DNA Transformations for Diagnosis and Therapy

A biospecies-derived genomic DNA hybrid gel electrolyte for electrochemical energy storage

Intrinsic impediments, namely weak mechanical strength, low ionic conductivity, low electrochemical performance, and stability have largely inhibited beyond practical applications of hydrogels in electronic devices and remains as a significant challenge in the scientific world. Here, we report a biospecies-derived genomic DNA hybrid gel electrolyte with many synergistic effects, including robust mechanical properties (mechanical strength and elongation of 6.98 MPa and 997.42%, respectively) and ion migration channels, which consequently demonstrated high ionic conductivity (73.27 mS/cm) and superior electrochemical stability (1.64 V). Notably, when applied to a supercapacitor the hybrid gel-based devices exhibit a specific capacitance of 425 F/g. Furthermore, it maintained rapid charging/discharging with a capacitance retention rate of 93.8% after ∼200,000 cycles while exhibiting a maximum energy density of 35.07 Wh/kg and a maximum power density of 193.9 kW/kg. This represents the best value among the current supercapacitors and can be immediately applied to minicars, solar cells, and LED lightning. The widespread use of DNA gel electrolytes will revolutionize human efforts to industrialize high-performance green energy.

A programmable catalytic molecular nanomachine for highly sensitive protein and small molecule detection

Herein, we report the construction of a programmable catalytic molecular nanomachine based on a cross-linked catalytic hairpin assembly (CCHA) reaction for the one-step highly sensitive detection of proteins and small molecules. In this system, when the recognition elements attached on split initiators bind to the target proteins, it can trigger the cascade of the CCHA reaction, resulting in the formation of many macromolecular fluorescent products for signaling. This platform couples the advantages of highly efficient DNA-based nanotechnology with specific protein-small molecule interactions. We demonstrated the sensitive detection of streptavidin and anti-digoxigenin antibody with detection limits as low as 48.8 pM and 0.85 nM, respectively. This nanomachine also demonstrated its flexibility in the nanomolar detection of corresponding small molecules, such as biotin and digoxigenin, using a competitive method. In addition, the nanomachine was robust enough to perform well with human serum samples. Overall, this programmable catalytic molecular nanomachine provides a versatile platform for the detection of proteins and small molecules by replacing the recognition elements, which can promote the development of DNA nanotechnology in disease diagnosis and therapeutic drug monitoring.

The emergence of nanoporous materials in lung cancer therapy

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers, affecting more than 2.1 million people across the globe every year. A very high occurrence and mortality rate of lung cancer have prompted active research in this area with both conventional and novel forms of therapies including the use of nanomaterials based drug delivery agents. Specifically, the unique physico-chemical and biological properties of porous nanomaterials have gained significant momentum as drug delivery agents for delivering a combination of drugs or merging diagnosis with targeted therapy for cancer treatment. This review focuses on the emergence of nano-porous materials for drug delivery in lung cancer. The review analyses the currently used nanoporous materials, including inorganic, organic and hybrid porous materials for delivering drugs for various types of therapies, including chemo, radio and phototherapy. It also analyses the selected research on stimuli-responsive nanoporous materials for drug delivery in lung cancer before summarizing the various findings and projecting the future of emerging trends. This review provides a strong foundation for the current status of the research on nanoporous materials, their limitations and the potential for improving their design to overcome the unique challenges of delivering drugs for the treatment of lung cancer.

Distribution Behavior of Single-Stranded DNA Molecules in an Amino-Group-Functionalized Silica Microparticle

In this study, we investigated the distribution behavior of single-stranded DNA molecules with 20 bases in silica particles (particle size: ∼30 μm) using confocal fluorescence microspectroscopy. The distribution kinetics was investigated under various conditions, such as the type of base (adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine), pore size of the particle (30 and 50 nm), and salt concentration (100, 200, and 500 mM), which changed the distribution behavior. At high salt concentrations, we observed sigmoidal kinetic behavior, which does not occur in the general distribution of small organic molecules but is often observed in protein aggregation and nuclear growth. An analytical model based on DNA aggregation explained the sigmoidal distribution behavior well, and this model also worked well when the number of DNA molecules involved in DNA aggregation was greater than two. The intraparticle diffusion of DNA molecules was analyzed using the pore and surface diffusion model. As a result, the intraparticle diffusion of DNA aggregates mainly occurs according to surface diffusion, and the surface diffusion coefficient has the same value ((2.4-6.7) × 10^-9 cm² s^-1) independent of the pore size and type of base.

Application Perspectives of Nanomedicine in Cancer Treatment

Cancer is a disease that seriously threatens human health. Based on the improvement of traditional treatment methods and the development of new treatment modes, the pattern of cancer treatment is constantly being optimized. Nanomedicine plays an important role in these evolving tumor treatment modalities. In this article, we outline the applications of nanomedicine in three important tumor-related fields: chemotherapy, gene therapy, and immunotherapy. According to the current common problems, such as poor targeting of first-line chemotherapy drugs, easy destruction of nucleic acid drugs, and common immune-related adverse events in immunotherapy, we discuss how nanomedicine can be combined with these treatment modalities, provide typical examples, and summarize the advantages brought by the application of nanomedicine.

Development of novel fluorescence-based and label-free noncanonical G4-quadruplex-like DNA biosensor for facile, specific, and ultrasensitive detection of fipronil

Fipronil is a broad-spectrum insecticide widely used in agriculture and residential areas; its indiscriminate use leads to environmental pollution and poses health hazards. Early detection of fipronil is critical to prevent the deleterious effects. However, current insecticide analysis methods such as HPLC, LC/MS, and GC/MS are incompetent; they are costly, immobile, time-consuming, laborious, and need skilled technicians. Hence, a sensitive, specific, and cheap biosensor are essential to containing the contamination. Here, we designed two novel biosensors-the first design relied on fluorescent labeling/quenching, while the second sensor focused on label-free detection using Thioflavin T displacement. Altogether, we identified four candidate aptamers, predicted secondary structures, and performed 3D molecular modeling to predict the binding pocket of fipronil in FiPA6B aptamer. Furthermore, the aptameric sensors showed high sensitivity to fipronil of sub-ppb level LOD, attributed to stringent experimental design. The biosensors displayed high specificity against other phenylpyrazole insecticides and demonstrated robust sensitivity for fipronil in real samples like cabbage and cucumber. Notably, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of noncanonical G4-quadruplex-like aptamer binding to fipronil, verified using CD spectroscopy. Such aptasensors possess considerable potential for real-time measurements of hazardous insecticides as point-of-care technology.