Association of Chlamydia trachomatis Infection With Breast Cancer Risk and the Modification Effect of IL-12.

BACKGROUND: Chlamydia trachomatis (C. trachomatis) infection has been implicated in various cancers, yet its association with breast cancer remains unexplored. This infection triggers a cascade of immune responses primarily regulated by Interleukins-12 (IL-12). Thus, the objective of this case-control study was to investigate the link between C. trachomatis infection and breast cancer risk, as well as the modification effect of IL-12. METHODS: We assessed IgG levels against C. trachomatis in serum of 1,121 women with breast cancer (861 with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) and 260 with estrogen receptor-negative (ER-) tumors) and 400 controls in Guangzhou, China. Logistic regression models were applied to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for breast cancer risk in association with C. trachomatis infection. The interaction between C. trachomatis infection and IL-12 on breast cancer risk was estimated by the product terms in the logistic regression models. RESULTS: Seropositivity of C. trachomatis IgG showed a slight association with an increased risk of breast cancer (OR = 1.20; 95% CI: 0.86∼1.78). This association was more pronounced among women with a higher (OR = 5.82; 95% CI: 1.31∼25.94) than a lower (OR = 0.73; 95% CI: 0.41∼1.30) level of IL-12, with a statistically significant interaction observed (Pinteraction = 0.013). In addition, C. trachomatis IgG seropositivity was related to an increased risk of breast cancer among PR+ patients (OR = 1.53; 95% CI: 1.04∼2.23). CONCLUSIONS: C. trachomatis infection may contribute to the development of hormone-responsive breast cancer in women with high levels of IL-12. Further studies are needed to uncover the underlying mechanisms.

H4K20me3, H3K4me2 and H3K9me2 mediate the effect of ER on prognosis in breast cancer.

Previous studies have indicated that histone methylations act as mediators in the relationship between oestrogen receptor (ER) and breast cancer prognosis, yet the mediating role has never been assessed. Therefore, we investigated seven histone methylations (H3K4me2, H3K4me3, H3K9me1, H3K9me2, H3K9me3, H3K27me3 and H4K20me3) to determine whether they mediate the prognostic impact of ER on breast cancer. Tissue microarrays were constructed from 1045 primary invasive breast tumours, and the expressions of histone methylations were examined by immunohistochemistry. Multifactorial logistic regression was used to analyse the associations between ER and histone methylations. Cox proportional hazard model was performed to assess the relationship between histone methylations and breast cancer prognosis. The mediation effects of histone methylations were evaluated by model-based causal mediation analysis. High expressions of H3K9me1, H3K9me2, H3K4me2, H3K27me3, H4K20me3 were associated with ER positivity, while high expression of H3K9me3 was associated ER negativity. Higher H3K9me2, H3K4me2 and H4K20me3 levels were associated with better prognosis. The association between ER and breast cancer prognosis was most strongly mediated by H4K20me3 (29.07% for OS; 22.42% for PFS), followed by H3K4me2 (11.5% for OS; 10.82% for PFS) and least by H3K9me2 (9.35% for OS; 7.34% for PFS). H4K20me3, H3K4me2 and H3K9me2 mediated the relationship between ER and breast cancer prognosis, which would help to further elucidate the impact of ER on breast cancer prognosis from an epigenetic perspective and provide new ideas for breast cancer treatment.

DFT insights into the hydrodenitrogenation mechanism of quinoline catalyzed by different Ni-promoted MoS2 edge sites: Effect of the active phase morphology.

Density functional theory calculations are performed to investigate the hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) mechanism of quinoline over different Ni-promoted MoS2 edges. Based on the calculations, the hydrogenation and ring-opening reaction pathways are explored systematically, and the structure-activity relationship of different active sites is discussed in detail. In the hydrogenation reaction process, the 100% Ni-promoted M-edge and 50% Ni-promoted S-edge are favorable for the formations of 5,6,7,8-tetrahydroquinoline and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline, respectively. Furthermore, the 100% Ni-promoted M-edge is more preferable for the generation of decahydroquinoline rather than the 50% Ni-promoted S-edge. In the denitrogenation reaction step, the 100% Ni-promoted M-edge is beneficial for the formation of ortho-propylaniline and 2-propylcyclohexylamine, while 50% Ni-promoted S-edge is only conducive to the formation of 2-propylcyclohexylamine. Therefore, it can be concluded that both hydrogenation derivatives and denitrogenation products exhibit strong dependence on the active phase morphology, meaning that multiple active sites can be involved in one catalytic HDN cycle.

Structural Screening and Design of Dendritic Micro-Mesoporous Composites for Efficient Hydrodesulfurization of Dibenzothiophene and 4,6-Dimethyldibenzothiophene.

Novel dendritic micro-mesoporous TS-1/dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticle (DMSN) composites (TD) were assembled by TS-1 nanocrystals with ultrasmall particle size and strong acidity. TS-1 seeds and DMSNs were composited via the Ti-O-Si chemical bond, which stimulate the generation of Brønsted (B) and Lewis (L) acids. The spillover d-electrons produced by the Ti element of TS-1 seeds produced a spillover of d-electrons, which could interact with the surface of MoS2 phases, thereby reducing Mo-S interactions and create sulfur vacancies that are favorable for dibenzothiophene (DBT) and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT) hydrodesulfurization (HDS) reactions. The increased amount of B&L acid of NiMo/TD-2.0 with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide/sodium salicylate molar ratio of 2.0 played an important role in facilitating the hydrogenation (HYD) route of DBT HDS and the isomerization (ISO) route of 4,6-DMDBT HDS, which is more favorable for the reduction of steric hindrance of DBT and 4,6-DMDBT reactants in the HDS reaction process. The NiMo/TD-2.0 catalyst exhibited the highest turnover frequency (TOF) value and HDS reaction rate constant (kHDS) of DBT and 4,6-DMDBT due to its ultrasmall particle size, uniform spherical dendritic morphology, strong B&L acidity, and good stacking degree.

The Influence of Pore Structure and Acidity on the Hydrodesulfurization of Dibenzothiophene over NiMo-Supported Catalysts.

A series of mesoporous materials of SBA-16 were in situ incorporated into ZSM-5 crystallites via a two-step self-assemble method, and hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalysts were prepared on the corresponding ZSM-5/SBA-16 (ZS) composites. The characterization results indicated that ZSM-5 nanoseeds were fabricated into the silica framework of the ZS composites, and the three-dimensional Im3m cubic structure of SBA-16 was retained simultaneously. In addition, the ZS series materials possessed open pores and large surfaces, which would facilitate the diffusion of reactants in the mesoporous channels. Moreover, the introduction of ZSM-5 seeds into composites could enhance the acidities of supports. As a result, the NiMo/ZS series catalysts exhibited high activities for DBT HDS processes. The NiMo/ZS-160 catalyst exhibited the highest catalytic efficiency (96.5%), which was apparently attributed to the synergistic contributions of the physicochemical properties of ZS supports and the dispersion states of active metals. Correspondingly, DBT HDS reactions over the NiMo/ZS series catalysts mainly proceeded via a hydrogenation desulfurization route that benefitted from the enhanced acidities especially the total Brønsted acid.

Ultrasmall Particle Sizes of Walnut-Like Mesoporous Silica Nanospheres with Unique Large Pores and Tunable Acidity for Hydrogenating Reaction.

The large particle sizes, inert frameworks, and small pore sizes of mesoporous silica nanoparticles greatly restrict their application in the acidic catalysis. The research reports a simple and versatile approach to synthesize walnut-like mesoporous silica nanospheres (WMSNs) with large tunable pores and small particle sizes by assembling with Beta seeds. The as-synthesized Beta-WMSNs composite materials possess ultrasmall particulate sizes (70 nm), large radial mesopores (≈30 nm), and excellent acidities (221.6 mmol g-1 ). Ni2 P active phase is supported on the surface of Beta-WMSNs composite materials, and it is found that the obtained composite spherical materials can reduce the Ni2 P particle sizes from 8.4 to 4.8 nm with the increasing amount of Beta seeds, which can provide high accessibilities of reactants to the active sites. Furthermore, the unique large pores and ultrasmall particle sizes of Beta-WMSNs samples facilitate the reduction of the diffusion resistance of reactants due to the short transporting length, thus the corresponding Ni2 P/Beta-WMSNs composite catalysts show the excellent hydrogenating activity compared to the pure Ni2 P/WMSNs catalyst.

Ni2P promotes the hydrogenation activity of naphthalene on wrinkled silica nanoparticles with tunable hierarchical pore sizes in a large range.

Herein, a series of wrinkled silica nanoparticles with hierarchical pore (HPWSNs) supports were successfully prepared by dual-templating, and the special wrinkle pore structures in the monodisperse HPWSN samples were found to be beneficial for reducing the diffusion resistance of macromolecular aromatic compounds and achieving high dispersion of Ni2P active phases. Moreover, the distance between wrinkles in silica nanoparticles could be easily tuned by changing the ratios of SDS/CTAB through charge-reversed interactions. It was found that the Ni2P/HPWSNs-0.13 catalyst with smallest Ni2P particles had highest surface area and biggest pore volume. Furthermore, the Ni2P/HPWSNs-0.13 catalyst exhibited highest naphthalene hydrogenation conversion as well as 99.9% selectivity to decalin at 320 °C. To correlate the internal relationship between the macroscopic catalytic performance in the experiment and the atomic chemistry in the microscopic point of view, DFT calculations were performed, and the results showed that stronger adsorptions of naphthalene and tetralin occurred over the Ni(2) sites than those over the Ni(1) sites. Therefore, it can be concluded that the superior catalytic activity of the Ni2P/HPWSNs-0.13 catalyst is due to the synergistic effect of the center-radical framework structure and the small sizes of Ni2P particles, which are conducive to exposing more Ni(2) sites on the support surface, thus inducing more H for the naphthalene hydrogenation reaction.

Synthesis of zirconium modified FDU-12 by different methods and its application in dibenzothiophene hydrodesulfurization.

Zirconium modified mesoporous materials were successfully synthesized by different methods including direct synthesis and post synthesis (grafting and impregnating). Meanwhile, the corresponding catalysts were prepared. A series of techniques, including small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and pyridine adsorption Fourier-transform infrared (Py-IR), were used to characterize the properties of supports and catalysts. The results of SASX and TEM characterization proved that all the modified materials retained the well-ordered mesoporous structure from the FDU-12 material. N2 adsorption-desorption results showed that the Zr-FDU-12 material obtained by direct synthesis (Zr-in-F) possessed higher specific surface area (709 m2 g-1), pore volume (0.65 cm3 g-1) and larger pore size (18.7 nm) than the Zr-FDU-12 materials obtained by the post synthesis. According to the characterization result of UV-Vis, Zr-in-F exhibited better dispersion of Zr species than materials obtained by the post synthesis. It was found that the incorporation of Zr species not only increased acidities but also enhanced the sulfidities of the Mo species. All the catalysts were evaluated for their activities in the hydrodesulfurization of dibenzothiophene, and the NiMo/Zr-in-F catalyst exhibited the best catalytic performance (97.3%), attributed to its higher specific surface area, larger pore size, higher sulfidity, and more acidic sites.