Super-sensitive bifunctional nanoprobe: Self-assembly of peptide-driven nanoparticles demonstrating tumor fluorescence imaging and therapy

The development of nanomedicine has recently achieved several breakthroughs in the field of cancer treatment; however, biocompatibility and targeted penetration of these nanomaterials remain as limitations, which lead to serious side effects and significantly narrow the scope of their application. The self-assembly of intermediate filaments with arginine-glycine-aspartate (RGD) peptide (RGD-IFP) was triggered by the hydrophobic cationic molecule 7-amino actinomycin D (7-AAD) to synthesize a bifunctional nanoparticle that could serve as a fluorescent imaging probe to visualize tumor treatment. The designed RGD-IFP peptide possessed the ability to encapsulate 7-AAD molecules through the formation of hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions by a one-step method. This fluorescent nanoprobe with RGD peptide could be targeted for delivery into tumor cells and released in acidic environments such as endosomes/lysosomes, ultimately inducing cytotoxicity by arresting tumor cell cycling with inserted DNA. It is noteworthy that the RGD-IFP/7-AAD nanoprobe tail-vein injection approach demonstrated not only high tumor-targeted imaging potential, but also potent antitumor therapeutic effects in vivo. The proposed strategy may be used in peptide-driven bifunctional nanoparticles for precise imaging and cancer therapy.

Upregulated N6-Methyladenosine RNA in Peripheral Blood: Potential Diagnostic Biomarker for Breast Cancer / Journal of the Korean Cancer Association, 대한암학회지

Purpose@#An effective biomarker for the diagnosis of breast cancer (BC) and benign breast diseases (BBD) is crucial for improving the prognosis. We investigated whether N6-methyladenosine (m6A) can be a diagnostic biomarker of BC. @*Materials and Methods@#We detected the contents of peripheral blood m6A in 62 patients with BC, 41 patients with BBD, and 41 normal controls (NCs) using the colorimetric method. The relative expression of the m6A regulated genes methyltransferase-like 14 (METTL14) and fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) was analyzed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. @*Results@#m6A in peripheral blood RNA was significantly higher in patients with BC than that in patients with BBD (p < 0.001) or the NCs (p < 0.001). m6A was closely associated with the disease stage (from stage 0 to stage I-IV, p=0.003). The receiver operating characteristic curve of m6A contained an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.887 in BC, which was greater than that of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) or carbohydrate antigen 153 (CA153). The combination of m6A, CEA, and CA153 improved the AUC to 0.914. The upregulated and downregulated mRNA expression of METTL14 and FTO, respectively, might contribute to the increase of m6A in patients with BC. m6A combined with METTL14 and FTO improved the AUC to 0.929 with a specificity of 97.4% in the peripheral blood of patients with BC. @*Conclusion@#The peripheral blood RNA of m6A might be a valuable biomarker for the diagnosis of BC.

Upregulated N6-Methyladenosine RNA in Peripheral Blood: Potential Diagnostic Biomarker for Breast Cancer / Journal of the Korean Cancer Association, 대한암학회지

Purpose@#An effective biomarker for the diagnosis of breast cancer (BC) and benign breast diseases (BBD) is crucial for improving the prognosis. We investigated whether N6-methyladenosine (m6A) can be a diagnostic biomarker of BC. @*Materials and Methods@#We detected the contents of peripheral blood m6A in 62 patients with BC, 41 patients with BBD, and 41 normal controls (NCs) using the colorimetric method. The relative expression of the m6A regulated genes methyltransferase-like 14 (METTL14) and fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) was analyzed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. @*Results@#m6A in peripheral blood RNA was significantly higher in patients with BC than that in patients with BBD (p < 0.001) or the NCs (p < 0.001). m6A was closely associated with the disease stage (from stage 0 to stage I-IV, p=0.003). The receiver operating characteristic curve of m6A contained an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.887 in BC, which was greater than that of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) or carbohydrate antigen 153 (CA153). The combination of m6A, CEA, and CA153 improved the AUC to 0.914. The upregulated and downregulated mRNA expression of METTL14 and FTO, respectively, might contribute to the increase of m6A in patients with BC. m6A combined with METTL14 and FTO improved the AUC to 0.929 with a specificity of 97.4% in the peripheral blood of patients with BC. @*Conclusion@#The peripheral blood RNA of m6A might be a valuable biomarker for the diagnosis of BC.

Chromosomal aberration leads to recurrent pregnancy loss and partial trisomy of 5p12-15.3 in the offspring: report of a Syrian couple and review of the literature / 中华男科学杂志

Here we describe a Syrian couple having recurrent pregnancy loss in the first trimester, fetal malformations, and/or neonatal death. The father had a balanced chromosomal translocation t(5;15), an sY125 microdeletion of locus b in the azoospermia factor (AZF) gene, and an MTHFR C677T homozygous polymorphism with normal phenotype. Interestingly, his healthy wife had another MTHFR A1298C homozygous polymorphism. The couple experienced two pregnancy losses and had two stillborn children with severe malformations due to partial trisomy of the short arm of chromosome 5. The couple does not have any living offspring after 10 years of marriage.

First detailed reconstruction of the karyotype of Trachypithecus cristatus (Mammalia: Cercopithecidae).

BACKGROUND: The chromosomal homologies of human (Homo sapiens = HSA) and silvered leaf monkey (Trachypithecus cristatus = TCR) have been previously studied by classical chromosome staining and by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) applying chromosome-specific DNA probes of all human chromosomes in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively. RESULTS: However, as the resolution of these techniques is limited we used multicolor banding (MCB) at an ~250-band level, and other selected human DNA probes to establish a detailed chromosomal map of TCR. Therefore it was possible to precisely determine evolutionary conserved breakpoints, orientation of segments and distribution of specific regions in TCR compared to HSA. Overall, 69 evolutionary conserved breakpoints including chromosomal segments, which failed to be resolved in previous reports, were exactly identified and characterized. CONCLUSIONS: This work also represents the first molecular cytogenetic one characterizing a multiple sex chromosome system with a male karyotype 44,XY1Y2. The obtained results are compared to other available data for old world monkeys and drawbacks in hominoid evolution are discussed.