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Actualizing highly efficient solution-processed thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) at high brightness becomes significant to the popularization of purely organic electroluminescence. Herein, a highly soluble emitter benzene-1,3,5-triyltris((4-(9,9-dimethylacridin-10(9H)-yl)phenyl)methanone was developed, yielding high delayed fluorescence rate (kTADF > 105 s−1) ascribed to the multitransition channels and tiny singlet–triplet splitting energy (ΔEST ≈ 32.7 meV). The triplet locally excited state is 0.38 eV above the lowest triplet charge-transfer state, assuring a solely thermal equilibrium route for reverse intersystem crossing. Condensed state solvation effect unveils a hidden “trade-off”: the reverse upconversion and triplet concentration quenching processes can be promoted but with a reduced radiative rate from the increased dopant concentration and the more polarized surroundings. Striking a delicate balance, corresponding vacuum-evaporated and solution-processed TADF-OLEDs realized maximum external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of ≈26% and ≈22% with extremely suppressed efficiency roll-off. Notably, the wet-processed one achieves to date the highest EQEs of 20.7%, 18.5%, 17.1%, and 13.6%, among its counterparts at the luminance of 1000, 3000, 5000, and 10 000 cd m−2, respectively.

Xinyi Cai,1,* Kun Yu,1,* Lijuan Zhang,2 Yunfeng Li,1 Qiang Li,1 Zhibin Yang,1 Tao Shen,1 Lincan Duan,3 Wei Xiong,1 Weiya Wang11Colorectal Cancer Center, 2Department of Pathology, 3Department of Thoracic Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract: The Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway not only plays important roles in embryogenesis and adult tissue homeostasis, but also in tumorigenesis. Aberrant Hh pathway activation has been reported in a variety of malignant tumors including colon carcinoma. Here, we sought to investigate the regulation of the Hh pathway transcription factor Gli1 by arsenic trioxide and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor LY294002 in colon carcinoma cells. We transfected cells with siGli1 and observed a significant reduction of Gli1 expression in HCT116 and HT29 cells, which was confirmed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blots. Knocking down endogenous Gli1 reduced colon carcinoma cell viability through inducing cell apoptosis. Similarly, knocking down Gli2 using short interfering RNA impaired colon carcinoma cell growth in vitro. To elucidate the regulation of Gli1 expression, we found that both Gli inhibitor arsenic trioxide and PI3K inhibitor LY294002 significantly reduced Gli1 protein expression and colon carcinoma cell proliferation. Arsenic trioxide treatment also reduced Gli1 downstream target gene expression, such as Bcl2 and CCND1. More importantly, the inhibition of Hedgehog-Gli1 by arsenic trioxide showed synergistic anticancer effect with the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 in colon carcinoma cells. Our findings suggest that the Hh pathway transcription factor Gli1 is involved in the regulation of colon carcinoma cell viability. Inhibition of Hedgehog-Gli1 expression by arsenic trioxide and PI3K inhibitor synergistically reduces colon cancer cell proliferation, indicating that they could be used as an effective anti-colon cancer combination therapy. Keywords: colon carcinoma cell, Hedgehog pathway, Gli, PI3K, LY294002, arsenic trioxide

By introducing an acceptor which contains double sulfonyl groups and a twisted biphenyl core, an efficient blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitter is successfully developed. Comparative study and analysis are carried out on it with an analogous molecule, which also imports two sulfonyl groups as acceptors and exactly same donor units but shows stretched shape and displays green emission. Results of quantum chemistry computation estimate that the introduction of such a twisted backbone is beneficial to increase energies of both singlet and triplet states. As a contrast to its counterpart, the newly developed blue emission compound with contorted structure enables a desirable emission with a peak wavelength of 460 nm and superior photoluminescence quantum yield up to 82%. Moreover, remarkable external quantum efficiency over 24% and Commission International de l'Eclairage coordinates with total (x + y) value

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common cause of cancer-related death in both men and women worldwide. Recently, Disulfiram has been reported to be able to inhibit glioblastoma, prostate, or breast cancer cell proliferation. In this study, the synergistic effect of Disulfiram and copper on NSCLC cell growth was investigated. Inhibition of cancer cell proliferation was detected by 1-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-3,5-diphenylformazan (MTT) assay and cell cycle analysis. Liquid colony formation and tumor spheroid formation assays were used to evaluate their effect on cancer cell clonogenicity. Real-time PCR was performed to test the mRNA level of cancer stem cell related genes. We found that Disulfiram or copper alone did not potently inhibit NSCLC cell proliferation in vitro. However, the presence of copper significantly enhanced inhibitory effect of Disulfiram on NSCLC cell growth, indicating a synergistic effect between Disulfiram and copper. Cell cycle analysis showed that Disulfiram/copper complex caused NSCLC cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase. Furthermore, Disulfiram/copper significantly increased the sensitivity of cisplatin in NSCLC cells tested by MTT assay. Liquid colony formation assay revealed that copper dramatically increased the inhibitory effect of Disulfiram on NSCLC cell colony forming ability. Disulfiram combined with copper significantly attenuated NSCLC cell spheroid formation and recuded the mRNA expression of lung cancer stem cell related genes. Our data suggest that Disulfiram/copper complex alone or combined with other chemotherapy is a potential therapeutic strategy for NSCLC patients.

OBJECTIVES: Lymph node involvement is a key feature and an independent prognostic factor of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma. However, an accurate and robust assay to predict the lymphatic spread of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma is unavailable. The purpose of this study was to determine whether serum vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) and spleen tyrosine kinase levels are potential markers of lymph node metastasis in patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma. METHODS: In the study, 108 patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma and 24 healthy subjects participated. Serum spleen tyrosine kinase and VEGF-C concentrations were examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. RESULTS: Patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma had significantly elevated VEGF-C and decreased spleen tyrosine kinase in serum when compared with normal controls (P< 0.05). Pearson’s correlation analysis revealed that serum spleen tyrosine kinase was negatively correlated with the serum VEGF-C level in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients (r = −0.453, P= 0.000). In addition, surgical resections of the oesophageal tumour profoundly brought both serum spleen tyrosine kinase and VEGF-C closer to the normal range at 2 weeks after operation (P< 0.05). Statistical analysis showed that enhanced serum VEGF-C and reduced spleen tyrosine kinase significantly correlated with the stage of regional lymph node metastasis, tumour size and the status of primary tumour extension, but not with other clinicopathological features of the patients (P< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that both serum spleen tyrosine kinase and VEGF-C levels are valuable in the preoperative evaluation of lymph node metastasis in patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Two blue fluorescent emitters were utilized to construct simplified organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and the remarkable difference in device performance was carefully illustrated. A maximum current efficiency of 4.84 cd A(-1) (corresponding to a quantum efficiency of 4.29%) with a Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) coordinate of (0.144, 0.127) was achieved by using N,N-diphenyl-4″-(1-phenyl-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)-[1, 1':4', 1″-terphenyl]-4-amine (BBPI) as a non-doped emission layer of the simplified blue OLEDs without carrier-transport layers. In addition, simplified fluorescent/phosphorescent (F/P) hybrid warm white OLEDs without carrier-transport layers were fabricated by utilizing BBPI as (1) the blue emitter and (2) the host of a complementary yellow phosphorescent emitter (PO-01). A maximum current efficiency of 36.8 cd A(-1) and a maximum power efficiency of 38.6 lm W(-1) were achieved as a result of efficient energy transfer from the host to the guest and good triplet exciton confinement on the phosphorescent molecules. The blue and white OLEDs are among the most efficient simplified fluorescent blue and F/P hybrid white devices, and their performance is even comparable to that of most previously reported complicated multi-layer devices with carrier-transport layers.