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Circular RNAs (circRNAs) generated by back-splicing of precursor mRNAs (pre-mRNAs) are often aberrantly expressed in cancer cells. Accumulating evidence has revealed that circRNAs play a critical role in the progression of several cancers, including colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the current understandings of the emerging functions of circRNAs in CRC lipid metabolism and the underlying molecular mechanisms are still limited. Here, we aimed to explore the role of circCAPRIN1 in regulating CRC lipid metabolism and tumorigenesis.circRNA microarray was performed with three pairs of tumor and non-tumor tissues from CRC patients. The expression of circRNAs were determined by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and in situ hybridization (ISH). The endogenous levels of circRNAs in CRC cells were manipulated by transfection with lentiviruses overexpressing or silencing circRNAs. The regulatory roles of circRNAs in the occurrence of CRC were investigated both in vitro and in vivo using gene expression array, RNA pull-down/mass spectrometry, RNA immunoprecipitation assay, luciferase reporter assay, chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis, and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).Among circRNAs, circCAPRIN1 was most significantly upregulated in CRC tissue specimens. circCAPRIN1 expression was positively correlated with the clinical stage and unfavorable prognosis of CRC patients. Downregulation of circCAPRIN1 suppressed proliferation, migration, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of CRC cells, while circCAPRIN1 overexpression had opposite effects. RNA sequencing and gene ontology analysis indicated that circCAPRIN1 upregulated the expressions of genes involved in CRC lipid metabolism. Moreover, circCAPRIN1 promoted lipid synthesis by enhancing Acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (ACC1) expression. Further mechanistic assays demonstrated that circCAPRIN1 directly bound signal transducer and activator of transcription 2 (STAT2) to activate ACC1 transcription, thus regulating lipid metabolism and facilitating CRC tumorigenesis.These findings revealed the oncogenic role and mechanism of circCAPRIN1 in CRC. circCAPRIN1 interacted with STAT2 to promote CRC tumor progression and lipid synthesis by enhancing the expression of ACC1. circCAPRIN1 may be considered as a novel potential diagnostic and therapeutic target for CRC patients.

Background Although programmed cell death‐ligand 1 (PD‐L1) plays a well‐known function in immune checkpoint response by interacting with programmed cell death‐1 (PD‐1), the cell‐intrinsic role of PD‐L1 in tumors is still unclear. Here, we explored the molecular regulatory mechanism of PD‐L1 in the progression and metastasis of ovarian cancer. Methods Immunohistochemistry of benign tissues and ovarian cancer samples was performed, followed by migration, invasion, and angiogenesis assays in PD‐L1‐knockdown ovarian cancer cells. Immunoprecipitation, mass spectrometry, and chromatin immunoprecipitation were conducted along with zebrafish and mouse experiments to explore the specific functions and mechanisms of PD‐L1 in ovarian cancer. Results Our results showed that PD‐L1 induced angiogenesis, which further promoted cell migration and invasion in vitro and in vivo of ovarian cancer. Mechanistically, PD‐L1 was identified to directly interact with vascular endothelial growth factor receptor‐2 (VEGFR2) and then activated the FAK/AKT pathway, which further induced angiogenesis and tumor progression, leading to poor prognosis of ovarian cancer patients. Meanwhile, PD‐L1 was found to be regulated by the oncogenic transcription factor c‐JUN at the transcriptional level, which enhanced the expression of PD‐L1 in ovarian cancer. Furthermore, we demonstrated that PD‐L1 inhibitor durvalumab, combined with the antiangiogenic drug, apatinib, could enhance the effect of anti‐angiogenesis and the inhibition of cell migration and invasion. Conclusion Our results demonstrated that PD‐L1 promoted the angiogenesis and metastasis of ovarian cancer by participating in the c‐JUN/VEGFR2 signaling axis, suggesting that the combination of PD‐L1 inhibitor and antiangiogenic drugs may be considered as a potential therapeutic approach for ovarian cancer patients., This manuscript demonstrated that PD‐L1 promoted the angiogenesis and metastasis of ovarian cancer by participating in the c‐JUN/VEGFR2 signaling axis, and suggested that the combination of PD‐L1 inhibitor and antiangiogenic drugs may be considered as a potential therapeutic approach for ovarian cancer patients.

Background Ischemic heart disease is an imperative cause of high morbidity and mortality globally. The cardiac ischemia/reperfusion damage occur in both reperfusion and ischemia. Objective In this exploration, we have planned to examine the cardio-protective action of phyllanthin against the myocardial ischemic-reperfusion injury in mice. Materials and methods The myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury (MI-RI) stimulated via coronary artery occlusion, followed by the 10 mg/kg of phyllanthin treatment. The serum cardiac markers and pro-inflammatory markers level was investigated by using the assay kits. The expressions of oxidative stress and inflammatory markers level were investigated by immunohistochemical analysis. Lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzymes, and ATPase levels level was examined by standard methods. The expression of oxidative stress markers were inspected by the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction technique. The heart histology was investigated microscopically. Results The phyllanthin treatment increased the body weight, and heart weight also diminished the infarct size in the MI/RI mice. Cardiac markers status was diminished and the blood pressure markers were augmented by the phyllanthin. Histological analysis revealed the protective role of phyllanthin. Suppressed lipid peroxidation and enhanced antioxidant enzymes were noted in the phyllanthin treated mice MI-RI mice. Phyllanthin appreciably suppressed the pro-inflammatory regulators that is, NF-αB p65, IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α and enhanced the antioxidant marker expressions. ATPase levels were improved by the phyllanthin in the MI-RI mice. Conclusion These novel findings were confirmed the therapeutic role of phyllanthin against the MI-RI in mice. Hence, it can be a promising agent to treat the MI-RI induced cardiac dysfunction.

Solid-state (SS) NMR spectroscopy is a powerful technique for studying challenging biological systems, but it often suffers from low sensitivity. A longitudinal relaxation optimization scheme to enhance the signal sensitivity of HSQC experiments in SSNMR spectroscopy is reported. Under the proposed scheme, the 1 H spins of 1 H-X (15 N or 13 C) are selected for signal acquisition, whereas other vast 1 H spins are flipped back to the axis of the static magnetic field to accelerate the spin recovery of the observed 1 H spins, resulting in enhanced sensitivity. Three biological systems are used to evaluate this strategy, including a seven-transmembrane protein, an RNA, and a whole-cell sample. For all three samples, the proposed scheme largely shortens the effective 1 H longitudinal relaxation time and results in a 1.3-2.5-fold gain in sensitivity. The selected systems are representative of challenging biological systems for observation by means of SSNMR spectroscopy; thus indicating the general applicability of this method, which is particularly important for biological samples with a short lifetime or with limited sample quantities.

Metal-halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) exhibit outstanding power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) when fabricated as mm-sized devices, but creation of high-performing large-area modules that are stable on a sufficiently long timescale still presents a significant challenge. Herein, the quality of large-area perovskite film is improved by using ionic liquid additives via forming a new Pb-N bonding between the ionic liquid and Pb2+. This new bond can be modulated by a critical screening of the anion structure of the ionic liquid. The selected ionic liquid effectively reduces the defects of the perovskite films and markedly elongate their carrier lifetimes. As a result, a champion PCE of 24.4% for small-area (0.148 cm2) devices and 20.4% for larger-area (10.0 cm2) modules under AM 1.5G irradiation is achieved. More importantly, the modified devices retain 90% of their peak PCE after aging for 1900 h at 65 ± 5 °C (ISOS-T-1) and 80% after continuous light soaking for 750 h. The non-encapsulated modules maintained 80% of their peak PCE after 1100 h of aging in the air with a relative humidity of 35 ± 5% and temperature of 25 ± 5 °C under dark (ISOS-D-1), showing great potential for future commercialization., This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91963209, 52002302, 22075221), the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Provincial (2020CFB172, 2020CFA087), Foshan Xianhu Laboratory of the Advanced Energy Science and Technology Guangdong Laboratory (XHD2020-001), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (WUT: 2020III032, 2021VA101, 2021IVB038). M.H. acknowledges the support from State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing (Wuhan University of Technology) and SRR acknowledges the support from ‘laCaixa’ Foundation (ID 100010434) with fellowship code LCF/BQ/PI20/11760024.

The structures of RNAs, which play critical roles in various biological processes, provide important clues and insights into the biological functions of these molecules. However, RNA structure determination remains a challenging topic. In recent years, magic-angle-spinning solid-state NMR (MAS SSNMR) has emerged as an alternative technique for structural and dynamic characterization of RNA. MAS SSNMR has been successfully applied to provide atomic-level structural information about several RNA molecules and RNA-protein complexes. In this Minireview, we give an overview of recent progress in the field of MAS SSNMR based RNA structural characterization, and introduce sample preparation strategies and SSNMR spectroscopic techniques that have been incorporated to identify RNA structural elements. We also highlight a few impressive examples of RNAs that have been investigated extensively by SSNMR. Finally, we briefly discuss future technical trends in the use of MAS SSNMR to facilitate RNA structure determination.

As an extensively studied quality control system, autophagy is responsible for clearance of dysfunctional organelles and damaged marcomolecules in cells. In addition to its biological recycling function, autophagy plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of metabolic syndromes such as obesity and diabetes. In particular, metabolic disorders contribute to cardiovascular disease development. As energy required to maintain cardiac cells functional is immense, disturbances in the balance between anabolic and catabolic metabolism possibly contribute to cardiovascular disorders. Therefore, an urgent need to expand our knowledge on the role of autophagy on the metabolic regulation of hearts emerges. In this review, the potential relationship between autophagic activity and cardiac metabolism is explored and we also discuss how dysregulated autophagy leads to severe cardiac disorders from the perspective of metabolic control.