TPPP3 promote epithelial-mesenchymal transition via Snail1 in glioblastoma.

Tubulin polymerization promoting protein 3 (TPPP3), a member of the tubulin polymerization family, participates in cell progressions in several human cancers, its biological function and the underlying mechanisms in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) remain unclear. Here, we investigated the role and application value of TPPP3 in gliomas and found that the expression of TPPP3 in glioma was higher than that in normal brain tissue (NBT), and increased with the grade of glioma. Up-regulation of TPPP3 expression in glioblastoma cells confer stronger ability of migration, invasion, proliferation and lower apoptosis in vitro. Inhibition of TPPP3 expression in GBM could reduce the migration, invasion, proliferation and induce the apoptosis of glioblastoma cells. TPPP3 affected the process of EMT by regulating the expression of Snail 1 protein. In clinical data analysis, we found a positive correlation between TPPP3 and Snail1 protein expression levels in glioblastomas. Low TPPP3 expression leads to better survival expectations in glioblastomas patients. The content of this study paves the way for further in-depth exploration of the role of TPPP3 in glioblastoma in the future, and provides new treatment and research directions.

Cancer SIGVAR: A semiautomated interpretation tool for germline variants of hereditary cancer-related genes.

Cancer is one of the most important health issues globally and the accuracy of interpretation of cancer-related variants is critical for the clinical management of hereditary cancer. ClinGen Sequence Variant Interpretation Working Groups have developed many adaptations of American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics and the Association of Molecular Pathologists guidelines to improve the consistency of interpretation. We combined the most recent adaptations to expand the number of the criteria from 28 to 48 and developed a tool called Cancer SIGVAR to help genetic counselors interpret the clinical significance of cancer germline variants. Our tool can accept VCF files as input and realize fully automated interpretation based on 21 criteria and semiautomated interpretation based on 48 criteria. We validated the performance of our tool with the ClinVar and CLINVITAE benchmark databases, achieving an average consistency for pathogenic and benign assessment up to 93.71% and 79.38%, respectively. We compared Cancer SIGVAR with two similar tools, InterVar and PathoMAN, and analyzed the main differences in criteria and implementation. Furthermore, we selected 911 variants from another two in-house benchmark databases, and semiautomated interpretation reached an average classification consistency of 98.35%. Our findings highlight the need to optimize automated interpretation tools based on constantly updated guidelines. Cancer SIGVAR is publicly available at http://cancersigvar.bgi.com/.

Novel, highly selective detection of Cr(III) in aqueous solution based on a gold nanoparticles colorimetric assay and its application for determining Cr(VI).

A simple, rapid, sensitive and field-portable colorimetric technique for the determination of Cr(III) in aqueous solution based on an aggregation-induced color transition of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) has been developed. AuNPs were first functionalized with a dithiocarbamate-modified N-benzyl-4-(pyridin-4-ylmethyl)aniline ligand (BP-DTC). Chelation of Cr(III) by several of these ligands, bound to different nanoparticles, led to nanoparticle aggregation in solution. This gave rise to a color change from wine-red to blue that was discernible by the naked eye and an easily measurable alteration in the extinction spectrum of the particles. The method could be used to determine Cr(III) with a detection limit of 31 ppb. Furthermore, selective detection of trace Cr(III) in aqueous solution in the presence of 12 other transition metal ions has been achieved. Toward the goal of practical applications, the sensor has been further evaluated with a view to monitoring Cr(III) in nutritional supplements and the blood of diabetes patients and also applied in the indirect determination of Cr(VI) in waste water.

N-Methyl-N-(2-methyl-phen-yl)acetamide.

In the title compound, C(10)H(13)NO, the N atom and the methyl group are almost coplanar with the benzene ring to which they are bonded [deviations of 0.131 (1) and 0.038 (1) Å, respectively, from the ring plane]. In the crystal structure, inter-molecular C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds form a three-dimensional network. Mol-ecules are stacked parallel to the b-axis direction.