Biological Procedures Online最新文献

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) frequently develops acquired resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), necessitating innovative strategies to remodel the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). This study engineered an inhalable pH-responsive nano-liposome co-delivering Astragaloside IV (AS-IV) and Polyphyllin VII (Pol VII) (AS-IV/Pol VII-Lipo) to overcome anti-PD-1 resistance via spatiotemporal-controlled dual-drug delivery. AS-IV/Pol VII-Lipo (1:1 mass ratio) exhibited optimal physicochemical properties: high drug loading and pH-triggered release. Nebulized inhalation achieved 3.4-fold higher lung accumulation than oral administration. Suppressed orthotopic LLC-Luc tumor growth by 54% and reduced exhausted CD8⁺ T cells while increasing cytotoxic CD8⁺Granzyme B⁺ T cells. Combination therapy further inhibited tumor metastasis and elevated survival. Transcriptomics (RNA-seq) identified suppression of IL-2/STAT5/BLIMP1 pathway and T-cell exhaustion genes. AS-IV/Pol VII-Lipo reprograms the immunosuppressive TME through three synergistic mechanisms: (1) enhanced lung-targeted drug delivery via inhalation; (2) reversal T-cell exhaustion through IL-2/STAT5/BLIMP1 pathway inhibition; (3) synergizing with αPD-1 therapy to overcome ICI resistance. This inhalable nanoplatform presents a promising clinical strategy for NSCLC patients with acquired immunotherapyresistance.

Introduction: Magnesium homeostasis is critical for cellular growth and metabolism, yet its pan-cancer implications remain poorly characterized. This study aims to comprehensively analyze magnesium homeostasis across 33 cancer types, exploring its role in tumorigenesis, immune regulation, and therapeutic potential. Key magnesium homeostasis-related genes (e.g., ANK3, CNNM2) were significantly downregulated in most tumors, correlating with improved prognosis. Magnesium homeostasis scores (MHS) were reduced in cancers and linked to lower tumor mutational burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), immune dysfunction, and checkpoint gene expression. Single-cell sequencing revealed elevated MHS in CD8 + T cells, suggesting immune modulation roles.

Conclusion: These findings highlight magnesium homeostasis as a regulator of tumor progression and immunity, with MHS serving as a prognostic biomarker. Targeting magnesium pathways may offer novel therapeutic strategies, warranting further clinical validation to advance personalized cancer therapies.

Introduction: Gastric cancer (GC) remains a formidable global health issue with limited therapeutic options. ShenXia KuanZhong Decoction (SXKZD), a classical traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula, is used to manage GC; however, its anti-tumor mechanisms remain poorly understood.

Material and methods: The anti-GC effects of SXKZD were investigated in a GC model using dose-weighted network pharmacology, molecular docking, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and pharmacokinetic profiling. Its impacts on tumor metabolism, immunity, and gut microbiota were assessed. A gut microbiota-substrate-metabolite (GM-S-M) network was constructed, and key targets and pathways were analyzed using computational and experimental methods.

Results: SXKZD treatment significantly alleviated tumor progression in GC models. Network analysis revealed upregulated TNF and IL6 expression in GC, which SXKZD reduced, alongside enrichment in IL-17 and TNF signaling pathways. Molecular docking and MD simulations confirmed stable binding of Ginsenoside Rh2 and 3-Indolepropionic acid to TNF, with binding energies of -147.63 kJ/mol and - 98.63 kJ/mol, respectively. Pharmacokinetic profiling showed 3-Indolepropionic acid's high bioavailability, while GM-S-M analysis identified key microbial taxa (e.g., Lactobacillus plantarum, Akkermansia muciniphila) modulated by SXKZD, enhancing anti-tumor immunity and metabolism.To further confirm these computational predictions, in vitro CCK-8 assays revealed that GRh2 and IPA inhibited AGS cell growth in a concentration-dependent manner, with IC₅₀ values of 68.74 ± 1.27 µg/mL and 780.60 ± 24.40 µg/mL at 24 hours, respectively. Western blot analysis demonstrated that GRh2 more effectively suppressed TNFα expression, whereas CETSA showed that IPA provided superior thermal stabilization of TNFα.

Conclusions: SXKZD mitigates GC by modulating gut microbiota and inhibiting TNF signaling, offering a mechanistic basis for its therapeutic potential in GC management.

Background: Understanding the role of causal genes of prostate cancer (PrCa) can reveal key biological pathways and identify potential targets for treatment.

Methods: We investigated associations between genetically predicted gene expression levels and PrCa risk using cis-eQTL summary-based Mendelian randomization (SMR) and colocalization analysis. Findings were replicated using two independent PrCa GWAS. We then intersected the identified genes with differentially expressed genes (DEGs) identified from TCGA-PRAD dataset to obtain key genes. Furthermore, enrichment, protein-molecule network, immune infiltration, and epigenetic analyses were conducted to explore their biological pathways. Lastly, phenome-wide association study (PheWAS), drug prediction, and molecular docking simulation analysis were utilized to identify potential drugs.

Results: We identified 15 genes in blood whose expression levels are putatively associated with PrCa, validated in at least one replication GWAS dataset. Using open-access mRNA-sequencing data, we found that ZNF217 and BNIP2 were key genes potentially important in PrCa pathogenesis. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis revealed that BNIP2 was predominantly expressed in a subset of endothelial cells, whereas ZNF217 was mainly enriched in epithelial cells. Downstream analysis revealed their involvement in epigenetic modulation-related pathways, while upstream analysis showed that upregulation of ZNF217 notably correlated with increased CpG methylation. Molecular docking simulation suggested doxorubicin, alsterpaullone, and camptothecin as potential drugs targeting these key genes.

Conclusions: These findings provide robust leads for understanding pathogenic mechanisms and developing therapeutic interventions for PrCa.

Background: The mouse fetal intrauterine wound healing model is crucial and commonly used for investigating mechanisms and evaluating potential therapies for scarless skin regeneration compared to fibrotic healing. However, traditional intrauterine surgery remains technically challenging and understudied, which is associated with high maternal mortality and pregnancy loss, prompting us to refine the surgical protocol. Here, we report how the choice of surgical and mating procedure impact outcomes obtained.

Methods: Pregnant mice underwent fetal surgery at embryonic days 15.5, 16.5 (E15.5, E16.5, scarless) and 18.5 (e18.5, fibrotic). Two surgical protocols were used: traditional method involved purse-string sutures, microsurgical scissors, amniotic fluid supplementation, and suture closure (Traditional); and our modified method omitting purse-string sutures, replacing scissors with needle puncture for uterine and fetal incisions, eliminating amniotic fluid supplementation, and employing skin staples for abdominal closure (Modified).

Results: The modified protocol significantly increased the likelihood of successful pregnancy, reduced operative time, decreased abortion rates, and enabled earlier modeling compared to the traditional method. At 48 h, 7 days, and 9 days post-surgery, E15.5 wounds healed scarlessly, displaying regenerated hair follicles and organized collagen. Conversely, E18.5 wounds formed typical fibrotic scars, characterized by dense, disorganized collagen without hair follicles.

Conclusion: The optimized surgical protocol presented here provides a simplified, reliable fetal mouse model with improved pregnancy success, reduced fetal loss, earlier implementation, and consistent phenotypic outcomes. This refined model enhances experimental efficiency, reproducibility, and animal welfare, having a major impact on mechanistic studies and therapeutic exploration for scarless skin regeneration.

Background: Western blot is one of the most routinely conducted biochemical assays due to its technical ease and relatively low cost. The use of antibody is at the center of Western blot assay, providing great sensitivity and specificity. However, challenges can be posed when using a rare antibody stock. There have been efforts to improve the Western blot procedure to minimize the use of antibody, but these methods require specialized devices.

Results: In this study, we hypothesized that the conventional large pool of antibody is not essential for detection and attempted applying only a small volume of antibody. We used sheet protector (SP), a common stationery material that protects office documents, to effectively distribute the antibody solution over the nitrocellulose (NC) membrane. This way, 20-150 µL antibody solution was sufficient for mini-sized membrane, which was adjustable depending on the size of the membrane. We confirmed that the sensitivity and specificity of this SP strategy was comparable to conventional (CV) method. The SP strategy brought a few additional advantages including: (1) antibody incubation without agitation (2), incubation at room temperature, and (3) faster detection on the order of minutes. Finally, we examined 15-min incubation SP protocol using time-series apoptosis samples.

Conclusions: We propose that SP strategy is a universally accessible approach using a common consumable, greatly enhancing the efficiency of antibody consumption and incubation time in Western blot assays.

Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling 3 (SOCS3) is a critical regulator of cytokine signaling, primarily acting through the Janus Kinase (JAK)/Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT) pathway. It plays a significant role in the development and progression of various malignancies. Abnormal expression of SOCS3 in cancer cells is linked to dysregulated cell growth, migration, and apoptosis, driven by cytokines and hormones. This aberrant expression makes SOCS3 a potential biomarker for tumor diagnosis, prognosis, and gene therapy. Targeting SOCS3 may offer innovative strategies for cancer treatment. This review provides a comprehensive overview of SOCS3's molecular structure, its biological functions in tumors, underlying molecular mechanisms, and therapeutic strategies targeting SOCS3.

Background: Organotypic long-term cultivation of vascularized retina explants is a major challenge for application in drug development, drug screening, diagnostics and future personalized medicine. With this background, an assay and protocol for organotypic culture of vascularized retina explants in vitro with optimum tissue integrity preservation is developed and demonstrated.

Methods: Morphological, histologic and biochemical integrity as well as viability of vascularized retina explants are compared as function of cultivation time for differently structured nanotube scaffolds. In doing so, porcine retina explants obtained from a local slaughterhouse are employed as paradigm for vascularized retina.

Conclusions: We demonstrate that titania nanotube arrays are highly promising as culturing scaffold of vascularized retina explants in vitro due to highly tunable surface properties regarding biomedical signaling. The unprecedented maintenance of tissue integrity allows for screening of pharmacological drugs and disease mechanisms in an ex-vivo test-based culture system with reduced need for animal experiments.

Background: The HumanMethylationEPIC v2.0 BeadChip (EPIC v2.0) microarray is a widely used tool for genome-wide DNA methylation (DNAm) analysis, designed for high-quality human DNA with a recommended input of 250 ng. However, in clinical and forensic settings, DNA samples may be of low quality and/or quantity (highly fragmented and/or available in low amounts). This study assessed the performance of the EPIC v2.0 on DNA samples with various combinations of average DNA fragment size (350, 230, 165, and 95 bp) and DNA input amount (100, 50, 20, and 10 ng), compared to a paired control sample analyzed under optimal conditions (high-quality DNA and 250 ng DNA input).

Results: The best performance was obtained for samples with average DNA fragment size of 350 bp and 100 ng DNA input (~ 90% probe detection rate, r = 0.995, and median absolute beta value differences|Δβ| = 0.012 when compared with the control sample). Samples with lower average DNA fragment sizes and DNA input amount performed worse, with the lowest probe detection rate (~ 43%), r = 0.946, and the highest|Δβ| (0.038). Samples with average DNA fragment sizes of 95 bp and those with 165 bp at 10 ng DNA input failed to pass sample quality control (QC). CpG sites with intermediate DNAm values (β = 0.1-0.9) showed higher|Δβ| than the extreme DNAm values (β = 0-0.1, and β = 0.9-1). Finally, we assessed an application of DNAm by performing epigenetic age analysis, and observed mean absolute errors (MAEs) below 10 years for 350 bp samples across four epigenetic clocks.

Conclusions: Both DNA fragment size and DNA input amounts affect DNAm analysis on the EPIC v2.0, with the investigated DNA fragment size having a greater impact than the investigated DNA input amount. DNAm measurements were achieved with the EPIC v2.0 microarray down to an average DNA fragment size of 165 bp and a 20 ng DNA input. Highly fragmented DNA (95 bp) did not result in usable DNAm analysis as all samples failed QC. Overall, our study demonstrates the potential and limitations of EPIC v2.0 microarray with low quality and quantity DNA samples.