Rapid magnetic isolation of extracellular vesicles via lipid-based nanoprobes.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) can mediate intercellular communication by transferring cargo proteins and nucleic acids between cells. The pathophysiological roles and clinical value of EVs are under intense investigation, yet most studies are limited by technical challenges in the isolation of nanoscale EVs (nEVs). Here, we report a lipid nanoprobe that enables spontaneous labelling and magnetic enrichment of nEVs in 15 minutes, with isolation efficiency and cargo composition similar to what can be achieved by the much slower and bulkier method of ultracentrifugation. We also show that the lipid nanoprobes, which allow for downstream analyses of nucleic acids and proteins, enabled the identification of EGFR and KRAS mutations following nEV isolation from blood plasma from non-small-cell lung-cancer patients. The efficiency and versatility of the lipid nanoprobe opens up opportunities in point-of-care cancer diagnostics.

Synthesis of novel galactose functionalized gold nanoparticles and its radiosensitizing mechanism.

BACKGROUND: Biocompatible gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are potentially practical and efficient agents in cancer radiotherapy applications. In this study, we demonstrated that GNPs can significantly modulate irradiation response of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro and investigated the underlying mechanisms. We co-grafted galactose (GAL) targeting hepatocyte specific asialoglycoprotein receptor and Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) onto GNPs surfaces to increase GNPs targeting specificity and stability. RESULTS: This novel GAL-PEG-GNPs and bare GNPs show similar appearance and cytotoxicity profiles, while more GAL-PEG-GNPs can be effectively uptaken and could enhance cancer cell killing. CONCLUSION: GAL-PEG-GNPs have better radiosensitization to HepG2. The sensitization mechanism of GAL-PEG-GNPs is related to the apoptotic gene process activated by generation of a large amount of free radicals induced by GNPs.

Increased miR-141 expression is associated with diagnosis and favorable prognosis of patients with bladder cancer.

The aims of this study are to analyze the association of microRNA-141 (miR-141) with the clinicopathological parameters of bladder cancer and evaluate the value of miR-141 in predicting the prognosis of bladder cancer. In this study, 114 patients with bladder cancer were enrolled in the study, and tissue specimens were obtained from the tumor zone and from adjacent normal area. miR-141 expression was determined using SYRB Green quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay and was further correlated with patients' clinicopathological parameters and the follow-up data. The results indicated that miR-141 was upregulated in malignant bladder specimens compared with normal ones (P < 0.001). miR-141 expression was significantly associated with tumor stage (P < 0.001), tumor grade (P < 0.001), and muscle invasion status (P < 0.001). Log-rank test showed that the higher miR-141 expression was associated with longer disease-specific survival of the patients with bladder cancer (P < 0.001), which was also proven by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis (P < 0.001 and P = 0.039, respectively). Focusing on patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, univariate analysis using log-rank test and Cox regression analysis found that patients with high miR-141 expression experienced longer disease-free survival (P = 0.031 and P = 0.040, respectively) and disease-specific survival (P = 0.028 and P = 0.038, respectively), which was confirmed by multivariate Cox regression analysis (P = 0.036 and P = 0.042, respectively). In conclusion, this study showed that miR-141 may contribute to the progression of bladder cancer and its upregulation may be independently associated with favorable prognosis of bladder cancer, suggesting that miR-141 might serve as a promising biological marker for further risk stratification in the management of bladder cancer.