Fluorescent TPE Macrocycle Relayed Light-Harvesting System for Bright Customized-Color Circularly Polarized Luminescence.

Artificial systems for sequential chirality transmission/amplification and energy relay are perpetual topics that entail learning from nature. However, engineering chiral light-harvesting supramolecular systems remains a challenge. Here, we developed new chiral light-harvesting systems with a sequential Förster resonance energy transfer process where a designed blue-violet-emitting BINOL (1,1'-Bi-2-naphthol) compound, BINOL-di-octadecylamide (BDA), functions as an initiator of chirality and light absorbance, a new green-emitting hexagonal tetraphenylethene-based macrocycle (TPEM) with aggregation-induced emission serves as a conveyor, and Nile red (NiR) or/and a near-infrared dye, tetraphenylethene (TPE)-based benzoselenodiazole (TPESe), are the terminal acceptors. Benefiting from the close contact and large optical overlap between donors and acceptors at each level, triad and tetrad relaying systems sequentially and efficiently furnish chirality transmission/amplification and energy transfer along the cascaded line BDA-TPEM-NiR (or/and TPESe), leading to bright customized-color circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) and bright white-light-emitting CPL (CIE coordinates: 0.33, 0.34) with an amplified dissymmetry factor (glum) of 3.5 × 10-2 over a wide wavelength range. This work provides a new direction for the construction of chiral light-harvesting systems for a broad range of applications in chiroptical physics and chemistry.

Tie-1: A potential target for anti-angiogenesis therapy.

The tyrosine kinase system angiopoietin (Ang)/Tie interacts with vascular endothelial growth factor pathway and regulates vessel quiescence in adults as well as later steps of the angiogenic cascade related to vessel maturation. Since all Angs are able to bind to Tie-2 but none binds to Tie-1, the function of Tie-2 and its ligands have captured attention. However, emerging evidence indicates unique roles of the orphan receptor Tie-1 in angiogenesis under physiological and pathological conditions. It is required for maintaining vascular endothelial cell integrity and survival during murine embryo development and in adult and may be involved in modulating differentiation of hematopoietic cells in adult. Tie-1 exhibits poor tyrosine kinase activity and signals via forming heterodimers with Tie-2, inhibiting Tie-2 signaling mediated by Angs. This inhibition can be relieved by Tie-1 ectodomain cleavage mediated by tumor- and inflammatory-related factors, which causes destabilization of vessels and initiates vessel remodeling. Up-regulated Tie-1 expression has been found not only in some leukemia cells and tumor related endothelial cells but also in cytoplasm of carcinoma cells of a variety of human solid tumors, which is associated with tumor progression. In addition, it has pro-inflammatory functions in endothelial cells and is involved in some inflammatory diseases associated with angiogenesis. Recent research indicated that Tie-1 gene ablation exhibited significant effects on tumor blood- and lymph-angiogenesis and improved anti-Ang therapy, suggesting Tie-1 may be a potential target for tumor anti-angiogenesis treatment.

Expressions of SE-1, CD31 and CD105 in the vascular endothelial cells and serum of rat with hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the deadliest cancers worldwide. In order to investigate the molecular biologic mechanism of HCC's development, we studied the expressions of SE-1, CD105 and CD31 in tumor endothelial cells (TECs) of HCC and in the serum of rats. METHODS: We analyzed the expressions of SE-1, CD31 and CD105 in rat HCC tumor tissues using immunohistochemistry (IHC). Twenty HCC bearing rats and eighteen normal rats were examined for the expressions of SE-1, CD31 and CD105 antigens in serum by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: SE-1, CD31 and CD105 antigens were detected both in HCC tissue and in normal liver tissue with higher expressions of CD31 and CD105 in HCC while the SE-1 antigen expression was higher in normal liver. Similarly, serum CD31 and CD105 in rats with HCC were significantly increased compared with normal rats (t = 2.8628, P = 0.0086; t = 4.4922, P < 0.0001, respectively). In contrast, SE-1 antigen in HCC rat serum was significantly decreased compared with normal rats (t = 3.4983, P = 0.0011). CONCLUSION: SE-1, CD31 and CD105 are closely related with liver tumor angiogenesis, which is similar to their performances in terms of their expressions in the serum.

The functional polymorphisms on promoter region of matrix metalloproteinase-12, -13 genes may alter the risk of epithelial ovarian carcinoma in Chinese.

BACKGROUNDS AND AIMS: Growing evidences indicate that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) gene promoter may alter MMPs protein expression levels to influence malignant tumors developing and progressing. Our study was to assess the effects of the SNPs in the promoter region of MMP-12 and MMP-13 on the risk of epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC) developing and progressing. METHODS: MMP-12 A-82G and MMP-13 A-77G SNPs were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism in 256 EOC patients and 329 controls. RESULTS: The A/G genotype frequency of MMP-12 was significantly higher in patients than in controls (7.0% vs 3.3%, P = 0.04); similarly, the frequency of MMP-12 82G allele was higher in patients too (P = 0.04). Compared with A/A genotype, A/G genotype significantly increased the risk of EOC (odds ratio, 2.19; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-4.72). Age-stratified analysis showed that individuals with A/G genotype had a higher risk in the final diagnosis aged younger than 50 years. We observed no overall association between MMP-13-77A/G polymorphism and EOC. However, an elevated positive association was observed for A/A versus G/G + A/G genotypes in mucinous ovarian cancer. Combining the analyzed 2 SNPs, the haplotype distributions in patients were not significantly different from that in controls. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that the G allele of the MMP-12 82A/G polymorphism might be a risk factor for the development and progression of EOC and that the A/A genotype of MMP-13-77A/G polymorphism was associated with special pathological subtype and clinical stage in EOC at least in Chinese women.

[Study on the association of SNPs of MMP-2 and TIMP-2 genes with the risk of endometriosis and adenomyosis].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2) with the risk of endometriosis and adenomyosis. METHODS: Genotypes of MMP-2 and TIMP-2 were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method among 298 endometriosis patients, 180 adenomyosis patients and 324 matched control women. RESULTS: No significant difference was found in allele frequencies and genotype distributions of MMP-2 -1306C/T polymorphism between endometriosis patients and control women (P> 0.05). However, there were significant differences in genotype and allele distributions of MMP-2 -1306C/T polymorphism between adenomyosis patients and control women (P< 0.05). Compared with CT+TT genotypes, CC genotype significantly increases the risk of adenomyosis, with an odds ratio of 1.83 (95% CI was 1.13-2.96). No significant difference was shown in allele frequencies and genotype distributions of the MMP-2 -735C/T polymorphism among the three groups (P>0.05). MMP-2 -1306C/T and -735C/T polymorphisms displayed linkage disequilibrium (D'=0.74). There was no significant difference in haplotype distributions of the two MMP-2 SNPs among the three groups ( P> 0.05). No significant difference was found in allele frequencies of TIMP-2 -418G/C polymorphism among the three groups (P> 0.05). However, the frequency of TIMP-2 CC genotype in endometriosis patients (0.7%) was significantly lower than that in the control women (3.7%) (P< 0.05). CONCLUSION: The C allele of MMP-2 -1306C/T polymorphism did not modify the risk of developing endometriosis but significantly increase the risk of developing adenomyosis. The MMP-2 -735C/T and TIMP-2 -418G/C polymorphisms were not associated with the risk of developing endometriosis or adenomyosis.

[Association of SNPs in the promoter of MMP-2 and TIMP-2 genes with epithelial ovarian cancer].

The association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the promoter region of MMP-2 and TIMP-2 genes and the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer was investigated. MMP-2 C-1306T, C-735T and TIMP-2 G-418C SNPs were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restrictive fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis in 246 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer and 324 healthy women as control. Results showed no significant difference between the patient and control groups in allele or genotype distributions of MMP-2 C-1306T (P=0.55 and P=0.42). However, the frequencies of the C allele and the C/C genotype of the MMP-2 C-735T were significantly higher in ovarian cancer patients (80.7% and 66.7%) than those in healthy controls (75.5% and 55.9%). Compared with the T/T+C/T genotypes, the C/C genotype significantly increased the risk of ovarian cancer (OR=1.58, 95%CI=1.12-2.23). Stratification analysis showed that subjects carrying C/C genotype were significantly associated with the risk of endometrioid ovarian cancer and with ovarian cancer in subjects that were 50 or older, with odds ratio at 1.69 (95%CI=1.03-2.79) and 1.71 (95%CI=1.14-2.57), respectively. Haplotype analysis showed that the frequencies of four haplotypes (T(-1306)-T(-735), T(-1306)-C(-735), C(-1306)-T(-735) and C(-1306)-C(-735)) of MMP-2 C-1306T and C-735T were not significantly different between the patient and control groups (P=0.24). The allele and genotype frequencies of TIMP-2 G-418C were not significantly different between the patient and control groups (P=0.33 and P=0.47). But TIMP-2 -418G/G genotype was associated with a trend for endometrioid ovarian cancer by stratification analysis according to histological subtypes (OR=1.62, 95%CI=0.94-2.78). Thus, the study suggested that the C/C genotype of the C-735T SNP in the promoter region of MMP-2 gene may be a potential risk factor for epithelial ovarian cancer, but the C-1306T SNP may have no association with the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer. The TIMP-2 G-418C SNP may be associated with the risk of different histological subtypes of epithelial ovarian cancer.