COPB2: a transport protein with multifaceted roles in cancer development and progression

The Coatomer protein complex subunit beta 2 (COPB2) is involved in the formation of the COPI coatomer protein complex and is responsible for the transport of vesicles between the Golgi apparatus and the endoplasmic reticulum. It plays an important role in maintaining the integrity of these cellular organelles, as well as in maintaining cell homeostasis. More importantly, COPB2 plays key roles in embryonic development and tumor progression. COPB2 is regarded as a vital oncogene in several cancer types and has been implicated in tumor cell proliferation, survival, invasion, and metastasis. Here, we summarize the current knowledge on the roles of COPB2 in cancer development and progression in the context of the hallmarks of cancer.

Optotheranostic Nanosystem with Phone Visual Diagnosis and Optogenetic Microbial Therapy for Ulcerative Colitis At-Home Care

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a relapsing disorder characterized by chronic inflammation of the intestinal tract. However, the home care of UC based on remote monitoring, due to the operational complexity and time-consuming procedure, restrain its widespread applications. Here we constructed an optotheranostic nanosystem for self-diagnosis and long-acting mitigations of UC at home. The system included two major modules: (i) A disease prescreening module mediated by smartphone optical sensing. (ii) Disease real-time intervention module mediated by an optogenetic engineered bacteria system. Recombinant Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) secreted interleukin-10 (IL-10) could downregulate inflammatory cascades and matrix metalloproteinases; it is a candidate for use in the therapeutic intervention of UC. The results showed that the Detector was able to analyze, report, and share the detection results in less than 1 min, and the limit of detection was 15 ng·mL^-1. Besides, the IL-10-secreting EcN treatment suppressed the intestinal inflammatory response in UC mice and protected the intestinal mucosa against injury. The optotheranostic nanosystems enabled solutions to diagnose and treat disease at home, which promotes a mobile health service development.

An efficient delivery of photosensitizers and hypoxic prodrugs for a tumor combination therapy by membrane camouflage nanoparticles

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an oxygen-dependent, non-invasive cancer treatment. The hypoxia in the tumor environment limits the therapeutic effects of PDT. The combined delivery of photosensitizers and hypoxic prodrugs is expected to improve the efficacy of tumor treatment. In this paper, an erythrocyte and tumor cell membrane camouflage nanocarrier co-loaded with a photosensitizer (indocyanine green) and a hypoxic prodrug (tirapazamine) were used to combine PDT with chemotherapy. The system achieved less macrophage clearance through erythrocyte membranes and tumor-targeted tumor cell membranes, thereby inducing cell death and increasing tumor environment hypoxia by NIR irradiation of photosensitizers. Furthermore, the hypoxic environment activated TPZ to kill more tumor cells. In vivo results showed that the tumor inhibition rate of the drug-loaded nanoparticles increased from 34% to 64% after membrane modification. Moreover, the tumor inhibition rate of the photodynamic treatment group alone was only 47%, and the tumor inhibition rate after the combination was 1.3 times that of photodynamic therapy alone. Our platform is expected to contribute to the further application of cancer combination therapy.

Serum glypican4 and glycosylphosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase D levels are associated with adipose tissue insulin resistance in obese subjects with different glucose metabolism status

OBJECTIVES

Glypican4 (GPC4) is a novel adipokine associated with obesity and insulin resistance. GPC4 was cleaved by the glycosylphosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase D (GPLD1) in an anchored site of the glycosylphosphatidylinositol, and then was released into the extracellular environment. Herein, we investigated the changes of serum GPC4 and GPLD1 levels in obese subjects with different glucose metabolism status and their relationship with adipose tissue insulin resistance index (Adipo-IR) in Chinese north populations.

METHODS

A total of 221 obese subjects and 37 normal controls (NC) were recruited in this study. Obese subjects were divided into normal insulin (NI) group, hyperinsulinemia (HI) group, impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) group, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) group. Serum GPC4, GPLD1, and adiponectin were determined by commercially available ELISA kits.

RESULTS

Serum GPC4 levels in the HI, IGT, and DM groups were significantly higher than those in the NC and NI groups (2.27 ± 0.58 ng/mL, 2.21 ± 0.60 ng/mL, 2.49 ± 0.67 ng/mL vs. 1.70 ± 0.33 ng/mL, 1.93 ± 0.34 ng/mL, P < 0.05). GPC4 was positively correlated with GPLD1, which was the most important influencing factor of GPC4. Adipo-IR was independently and positively associated with serum GPC4 and GPLD1. For GPC4, after adjustment for confounders, the risk of adipose tissue insulin resistance in subjects with the highest tertile was 2.974-fold that of those with the lowest tertile (OR = 2.974, P = 0.013). For GPLD1, before adjustment for lipids, the increased probability still existed (Model 2, OR = 3.568, P = 0.003).

CONCLUSION

GPC4 is an adipokine associated with adipose tissue insulin resistance, and its activity may be regulated by GPLD1. GPC4 may be a marker for adipose tissue insulin resistance in Chinese north obese populations.

Phylogenetic diversity contributes more to sediment magnetism than abundance during incubation of iron-reducing sediment from a non-active volcanic lake in Northeast China

AIM

This study aimed to analyse bacterial community and biomineralization products from Wudalianchi non-active volcanic field and the relationship between magnetization and bacterial community.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Eighteen sediment samples obtained from Wenbo Lake, high-throughput sequencing and quantitative PCR (qPCR) were separately employed to investigate the bacterial community composition dynamics and abundance variation of the sediment sample with the highest iron-reducing capacity during incubation. The mineralization products were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and variable-temperature magnetism analyses. The results showed that the highest iron reduction rate was 98·06%. Seven phyla were identified as dominant bacterial phyla during the incubation process. Iron-reducing bacteria (FeRB) including Geobacter, Desulfosporosinus and Clostridium were involved in the iron mineralization process. The 16S rDNA copy numbers of sediment decreased quickly and then stayed steady during the incubation. Bacteria with rod-shaped and spheroid species were involved in extracellular iron reduction to produce magnetic particles with massive aggregation and columnar structures on the mineral surface morphologies. The materials produced by the microbial community over the incubation period were sequentially identified as siderite, magnetite and maghemite. The magnetism of the mineral samples gradually increased from 0·31748 to 33·58423 emu g^-1 with increased incubation time. The final products showed relatively stable magnetism under 0-400 K. Meanwhile, the saturation magnetization (M_S ) of the mineralized substance was tightly associated with bacterial diversity (P < 0·05).

CONCLUSIONS

Bacterial community varied during incubation of iron-reducing sediment of volcanic lake. Various iron mineral crystals were in turn formed extracellularly by FeRB. The magnetism of mineralized products was tightly associated with bacterial community.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

These results not only help us to better understand the iron mineralization of FeRB in the volcanic lake sediments but also provide basic information for the future application of FeRB in environmental bioremediation.

CRISPR-dcas9 Optogenetic Nanosystem for the Blue Light-Mediated Treatment of Neovascular Lesions

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is the key regulator in neovascular lesions. The anti-VEGF injection is a major way to relieve retinal neovascularization and treat these diseases. However, current anti-VEGF therapeutics show significant drawbacks. The reason is the inability to effectively control its therapeutic effect. Therefore, how to controllably inhibit the VEGF target is a key point for preventing angiogenesis. Here, a CRISPR-dCas9 optogenetic nanosystem was designed for the precise regulation of pathologic neovascularization. This system is composed of a light-controlled regulatory component and transcription inhibition component. They work together to controllably and effectively inhibit the target gene's VEGF. The opto-CRISPR nanosystem achieved precise regulation according to individual differences, whereby the expression and interaction of gene was activated by light. The following representative model laser-induced choroid neovascularization and oxygen-induced retinopathy were taken as examples to verify the effect of this nanosystem. The results showed that the opto-CRISPR nanosystem was more efficacious in the light control group (NV area effectively reduced by 41.54%) than in the dark control group without light treatment. This strategy for the CRISPR-optogenetic gene nanosystem led to the development of approaches for treating severe eye diseases. Besides, any target gene of interest can be designed by merely replacing the guide RNA sequences in this system, which provided a method for light-controlled gene transcriptional repression.

[A real-world study of 176 cases with aplastic anemia treated in outpatient]

目的

探索真实世界门诊治疗再生障碍性贫血（AA）患者的诊断流程、治疗及疗效。

方法

评估2018年1月至2019年12月门诊治疗176例AA患者的诊断流程、治疗方案及疗效。

结果

患者出现症状至首次就诊中位时间7（5～120）个月，就诊原因包括出血（52.3%）、贫血（51.7%）、感染（6.8%）。诊断流程中168例（95.5%）患者完成髂骨骨髓穿刺（骨穿），仅22例（17.1%）完善了多部位骨穿（胸骨分类）；骨髓活检完成率85.1%（143/168）；只有59.5%（100/168）和58.9%（99/168）完成了骨髓流式免疫分型及染色体核型分析；86例（48.5%）完成阵发性睡眠性血红蛋白尿（PNH）克隆筛查；造血祖细胞培养检查完成率最低，仅45例（26.8%）。环孢素A（CsA）联合雄激素及左旋咪唑为最常见治疗方案，总计77例（43.8%），其次为CsA联合雄激素45例（25.6%），单用CsA者24例（13.6%），单用雄激素者16例（9.1%），14例（7.9%）患者确诊后选择中药或未治疗。根据门诊复诊频率将176例患者分为复诊规律组（每年≥4次）130例（73.9%）和复诊欠规律组（每年<4次）46例（26.1%）。复诊规律组6个月有效率较高（52.5%对28.0%，P＝0.005），12个月高质量缓解率更好（40.7%对16.7%，P＝0.027），24个月复发率更低（4.4%对36.4%，P＝0.001）。

结论

真实世界治疗的AA患者诊断流程需重视多部位骨穿检查并完成PNH克隆筛查、流式免疫分型、染色体核型分析及造血祖细胞培养检查；门诊规律复诊患者可获得高质量缓解，复发率低，推荐每年至少复诊4次。

[The diagnostic value of chromosome microarray analysis technique in the genetic causes of children with intellectual disability or global developmental delay]

Objective: To study the value of chromosome microarray analysis (CMA) application in children with developmental delay (DD), intellectual disability (ID), autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and multiple congenital anomalies (MCA). Methods: Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples. Array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH) analysis and single nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP-array) were performed in 1 320 children with DD/ID, ASD, with or without epilepsy and MCA who were admitted to Peking University First Hospital from 2014 to 2019. The results of genetic etiology test of CMA in children with mental retardation or global DD was summarized. Results: Of 1 320 samples, there were 10 cases of aneuploid abnormality, 6 cases of uniparental disomy and one case of mosaicism, respectively. Pathogenic copy number variations (CNVs) were found in 320 cases and pathogenic CNVs were detected in 23 cases, with a combined detection rate of 26% (343/1 320). CNVs of uncertain clinical significance occurred in 107 cases, accounting for 8.1% (107/1 320). There were 25 cases of possible benign CNVs, accounting for 2% (25/1 320), while benign CNVs were reported in 20 cases, accounting for 1.5% (20/1 320). The detection rate of MCA with DD/ID was 39.8% (130/327). Conclusions: CMA has the advantages of high resolution and covering the whole genome. It can detect the chromosomal abnormalities, microdeletions and duplications seen under the microscope, thus the genetic etiology of children with mental retardation or global DD can be diagnosed.

A Multichannel Flexible Optoelectronic Fiber Device for Distributed Implantable Neurological Stimulation and Monitoring

Optical fibers made of polymeric materials possess high flexibility that can potentially integrate with flexible electronic devices to realize complex functions in biology and neurology. Here, a multichannel flexible device based on four individually addressable optical fibers transfer-printed with flexible electronic components and controlled by a wireless circuit is developed. The resulting device offers excellent mechanics that is compatible with soft and curvilinear tissues, and excellent diversity through switching different light sources. The combined configuration of optical fibers and flexible electronics allows optical stimulation in selective wavelengths guided by the optical fibers, while conducting distributed, high-throughput biopotential sensing using the flexible microelectrode arrays. The device has been demonstrated in vivo with rats through optical stimulation and simultaneously monitoring of spontaneous/evoked spike signals and local field potentials using 32 microelectrodes in four brain regions. Biocompatibility of the device has been characterized by behavior and immunohistochemistry studies, demonstrating potential applications of the device in long-term animal studies. The techniques to integrate flexible electronics with optical fibers may inspire the development of more flexible optoelectronic devices for sophisticated applications in biomedicine and biology.

Efficacy of utidelone plus capecitabine versus capecitabine for heavily pretreated, anthracycline- and taxane-refractory metastatic breast cancer: final analysis of overall survival in a phase III randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Primary analysis of the phase III trial BG01-1323L demonstrated that utidelone plus capecitabine significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) and overall response rate (ORR) versus capecitabine alone in heavily-pretreated patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Here, we report the final overall survival (OS) analysis and updates of other endpoints.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

In total, 405 patients were randomised 2:1 to receive utidelone (30 mg/m² IV daily, days 1-5, over 90 min) plus capecitabine (1000 mg/m² orally b.i.d., days 1-14) or capecitabine alone (1250 mg/m² orally b.i.d., days 1-14) every 21 days. The secondary endpoint, OS, was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier product-limit approach at a two-sided alpha level of 0.05 after the prespecified 310 death events had been reached. Exploratory analyses of the primary endpoint, PFS, and the secondary endpoint, ORR, were also done. Safety was analysed in patients who had at least one dose of study drug.

RESULTS

At the final OS analysis, the median duration of follow-up was 19.6 months in the utidelone plus capecitabine group and 15.4 months in the capecitabine alone group. In the intention-to-treat population, 313 deaths had occurred at data cut-off, 203 of 270 patients in the combination group and 110 of 135 in the monotherapy group. Median OS in the combination group was 19.8 months compared with 16.0 months in the monotherapy group [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.75, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.59-0.94, P = 0.0142]. The updated analysis of PFS and ORR showed that the combination therapy remained superior to monotherapy. Safety results were similar to those previously reported with respect to incidence, severity and specificity. No late-emerging toxicities or new safety concerns occurred.

CONCLUSIONS

For heavily-pretreated, anthracycline- and taxane-resistant MBC patients, utidelone plus capecitabine significantly improved OS versus capecitabine alone. These results support the use of utidelone plus capecitabine as a novel therapeutic regimen for patients with MBC.

Suppression of myocardial HIF-1 by pubertal insulin resistance compromises metabolic adaptation and impairs cardiac function in patients with cyanotic congenital heart disease

Background

Cyanotic congenital heart disease (CCHD) is a complex pathophysiological condition involving systemic chronic hypoxia (CH). A proportion of CCHD patients are unoperated due to various reasons. These patients remain CH all their lives and are at increased risk of heart failure as they age. Hypoxia activates cellular metabolic adaptation to balance energy demands by accumulation of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α).

Purpose

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of CH on cardiac metabolism and function in CCHD patients and how it relates with age. The mechanistic role of HIF-1α in this process was investigated and potential therapeutic targets were explored.

Methods

CCHD patients (n=20) were evaluated for cardiac metabolism and function by positron-emission tomography/computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Heart tissues collected during surgical intervention were subjected to metabolomic and protein analyses. CH rodent models were generated to enable continuous observation of changes in cardiac metabolism and function. The role of HIF-1α in cardiac metabolic adaptation to CH was investigated using genetically modified animals and isotope-labeled metabolomic-pathway tracing studies.

Results

Prepubertal CCHD patients had glucose-dominant cardiac metabolism and normal cardiac function. By comparison, among patients who had entered puberty, the level of myocardial glucose uptake and glycolytic intermediates were significantly lower, but fatty acids were significantly higher, along with decreased left ventricular ejection fraction. These clinical phenotypes were replicated in CH rodent models. In patients and animals with CH, myocardial HIF-1α was upregulated prior to puberty, but was significantly downregulated during puberty. In cardiomyocyte-specific Hif-1α-knockout mice, CH failed to initiate the switch of myocardial substrates from fatty acids to glucose, leading to inhibition of ATP production and impairment of cardiac function. Increased insulin resistance (IR) suppressed myocardial HIF-1α and was responsible for cardiac metabolic maladaptation under CH during puberty. Pioglitazone significantly reduced myocardial IR, restored glucose metabolism, and improved cardiac function in pubertal animals.

Conclusions

In CCHD patients, maladaptation of cardiac metabolism occurred during puberty, impairing cardiac function. HIF-1α was identified as the key regulator of cardiac metabolic adaptation under CH but its expression was suppressed by pubertal IR. The use of pioglitazone during puberty might help improve cardiac function in these patients.

Metabolic maladaptation in CCHD patients

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding source: Foundation. Main funding source(s): National Natural Science Foundation of China (81525002, 31971048) and Shanghai Outstanding Medical Academic Leader

Upconversion optogenetic micro-nanosystem optically controls the secretion of light-responsive bacteria for systemic immunity regulation

Chemical molecules specifically secreted into the blood and targeted tissues by intestinal microbiota can effectively affect the associated functions of the intestine especially immunity, representing a new strategy for immune-related diseases. However, proper ways of regulating the secretion metabolism of specific strains still remain to be established. In this article, an upconversion optogenetic micro-nanosystem was constructed to effectively regulate the specific secretion of engineered bacteria. The system included two major modules: (i) Modification of secretory light-responsive engineered bacteria. (ii) Optical sensing mediated by upconversion optogenetic micro-nanosystem. This system could regulate the efficient secretion of immune factors by engineered bacteria through optical manipulation. Inflammatory bowel disease and subcutaneously transplanted tumors were selected to verify the effectiveness of the system. Our results showed that the endogenous factor TGF-β1 could be controllably secreted to suppress the intestinal inflammatory response. Additionally, regulatory secretion of IFN-γ was promoted to slow the progression of B16F10 tumor.