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Gas‐mediated sonodynamic therapy (SDT) has the potential to become an effective strategy to improve the therapeutic outcome and survival rate of cancer patients. Herein, titanium sulfide nanosheets (TiSX NSs) are prepared as cascade bioreactors for sequential gas–sonodynamic cancer therapy. TiSX NSs themselves as hydrogen sulfide (H2S) donors can burst release H2S gas. Following H2S generation, TiSX NSs are gradually degraded to become S‐defective and partly oxidized into TiOX on their surface, which endows TiSX NSs with high sonodynamic properties under ultrasound (US) irradiation. In vitro and in vivo experiments show the excellent therapeutic effects of TiSX NSs. In detail, large amounts of H2S gas and reactive oxygen species (ROS) can simultaneously inhibit mitochondrial respiration and ATP synthesis, leading to cancer cell apoptosis. Of note, H2S gas also plays important roles in modulating and activating the immune system to effectively inhibit pulmonary metastasis. Finally, the metabolizable TiSX NSs are excreted out of the body without inducing any significant long‐term toxicity. Collectively, this work establishes a cascade bioreactor of TiSX NSs with satisfactory H2S release ability and excellent ROS generation properties under US irradiation for programmed gas–sonodynamic cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is an effective strategy for rapid gene function analysis. It is well established that the NAC transcription factor and salicylic acid (SA) signal pathway play essential roles in response to biotic stresses. However, simultaneous silencing of two target genes using VIGS in plants has been rarely reported. Therefore, in this report, we performed VIGS to silence simultaneously the SA-binding protein 2 (NbSABP2) and NbNAC1 in Nicotiana benthamiana to investigate the gene silencing efficiency of simultaneous silencing of two genes. We first cloned the full-length NbNAC1 gene, and the characterization of NbNAC1 was also analysed. Overlap extension polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis showed that the combination of NbSABP2 and NbNAC1 was successfully amplified. Bacteria liquid PCR confirmed that the combination of NbSABP2 and NbNAC1 was successfully inserted into the tobacco rattle virus vector. The results showed that the leaves from the NbSABP2 and NbNAC1 gene-silenced plants collapsed slightly, with browning at the base of petiole or veina. Quantitative real-time PCR results showed that the expression of NbSABP2 and NbNAC1 were significantly reduced in 12 days post silenced plants after tobacco rattle virus infiltration compared with the control plants. Overall, our results suggest that VIGS can be used to silence simultaneously two target genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the feasibility ofMoringa oleiferaseed cake powder (MOSCP), a natural product after oil extraction, for Congo red (CR) removal from aqueous solution. Coagulation experiments indicated that CR was efficiently removed by MOSCP in short time. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy spectra showed that large amount of proteins was contained in MOSCP. The removal of CR was contributed to both the adsorption and charge neutralization of proteins on the surface of MOSCP particles, and nucleation of these particles. No significant impact of solution pH was observed on CR removal under acid and neutral conditions, but the CR removal decreased remarkably with increasing pH under basic condition. An optimal MOSCP dosage was found that was linearly proportional to CR initial concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Oxygen-deficient molybdenum oxide (MoO X ) nanomaterials are prepared as novel nanosensitizers and TME-stimulants for ultrasound (US)-enhanced cancer metalloimmunotherapy. After PEGylation, MoO X -PEG exhibits efficient capability for US-triggered reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and glutathione (GSH) depletion. Under US irradiation, MoO X -PEG generates a massive amount of ROS to induce cancer cell damage and immunogenic cell death (ICD), which can effectively suppress tumor growth. More importantly, MoO X -PEG itself further stimulates the maturation of dendritic cells (DCs) and triggeres the activation of the cGAS-STING pathway to enhance the immunological effect. Due to the robust ICD induced by SDT and efficient DC maturation stimulated by MoO X -PEG, the combination treatment of MoO X -triggered SDT and aCTLA-4 further amplifies antitumor therapy, inhibits cancer metastases, and elicits robust immune responses to effectively defeat abscopal tumors., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

The further bioapplications of sonodynamic therapy (SDT) were hindered by the inadequate efficiency and poor degradability of sonosensitizers and the hypoxic tumor microenvironment (TME). Therefore, it is ideal to develop pH-sensitive sonosensitizers that generate abundant reactive oxygen species (ROS) and rapidly degrade in a neutral environment while slowly degrading in an acidic environment to reduce their long-term toxicity. Herein, the defective tungsten oxide nanobelts (WO x NBs) were developed as a type of pH-sensitive and biodegradable sonosensitizers with a high SDT efficiency and low toxicity for enhanced SDT. The defective oxygen sites of WO x NBs could inhibit the recombination of electrons and holes, making WO x NBs promising sonosensitizers that could generate abundant ROS under ultrasound (US) irradiation. Enhanced by the catalase (CAT) that reacted with H 2 O 2 to generate O 2 , the WO x NBs exhibited better SDT performance against 4T1 cells in both normoxic and hypoxic environments. In addition, the WO x NBs could degrade by releasing protons (H + ), resulting in intracellular acidification and inhibited cell motility that further enhanced the therapeutic effects of SDT. Assisted with CAT and ALG for hypoxia refinement and better retention, the WO x NBs enabled effective SDT and antimetastasis against 4T1 tumors in vivo . Most importantly, the WO x NBs could degrade rapidly in normal tissues but slowly in an acidic TME, which was favorable for their fast clearance, without any obvious long-term toxicity. Our work developed defective WO x NBs with a high SDT efficiency and pH-sensitive degradation for enhanced SDT, which extended the biomedical application of tungsten-based nanomaterials and the further development of SDT.