Search

A series of progress has been made in the field of antimicrobial use of nanozymes due to their superior stability and decreased susceptibility to drug resistance. However, catalytically generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) are insufficient for coping with multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in complex wound environments due to their low targeting ability and insufficient catalytic activity. To address this problem, chemically stable copper-gallic acid-vancomycin (CuGA-VAN) nanoneedles were successfully constructed by a simple approach for targeting bacteria; these nanoneedles exhibit OXD-like and GSH-px-like dual enzyme activities to produce ROS and induce bacterial cuproptosis-like death, thereby eliminating MDRO infections. The results of in vitro experiments showed that the free carboxylic acid of GA could react with the free ammonia of teichoic acid in the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ( MRSA ) cell wall skeleton. Thus, CuGA-VAN nanoneedles can rapidly "capture" MRSA in liquid environments, releasing ROS, VAN and Cu 2+ on bacterial surfaces to break down the MRSA barrier, destroying the biofilm. In addition, CuGA-VAN effectively promoted wound repair cell proliferation and angiogenesis to facilitate wound healing while ensuring biosafety. According to transcriptome sequencing, highly internalized Cu 2+ causes copper overload toxicity; downregulates genes related to the bacterial glyoxylate cycle, tricarboxylic acid cycle, and oxidative respiratory chain; and induces lipid peroxidation in the cytoplasm, leading to bacterial cuproptosis-like death. In this study, CuGA-VAN was cleverly designed to trigger a cascade reaction of targeting, drug release, ROS-catalyzed antibacterial activity and cuproptosis-like death. This provides an innovative idea for multidrug-resistant infections.

Selectively targeting the cancer-specific protein - protein interaction (PPI) between Hsp70 and Bim has been discovered as a promising strategy for treating chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The first Hsp70 - Bim PPI inhibitor, S1g-2 , has been identified to overcome the on-target toxicity of known Hsp70 inhibitors when it induces apoptosis of CML cells. Herein, we carried out a hit-to-lead optimization of S1g-2 , yielding S1g-10 , which exhibited a 10-fold increase in Hsp70/Bim suppressing potency. Furthermore, S1g-10 not only exhibited a 5- to 10-fold stronger antitumor activity in the sub-μM range against CML cells than S1g-2 in vitro, but it also overcame BCR-ABL-independent tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance in CML in vivo depending on the Hsp70 - Bim signaling pathway. Moreover, through structure - activity relationship analysis, TROSY-HSQC NMR, molecular dynamics simulation, and point mutation validation, two hydrophobic pockets composed of eight key residues were demonstrated to produce predominant interactions with either Bim or S1g-10 , regarded as the "hot-spots" in the Hsp70 - Bim PPI interface.

The pairing of heavy and light chains of an antibody decides the specificity of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Acquisition of the genes encoding variable regions of paired heavy and light chains (V H :V L ) is crucial, but it is a labor- and cost-intensive process in traditional methods. The emerging microfluidic chips have brought us to a portal of directly acquiring natively paired V H :V L genes by sequencing single target cells. This study presents a novel method in which all processing steps for acquiring natively paired V H :V L genes from single cells are finished in a single microfluidic chip, not multiple discrete devices. The microfluidic chip performs single-cell trapping/ in situ fluorescence examination of antibody specificity/cell lysis/gene amplification all at a single-cell level. By a proof-of-concept validation of efficiently acquiring paired V H :V L genes of anti-CD45 mAbs from single hybridoma cells, the microfluidic chip has been proved capable of trapping/screening/lysing single antibody-secreting cells and performing an on-chip reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The presented method has realized remarkably improved cell loss/human labor/time cost, and more importantly, determinacy of native V H :V L gene pairing, which is one of the most decisive factors of effectiveness for antibody discovery.

Ligand-targeting specific liposomal probes are increasingly used as imaging and delivery vehicles for in vivo diagnosis. Thereinto, the ligand variety and density profoundly affect the binding behaviors toward the target. The synergetic effect of different ligands could be achieved only when the optimized molecular-recognition configuration occurred. In this study, we construct a dual-peptides-targeting liposomal probe named BTLS that could synergistically bind two different sites of prominin-1, a cancer stem cell marker. At the distance of 11 Å between the two new peptides, ligands could insert into the hollow pocket of prominin-1 and BTLS could achieve the appropriate spatial structure, showing the strong binding affinity in both cellular and in vivo levels. It is indicated that the design of density-optimized peptide-targeted liposomes could be promising to maximize the multifunctional targeting effects on the cancer theranostics.

Mild acidic environment and angiogenesis are two typical characteristics of tumor. The specific response toward both lower pH and angiogenesis may enhance the targeting ability both for drug and diagnostic probe delivery. Herein, we present a kind of dual responding self-assembled nanotransformation material that is tumor angiogenesis targeting and pH triggered based on amphiphilic conjugation between peptides (STP) and aromatic molecules (tetraphenylethylene (TPE)). The morphology of the self-assembled peptide conjugates is responsibly changed from nanoparticles in neutral condition to nanofibers in acidic condition, which "turn on" the in vivo targeting imaging and accelerate the efficient drug delivery and in vivo therapy. On the basis of the well-controlled nanotransformation both in vitro and in vivo, we envisioned the successful demonstration of the responding materials would open a new avenue in turn on targeting imaging diagnostics and specific cancer therapeutics.

Peptide nanomaterials have recently attracted considerable interest in the biomedical field. However, their poor bioavailability and less powerful therapeutic efficacy hamper their further applications. Herein, we discovered reconfigurable and activated nanotherapeutics in the tumor microenvironment. Two peptides, that is, a pH-responsive peptide HLAH and a matrix metalloprotease-2 (MMP2)-sensitive peptide with a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) terminal were conjugated onto the hydrophobic poly(β-thioester)s backbones to gain the copolymer P-S-H. The therapeutic activity of the HLAH peptide could be activated in tumors owing to its reconfiguration under microenvironmental pH. The resultant copolymers self-assembled into nanoparticles under physiological condition, with HLAH in cores protected by PEG shells. The moderate size (∼100 nm) and negative potential enabled the stable circulation of P-S-H in the bloodstream. Once arrived at the tumor site, the P-S-H nanoparticles were stimulated by overexpressed MMP2 and acidic pH, and subsequently the shedding of the PEG shell and protonation of the HLAH peptide induced the reassembly of nanoparticles, resulting in the formation of nanoparticles with activated cytotoxic peptides on the surface. In vivo experiments demonstrated that the reorganized nanoassembly contained three merits: (1) effective accumulation in the tumor site, (2) enhanced antitumor capacity, and (3) no obvious toxic effect at the treatment dose. This on-site reorganization strategy provides an avenue for developing high-performance peptide nanomaterials in cancer treatment.

A practical intramolecular C-H amidation methodology has been developed using molecular iodine under basic conditions. The required imine substrates were readily obtained by condensation of simple o-phenylenediamine derivatives and aldehydes. The transition-metal-free cyclization reaction described here works well with crude imines and allows for the sequential synthesis of N-protected benzimidazoles without purification of the less stable condensation intermediates. This operationally simple synthetic approach is broadly applicable to a variety of aromatic, aliphatic, and cinnamic aldehydes to produce diverse 1,2-disubstituted benzimidazole derivatives in an efficient and scalable fashion.

An I 2 /KI-promoted oxidative C-C bond formation reaction from C(sp 3 )-H and C(sp 2 )-H bonds has been used to construct quinazoline skeletons from N,N'-disubstituted amidines. The required substrates are readily prepared from the corresponding acyl chlorides, anilines, and alkyl/benzylamines by sequential amidation, chlorination, and amination reactions. Under the optimal oxidative cyclization conditions, all these amidines were conveniently transformed into the expected products in moderate to good yields. This practical and environmentally benign approach works well with crude amidine intermediates and can also be carried out on a gram scale.

One switchable nanodelivery system was constructed. Liposomes were functionalized by a novel dual-recognition peptide STP, which is pH-responsive as well as the affinity ligand of tumor marker VEGFR2 (the angiogenesis marker vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2). Efficient drug delivery and in vivo therapy could be "turned on" and accelerated only in the conditions of VEGFR2 overexpression and a mild acidic environment. We envisioned that the successful demonstration of this switchable nanocarrier system would open a new avenue on rapid cytoplasmic delivery for specific cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.

One of the major challenges in current cancer therapy is to maximize therapeutic effect and evaluate tumor progression under the scheduled treatment protocol. To address these challenges, we synthesized the cytotoxic peptide (KLAKLAK)2 (named KLAK) conjugated amphiphilic poly(β-thioester)s copolymers (H-P-K) composed of reactive oxygen species (ROS) sensitive backbones and hydrophilic polyethylene glycol (PEG) side chains. H-P-K could self-assemble into micelle-like nanoparticles by hydrophobic interaction with copolymer backbones as cores and PEG and KLAK as shells. The assembled polymer-peptide nanoparticles remarkably improved cellular internalization and accumulation of therapeutic KLAK in cells. Compared to free KLAK peptide, the antitumor activity of H-P-K was significantly enhanced up to ∼400 times, suggesting the effectiveness of the nanoscaled polymer-peptide conjugation as biopharmaceuticals. The higher antitumor activity of nanoparticles was attributed to the efficient disruption of mitochondrial membranes and subsequent excessive ROS production in cells. To realize the ROS monitoring and treatment evaluation, we encapsulated squaraine (SQ) dyes as built-in reporters in ROS-sensitive H-P-K micelles. The overgenerated ROS around mitochondria stimulated the swelling of nanoparticles and subsequent release of SQ, which formed H-aggregates and significantly increased the photoacoustic (PA) signal. We believed that this self-assembled polymer-peptide nanotherapeutics incorporating built-in reporters has great potential for high antitumor performance and in situ treatment evaluation.

We present here a specific targeting nanocarrier system by functionalization of liposomes with one new type of breast cancer targeting peptide (H6, YLFFVFER) by a micromixer with high efficiency. Antitumor drugs could be successfully delivered into human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive breast cancer cells with high efficiency in both in vivo and ex vivo models.

Abraxane, an FDA-approved albumin-bound nanoparticle (NP) form of paclitaxel (PTX) to treat breast cancer and nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), has been demonstrated to be more effective than the original Taxol, the single molecule form. We have established a cell line from NSCLC A549 cells to be resistant to Abraxane. To further understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the NP drug resistance, global protein expression profiles of Abraxane sensitive (A549) and resistant cells (A549/Abr), along with the treatment of Abraxane, have been obtained by a quantitative proteomic approach. The most significantly differentially expressed proteins are associated with lipid metabolism, cell cycle, cytoskeleton, apoptosis pathways and processes, suggesting several mechanisms are working synergistically in A549 Abraxane-resistant cells. Overexpression of proteins in the lipid metabolism processes, such as E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase RNF139 (RNF139) and Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA synthase (HMGCS1), have not been reported previously in the study of paclitaxel resistance, suggesting possibly different mechanism between nanoparticle and single molecular drug resistance. In particular, RNF139 is one of the most up-regulated proteins in A549 Abraxane-resistant cell line, but remains no change when the resistant cells were further treated with Abraxane and down-regulated in the sensitive cells after 4 h treatment of Abraxane. This study shows the use of a proteomic strategy to understand the unique response of drug resistant cells to a nanoparticle therapeutic.

Peptides are excellent biointerface molecules and diagnostic probes with many advantages such as good penetration, short turnover time, and low cost. We report here an efficient peptide screening strategy based on in situ single bead sequencing on a microarray. Two novel peptides YLFFVFER (H6) and KLRLEWNR (H10) specifically binding to the tumor biomarker human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) with aKD of 10(-8) M were obtained from a 10(5) library. Conjugated to nanoparticles, both the H6 and H10 probes showed specific accumulation in HER2-positive tumor tissues in xenografted mice by in vivo imaging.

Peptide ligands as targeting probes for in vivo imaging and drug delivery have attracted great interest in the biomedical community. However, high affinity and specificity screening of large peptide libraries remains a tedious process. Here, we report a continuous-flow microfluidic method for one-bead-one-compound (OBOC) combinatorial peptide library screening. We screened a library with 2 × 10(5) peptide beads within 4 h and discovered 140 noncanonical peptide hits targeting the tumor marker, aminopeptidase N (APN). Using the Clustal algorithm, we identified the conserved sequence Tyr-XX-Tyr in the N terminal. We demonstrated that the novel sequence YVEYHLC peptides have both nanomolar affinity and high specificity for APN in ex vivo and in vivo models. We envision that the successful demonstration of this integrated novel nanotechnology for peptide screening and identification open a new avenue for rapid discovery of new peptide-based reagents for disease diagnostics and therapeutics.

Microfluidics based continuous cell electroporation is an appealing approach for high-throughput cell transfection, but cell viability of existing methods is usually compromised by adverse electrical or hydrodynamic effects. Here we present the validation of a flow-through cell electroporation microchip, in which dielectrophoretic force was employed to sort viable cells. By integrating parallel electroporation electrodes and dielectrophoresis sorting electrodes together in a simple straight microfluidic channel, sufficient electrical pulses were applied for efficient electroporation, and a proper sinusoidal electrical field was subsequently utilized to exclude damaged cells by dielectrophoresis. Thus, the difficulties for seeking the fine balance between electrotransfection efficiency and cell viability were steered clear. After careful investigation and optimization of the DEP behaviors of electroporated cells, efficient electrotransfection of plasmid DNA was demonstrated in vulnerable neuron cells and several hard-to-transfect primary cell types with excellent cell viability. This microchip constitutes a novel way of continuous cell transfection to significantly improve the cell viability of existing methodologies.

Exosomes are endosome-derived membrane vesicles carrying proteins and nucleic acids that are involved in cellular functions such as intercellular communication, protein and RNA secretion, and antigen presentation. Therefore, exosomes serve as potential biomarkers for many diseases including cancer. Because exosomes are difficult to enrich or purify from biofluids, quantification of exosomes is tedious and inaccurate. Here, we present a real-time, label-free, and quantitative method to detect and characterize tumor-derived exosomes without enrichment or purification. Utilizing surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) in combination with antibody microarrays specific to the extracellular domains of exosome membrane proteins, exosomes in tumor cell culture medium can be quantitatively detected. We found a positive correlation between the metastatic potential of tumor cell lines and exosome secretion. This method provides an easy, efficient, and novel way to detect exosome secretion and thus an avenue toward the diagnosis and prognosis prediction of cancer.

Blood is an ideal window for viewing our health and disease status. Because blood circulates throughout the entire body and carries secreted, shed, and excreted signature proteins from every organ and tissue type, it is thus possible to use the blood proteome to achieve a comprehensive assessment of multiple-organ physiology and pathology. To date, the blood proteome has been frequently examined for diseases of individual organs; studies on compound insults impacting multiple organs are, however, elusive. We believe that a characterization of peripheral blood for organ-specific proteins affords a powerful strategy to allow early detection, staging, and monitoring of diseases and their treatments at a whole-body level. In this paper we test this hypothesis by examining a mouse model of acetaminophen (APAP)-induced hepatic and extra-hepatic toxicity. We used a glycocapture-assisted global quantitative proteomics (gagQP) approach to study serum proteins and validated our results using Western blot. We discovered in mouse sera both hepatic and extra-hepatic organ-specific proteins. From our validation, it was determined that selected organ-specific proteins had changed their blood concentration during the course of toxicity development and recovery. Interestingly, the peak responding time of proteins specific to different organs varied in a time-course study. The collected molecular information shed light on a complex, dynamic, yet interweaving, multiorgan-enrolled APAP toxicity. The developed technique as well as the identified protein markers is translational to human studies. We hope our work can broaden the utility of blood proteomics in diagnosis and research of the whole-body response to pathogenic cues.