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Facile reduction and doping methods have been proposed for the synthesis of Ru@CoFe/D-MOFs with enhanced conductivity, increased active sites and optimized electronic structures for efficient water splitting.

Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is an aggressive and rare malignancy with poor prognosis. However, there are no reliable prognostic biomarkers for PCNSL in clinical practice. Here, we aimed to identify a reliable prognostic biomarker for predicting the survival of PCNSL patients. In this study, multiplex immunofluorescence and digital imaging analysis were used to characterize tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) immunophenotypes and the expression of programmed cell death ligand 1 on TAMs, with regard to prognosis from diagnostic tumor tissue samples of 59 PCNSL patients. We found that the M2-to-M1 ratio was a more reliable prognostic biomarker for PCNSL than M1-like or M2-like macrophage infiltration. In addition, the combination of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression on TAMs and the M2-to-M1 ratio in PCNSL demonstrated improved performance in prognostic discrimination than PD-L1-positive TAMs or M2-to-M1 ratio. To validate the prognostic significance of the combined TAMs associated biomarkers, they were integrated into the International Extranodal Lymphoma Study Group (IELSG) index and termed as IELSG-M index. Kaplan-Meier plots showed that the IELSG-M index could discriminate patients into low-, intermediate- or high-risk subgroups, better than IELSG, in terms of prognosis. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves of IELSG-M was 0.844 for overall survival; superior to the IELSG model (0.580). Taken together, this study's findings showed that the combination of PD-L1 on TAMs and the M2-to-M1 ratio could be strong prognostic predictive biomarkers for PCNSL and the IELSG-M index had improved prognostic significance than the IELSG index.

The widely existed humic acid (HA) with abundant redox-active groups has been considered to play an important role in biogeochemistry in sediments and soils. Recent studies reported that HA showed great performance in terms of electron transfer capacity (up to HA

The ubiquitous EPS (extracellular polymeric substances), as a type of dissolved organic carbon, plays a key role in carbon cycling in water environment. When EPS meet the omnipresent PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate), they must interact with each other and exert profound effect on behavior and fate of both, which is still not well known. We hypothesized that the highly persistent PFOS at real environmental levels may significantly influence behavior of EPS under solar irradiation which may retard carbon turnover. In this study, 3D-EEM fluorescence spectroscopy and FTIR spectroscopy were used to probe responses of composition and structure of EPS under solar irradiation in the absence and presence of PFOS (5-500 ng/L). The experimental results showed that PFOS at ng/L levels significantly affected responses of EPS to sunlight irradiation and the effects were dependent on the components in EPS. Photostability of humic-like substances was significantly increased in the presence of PFOS; Degradation and unfolding of proteins induced by solar light were reduced by PFOS. In addition, degradation of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic functional groups by sunlight was inhibited by PFOS. The novel findings provide new insights for assessing the environmental behavior of EPS and PFOS and understanding the effect of PFOS on carbon cycling in water environments.

Environmental behavior and ecotoxicity of microplastics (MPs) are significantly influenced by the omnipresent self-assembly of microbial extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) on them. However, mechanisms of EPS self-assembly onto MPs at nanoscale resolution and effects of aging are unclear. For the first time, temporospatial nano-heterogeneity of self-assembly of EPS onto fresh and one-year aged polypropylene (PP) MPs were investigated by atomic-force-microscopy-infrared-spectroscopy (AFM-IR). Natural aging caused high degree nanoscale fragmentation of MPs physically and chemically. Self-assembly of EPS on MPs was aging-dependent. Polysaccharides were assembled on MP surface faster than proteins. Initially, regardless of the fresh or aged MPs, polysaccharides and proteins, with the former being predominant, were successively and separately assembled to different nanospaces because of their competition for binding sites. More and more proteins and polysaccharides were superimposed on each other with assembly time due to intermolecular forces. The nanochemical textural analysis showed that the nano-heterogeneity of EPS assembly to MPs was clearly correlated with the aging-induced nanochemical and nanomechanical heterogeneity of MP surface. The spontaneous self-assembly of EPS with temporospatial nano-heterogeneity on MPs have multiple impacts on behavior, ecotoxicity and fate of MPs and their associated pollutants as well as other key ecological processes in aquatic environment.

Background Radiotherapy is a conventional and effective local treatment for breast cancer. However, residual or recurrent tumors appears frequently because of radioresistance. Novel predictive marker and the potential therapeutic targets of breast cancer radioresistance needs to be investigated. Methods In this study, we screened all 10 asparagine-linked glycosylation (ALG) members in breast cancer patients’ samples by RT-PCR. Cell viability after irradiation (IR) was determined by CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry. The radiosensitivity of cell lines with different ALG3 expression was determined with the colony formation assay by fitting the multi-target single hit model to the surviving fractions. Cancer stem-like traits were assessed by RT-PCR, Western blot, and flow cytometry. The mechanisms of ALG3 influencing radiosensitivity was detected by Western blot and immunoprecipitation. And the effect of ALG3 on tumor growth after IR was verified in an orthotopic xenograft tumor models. The association of ALG3 with prognosis of breast cancer patients was confirmed by immunohistochemistry. Results ALG3 was the most significantly overexpressing gene among ALG family in radioresistant breast cancer tissue. Overexpression of ALG3 predicted poor clinicopathological characteristics and overall survival (OS), and early local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) in breast cancer patients. Upregulating ALG3 enhanced radioresistance and cancer stemness in vitro and in vivo. Conversely, silencing ALG3 increased the radiosensitivity and repressed cancer stemness in vitro, and more importantly inhibition of ALG3 effectively increased the radiosensitivity of breast cancer cells in vivo. Mechanistically, our results further revealed ALG3 promoted radioresistance and cancer stemness by inducing glycosylation of TGF-β receptor II (TGFBR2). Importantly, both attenuation of glycosylation using tunicamycin and inhibition of TGFBR2 using LY2109761 differentially abrogated the stimulatory effect of ALG3 overexpression on cancer stemness and radioresistance. Finally, our findings showed that radiation played an important role in preventing early recurrence in breast cancer patients with low ALG3 levels, but it had limited efficacy in ALG3-overexpressing breast cancer patients. Conclusion Our results suggest that ALG3 may serve as a potential radiosensitive marker, and an effective target to decrease radioresistance by regulating glycosylation of TGFBR2 in breast cancer. For patients with low ALG3 levels, radiation remains an effective mainstay therapy to prevent early recurrence in breast cancer.

Stability of soil organic matter (SOM) is considered to be governed by different protection mechanisms including physical protection (PP), biochemical protection (BCP) and physical plus biochemical protection (PBCP). The thermostability of SOM protected by different mechanisms is unknown, despite its importance for understanding the stability of soil organic carbon (SOC) under frequently occurred wildfires. In this study, we reported for the first time that pyrolysis of SOM under different protection mechanisms in three types of soil (shrub soil, cultivated soil, and meadow soil) followed their own distinct modes regardless of soil type. Specifically, SOM-PP, SOM-PBCP and SOM-BCP from each type of soil were pyrolyzed in the double-step-shape, the mono-step-shape and the linear modes, respectively, when they were heated from room temperature to 800 °C by thermogravimeter. There were more thermolabile organic fractions (pyrolysis temperature200 °C) enriched in SOM-PP, while more thermostable organic fractions enriched in SOM-BCP and SOM-PBCP. These findings are of great importance for deeper insight into stability responses of SOM with different occurrence of wildfire.

Direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) may be most important in methanogenic environments, but studies to date that have examined the mechanisms for electron transfer from electron-donating partners have primarily focused on co-cultures in which fumarate was the terminal electron acceptor. To better understand DIET with methanogens, the transcriptome of Geobacter metallireducens during DIET-based growth with Geobacter sulfurreducens reducing fumarate was compared with the transcriptome of G. metallireducens grown in co-culture with diverse Methanosarcina species. The transcriptome of G. metallireducens co-cultured with G. sulfurreducens was significantly different from those with Methanosarcina. Furthermore, the transcriptome of G. metallireducens grown with Methanosarcina barkeri, which lacks outer-surface cytochromes, was different from the transcriptome of G. metallireducens co-cultured with Methanosarcina acetivorans or Methanosarcina subterranea, which have an outer-surface c-type cytochrome that serves as an electrical connect for DIET. Differences in G. metallireducens expression patterns for c-type cytochrome genes were particularly notable. The impact of deleting G. metallireducens c-type cytochrome genes depended upon the electron-accepting partner. Multiple cytochromes that G. metallireducens required for DIET with G. sulfurreducens and for Fe(III) oxide reduction were not required for DIET with the Methanosarcina species. Porin-cytochrome complexes and e-pili were required for optimal DIET with all partners. Shewanella oneidensis, another electroactive microbe with abundant outer-surface c-type cytochromes, did not grow via DIET. The results demonstrate that the presence of outer-surface cytochromes does not necessarily confer the capacity for DIET, and also emphasize the substantial impact of the physiology of the electron-accepting partner on the physiology of the electron-donating DIET partner.

Solid-phase humic acid (HA

Magnetically induced self-assembling is considered a novel method to form photonic crystals (PCs) by the directive arrangement of nanoparticles (NPs) under a magnetic field. Magnetically responsive PCs (MRPCs) have become one of the most promising materials due to their adjustable bandgap along with the field intensity and direction, and rapid and reversible response. In this paper, we review the basic principles of MRPCs, the research progress of magnetically induced self-assembling PCs including synthesis and modification of magnetically induced NPs, the formation of an ordered structure of MRPCs, the non-spherical materials self-assemble into PC structure, and the non-magnetic materials self-assembling into PC structure. And then we also summarize the regulatory factors of the physical and chemical responses under magnetic field, and give an outlook as to the applications of MRPCs.

Magnetite-mediated direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) has been considered as an effective mechanism to proceed the syntrophic methanogenic metabolism. However, the enhancement effect of m...

Extraordinary attempts have been dedicated to increase the utilization efficiency and catalytic performance and decrease the economy issues related to Pt-based electrocatalysts for fuel cells due to their daunting price, extremely low earth abundance and unsatisfactory catalytic performance for practical applications in the past few decades. Recently, our group successfully synthesized novel one-dimensional (1D) Pt–Rh–Te nanotubes (NTs) as anodic electrocatalysts via a sacrificial template method. The typical 1D nanotubes that comprise porous walls and hollow interiors could be achieved by using PtCl62− and Rh3+ as the metal precursors and Te nanowires as the reductive template in this project. By integrating the multiple compositional and structural merits into one catalyst, more significantly, the mass activities of the as-resulted Pt–Rh–Te NTs/C catalyst were calculated to be 5.08 and 2.98-fold higher than those of commercial Pt/C catalysts and PtTe NTs/C catalysts, respectively. Apart from the excellent catalytic activity when compared with that of the commercial Pt/C catalysts, the optimized Pt–Rh–Te NT electrocatalyst exhibited substantially enhanced long-term stability owing to the combination of a hollow tubular nanostructure and extra incorporation of the Rh element. This work probably provides a general orientation to design and fabricate cost-efficient low-dimensional electrocatalysts.

The biological functions of growth factor, such as granulins, have been explored in parasites, and we elucidated that Clonorchis sinensis granulin (CsGRN) promoted the metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma in our previous study. However, it is still unclear for the malignant transformation role of CsGRN in normal human hepatocytes. In this study, by transfecting pEGFP-C1-CsGRN eukaryotic expression plasmid, a cell line with stable overexpression of CsGRN in normal hepatocyte (LO2-GRN cells) was constructed. The effects on cell proliferation were detected by carrying out cell counting kit-8 (CCK8) assay and colony formation assay. Additionally, we conducted flow cytometry analysis to determine whether the proliferation of CsGRN was due to cell cycle arrest. Subsequently, the migration ability and the invasion ability of LO2-GRN cells were evaluated through wound-healing assay and transwell assay. Meanwhile, the levels of the markers of RAS/MAPK/ERK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways activation in LO2-GRN cells were assessed by quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot. Our results indicated that CsGRN promoted the proliferation of LO2 cells by regulating the expression of cell-cycle-related genes. Moreover, the overexpression of CsGRN regulates malignant metastasis of liver cells by inducing the upregulation of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) marker proteins. Furthermore, both mRNA and protein expression levels of p-EGFR, RAS, p-ERK, p-AKT, p-PI3K, and p-braf have been enhanced by CsGRN. These results showed that CsGRN promoted the malignant transformation of hepatocytes by regulating epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mediated RAS/MAPK/ERK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways, which suggested that CsGRN could serve as a novel oncoprotein during Clonorchis sinensis–associated malignant transformation of hepatocytes.

EPS (exopolymers) play a central role in global carbon cycling due to huger amount in aquatic environment, and PFOS (Perfluorooctane sulfonate) is also ubiquitous and persistent pollutant. Whether and how can PFOS of environmental concentrations affect behavior and fate of EPS was unclear. In this study, for the first time interaction between lake EPS and PFOS of environmental concentrations was visually probed by AFM-IR technique. It was found that EPS could effectively trap PFOS and the latter of environmental concentrations could trigger nanoscale reassembly of the former. Sandwiched PFOS-EPS nanostructures were formed via supramolecular interaction between EPS and PFOS, confirmed by fluorescence quenching titration and FTIR spectroscopy. The PFOS microlayers sandwiched in EPS was proven to be a light shield that could protect EPS from photodegradation because of its high reflectivity and nearly zero absorbance of UV-Vis light. The light shielding effect of PFOS was confirmed by evidences from photodegradation experiments, including change of concentrations of ions released and molecular weight distribution patterns. These novel findings provided valuable information for deep insight into environmental behavior of PFOS and its effects on biogeochemical carbon cycle of biopolymers in global waters.

Designing and fabricating highly active and efficient catalysts are of vital importance for the practical applications of direct ethylene glycol fuel cells (DEGFCs). In this study, we employ a feasible one-pot synthetic method to construct highly monodispersed PtCu nanospheres (NSs) as high-efficiency anode electrocatalysts for DEGFCs. Interestingly, the optimized carbon supported Pt1Cu1 NSs can display the highest mass activity of 2146.9 mA mg−1 in 1 M KOH + 1 M EG solution under the scan rate of 50 mV s−1, which is 1.9 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C catalysts. This is ascribed to the favorable electronic effect between Pt and Cu, which is beneficial for ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR) in fuel cells. Meanwhile, such monodispersed Pt1Cu1 NSs can also exhibit excellent durability, where the Pt1Cu1 catalyst retains 62.6% of the initial value after the cyclic voltammetry of 500 cycles. This work not only provides a significant approach for designing catalysts for fuel cells, but also constructs a novel class of active and stable electrocatalysts for EGOR.

At present, it is still a great challenge to control the morphology and size of nanoparticles for obtaining more efficient and stable catalysts for direct fuel cell reactions. Herein, we have synthesized a series of Pd3Sn bimetallic catalysts with different morphologies that transitioned from nanonetwork to nanostrips and then to nanodots by altering the varieties of reducing agents and the amount of surfactant. And the formation mechanisms of nanocatalysts were also investigated. It is worth noting that Pd3Sn-dots, due to the unique structure, uniform dispersion and ultra-small size, exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activity for ethanol oxidation reaction and ethylene glycol oxidation reaction, which distinctly higher than the other Pd3Sn catalysts and commercial Pd/C catalysts. Moreover, the as-prepared Pd3Sn catalysts also performed greater long-term durability due to the electronic and synergistic effects. This work provides guidance on the morphology-dependent nanocrystals, which will show a great potential as anodic catalysts in direct fuel cell applications.

Engineering robust electrocatalysts is always a key point in direct alcohol fuel cells. Catalysts with a one-dimension (1D) structure are well studied and considered as promising candidates among various catalysts in the past decades; however, the precise regulation on the surface structure of 1D nanomaterials is still a worthy subject. By creatively introducing a trimetallic nanoalloy, core@multishell structure, and 1D nanowire (NW) morphology, we have constructed a kind of novel spiny PtFePd@PtFe/Pt core@multishell 1D NW catalysts with PtFePd as the core and PtFe/Pt as the multishell on the basis of improving catalytic property. The composition-optimized Pt

Pursuing high-effective electrocatalysts is of paramount importance yet a great challenge, drawbacks such as irregular morphology, weak corrosion resistance, and poor anti-poisoning that limited their catalytic performance. Kinds of strategies have been developed to synthesize nanocatalysts with properties of low-cost, high-performance, and long lifetime. Pt-based catalyst is one of the most effective anodic materials for direct fuel cells (DFCs), especially towards ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR). Herein, we integrate the advantages of both composition and morphology to finally synthesize a series of PtBi chain-typed nanoflowers (NFs) serving as high-efficiency anode catalysts. The Pt1Bi1 chain-typed NFs show much higher catalytic performances than Pt1Bi2, Pt2Bi1, and commercial Pt/C catalysts with the mass activity (1.17, 1.64, and 5.71 times higher, respectively) and retained mass activities (1.68, 3.26, and 13.1 times higher, respectively). Our present work opens a new way to promote the electrocatalytic activity and stability via synthesizing well-defined PtBi NFs with chain-typed structure. We also believe that the as-obtained PtBi NFs can be one of the candidates as promising anodic catalysts in DFCs.

The development of efficient anode nanocatalysts with high performance for direct ethylene glycol fuel cells is highly desirable and still difficult due to the sluggish kinetics at the anode. For that reason, it is necessary to engineer cost-effective Pd-based catalysts with fascinating structure and superior activity. Inspired by this, we shed light on a facile self-template one-pot approach to synthesize sub-24 nm PdAg hollow nanodendrites with tunable compositions. More importantly, owing to the exquisite hollow nanostructure and electronic effect, as well as synergistic role, the as-prepared unique binary PdAg nanocatalysts show outstanding mass activity of 4168.8 mA mgPd−1 for ethylene glycol oxidation reaction under the alkaline medium, 3.8-fold enhancements than that of commercial Pd/C catalysts. Remarkably, based on this facile synthesis method and superior electrocatalytic performance of as-prepared catalysts, we believe that our efforts will open a new way to promote the commercialization of fuel cells to some extent.

Electrochemical property and detection performance of nanocatalysts are largely affected by the component and morphology. Here, an advanced class of PtCu nanocrystal with uniform trifurcate structure has been synthesized by using KI as the structure-directing agent during the reduction process. Due to the large surface area of such synthesized dendritic trifurcate nanocrystal and the synergistic effect between Pt and Cu, this nanocatalyst performed nicely when applied it to the electrochemical detection of caffeic acid. Specifically, the detection limit is 0.35 μM (S/N = 3) and the linear range is wide from 1.2 μM-1.9 mM. The finding may be beneficial for developing novel and high-performance sensors for the monitoring of dietetical and environmental safety.

Coupled bioelectrochemical system-upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (BES-UASB) was utilized for wastewater treatment containing 2,4-dichloronitrobenzene (DClNB). The results indicated that a proper voltage enhanced the DClNB reduction, however, over high voltage presented a negative impact (2.0 V). Synergistic effect of external voltage and anaerobic sludge was observed, and dechlorination efficiency reached 57.8 ± 5.4% in the coupled BES, which was higher than the sum of anaerobic sludge and electric system (48.2%). Moreover, the coupled system was more tolerant of high salinity and pollutant concentration. Dehydrogenase activity (DHA) was related to microbial electron transfer activity and DHA reached a maximum 453 ± 33 μgTF g−1VSS h−1 in the coupled reactor which was 1.6-fold that of the control, meanwhile, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) content was significantly enhanced in the presence of external voltage. In summary, the coupled BES-UASB systems could be an alternative for removal of recalcitrant pollutants such as DClNB.

Conductive iron oxides (CIO) have been proved recently to facilitate the anaerobic microbial syntrophy based on the direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) in batch experiments. However, the effect of CIO was always insignificant in anaerobic digestion (AD) reactor especially when the DIET-based syntrophic partners were absent. In this study, the effect of magnetite on performance of AD system with sucrose as a sole carbon source was investigated, but limited enhancement was achieved during the first 36-day operation. The short-term effect of ethanol addition was further studied in the magnetite-amended AD reactor, and results showed that the AD reactor with 10gFe/L micro-sized magnetite (R3) achieved higher performance of COD removal and methane proportion compared with the other reactors (R1 without magnetite; R2 with 2gFe/L micro-sized magnetite; R4 with 2gFe/L nano-sized magnetite). Meanwhile, the pyridoxine in extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and conductivity of anaerobic sludge from R3 increased more significantly than those of the others. Analysis of high-throughput sequencing indicated that the abundance of archaea increased in sludge from R3 and Methanosarcina responsible for DIET was dominant (63.64%). Additionally, the abundance of potential electroactive bacteria Chloroflexi in R3 was 7.57-fold, 3.61-fold and 7.37-fold as that of R1, R2 and R4, respectively. These results demonstrated that the electroactive microbes and methanogens could be enriched efficiently in anaerobic sludge via synergetic effect of magnetite addition and ethanol short-term stimulation.

High-efficiency adsorption of solar energy is a lofty goal and the pursuit of efficient photocatalyst is also one of the tough challenges. It's a growing interesting in the technology that is on the basis of surface plasma resonance (SPR) plasma resonance of the alloy nanoparticles (NPs). We herein successfully design a facile class of trimetallic Pt-Ag-Ni alloy NPs that combined the advantages of electronic effect, size and synergistic effect. Impressively, the Pt2Ag1Ni1 NPs possess excellent electrocatalytic under visible light ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR) and glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR) with the mass activity founded to be: 7.99 and 4.88 A/mg, respectively. More significantly, SPR effect induces the optimal Pt-Ag-Ni NPs mass activity enhancement at 1.83 and 1.78 times higher under visible light than under environmental conditions. The design and SPR investigation of the trimetallic Pt-Ag-Ni alloy NPs in the research may provide a new approach for further development of high-performance nanocatalysts.

In this work, trimetallic PtAuRu nanoparticles were synthesized by a facile one-pot method and glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with this trimetallic catalyst was used to detect caffeic acid (CA). Particularly, visible light illumination was introduced to assist the electrochemical assay and satisfactory results were achieved. The linear range obtained from differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) analysis was wide from 0.0087 mM to 16.6 mM. The obvious improvement of the response current towards CA is probably because of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of Au in the as-synthesized nanoparticles. These results indicate valuable potential of light illumination in enhancing the performance of metallic nanocomposites-based sensors in electrochemical detection.

Although explosive progresses have been achieved in the field of water splitting, the design and development of stable and inexpensive electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution remain a formidable challenge. Herein, the cost-efficient two dimensional (2D) phosphorus-doped CoFe oxyhydroxide nanosheets (denoted as CoFeP NSs) are successfully engineered and showing exceptional oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity and chemical stability in 1 M KOH solution. This unique 2D nanosheet structure facilitates the mass transfer and electron transport, resulting in the remarkable OER activity that delivers a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at a low overpotential of 305 mV with an ultra-small Tafel slope 49.6 mV/dec. More significantly, the doped P also plays a vital role in modulating the surface active sites, leading to the substantial enhancement of electrocatalytic performances. Our study provides a facile one-pot method for the successful fabrication of 2D P-doped CoFe NSs which display superior electrocatalytic performance, shedding great promise for environment and energy-related fields.

Additional file 5: Supplementary Figure 5. (A, B) Radioresistance-associated pathways were examined by luciferase assay to find out the most influenced pathway after ALG3-knocked out. Each bar represents the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. All data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test. (C) mRNA expression level of several genes that regulated by TGF-β pathway in ALG3-sg cells or cells treated by tunicamycin compared with ALG3 control cells were detected by RT-PCR. GAPDH was detected as a loading control in RT-PCR. (D) Upregulation of ALG3 decreased the apoptosis ratio, whereas inhibition of TGFBR2 increased the apoptosis ratio of ALG3-transduced cells after radiation treatment, which were detected by flow cytometry. (E) Statistical graphs of apoptotic cells proportion in the vector, ALG3-vector +LY2109761(TGFBR2 inhibitor), ALG3-transduced, and ALG3-transduced +LY2109761 cells were plotted. Each bar represents the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. Data were analyzed by Student’s t-test. (F) Upregulation of ALG3 led to increasing the number of spheres, while inhibition of TGFBR2 decreased the number of spheres in ALG3-overexpressing cells, which were detected by secondary sphere assay. Each bar represents the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. Data were analyzed by Student’s t-test. (G) Upregulation of ALG3 led to increasing proportion of the CD44+CD24−subpopulation, whereas inhibition of TGFBR2 decreased proportion of the CD44+CD24− subpopulation in ALG3-transduced cells. Each bar represents the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. All data were analyzed by Student’s t-test. *P

Additional file 9: Table S2. Association of ALG3 expression with TP53 status and tumor type.

Additional file 2: Supplementary Figure 2. (A) ALG3 expression after transduction in MCF-7 and ZR-75-30 cell lines was confirmed by Western blot. (B) Representative images of colony assays, with cells exposed to 0,2,4,6 Gy X ray treatment were as shown. (C) Representative image of local radiation treatment was as shown. (D) Immunohistochemistry image of tumor tissues from ALG3-transduced mice depicts successful upregulation of ALG3. Original magnification, 200x and 400x. scale bar = 50 μm. (E) Immunohistochemistry images showed that tumor tissues from ALG3-transduced mice overexpressing Ki67. Original magnification, 200x and 400x. scale bar = 50 μm. (F) Cleaved caspase-3 activity was performed on tumor tissues from mice. *** P

Additional file 6: Supplementary Figure 6. (A–C) Kaplan–Meier analysis using the public breast cancer data sets showed that the ALG3 overexpression indicates shorter RFS, PPS, and OS. Website, https://kmplot.com/analysis/ . (D, E) Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that ALG3 overexpression indicates shorter RFS and OS in the TCGA database.

Additional file 12: Table S5. The detail information of colony assay in MDA-MB-231 cell line.

Additional file 8: Table S1. Molecular baseline characteristics of patients.

Additional file 14: Table S7. The number of patients in subgroups.

Additional file 7: Supplementary Figure 7. (A-B) LRFS and OS of different tumor type patients, stratified by high and low ALG3 expression, were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier analysis with log-rank test. (C-D) Kaplan–Meier curves of LRFS and OS were plotted to evaluate the predictive value of ALG3 in patients grouped by tumor type and receiving radiotherapy or not. (E) Kaplan–Meier curves of LRFS were plotted to evaluate if radiotherapy contribute to prognosis of patients with ALG3 overexpressing in different tumor type. (F) LRFS and OS of patients with different p53 status, stratified by high and low ALG3 expression, were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier analysis with log-rank test. (G) LRFS of patients with mutational p53 who have received radiotherapy or not, stratified by ALG3 expression was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier analysis with log-rank test. (H) Kaplan–Meier curves of LRFS curves were plotted to evaluate if radiotherapy contribute to prognosis of patients with ALG3 overexpressing or with mutational p53.

Additional file 13: Table S6. The detail information of colony assay in SUM159PT cell line.

Additional file 4: Supplementary Figure 4. (A) Analysis of correlation between ALG3 expression and cell cycle related genes based on TCGA database were performed. (B) Cyclin B1, cyclin B2, and CDK4 expression were up-regulated in ALG3-tansduced cells and down-regulated in ALG3-knocked out cells. α-Tubulin was detected as a loading control in Western blot. (C, D) Statistical graphs of secondary sphere formation assay in breast cancer cells were plotted. Each bar represents the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. All data were analyzed by Student’s t-test and one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test. *P

Additional file 11: Table S4. The detail information of colony assay in ZR-75-30 cell line.

Additional file 10: Table S3. The detail information of colony assay in MCF-7 cell line.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of biochar addition against high organic loading shock (OLS) of 80 kg COD/m3/d in up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors (R1 with biochar; R2 without biochar). After OLS of 24 h, R2 suffered the irreversible acidification (pH of 5.42 ± 0.07) with low biogas production of 0.08 ± 0.01 m3/kg COD/d. In contrast, the biogas production in R1 restored rapidly to 0.33 ± 0.04 m3/kg COD/d, and effluent pH in R1 returned to 7.01 ± 0.22. With addition of biochar, potential direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) partners, including volatile fatty acids (VFAs)-oxidizing bacteria (Bacteroidetes, Smithella, Desulfovibrio, Geobacter) and methanogens (Methanosaeta, Methanosarcina) were enriched in R1, which were conductive to maintain the balance of acidogenesis and methanogenesis. Moreover, the retention of Methanosaeta and Methanosarcina coupled with biochar maintained the structural stability of granular sludge in R1 under the pressure of OLS and VFAs, which guaranteed the stability of anaerobic system.

Despite the clinical value of HMGB1 in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), the impact of HMGB1 protein expression on survival of patients with mature T-cell and NK-cell lymphoma (T/NK-CL) is unknown. Here, we evaluated correlations of HMGB1 expression in tumor tissues with pathophysiological characteristics of disease and determined the prognostic value of HMGB1 expression in relapsed/refractory T/NK-CL. HMGB1 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 66 cases of relapsed/refractory T/NK-CL, and specimens were classified as high or low HMGB1 expression. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses identified prognostic factors associated with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). High HMGB1 expression was significantly correlated with increased Ki67 levels and progressive lymphoma subtypes. Univariate Cox regression analysis showed that high HMGB1 expression was associated with unfavorable PFS (P = 0.006) and poorer OS (P < 0.001). Prognostic factors identified by univariate analysis were prognostic index for peripheral T-cell lymphoma non-specified (PIT) score ≥ 2, bone marrow involvement, Ki67 ≥ 70%, and high HMGB1 expression. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that high HMGB1 expression was an independent prognostic factor for poorer PFS [hazard ratio (HR) 3.593; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.171-11.027; P = 0.025] and OS [HR 7.663; 95% CI 2.367-24.803; P = 0.001]. A proposal prognostic model combining HMGB1 and Ki67 expression showed improved prognostic capacity and may help guide treatment planning. High HMGB1 expression may be a promising prognostic predictor and a potential therapeutic target for relapsed/refractory T/NK-CL. Furthermore, to apply HMGB1 as one of the best bio-maker, an external independent control cohort is needed.

Ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase hinge protein (UQCRH) is the hinge protein for the multi-subunit complex III of the mitochondrial electron transport chain and is involved in the electron transfer reaction between cytochrome c1 and c. Recent genome-wide transcriptomic and epigenomic profiling of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) identified UQCRH as the top-ranked gene showing inverse correlation between DNA hypermethylation and mRNA downregulation. The function and underlying mechanism of UQCRH in the Warburg effect metabolism of ccRCC have not been characterized. Here, we verified the clinical association of low UQCRH expression and shorter survival of ccRCC patients through in silico analysis and identified KMRC2 as a highly relevant ccRCC cell line that displays hypermethylation-induced UQCRH extinction. Ectopic overexpression of UQCRH in KMRC2 restored mitochondrial membrane potential, increased oxygen consumption, and attenuated the Warburg effect at the cellular level. UQCRH overexpression in KMRC2 induced higher apoptosis and slowed down in vitro and in vivo tumor growth. UQCRH knockout by CRISPR/Cas9 had little impact on the metabolism and proliferation of 786O ccRCC cell line, suggesting the dispensable role of UQCRH in cells that have entered a Warburg-like state through other mechanisms. Together, our study suggests that loss of UQCRH expression by hypermethylation may promote kidney carcinogenesis through exacerbating the functional decline of mitochondria thus reinforcing the Warburg effect.