Self-assembled nanostructures of phosphomolybdate, nucleobase and metal ions synthesis and their in vitro cytotoxicity studies on cancer cell lines

Nucleic Acid Materials-Mediated Innate Immune Activation for Cancer Immunotherapy

Abnormally localized nucleic acids (NAs) are considered as pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) in innate immunity. They are recognized by NAs-specific pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), leading to the activation of associated signaling pathways and subsequent production of type I interferons (IFNs) and pro-inflammatory cytokines, which further trigger the adaptive immunity. Notably, NAs-mediated innate immune activation is highly dependent on the conformation changes, especially the aggregation of PRRs. Evidence indicates that the characteristics of NAs including their length, concentration and even spatial structure play essential roles in inducing the aggregation of PRRs. Therefore, nucleic acid materials (NAMs) with high valency of NAs and high-order structures hold great potential for activating innate and adaptive immunity, making them promising candidates for cancer immunotherapy. In recent years, a variety of NAMs have been developed and have demonstrated significant efficacy in achieving satisfactory anti-tumor immunity in multiple mouse models, exhibiting huge potential for clinical application in cancer treatment. This review aims to discuss the mechanisms of NAMs-mediated innate immune response, and summarize their applications in cancer immunotherapy.

X-ray photoemission studies of the interaction of metals and metal ions with DNA

X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) has been used to study the interactions of heavy metal ions with DNA with some success. Surface sensitivity and selectivity of XPS are advantageous for identifying and characterizing the chemical and elemental structure of the DNA to metal interaction. This review summarizes the status of what amounts to a large part of the photoemission investigations of biomolecule interactions with metals and offers insight into the mechanism for heavy metal-bio interface interactions. Specifically, it is seen that metal interaction with DNA results in conformational changes in the DNA structure.