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Brefeldin A new delivery nanomicelles inside hepatocellular carcinoma treatment: Characterization, cytotoxic examination within vitro, and antitumor productivity in vivo.
© 2020 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.BACKGROUND The role of postoperative radiotherapy in pathological T2-3N0M0 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is unknown. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of postoperative radiotherapy in patients with pathological T2-3N0M0 thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS Patients aged 18-72 years with pathological stage T2-3N0M0 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma after radical surgery and without neoadjuvant therapy were eligible. Patients were randomly assigned to surgery alone or to receive postoperative radiotherapy of 50.4 Gy in supraclavicular field and 56 Gy in mediastinal field in 28 fractions over 6 weeks. The primary endpoint was disease-free survival. The secondary endpoints were local-regional recurrence rate, overall survival, and radiation-related toxicities. RESULTS From October 2012 to February 2018, 167 patients were enrolled in this study. We analyzed 157 patients whose follow-up time was more than 1 year or who had died. The median follow-up time was 45.6 monthesults of this phase III study indicated that postoperative radiotherapy significantly improved disease-free survival and decreased local-regional recurrence rate in patients with pathological T2-3N0M0 thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma compared with surgery alone with acceptable toxicities. The distant metastasis rates and overall survival rates were not different between the two groups. Adjuvant radiotherapy should be considered for pathologic T2-3N0M0 thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Prospective trials to identify high-risk subgroups are needed. © AlphaMed Press 2020.Human adipose-derived stem/stromal cells (hASCs) can differentiate into specialized cell types and thereby contribute to tissue regeneration. As such, hASCs have drawn increasing attention in cell therapy and regenerative medicine, not to mention the ease to isolate them from donors. Culture conditions are critical for expanding hASCs while maintaining optimal therapeutic capabilities. Here, we identified a role for transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1) in culture medium in influencing the fate of hASCs during in vitro cell expansion. Human ASCs obtained after expansion in standard culture medium (Standard-hASCs) and in endothelial cell growth medium 2 (EGM2-hASCs) were characterized by high-throughput transcriptional studies, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis and functional properties. EGM2-hASCs exhibited enhanced multipotency capabilities and an immature phenotype compared with Standard-hASCs. Moreover, the adipogenic potential of EGM2-hASCs was enhanced, including toward beige adipogenesis, compared with Standard-hASCs. In these conditions, TGFβ1 acts as a critical factor affecting the immaturity and multipotency of Standard-hASCs, as suggested by small mother of decapentaplegic homolog 3 (SMAD3) nuclear localization and phosphorylation in Standard-hASCs vs EGM2-hASCs. Finally, the typical priming of Standard-hASCs into osteoblast, chondroblast, and vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) lineages was counteracted by pharmacological inhibition of the TGFβ1 receptor, which allowed retention of SMAD3 into the cytoplasm and a decrease in expression of osteoblast and VSMC lineage markers. Overall, the TGFβ1 pathway appears critical in influencing the commitment of hASCs toward osteoblast, chondroblast, and VSMC lineages, thus reducing their adipogenic potential. These effects can be counteracted by using EGM2 culture medium or chemical inhibition of the TGFβ1 pathway. ©AlphaMed Press 2020.Recent studies have demonstrated the generation of midbrain-like organoids (MOs) from human pluripotent stem cells. However, the low efficiency of MO generation and the relatively immature and heterogeneous structures of the MOs hinder the translation of these organoids from the bench to the clinic. Here we describe the robust generation of MOs with homogeneous distribution of midbrain dopaminergic (mDA) neurons. Our MOs contain not only mDA neurons but also other neuronal subtypes as well as functional glial cells including astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Furthermore, our MOs exhibit mDA neuron-specific cell death upon treatment with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine, indicating that MOs could be a proper human model system for studying the in vivo pathology of Parkinson's disease (PD). Our optimized conditions for producing homogeneous and mature MOs might provide an advanced patient-specific platform for in vitro disease modeling as well as for drug screening for PD. ©AlphaMed Press 2020.We report a Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based imaging ensemble for the visualization of membrane potential in living cells. A water-soluble poly(fluorene-co-phenylene) conjugated polyelectrolyte (FsPFc10) serves as a FRET donor to a voltage-sensitive dye acceptor (FluoVoltTM ). We observe FRET between FsPFc10 and FluoVoltTM , where the enhancement in FRET-sensitized emission from FluoVoltTM is measured at various donor/acceptor ratios. At a donor/acceptor ratio of 1, the excitation of FluoVoltTM in a FRET configuration results in a 3-fold enhancement in its fluorescence emission (compared to when it is excited directly). FsPFc10 efficiently labels the plasma membrane of HEK 293T/17 cells and remains resident with minimal cellular internalization for ~1.5 h. The successful plasma membrane-associated co-labeling of the cells with the FsPFc10-FluoVoltTM donor-acceptor pair is confirmed by dual channel confocal imaging. Importantly, cells labeled with FsPFc10 show excellent cellular viability with no adverse effect on cell membrane depolarization. During depolarization of membrane potential, HEK 293T/17 cells labeled with the donor-acceptor FRET pair exhibit a greater fluorescence response in FluoVoltTM emission relative to when FluoVoltTM is used as the sole imaging probe. These results demonstrate the conjugated polyelectrolyte to be a new class of membrane-labeling fluorophore for use in voltage sensing schemes. This article is protected by copyright. β-Dihydroartemisinin All rights reserved.BACKGROUND & AIMS As compared to other chronic diseases, patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) have significantly higher inpatient mortality; accurate models to predict inpatient mortality are lacking. Serum lactate (LA) may be elevated in patients with CLD due to both tissue hypoperfusion as well as decreased lactate clearance. We hypothesized that a parsimonious model consisting of Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) and LA at admission may predict inpatient mortality in patients with CLD. APPROACH & RESULTS We examined all CLD patients in two large and diverse healthcare systems in Texas (North Texas, NTX and Central Texas, CTX) between 2010-2015. We developed (n=3,588) and validated (n=1,804) a model containing MELD and LA measured at time of hospitalization. We further validated the model in a second cohort of 14 tertiary care hepatology centers that prospectively enrolled non-elective hospitalized patients with cirrhosis (n=726). MELD-LA was an excellent predictor of inpatient mortality in development (c-statistic =0.81, 95% CI 0.79-0.82) and both validation cohorts (CTX cohort, c=0.85, 95% CI 0.78-0.87; multicenter cohort c=0.82, 95% CI 0.74-0.88). link2 MELD-LA performed especially well in patients with specific cirrhosis diagnoses (c=0.84, 95% CI 0.81-0.86) or sepsis (c=0.80, 95% CI 0.78-0.82). For MELD score 25, inpatient mortality was 11.2% (LA=1 mmol/L), 19.4% (LA=3 mmol/L), 34.3% (LA=5 mmol/L) and >50% (LA >8 mmol/L). A linear increase (p less then 0.01) was seen in MELD-LA and increasing number of organ failures. Overall, use of MELD-LA improved the risk prediction in 23.5% of the patients as compared to MELD model alone. CONCLUSION MELD-LA is an early and objective predictor of inpatient mortality and may serve as a novel model for risk assessment and guide therapeutic options. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Different phosphorus (P)-acquisition strategies may be relevant for species coexistence and plant performance in terrestrial communities on P-deficient soils. However, how interspecific P facilitation functions in natural systems is largely unknown. We investigated the root physiological activities for P mobilization across 19 co-existing plant species in steppe vegetation, and then grew plants with various abilities to mobilize sorbed P in a microcosm in a glasshouse. We show that P facilitation mediated by rhizosphere processes of P-mobilizing species promoted growth and increased P content of neighbors in a species-specific manner. When roots interacted with a facilitating neighbor, Cleistogenes squarrosa and Bromus inermis tended to express greater plasticity of root proliferation or rhizosheath acid phosphatase activity than other non-P-mobilizing species did. Greater variation of these root traits was strongly correlated with increased performance in the presence of a facilitator. The results also show, for the first time, that P facilitation was an important mechanism underlying a positive complementarity effect. Our study highlights that interspecific P-acquisition facilitation requires that facilitated neighbors exhibit a better match of root traits with a facilitating species which help us better understand species coexistence in P-limited communities. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Glycogen storage disease type Ia (GSD Ia) is an inborn error of metabolism caused by defective glucose-6-phosphatase (G6PC) activity. GSD Ia patients exhibit severe hepatomegaly due to glycogen and triglyceride (TG) accumulation in the liver. We have previously shown that the activity of Carbohydrate Response Element Binding Protein (ChREBP), a key regulator of glycolysis and de novo lipogenesis, is increased in GSD Ia. In the current study we assessed the contribution of ChREBP to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) development in a mouse model for hepatic GSD Ia. Liver-specific G6pc knockout (L-G6pc-/- ) mice were treated with AAV2/8-shChREBP to normalize hepatic ChREBP activity to levels observed in wildtype (L-G6pc+/+ ) mice receiving AAV8-shScramble. Hepatic ChREBP knockdown markedly increased liver weight and hepatocyte size in L-G6pc-/- mice. This was associated with hepatic accumulation of G6P, glycogen and lipids, while the expression of glycolytic and lipogenic genes was reduced. link3 Enzyme activities, flux measurements, hepatic metabolite analysis and VLDL-TG secretion assays revealed that hepatic ChREBP knockdown reduced downstream glycolysis and de novo lipogenesis, but also strongly suppressed hepatic VLDL lipidation hence promoting the storage of 'old fat'. Interestingly, enhanced VLDL-TG secretion in shScramble-treated L-G6pc-/- mice associated with a ChREBP-dependent induction of the VLDL lipidation proteins MTTP and TM6SF2, the latter being confirmed by ChIP-PCR. CONCLUSION Attenuation of hepatic ChREBP induction in GSD Ia liver aggravates hepatomegaly due to further accumulation of glycogen and lipids as a result of reduced glycolysis and suppressed VLDL-TG secretion. TM6SF2, critical for VLDL formation, was identified as a novel ChREBP target in mouse liver. Altogether, our data show that enhanced ChREBP activity limits NAFLD development in GSD Ia by balancing hepatic TG production and -secretion. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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