecular [2+2] photodimerization reaction of benzo[b]thiophene 1,1-dioxide (BTO) derivatives, which provides a simple and effective way to construct smart photoresponsive solid-state fluorescent materials. Rational choice of substituents in BTO molecular skeleton enables them to efficiently undergo photodimerization through regulating molecular stacking in crystal, and also leads to photoactivation of solid-state fluorescence due to the generation of brightly fluorescent photodimers. This intermolecular photodimerization reaction also offers an effective method to synthesize photostable AIEgens with purely through-space conjugation.

Hydrogen Bond Organic Frameworks as Radical Reactors for Enhancement in ECL Efficiency and Their Ultrasensitive Biosensing

Nowadays, electrochemiluminescence (ECL) efficiency of an organic emitter is closely related with its potential applications in food safety and environmental monitoring fields. In this work, 2,4,6-tris(4-carboxyphenyl)-1,3,5-triazine (TATB) was self-assembled to form hydrogen bond organic frameworks (HOFs), which worked as ideal reactors to generate highly active oxygen-containing radicals, followed by linking with isoluminol (ILu) via amide bond (termed ILu-HOFs). After covalent assembly with aminated indium-tin oxide electrode (labeled NH₂-ITO), the ECL efficiency of the ILu-HOFs NH₂-ITO showed about a 23.4-time increase over that of ILu itself in the presence of H₂O₂. Meanwhile, the enhanced ECL mechanism was mainly studied by electron paramagnetic resonance, theoretical calculation, and electrochemistry. On the above foundation, an aptamer "sandwich" ECL biosensor was constructed for detecting isocarbophos (ICP) via in situ elimination of H₂O₂ with catalase-linked palladium nanocubes (CAT-Pd NCs). The as-built sensor showed a broad linear range (1 pM to 100 nM) and a low limit of detection (LOD) down to 0.4 pM, coupled with efficient assays of ICP in lake water and cucumber juice samples. This strategy provides an effective way for the synthesis of advanced ECL emitter, coupled by showing promising applications in environmental and food analysis.

[MYC and BCL-2 protein co-expression and prognosis of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: a propensity score matching analysis]

Objective: We investigated the impact of MYC/BCL-2 protein co-expression on the prognosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients and observed whether double expression (DE) remains an independent poor prognostic factor in DLBCL after the addition of therapeutic factors such as DA-EPOCH-R, central prophylaxis, and transplantation. Methods: Available pathological findings were retrospectively collected from 223 DLBCL patients at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital from 2015 to 2018. Seventy-five patients with high MYC/BCL-2 expression were categorized as the DE group. From the 148 non-DE patients, 75 DLBCL patients were selected as the control group, using a 1∶1 matching on propensity scores for age, international prognostic index score, treatment choice, and etc. The differences in overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) between the two groups were compared. Results: The 3-year OS was (69.8±5.5) % for the DE group and (77.0±4.9) % for the non-DE group (P=0.225) , while the 3-year PFS was (60.7±5.8) % and (65.3±5.5) % , respectively (P=0.390) . Subgroup analysis in patients treated with the R-CHOP regimen revealed that for the DE and non-DE patients, the 3-year OS was (61.3±7.5) % and (77.2±5.6) % (P=0.027) , and the 3-year PFS was (52.1±7.5) % and (70.6±6.0) % (P=0.040) , respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that age, stage of Ann Arbor, COO staging, whether central prophylaxis was performed, and whether transplantation was performed were significant independent risk factors of the prognosis of DLBCL patients (P<0.05) . On the other hand, MYC/BCL-2 protein double expression was not significantly associated with prognostic outcomes. Conclusion: MYC/BCL-2 protein double expression was significantly associated with poor prognosis under R-CHOP regimen treatment, but the poor prognostic impact of DE on DLBCL was eliminated under intensive regimens such as DA-EPOCH-R and transplantation.

Machine learning-based radiomic evaluation of treatment response prediction in glioblastoma

AIM

To investigate machine learning based models combining clinical, radiomic, and molecular information to distinguish between early true progression (tPD) and pseudoprogression (psPD) in patients with glioblastoma.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A retrospective analysis was undertaken of 76 patients (46 tPD, 30 psPD) with early enhancing disease following chemoradiotherapy for glioblastoma. Outcome was determined on follow-up until 6 months post-chemoradiotherapy. Models comprised clinical characteristics, O⁶-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylation status, and 307 quantitative imaging features extracted from enhancing disease and perilesional oedema masks on early post-chemoradiotherapy contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging, T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps. Feature selection was performed within bootstrapped cross-validated recursive feature elimination with a random forest algorithm. Naive Bayes five-fold cross-validation was used to validate the final model.

RESULTS

Top selected features included age, MGMT promoter methylation status, two shape-based features from the enhancing disease mask, three radiomic features from the enhancing disease mask on ADC, and one radiomic feature from the perilesional oedema mask on T2WI. The final model had an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) of 0.80, sensitivity 78.2%, specificity 66.7%, and accuracy of 73.7%.

CONCLUSION

Incorporating a machine learning-based approach using quantitative radiomic features from standard-of-care magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in combination with clinical characteristics and MGMT promoter methylation status has a complementary effect and improves model performance for early prediction of glioblastoma treatment response.

Nilpotent fuzzy lie ideals

In this paper, we introduce a new definition for nilpotent fuzzy Lie ideal, which is a well-defined extension of nilpotent Lie ideal in Lie algebras, and we name it a good nilpotent fuzzy Lie ideal. Then we prove that a Lie algebra is nilpotent if and only if any fuzzy Lie ideal of it, is a good nilpotent fuzzy Lie ideal. In particular, we construct a nilpotent Lie algebra via a good nilpotent fuzzy Lie ideal. Also, we prove that with some conditions, every good nilpotent fuzzy Lie ideal is finite. Finally, we define an Engel fuzzy Lie ideal, and we show that every Engel fuzzy Lie ideal of a finite Lie algebra is a good nilpotent fuzzy Lie ideal. We think that these notions could be useful to solve some problems of Lie algebras with nilpotent fuzzy Lie ideals.

[Analysis of infection status and recombination types of norovirus in patients with acute gastroenteritis in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region from 2016 to 2017]

Objective: To analyze the infection status and recombination of Norovirus in patients with acute gastroenteritis in Ningxia. Methods: The specimens of 10 sentinel hospitals in Ningxia were collected from 2016 to 2017. Real-time quantitative PCR was used for nucleic acid detection. GⅡ-positive samples were amplified by RT-PCR for the RdRp and Capsid regions, then sequenced and genotyped. Evolution analysis was performed using software such as MEGA-X, and recombination analysis was performed using Simplot 3.5.1 and RDP4. Results: The age of the 2 334 cases was 1.42 (0.68, 7.69) years old, 1 133 cases in 2016 and 1 201 cases in 2017, 1 343 and 991 cases for males and females respectively. The positive rate of Norovirus GⅠ genogroup was 0.86% (20/2 334), and GⅡ genogroup was 14.82% (346/2 334). A total of 78 recombinant strains were sequenced and 12 recombinant types were found. GⅡ.Pe/GⅡ.4Sydney_2012 and GⅡ.P12/GⅡ.3 were the main epidemic strains, accounting for 35.90% (28 strains) and 32.05% (25 strain) respectively, followed by GⅡ.P16/GⅡ.2 accounting for 12.82% (10 strains). Among them,GⅡ.P7/GⅡ.6 (2 strains), GⅡ.P12/GⅡ.3 (6 strains), GⅡ.P16/GⅡ.1 (2 strains), GⅡ.P16/GⅡ.2 (5 strains), GⅡ.Pe/GⅡ.4 (7 strains) were detected for the first time in Ningxia. Recombinant strains were all intergenotype recombination, and the recombination breakpionts were all located within ORF1. Conclusion: Norovirus infection in Ningxia area was mainly in GⅡ genogroup from 2016 to 2017, and most of them were recombinant strains. GⅡ.Pe/GⅡ.4Sydney_2012 and GⅡ.P12/GⅡ.3 were the main epidemic strains, followed by GⅡ.P16/GⅡ. 2.

Multi-modular engineering for renewable production of isoprene via mevalonate pathway in Escherichia coli

AIMS

To establish the biotechnology platforms for production of bio-based chemicals in various micro-organisms is considered as a promising target to improve renewable production of isoprene.

METHODS AND RESULTS

In this study, we heterologously expressed the mevalonate (MVA) isoprene biosynthesis pathway, and explored three strategies of increasing isoprene production in Escherichia coli. We first manipulated the expression levels of the MVA pathway genes through changing the gene cassettes and promoters. To introduce cofactor engineering, we then overexpressed NADP-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene from Clostridium acetobutylicum to supply available NADPH. To reduce the inhibitory by-product accumulation, we finally knocked out acetate-producing genes, phosphate acetyl transferase and pyruvate oxidase B in E. coliJM109 (DE3), decreasing acetate accumulation 89% and increasing isoprene production 39%. The strategies described here finally increased the isoprene titre to 92 mg l^-1 in two-gene deletion strain JMAB-4T7P1Trc, increasing 2·6-fold comparing to strain JM7T7.

CONCLUSION

The multimodularly engineering approaches including promoter engineering, cofactor engineering and by-product reducing could be used to improve isoprene production in E. coli.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

The metabolic strategies in this study show us directions for further studies to promote transformation of renewable sources to isoprene.

Adaptive behaviour of Chinese boys with fragile X syndrome

BACKGROUND

Adaptive behaviour is closely related to quality of life in children with intellectual disability (ID), but little is known about the adaptive behaviour of children with fragile X syndrome (FXS) in China.

METHOD

In boys with FXS, the adaptive behaviours in six domains, including self-dependence, locomotion, work skills, communication, socialisation and self-management, were assessed by the Infants-Junior Middle School Students Social-life Abilities Scale. In addition, we compared the adaptive skills of boys with FXS to those of three control groups of boys, including boys with Down syndrome (DS) and typically developing (TD) boys matched by chronological age (CA) or mental age (MA). The profile of the adaptive behaviour of boys with FXS is discussed in detail.

RESULTS

Compared to boys with DS, boys with FXS obtained lower scores in three domains in adaptive behaviour, including work skills, socialisation and self-management skills; boys with FXS had better scores in self-dependence and locomotion skills than boys matched for MA; as expected, boys with FXS had significantly poorer adaptive skills in all six domains assessed compared to CA boys.

CONCLUSION

The development of adaptive skills in boys with FXS was worse than that of boys with DS. The profile of the adaptive behaviour of boys with FXS establishes a basis for the development of targeted interventions to promote social development in this population.