Adsorption and Interaction of Bovine Serum Albumin and Pluronic P103 Triblock Copolymer on a Gold Electrode: Double-Layer Capacitance Measurements

Synthesis and characterization of a nanostructure conductive copolymer based on polyaniline and polylactic acid as an effective substrate in proteins impedimetric biosensing

Despite of all the developments in DNA microarray technology, there is not sufficient knowledge about protein abundance or their function in processes such as proteolysis, phosphorylation. Therefore, there is a significant need for direct detection and quantification of proteins, especially in processes such as proteomics, drug design and disease prediction. The present work introduce the new generation of polymeric substrate based on polyaniline and, polylactic acid, which it was used for impedimetric sensor in detection of proteins in particular for bovine serum albumin (BSA). In this copolymerization, the polylactic acid-block-polyaniline copolymer (PLA-b-PANI) was synthesized to attach polylactic acid and polyaniline using epichlorohydrin as a coupling agent. The structure of synthesized compounds in all steps, were confirmed by FT-IR and, 1H-NMR. The thermal properties and, morphology were analyzed by DSC, TGA, and, SEM. Also the electrochemical characteristics of fabricated PLA-b-PANI electrode were investigated by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and Cyclic Voltammetry (CV). The results demonstrated that morphology of the PLA-b-PANI is sphere shape nanoparticles with dimension less than 100 nanometer diameters and, reasonable thermal properties. PLA-b-PANI was used to modify a screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) to fabricate a BSA impedimetric sensor. In order to increase the performance of the proposed impedimetric sensor, optimization of incubation time, pH and amount of PLA-b-PANI were investigated. The results show that the impedimetric sensor has the highest response when the electrode surface is covered with 5 microliters of PLA-b-PANI, and is incubated in BSA solution with pH 6.5 for 5 min. Impedimetric results showed that the PLA-b-PANI has excellent properties in reducing the charge transfer resistance and increasing the electron charge transfer rate. The final impedimetric sensor exhibited good repeatability, reproducibility, and chemical stability within the linear concentration range of 0.1-20 μg L-1 of BSA, and a detection limit of 0.05 μg L-1.

5'-tRF-GlyGCC promotes breast cancer metastasis by increasing fat mass and obesity-associated protein demethylase activity

tRNA-derived fragments (tRFs) are a class of regulatory non-coding RNAs that play essential biological functions in cancer and stress-induced diseases. Several lines of evidence suggest that 5'-tRF-GlyGCC participates in tumor progression; however, its molecular mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we explored the function of 5'-tRF-GlyGCC in breast cancer (BC) progression and studied the related potential molecular mechanisms. 5'-tRF-GlyGCC expression increased in human BC, and it promoted the proliferation, migration, and invasion of BC cells in vitro and tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. 5'-tRF-GlyGCC was found for the first time to bind directly to fat mass and obesity-associated proteins, and increase the activity of FTO demethylase, reducing eIF4G1 methylation, inhibiting autophagy, and promoting BC proliferation and metastasis. These findings suggest that 5'-tRF-GlyGCC might be a therapeutic target for treating BC.

Protein corona: Friend or foe? Co-opting serum proteins for nanoparticle delivery

For systemically delivered nanoparticles to reach target tissues, they must first circulate long enough to reach the target and extravasate there. A challenge is that the particles end up engaging with serum proteins and undergo immune cell recognition and premature clearance. The serum protein binding, also known as protein corona formation, is difficult to prevent, even with artificial protection via "stealth" coating. Protein corona may be problematic as it can interfere with the interaction of targeting ligands with tissue-specific receptors and abrogate the so-called active targeting process, hence, the efficiency of drug delivery. However, recent studies show that serum protein binding to circulating nanoparticles may be actively exploited to enhance their downstream delivery. This review summarizes known issues of protein corona and traditional strategies to control the corona, such as avoiding or overriding its formation, as well as emerging efforts to enhance drug delivery to target organs via nanoparticles. It concludes with a discussion of prevailing challenges in exploiting protein corona for nanoparticle development.

A Comparison between Silver Nanosquare Arrays and Silver Thin-Films as a Blood Cancer Prognosis Monitoring Electrode Design Using Optical and Electrochemical Characterization

The development of silver (Ag) thin films and the fabrication of Ag nanosquare arrays with the use of an anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template and leaf extracts were successfully carried out using the DC sputtering and spin coating deposition methods. Ag thin films and Ag nanosquare arrays are developed to monitor cancer prognosis due to the correlation between serum albumin levels and prognostic factors, as well as the binding of serum albumin to the surface of these electrodes. Nanosquare structures were fabricated using AAO templates with varying diameters and a gap distance between adjacent unit cells of 100 nm. The nanosquare array with a diameter of 250 nm and irradiated with electromagnetic waves with a wavelength of around 800 nm possessed the greatest electric field distribution compared to the other variations of diameters and wavelengths. The results of the absorption measurement and simulation showed a greater shift in absorption peak wavelength when carried out using the Ag nanosquare array. The absorption peak wavelengths of the Ag nanosquare array in normal blood and blood with cancer lymphocytes were 700-774 nm and 800-850 nm, respectively. The electrochemical test showed that the sensitivity values of the Ag thin-film electrode deposited using DC sputtering, the Ag thin-film electrode deposited using spin coating, and the Ag nanosquare array in detecting PBS+BSA concentration in the cyclic voltammetry (CV) experiment were 1.308 µA mM-1cm-2, 0.022 µA mM-1cm-2, and 39.917 µA mM-1cm-2, respectively. Meanwhile, the sensitivity values of the Ag thin film and the Ag nanosquare array in detecting the PBS+BSA concentration in the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement were 6593.76 Ohm·cm2/mM and 69,000 Ohm·cm2/mM, respectively. Thus, our analysis of the optical and electrochemical characteristics of Ag thin films and Ag nanosquare arrays showed that both can be used as an alternative biomedical technology to monitor the prognosis of blood cancer based on the concentration of serum albumin in blood.