Role of tumor-derived exosomes mediated immune cell reprograming in cancer.

Tumor-derived exosomes (TDEs), as topologies of tumor cells, not only carry biological information from the mother, but also act as messengers for cellular communication. It has been demonstrated that TDEs play a key role in inducing an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). They can reprogram immune cells indirectly or directly by delivering inhibitory proteins, cytokines, RNA and other substances. They not only inhibit the maturation and function of dendritic cells (DCs) and natural killer (NK) cells, but also remodel M2 macrophages and inhibit T cell infiltration to promote immunosuppression and create a favorable ecological niche for tumor growth, invasion and metastasis. Based on the specificity of TDEs, targeting TDEs has become a new strategy to monitor tumor progression and enhance treatment efficacy. This paper reviews the intricate molecular mechanisms underlying the immunosuppressive effects induced by TDEs to establish a theoretical foundation for cancer therapy. Additionally, the challenges of TDEs as a novel approach to tumor treatment are discussed.

Coaxial dual-path electrochemical biosensing and logic strategy-based detection of lung cancer-derived exosomal PD-L1.

Exosomal programmed death ligand-1 (ExoPD-L1) is a vital marker of immune activation in the early stages of tumor therapy and it can inhibit anti-tumor immune responses. However, due to the low expression of ExoPD-L1 in cancer cells, it is difficult to perform highly sensitive assays and accurately differentiate cancer sources. Therefore, we constructed a coaxial dual-path electrochemical biosensor for highly accurate identification and detection of ExoPD-L1 from lung cancer based on chemical-biological coaxial nanomaterials and nucleic acid molecular signal amplification strategies. The measurements showed that the detected ExoPD-L1 concentrations ranged from 6 × 102 particles per mL to 6 × 108 particles per mL, and the detection limit was 310 particles per mL. Compared to other sensors, the electrochemical biosensor designed in this study has a lower detection limit and a wider detection range. Furthermore, we also successfully identified lung cancer-derived ExoPD-L1 by analyzing multiple protein biomarkers expressed on exosomes through the "AND" logic strategy. This sensor platform is expected to realize highly sensitive detection and accurate analysis of multiple sources of ExoPD-L1 and provide ideas for the clinical detection of ExoPD-L1.

Injectable Hydrogels Including Magnetic Nanosheets for Multidisciplinary Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma via Magnetic Hyperthermia.

Relapse and unresectability have become the main obstacle for further improving hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment effect. Currently, single therapy for HCC in clinical practice is limited by postoperative recurrence, intraoperative blood loss and poor patient outcomes. Multidisciplinary therapy has been recognized as the key to improving the long-term survival rate for HCC. However, the clinical application of HCC synthetic therapy is restricted by single functional biomaterials. In this study, a magnetic nanocomposite hydrogel (CG-IM) with iron oxide nanoparticle-loaded mica nanosheets (Iron oxide nanoparticles@Mica, IM) is reported. This biocompatible magnetic hydrogel integrated high injectability, magnetocaloric property, mechanical robustness, wet adhesion, and hemostasis, leading to efficient HCC multidisciplinary therapies including postoperative tumor margin treatment and percutaneous locoregional ablation. After minimally invasive hepatectomy of HCC, the CG-IM hydrogel can facilely seal the bleeding hepatic margin, followed by magnetic hyperthermia ablation to effectively prevent recurrence. In addition, CG-IM hydrogel can inhibit unresectable HCC by magnetic hyperthermia through the percutaneous intervention under ultrasound guidance.

Zuogui pill disrupt the malignant cycle in breast cancer bone metastasis through the Piezo1-Notch-1-GPX4 pathway and active molecules fishing.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer bone metastasis is closely associated with the bone microenvironment. Zuogui Pill (ZGP), a clinically approved formulation in China, effectively regulates the bone microenvironment for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. PURPOSE: Few reports have utilized the ZGP for bone metastasis models. This study investigated the intervention and bone-protective properties of ZGP against breast cancer bone metastasis, explored the potential mechanism, and screened for its active compositions by molecules fishing. METHODS: To investigate the intervention efficacy of ZGP and its protein-level mechanism of action, the mouse bone metastasis model and in vitro cell co-culture model were constructed. Affinity ultrafiltration, molecular docking, cellular thermal shift assay and physical scale detection were used to investigate the affinity components of the RANKL protein in ZGP. RESULTS: The administration of ZGP combined with zoledronic acid inhibited the development of tumors and secondary lung metastasis in mice. This translated to a prolonged survival period and enhanced quality of life. ZGP could disrupt the malignant cycle by modulating the Piezo1-Notch-1-GPX4 signaling pathway in the "bone-cancer" communication in the cell co-culture model. Furthermore, 25 chemical components of ZGP were identified, with 10 active compounds exhibiting significant affinity for the RANKL protein. CONCLUSION: The findings of this work highlighted ZGP's potential for intervening in the progression of breast cancer bone metastasis. Thus, this investigation served as an experimental foundation for expanding the application scope of ZGP and for advancing drug development efforts in bone metastasis treatment.

Intention patterns predicting college students' volunteer service participation.

Volunteer service activities of college students are crucial for universities to educate students on civic engagement. Education laws and scientific methods must be employed to enhance college students' willingness to volunteer and actively participate in volunteer service activities. Based on literature collection and collation, this study takes the theory of planned behaviour as the basic framework, includes the dimension of "cognition," designs the questionnaire, and discusses the relationship among the relevant factors that affect the volunteer service behaviour of college students. Cognition, defined as understanding volunteerism's personal and social benefits, positively predicted attitudes, norms, and control, but not directly behaviour. A sample survey of Chinese college students and a correlation analysis of effective questionnaires demonstrate that college students' volunteer service attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behaviour control positively impact volunteer service behaviour intention, which can predict volunteer service behaviour. College students' cognition of volunteer service significantly and positively impacts their attitude toward it, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control but does not directly impact their volunteer service behaviour. Thus, the following aspects must be improved: guiding attitude, creating atmosphere, improving mechanisms, innovating projects, strengthening cognition, and implementing practical education. The findings of this study can help colleges and universities to clarify the impact mechanism of college students' volunteer service cognition on their volunteer service behaviour. It contributes new evidence on optimising the student environment to engage youth in building community well.

Effect of altitude training on the aerobic capacity of athletes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: With a growing number of athletes and coaches adopting altitude training, the importance for rationalizing and optimizing such training has been emphasized. We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the influence of altitude training on athletes' aerobic capacity and to explore the best altitude training method to improve this capacity. Methods: We searched Web of Science, SpringerLink, Science Direct, EBSCO, and PubMed databases combined with manual search of the references to collect studies indexed from 1979 to September 2020 on the effect of altitude training on athletes' aerobic capacity. Data from experimental studies that reported hemoglobin levels and maximum oxygen uptake in athletes before and after altitude training, or in athletes performing altitude training in comparison with a control group were analyzed. Data of the populations, intervention, comparison, outcomes and study design were extracted. Review Manager software 5.3 was used for bias evaluation. Results: 17 publications were included. In our meta-analysis, altitude training led to higher maximum oxygen uptake [standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.67, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.35-1.00, P < 0.001] and hemoglobin level (SMD = 0.50, 95% CI 0.11-0.90, P = 0.013) than training at lower altitude. The result of sensitivity analysis showed that results of meta-analysis were relatively stable, and there was no bias or change in the result of effect size according to the bias test. The results of subgroup analysis showed that high-altitude living and low-altitude training ("Hi-Lo" regime), with a training cycle of about three weeks at an altitude around 2500 m, had better effects than other regimes on the athletes' aerobic capacity. Conclusions: Altitude training can improve athletes' aerobic capacity in terms of maximum oxygen uptake and hemoglobin level. Our results are limited by the number and quality of available studies. Therefore, more high-quality studies are needed to verify and extend these findings. Our study can provide scientific suggestions for the training of athletes.

Conjugated cross-linked phosphine as broadband light or sunlight-driven photocatalyst for large-scale atom transfer radical polymerization.

The use of light to regulate photocatalyzed reversible deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP) under mild conditions, especially driven by broadband light or sunlight directly, is highly desired. But the development of a suitable photocatalyzed polymerization system for large-scale production of polymers, especially block copolymers, has remained a big challenge. Herein, we report the development of a phosphine-based conjugated hypercrosslinked polymer (PPh3-CHCP) photocatalyst for an efficient large-scale photoinduced copper-catalyzed atom transfer radical polymerization (Cu-ATRP). Monomers including acrylates and methyl acrylates can achieve near-quantitative conversions under a wide range (450-940 nm) of radiations or sunlight directly. The photocatalyst could be easily recycled and reused. The sunlight-driven Cu-ATRP allowed the synthesis of homopolymers at 200 mL from various monomers, and monomer conversions approached 99% in clouds intermittency with good control over polydispersity. In addition, block copolymers at 400 mL scale can also be obtained, which demonstrates its great potential for industrial applications.

Self-assembly of DNA-hyperbranched aggregates catalyzed by a dual-targets recognition probe for miRNAs SERS detection in single cells.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are very important for the early diagnosis and prognosis of tumors. In this work, we achieved the simultaneous detection of microRNA-155 (miR-155) and microRNA-21 (miR-21) with a dual target recognition probe (DRP) based on the nonlinear hybridization chain reaction (HCR). The multi-branched DNA products, three-dimensional multi-hotspot DNA dendrimers (3DmhD) were used in the amplification of the target miRNAs signal. The DRP is constructed with a core of gold nanocages (AuNCs), modified by nucleic acid probes and labeled with Raman signaling molecules ROX and Cy3. Experiments demonstrated that DRP could activate the multi-branched DNA reaction and generate 3DmhD in the presence of miR-155 and miR-21, which can achieve effective amplification of miR-21 and miR-155. When Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) analysis was performed on 3DmhD, the multi-hot spot effect of 3DmhD significantly enhanced the signals of ROX and Cy3, allowing ultra-sensitive detection of miR-21 and miR-155 in vitro. To our delight, DRP also exhibited sensitive specificity and significant signal amplification for intracellular miRNAs. These results revealed that DRP has the potential to screen tumor cells by analyzing the expression levels of intracellular miRNAs.

Heterogeneously integrated III-V-on-lithium niobate broadband light sources and photodetectors.

Heterogeneous integration of III-V active devices on lithium niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) photonic circuits enable fully integrated transceivers. Here we present the co-integration of InP-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and photodetectors on an LNOI photonics platform. Both devices are realized based on the same III-V epitaxial layers stack adhesively bonded on an LNOI waveguide circuit. The light is evanescently coupled between the LNOI and III-V waveguide via a multiple-section adiabatic taper. The waveguide-coupled LEDs have a 3-dB bandwidth of 40 nm. The photodetector features a responsivity of 0.38 A/W in the 1550-nm wavelength range and a dark current of 9 nA at -0.5 V at room temperature.

Satisfaction Levels of Young Urban Residents With Public Sports Services in China During the COVID-19 Epidemic.

The extensive changes in public and private life caused by the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic in China have created a "new normal." To understand urban residents' satisfaction with public sports services under these conditions and to identify factors that influence satisfaction, urban residents in several major Chinese cities were randomly sampled with an online questionnaire to measure their level of satisfaction with public sports services in China during the COVID-19 epidemic. With the response rate of 87.9%, 703 valid questionnaires out of 800 questionnaires distributed were analyzed. A structural equation model was constructed where health literacy and the residents' expectations were independent variables, residents' participation was a mediating variable, and residents' satisfaction was the dependent variable. Cronbach's α test and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test confirmed that the questionnaire was reliable and valid. Survey results suggest that young urban residents' participation in public sports services is influenced by personal health literacy and residents' expectations. Participation serves a mediating role between health literacy and residents' satisfaction, but not between residents' expectations and their satisfaction. Young urban residents' satisfaction with public sports services may be improved by increasing access to health information, improving hardware and software platforms to support those services, and catering the services to the interests of the population.

The Impact of Perceptions of Positive COVID-19 Information on Travel Motivation and Intention: Evidence From Chinese University Students.

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the tourism industry in various ways, including tourists' travel motivations and intentions. Unlike previous studies that have focused on the dark side of the pandemic, this study adds the dimension of perceptions of positive information on COVID-19 to the Theory of Planned Behavior to explore their influence on travel motivation and intention. A total of 470 valid questionnaires were collected from a sample of Chinese university students. The results showed that the students' perceptions of positive COVID-19 information positively impacted their travel intentions through the variables of perceived behavioral control, travel attitudes, and travel motivations. Perceived behavioral control was the mediating variable that most explained the impact of perceptions of positive COVID-19 information on travel motivation and intention. This study contributes to the understanding of the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism and of university students' travel motivations and intentions. It also offers implications for the tourism industry to formulate relevant recovery strategies during and after the pandemic.

Effects of salt stress on the freeze-drying survival rate of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LIP-1.

In this study, we examined the effects of different salt stress application methods on the Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LIP-1 freeze-drying survival rate. The application of salt stress during the stationary phase significantly improved Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LIP-1 freeze-drying survival rates (P < 0.05). The indirect application of salt stress via phosphate-buffered saline containing 0.4 mol/L NaCl (NB group) led to significantly higher freeze-drying survival rates compared to when salt stress was directly applied (NA group: the concentration of NaCl is 0.4 mol/L) (P < 0.05). Following exposure to salt stress, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LIP-1 cells exuded excessive Na+ out of the cell and transported extracellular K+ into the cell, resulting in upregulation of the trkA gene, which is related to K+ transport, thereby significantly upregulating the expression of a lysR-type transcription factor, which increased the cell membrane unsaturated fatty acid content, reducing the degree of cell membrane damage and improving the freeze-drying survival rate. When the concentration of NaCl is 0.4 mol/L, compared with direct salt stress application, indirect application led to higher intracellular pH and ATP content, which effectively reduced DNA and cell membrane damage, respectively. Together, these results demonstrate that appropriate indirect salt stress application can improve Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LIP-1 freeze-drying resistance.

Combination of microfluidic chips and biosensing for the enrichment of circulating tumor cells.

It has been reported that more than 90% of cancer patients are died from cancer metastasis. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) could detach from solid tumors to form new lesions via blood transport and play an important role in cancer metastasis and progression. As part of the liquid biopsy, the investigation and analysis toward CTCs are of great importance for prognosis assessment and tumor precision medical treatment. Unfortunately, the enrichment of circulating tumor cells has been a huge challenge due to the fact that CTCs are very rare and vulnerable. Thus, a number of effective strategies have been developed for the enrichment of CTCs. This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of label-free and label-based methods commonly used in the isolation of CTCs. In particular, we systematically review the most recent advances in the combination of microfluidic chips and biosensing for the enrichment of circulating tumor cells. Finally, we put forward the current barriers that need to be overcome and developmental trends in the CTCs research.

Immune Effect of Active Components of Traditional Chinese Medicine on Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancers are heterogeneous, poorly prognostic, and metastatic malignancies that result in a high risk of death for patients. Targeted therapy for triple-negative breast cancer has been extremely challenging due to the lack of expression of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. Clinical treatment regimens for triple-negative breast cancer are often based on paclitaxel and platinum drugs, but drug resistance and side effects from the drugs frequently lead to treatment failure, thus requiring the development of new therapeutic platforms. In recent years, research on traditional Chinese medicine in modulating the immune function of the body has shown that it has the potential to be an effective treatment option against triple-negative breast cancer. Active components of herbal medicines such as alkaloids, flavonoids, polyphenols, saponins, and polysaccharides have been shown to inhibit cancer cell proliferation and metastasis by activating inflammatory immune responses and can modulate tumor-related signaling pathways to further inhibit the invasion of triple-negative breast cancer. This paper reviews the immunomodulatory mechanisms of different herbal active ingredients against triple-negative breast cancer and provides an outlook on the challenges and directions of development for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer with herbal active ingredients.

Ultrasensitive Dual-Signal Detection of Telomerase and MiR-21 Based on Boolean Logic Operations.

Telomerase and micro-RNAs (miRNAs) are simultaneously upregulated in a variety of tumor cells and have emerged as promising tumor markers. However, sensitive detection of telomerase and miRNAs in situ remains a great challenge due to their low expression levels. Here, we designed a Boolean logic "AND" signal amplification strategy based on functionalized ordered mesoporous nanoparticles (FOMNs) to achieve ultrasensitive detection of telomerase and miR-21 in living tumor cells. Briefly, the strategy uses telomerase as an input to enable the release of DNA3-ROX-BHQ hairpins by making the wrapping DNA1 form a DNA-a hairpin with the joint participation of dNTPs. Subsequently, DNA2-Ag, DNA3-ROX-BHQ, and the second input miR-21 participated in hybridization chain reaction to amplify fluorescence and Raman signals. Experimental results showed the intensity of output dual signals relevant to the expression levels of telomerase and miR-21. The Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) not only enhanced the fluorescence signals but also allowed to obtain more sensitive Raman signals. Therefore, even if expression of tumor markers is at a low level, the FOMN-based dual-signal logic operation strategy can still achieve sensitive detection of telomerase and miR-21 in situ. Furthermore, FOMNs can detect miR-21 expression levels in a short time. Consequently, this strategy has a potential clinical application value in detection of tumor markers and the assessment of tumor treatment efficacy.

Effects of different initial pH values on freeze-drying resistance of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LIP-1 based on transcriptomics and proteomics.

The growth and the resistance to adverse environments of lactic acid bacteria would be affected by adjusting the initial pH of the medium. In order to explore the effect of changing the initial pH of culture medium on the freeze-drying survival rate of the Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LIP-1, the effect of initial pH on cell membrane fatty acid composition and key enzyme activity were mainly determined, and the internal mechanism was studied by transcriptomics and proteomics methods. We found that compared with initial pH 7.4 group, initial pH 6.8 group could improve the freeze-drying survival rate of the L. plantarum LIP-1. It was possibly due to the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was upregulated in the initial pH6.8 group, which led to a rapid decrease in culture pH. To reduce the inhibitory effect of long-term acid environment on growth, the strain upregulated the expression of fatty acid synthesis-related genes and proteins, promoted the relative content of cyclopropane and unsaturated fatty acids, improved integrity of the cell membranes. The adjustment of fatty acid composition maintained the integrity of the cell membrane in a freeze-drying environment to improve the freeze-drying survival rate of the initial pH6.8 group. In addition, the long-term acid environment stimulated a cross-stress tolerance mechanism that significantly upregulated the expression of a cold stress protein. The results indicated that the optimal initial pH of the medium could improve the ability of L. plantarum LIP-1 to resist freeze-drying.

Immunotherapy Summary for Cytokine Storm in COVID-19.

COVID-19 pneumonia caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has ravaged the world, resulting in an alarming number of infections and deaths, and the number continues to increase. The pathogenesis caused by the novel coronavirus was found to be a disruption of the pro-inflammatory/anti-inflammatory response. Due to the lack of effective treatments, different strategies and treatment methods are still being researched, with the use of vaccines to make the body immune becoming the most effective means of prevention. Antiviral drugs and respiratory support are often used clinically as needed, but are not yet sufficient to alleviate the cytokine storm (CS) and systemic inflammatory response syndrome. How to neutralize the cytokine storm and inhibit excessive immune cell activation becomes the key to treating neocoronavirus pneumonia. Immunotherapy through the application of hormones and monoclonal antibodies can alleviate the immune imbalance, but the clinical effectiveness and side effects remain controversial. This article reviews the pathogenesis of neocoronavirus pneumonia and discusses the immunomodulatory therapies currently applied to COVID-19. We aim to give some conceptual thought to the prevention and immunotherapy of neocoronavirus pneumonia.

PD-1/PD-L1 Checkpoint Inhibitors in Tumor Immunotherapy.

Programmed death protein 1 (PD1) is a common immunosuppressive member on the surface of T cells and plays an imperative part in downregulating the immune system and advancing self-tolerance. Its ligand programmed cell death ligand 1 (PDL1) is overexpressed on the surface of malignant tumor cells, where it binds to PD1, inhibits the proliferation of PD1-positive cells, and participates in the immune evasion of tumors leading to treatment failure. The PD1/PDL1-based pathway is of great value in immunotherapy of cancer and has become an important immune checkpoint in recent years, so understanding the mechanism of PD1/PDL1 action is of great significance for combined immunotherapy and patient prognosis. The inhibitors of PD1/PDL1 have shown clinical efficacy in many tumors, for example, blockade of PD1 or PDL1 with specific antibodies enhances T cell responses and mediates antitumor activity. However, some patients are prone to develop drug resistance, resulting in poor treatment outcomes, which is rooted in the insensitivity of patients to targeted inhibitors. In this paper, we reviewed the mechanism and application of PD1/PDL1 checkpoint inhibitors in tumor immunotherapy. We hope that in the future, promising combination therapy regimens can be developed to allow immunotherapeutic tools to play an important role in tumor treatment. We also discuss the safety issues of immunotherapy and further reflect on the effectiveness of the treatment and the side effects it brings.

Effect of exercise intervention on primary insomnia: a meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Exercise can have a positive effect on body functioning and immunity. This study systematically evaluated the effect of exercise intervention on patients diagnosed with primary insomnia. Based on the meta-analysis, we developed exercise recommendations to help improving sleep quality in these patients. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Using a combination of manual and electronic retrieval strategies, we examined the CNKI, VIP, Wanfang, Web of Science, SpringerLink, EBSCO, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase databases; and identified randomized controlled trials that addressed the effects of exercise intervention on primary insomnia and were published before October 2019. Risk of bias was assessed based on the Cochrane Handbook 5.1.0, and meta-analysis was conducted using STATA 13.0 (StataCorp LLC; College Station, TX, USA). EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Data were included for 1269 patients who received exercise interventions and 1203 patients who received drug therapy or no intervention (controls) in 23 trials of high quality. Meta-analysis showed that exercise intervention had a significant effect on the treatment of primary insomnia (SMD: -1.64, 95% CI: -2.08 to -1.19, P<0.001). Subgroup analysis showed significant effect sizes for older patients (>60 years) (SMD: -1.69, 95% CI: -2.40 to -0.97, P<0.001), aerobic exercise (SMD: -2.21, 95% CI: -2.89 to -1.53, P<0.001), interventions lasting 8-12 weeks (SMD: -2.58, 95% CI: -3.61 to -1.54, P<0.001), interventions lasting ≤60 min (SMD: -2.29, 95% CI: -3.66 to -0.92, P=0.001), Asian patients (SMD: -1.86, 95% CI: -2.42 to -1.31, P<0.001), and interventions ≤4 times/week (SMD: -1.70, 95% CI: -2.29 to -1.11, P<0.001). Both bias and sensitivity analyses suggested that our meta-analysis gave robust results. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that exercise intervention has a significant positive influence on primary insomnia, especially for older patients. We recommend that an exercise regimen of 60 min 4-5 times a week for 8-12 weeks can improve sleep quality and treat the symptoms of primary insomnia. Future studies should focus on verifying and extending our results by increasing sample size and improving the quality of studies included.

miR-222 regulates cell growth, apoptosis, and autophagy of interstitial cells of Cajal isolated from slow transit constipation rats by targeting c-kit.

BACKGROUND: Excessive autophagy and apoptosis of the interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) have been identified in gastrointestinal (GI) motility disorders including slow transit constipation (STC). MicroRNA 222 (miR-222) has been shown to affect GI motility. This study aimed to explore whether miR-222 influences apoptosis and excessive autophagy of isolated ICC. METHODS: miR-222, c-kit, and stem cell factor (SCF) were evaluated in colon tissues in STC rats compared with normal control by qRT-PCR and western blot analysis. The condition of autophagy of colon tissue was observed by transmission electron microscope. ICC were isolated from the colon of STC rats. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and wound healing assay were carried out to examine the cell viability and migration rate. Cell apoptosis was detected by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) and Annexin V-Flourescein Isothiocyanate/Propidine Iodide (FITC/PI) apoptosis detection kit. Western blot analysis was performed to detect the c-kit and SCF expression; apoptosis-related proteins Bcl-2, Bax, caspase-3, and pro-caspase-3; and autophagy-related proteins LC3B and Beclin-1. The connection between miR-222 and c-kit was detected by bioinformatics and luciferase activity analysis. RESULTS: miR-222 expression was significantly higher, whereas c-kit and SCF expressions were markedly lower in STC rats' colon tissue compared with normal control. Meanwhile, STC rats exhibited excessive autophagy in colon tissue than normal control. Inhibition of miR-222 expression promoted cell proliferation as well as migration and inhibited autophagy, whereas upregulation of miR-222 had the opposite effect. In addition, miR-222 upregulation induced apoptosis and excessive autophagy compared with normal controls (NC). Western blot analysis showed that miR-222 overexpression caused decreased c-kit and SCF protein levels compared with NC. Bioinformatics and luciferase activity analysis revealed that miR-222 could be a predictive regulator of c-kit. CONCLUSION: miR-222 induces apoptosis and excessive autophagy of ICC and may serve as potential biomarker for ICC loss in STC.