A water-soluble carboxylic-functionalized chemosensor for detecting Al(3+) in aqueous media and living cells: Experimental and theoretical studies.

A new water-soluble carboxylic-functionalized chemosensor 1 was designed and synthesized. 1 exhibited the selective fluorescence enhancement toward aluminum ions with a 1:1 complexation stoichiometry in aqueous solution. The detection limit (24nM) of 1 for Al(3+) is about two order lower than the WHO guideline (7.41µM) for the drinking water. 1 was successfully applied to living cells and real samples for detecting Al(3+). Moreover, the sensing mechanism originated from the inhibited excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process and the chelation-enhanced fluorescence (CHEF) effect, as supported by theoretical calculations.

A known expressed sequence tag, BM742401, is a potent lincRNA inhibiting cancer metastasis.

Long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) have historically been ignored in cancer biology. However, thousands of lincRNAs have been identified in mammals using recently developed genomic tools, including microarray and high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). Several of the lincRNAs identified have been well characterized for their functions in carcinogenesis. Here we performed RNA-seq experiments comparing gastric cancer with normal tissues to find differentially expressed transcripts in intergenic regions. By analyzing our own RNA-seq and public microarray data, we identified 31 transcripts, including a known expressed sequence tag, BM742401. BM742401 was downregulated in cancer, and its downregulation was associated with poor survival in gastric cancer patients. Ectopic overexpression of BM742401 inhibited metastasis-related phenotypes and decreased the concentration of extracellular MMP9. These results suggest that BM742401 is a potential lincRNA marker and therapeutic target.