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Increasing evidences suggest that circular RNAs (circ RNAs) exert crucial functions in regulating gene expression. In this study, we perform RNA-seq and identify 6,154 distinct circ RNAs from human bladder cancer and normal bladder tissues. We find that hundreds of circ RNAs are significantly dysregulated in human bladder cancer tissues. We further show that circ HIPK3, also named bladder cancer-related circular RNA-2 ( BCRC-2), is significantly down-regulated in bladder cancer tissues and cell lines, and negatively correlates with bladder cancer grade, invasion as well as lymph node metastasis, respectively. Over-expression of circ HIPK3 effectively inhibits migration, invasion, and angiogenesis of bladder cancer cells in vitro and suppresses bladder cancer growth and metastasis in vivo. Mechanistic studies reveal that circ HIPK3 contains two critical binding sites for the micro RNA miR-558 and can abundantly sponge miR-558 to suppress the expression of heparanase ( HPSE). Taken together, our findings provide evidence that circ RNAs act as 'micro RNA sponges', and suggest a new therapeutic target for the treatment of bladder cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanofiltration (NF) technology is pivotal for ensuring a sustainable and reliable supply of clean water. To address the critical need for advanced thin-film composite (TFC) polyamide (PA) membranes with exceptional permselectivity and fouling resistance for emerging contaminant purification, we introduce a novel high-performance NF membrane. This membrane features a selective polypiperazine (PIP) layer functionalized with amino-containing quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) through an in situ interfacial polycondensation reaction. Our investigation demonstrated that precise QAC functionalization enabled the construction of the selective PA layer with increased surface area, enhanced microporosity, stronger electronegativity, and reduced thickness compared to the control PIP membrane. As a result, the QAC NF membrane exhibited an approximately 51% increase in water permeance compared to the control PIP membrane, while achieving superior retention capabilities for divalent salts (>99%) and emerging organic contaminants (>90%). Furthermore, the incorporation of QACs into the PIP selective layer was proved to be effective in mitigating mineral scaling by allowing selective passage of scale-forming cations, while simultaneously exhibiting strong antimicrobial properties to combat biofouling. The in situ QAC incorporation strategy presented in this study provides valuable guidelines for the fit-for-purpose design of the selective PA layer, which is crucial for the development of high-performance NF membranes for efficient water purification.

Increasing evidences suggest that circular RNAs (circRNAs) exert crucial functions in regulating gene expression. In this study, we perform RNA-seq and identify 6,154 distinct circRNAs from human bladder cancer and normal bladder tissues. We find that hundreds of circRNAs are significantly dysregulated in human bladder cancer tissues. We further show that circHIPK3, also named bladder cancer-related circular RNA-2 (BCRC-2), is significantly down-regulated in bladder cancer tissues and cell lines, and negatively correlates with bladder cancer grade, invasion as well as lymph node metastasis, respectively. Over-expression of circHIPK3 effectively inhibits migration, invasion, and angiogenesis of bladder cancer cells in vitro and suppresses bladder cancer growth and metastasis in vivo Mechanistic studies reveal that circHIPK3 contains two critical binding sites for the microRNA miR-558 and can abundantly sponge miR-558 to suppress the expression of heparanase (HPSE). Taken together, our findings provide evidence that circRNAs act as "microRNA sponges", and suggest a new therapeutic target for the treatment of bladder cancer., (© 2017 The Authors.)