Surface-enhanced Raman scattering-based identification of breast cancer progression using extracellular vesicles-derived integrin α6ß4.

Detection of progression is of great importance to breast cancer treatment and can benefit patients. Limited by current detection technologies and biomarkers, early breast cancer progression diagnosis remains challenging. Researchers have found blood extracellular vesicles (EVs)-derived integrin α6ß4 directly facilitate progression in breast cancer, enabling cancer detection. However, EVs size and heterogeneity hinder protein detection, masked by abundant background EVs. Hence, novel tools for efficient detection of EVs with high selectivity and low interference are significantly desired. Here, a new silver-coated gold nanorods SERS probe, termed as Au@Ag@IDA-B/4MSTP, based on DNA aptamer was established for the detection of integrin α6ß4 derived from EVs. Validation of the Au@Ag@IDA-B/4MSTP probes using cell-culture-derived EVs revealed a LOD of 23 particles/µL for EVs detection. This tool was further confirmed to mimic the real state of cancer with subcutaneous tumor model and lung metastasis model in mice. With 10 µL of blood plasma and simple Raman analysis process, the test achieved 85.7 % sensitivity and 83.3 % specificity. Moreover, our method achieves a simplified approach that expedites the detection process. These results demonstrate the good detection performance of Au@Ag@IDA-B/4MSTP probes for EVs integrin α6ß4, and suggest that this non-invasive approach could be a promising tool for early detection of breast cancer progression.

Imidazoline Gemini Surfactants as Corrosion Inhibitors for Carbon Steel X70 in NaCl Solution.

The Gemini imidazoline surfactants were synthesized from a series of saturated fatty acids. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), polarization curve, and quantum chemistry methods were used to study the corrosion inhibition behavior of Gemini imidazoline surfactants for X70 carbon steel in NaCl solution. Results reveal that such kind of surfactants has an outstanding inhibition effect on carbon steel X70 in NaCl solution and that the restrained efficiency of Gemini imidazoline in an alkaline solution is better than that in a neutral solution. The shorter the carbon chain length, the higher the suppressive efficiency. The higher the concentration of Gemini imidazoline surfactant, the better the inhibition effect.