Immunohistochemical Expression of Five Protein Combinations Revealed as Prognostic Markers in Asian Oral Cancer.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has a high mortality rate (∼50%), and the 5-year overall survival rate is not optimal. Cyto- and histopathological examination of cancer tissues is the main strategy for diagnosis and treatment. In the present study, we aimed to uncover immunohistochemical (IHC) markers for prognosis in Asian OSCC. From the collected 742 synthetic lethal gene pairs (of various cancer types), we first filtered genes relevant to OSCC, performed 29 IHC stains at different cellular portions and combined these IHC stains into 398 distinct pairs. Next, we identified novel IHC prognostic markers in OSCC among Taiwanese population, from the single and paired IHC staining by univariate Cox regression analysis. Increased nuclear expression of RB1 [RB1(N)↑], CDH3(C)↑-STK17A(N)↑ and FLNA(C)↑-KRAS(C)↑were associated with survival, but not independent of tumor stage, where C and N denote cytoplasm and nucleus, respectively. Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analyses revealed that CSNK1E(C)↓-SHC1(N)↓ (P = 5.9 × 10-5; recommended for clinical use), BRCA1(N)↓-SHC1(N)↓ (P = 0.030), CSNK1E(C)↓-RB1(N)↑ (P = 0.045), [CSNK1E(C)-SHC1(N), FLNA(C)-KRAS(C)] (P = 0.000, rounded to three decimal places) and [BRCA1(N)-SHC1(N), FLNA(C)-KRAS(C)] (P = 0.020) were significant factors of poor prognosis, independent of lymph node metastasis, stage and alcohol consumption. An external dataset from The Cancer Genome Atlas HNSCC cohort confirmed that CDH3↑-STK17A↑ was a significant predictor of poor survival. Our approach identified prognostic markers with components involved in different pathways and revealed IHC marker pairs while neither single IHC was a marker, thus it improved the current state-of-the-art for identification of IHC markers.

Deep blue exciplex organic light-emitting diodes with enhanced efficiency; P-type or E-type triplet conversion to singlet excitons?

Simple trilayer, deep blue, fluorescent exciplex organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are reported. These OLEDs emit from an exciplex state formed between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of N,N'-bis(1-naphthyl)N,N'-diphenyl-1,1'-biphenyl-4,4'-diamine (NPB) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of 1,3,5-tri(1-phenyl-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)phenyl (TPBi) and the NPB singlet manifold, yielding 2.7% external quantum efficiency at 450 nm. It is shown that the majority of the delayed emission in electroluminescence arises from P-type triplet fusion at NPB sites not E-type reverse intersystem crossing because of the presence of the NPB triplet state acting as a deep trap.

Cationic bis-cyclometallated iridium(III) phenanthroline complexes with pendant fluorenyl substituents: synthesis, redox, photophysical properties and light-emitting cells.

We report the synthesis, characterisation, photophysical and electrochemical properties of a series of cationic cyclometallated Ir(III) complexes of general formula [Ir(ppy)(2)(phen)]PF(6) (ppy=2-phenylpyridine, phen=a substituted phenanthroline). A feature of these complexes is that the phen ligands are substituted with one or two 9,9-dihexylfluorenyl substituents to provide extended pi conjugation, for example, the 3-[2-(9,9-dihexylfluorenyl)]phenanthroline and 3,8-bis[2-(9,9-dihexylfluorenyl)]phenanthroline ligands afford complexes 6 and 9, respectively. A single-crystal X-ray diffraction study of a related complex 18 containing the 3,8-bis(4-iodophenyl)phenanthroline ligand, revealed an octahedral coordination of the Ir atom, in which the metallated C atoms of the ppy ligands occupy cis positions. The complexes 6 and 9 displayed reversible oxidation waves in cyclic voltammetric studies (E(ox)(1/2)=+1.18 and +1.20 V, respectively, versus Ag/Ag(+) in CH(2)Cl(2)) assigned to the metal-centred Ir(III)/Ir(IV) couple. The complexes exhibit strong absorption in the UV region in solution spectra, due to spin-allowed ligand-centred (LC) (1)pi-pi* transitions; moderately intense bands occur at approximately 360-390 nm which are red-shifted with increased ligand length. The photoluminescence spectra of all the complexes were characterised by a broad band at lambda(max) approximately 595 nm assigned to a combination of (3)MLCT and (3)pi-->pi* states. The long emission lifetimes (in the microsecond time-scale) are indicative of phosphorescence: the increased ligand conjugation length in complexes 9 and 17 leads to increased lifetimes for the complexes (tau=2.56 and 2.57 micros in MeCN, respectively) compared to monofluorenyl analogues 6 and 15 (tau=1.43 and 1.39 micros, respectively). DFT calculations of the geometries and electronic structures of complexes 6', 9' (for both singlet ground state (S(0)) and triplet first excited (T(1)) states) and 18 have been performed. In the singlet ground state (S(0)) HOMO orbitals in the complexes are spread between the Ir atom and benzene rings of the phenylpyridine ligand, whereas the LUMO is mainly located on the phenanthroline ligand. Analysis of orbital localisations for the first excited (T(1)) state have been performed and compared with spectroscopic data. Spin-coated light-emitting cells (LECs) have been fabricated with the device structures ITO/PEDOT:PSS/Ir complex/Al, or Ba capped with Al (ITO=indium tin oxide, PEDOT=poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), PSS=poly(styrene) sulfonate). A maximum brightness efficiency of 9 cd A(-1) has been attained at a bias of 9 V for 17 with a Ba/Al cathode. The devices operated in air with no reduction in efficiency after storage for one week in air.