Inhibitory effects of black phosphorus nanosheets on tumor cell proliferation through downregulation of ADIPOQ and downstream signaling pathways.

Exposure to environmental pollutants, including nanomaterials, has a significant impact on tumor progression. The increased demand for black phosphorus nanosheets (BPNSs), driven by their exceptional properties, raises concerns about potential environmental contamination. Assessing their toxicity on tumor growth is essential. Herein, we employed a range of biological techniques, including cytotoxicity measurement, bioinformatics tools, proteomics, target gene overexpression, Western blot analysis, and apoptosis detection, to investigate the toxicity of BPNSs across A549, HepG-2, MCF-7, and Caco-2 cell lines. Our results demonstrated that BPNSs downregulated the expression of ADIPOQ and its associated downstream pathways, such as AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), and other unidentified pathways. These downregulated pathways ultimately led to mitochondria-dependent apoptosis. Notably, the specific downstream pathways involved varied depending on the type of tumors. These insightful findings not only confirm the consistent inhibitory effects of BPNSs across different tumor cells, but also elucidate the cytotoxicity mechanisms of BPNSs in different tumors, providing valuable information for their safe application and health risk assessment.

Recent Advances in the Biological Responses to Nano-black Phosphorus: Understanding the Importance of Intrinsic Properties and Cell Types.

The production scalability and increasing demand for nano-black phosphorus materials (nano-BPs) inevitably lead to their environmental leakage, thereby raising the risk of human exposure through inhalation, ingestion, dermal, and even intravenous pathways. Consequently, a systematic evaluation of their potential impacts on human health is necessary. This Review outlines recent progress in the understanding of various biological responses to nano-BPs. Attention is particularly given to the inconsistent toxicological findings caused by a wide variation of nano-BPs' physicochemical properties, toxicological testing methods, and cell types examined in each study. Additionally, cellular uptake and intracellular trafficking, cell death modes, immunological effects, and other biologically relevant processes are discussed in detail, providing evidence for the potential health implications of nano-BPs. Finally, we address the remaining challenges related to the health risk evaluation of nano-BPs and propose a broader range of applications for these promising nanomaterials.

Transcriptome Analysis Reveals the Growth Promotion Mechanism of Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli Induced by Black Phosphorus Nanosheets.

With the extensive production and application of black phosphorus (BP) nanosheets, release to the environment is inevitable, which raises concerns about the fate and effects of this two-dimensional (2D) material on sensitive receptors such as environmental microbes. Although the bacterial toxicity of BP nanosheets has been demonstrated, whether the biological response differs in pathogenic and nonpathogenic strains of a microorganism is unknown. Here, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and nonpathogenic Escherichia coli DH5α (E. coli DH5α), Escherichia coli k12 (E. coli k12), and Bacillus tropicus (B. tropicus) are used to comparatively study the microbial toxicity of BP nanosheets. Upon exposure to BP nanosheets across a range of doses from 10 to 100 µg mL-1 for 12 h, EPEC experienced enhanced growth and E. coli DH5α and E. coli k12 were not affected, whereas B. tropicus exhibited clear toxicity. By combining transcriptome sequencing, proteome analysis, and other sensitive biological techniques, the mechanism of BP-induced growth promotion for EPEC was uncovered. Briefly, BP nanosheets activate the antioxidation system to resist oxidative stress, promote protein synthesis and secretion to attenuate membrane damage, enhance the energy supply, and activate growth-related pathways. None of these impacts were evident with nonpathogenic strains. By describing the mechanism of strain-dependent microbial effects, this study not only highlights the potential risks of BP nanosheets to the environment and to human health but also calls attention to the importance of model strain selection when evaluating the hazard and toxicity of emerging nanomaterials.

An analysis of the effects of human capital on green growth: effects and transmission channels.

In this digitalized world, economies have energetically encouraged green transformation. The empirical findings regarding the nexus between human capital and green growth are relatively inconclusive. The study originally explores the effect of human capital on the green growth of a digital economy like China from 1991 to 2019. To investigate the model empirically, we have applied the ARDL technique. Our results indicate that there is a positive impact of different levels of education on the green growth of China in the long run. Regression results also show that renewable energy consumption, internet use, and financial development lead to expansion in green growth in the long run. Our findings can strengthen the belief of the Chinese government on the advancement of green growth.

Biological Effects of Black Phosphorus Nanomaterials on Mammalian Cells and Animals.

The remarkable progress of applied black phosphorus nanomaterials (BPNMs) is attributed to BP's outstanding properties. Due to its potential for applications, environmental release and subsequent human exposure are virtually inevitable. Therefore, how BPNMs impact biological systems and human health needs to be considered. In this comprehensive Minireview, the most recent advancements in understanding the mechanisms and regulation factors of BPNMs' endogenous toxicity to mammalian systems are presented. These achievements lay the groundwork for an understanding of its biological effects, aimed towards establishing regulatory principles to minimize the adverse health impacts.

Expression and clinical significance of zinc-α2-glycoprotein 1 in osteosarcoma tissues / 中国肿瘤生物治疗杂志

@#[Abstract] Objective: To investigate the expression of zinc-α2-glycoprotein 1 (AZGP1) in osteosarcoma tissue and its relationship with clinicopathological features and prognosis of patients. Methods: A total of 62 pairs of cancer tissue and adjacent normal tissue samples from patients with osteosarcoma treated in the Department of Orthopedics, Second People's Hospital of Nanyang City were collected from August 2012 to August 2014. The expressions of AZGP1 in osteosarcoma tissues and adjacent tissues were detected by using immunohistochemical staining. All patients were followed up on the second day after the operation. The deadline was August 31, 2019. All patients were followed up for 5 years, with death as the end event. The number of end events within 5 years and overall survival (OS) time of the patients were recorded. Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis, and Cox proportional hazard model was used for multivariate analysis of factors affecting patients’ survival. Results: The positive expression rate of AZGP1 in the osteosarcoma tissues was significantly higher than that in the adjacent tissues (77.42% vs 32.26%, P<0.01). There were significant differences in the positive expression rates of AZGP1 in patients with different Eneeking stages, soft tissue infiltration or not and lung metastasis conditions (all P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the average OS time and 5-year OS rate of patients in the AZGP1 positive expression group were significantly lower than those in the negative expression group [(24.19±2.68) months vs (43.07±3.70) months, P<0.01; 18.75% vs 64.29%, P<0.01]. The lung metastasis and positive expression of AZGP1 were risk factors affecting the prognosis of patients with osteosarcoma (HR=3.407, 3.647, all P<0.05). Conclusion: AZGP1 is highly expressed in osteosarcoma tissues, and it is related to the malignant indicators and prognosis of patients. It may be a potential marker for evaluating the prognosis of osteosarcoma patients.