Latest ArticlesVenetoclax (Vene), a BCL-2 inhibitor, is widely used as a chemotherapeutic drug in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, its treatment specificity for leukemia cells is limited, often leading to side effects and treatment resistance. In this study, we utilized l-phenylalanine as an efficient nanocarrier to enhance the delivery of Vene, forming the complex Vene@8P6. This complex was then applied to AML mouse models and human AML cell lines. The in vitro analysis showed that THP-1 and HL60 cells rapidly absorbed the Vene@8P6 nanoparticles. This absorption resulted in severe DNA damage, increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, elevated apoptosis rates, and decreased cell proliferation compared to the administration of Vene alone. In vivo studies demonstrated that Vene@8P6 more efficiently targeted leukemia cells than normal hematopoietic cells within the bone marrow and other major organs in AML mice, as evidenced by bioluminescence imaging and flow cytometry analysis. Furthermore, Vene@8P6 treatment resulted in reduced drug side effects and improved therapeutic efficacy in AML mice. Overall, Vene@8P6 represents a novel and efficient therapeutic agent for AML, offering enhanced leukemia target specificity, reduced side effects, and improved treatment outcomes.
Programmed cell death protein 1/programmed cell death 1 ligand 1(PD-1/PD-L1) protein-protein interaction represents an appealing target for cancer therapy. Several antibody drugs have been developed to target this interaction, but they are less effective in the treatment of melanoma. To overcome the limitations, the first proteolysis-targeting chimeric (PROTAC) small molecules simultaneously targeting PD-L1 and Src homology phosphotyrosyl phosphatase 2 (SHP2) were designed. By employment of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors BMS01 or BMS-37, SHP2 inhibitor SHP099 and E3 ligase ligands, a series of potent PD-L1 and SHP2 dual PROTACs were synthesized. The most promising compounds BS-7C-V2 and BS327V2 efficiently induced PD-L1 and SHP2 degradation and demonstrated significantly improved immune potency in B16-F10 and A375 cell lines. More importantly, the efficacy of BS-7C-V2 and BS327V2 in a B16-F10 transplanted mouse model was further evaluated based on their degradation ability in vivo. Taken together, our work qualifies the new dual PROTACs as a potent degrader of PD-L1 and SHP2. The biological and mechanism investigations with BS-7C-V2 and BS327V2 prove that dual PROTACs can play an anti-tumor role in vivo and in vitro, and can provide a new therapeutic strategy for melanoma.
Pollutants contained in wastewater pose serious harm to the environment. Graphene-based water treatment materials show significant advantages in wastewater treatment. However, with the development of graphene-based materials, its progress in water treatment has reached a bottleneck. The challenge lies in effectively enhancing its performance in water treatment and ensuring its practicality. By employing biomimetic approaches, some exceptional properties and structures found in nature can be mimicked in graphene materials, effectively enhancing graphene’s adsorption and mechanical properties. Current biomimetic methods include biomimetic mineralization, self-assembly, and templating. unfortunately, all of the above methods suffer from the disadvantages of complexity and poor bionic effect. Nevertheless, 3D printing, a form of additive manufacturing (AM) technology, offers integrated molding and excellent biomimetic performance in creating biomimetic materials. This paper will cover the following aspects: (1) An overview of objects suitable for bionics in terms of functional and structural aspects, along with their properties, and a discussion of various bionic objects combined with graphene materials in water treatment and related research; (2) a comparison of different methods for preparing graphene-based bionic materials; (3) an examination of the current drawbacks and limitations of graphene-based biomimetic materials; and (4) a conclusion and future prospects, exploring the potential of using 3D printing technology to produce graphene biomimetic materials. This review aims to serve as a guide for effectively leveraging natural inspirations to create graphene-based biomimetic materials and enhance graphene properties.
H2O2 is an environmentally friendly oxidizing agent with minimal secondary pollution; however, its application has always been constrained by factors such as storage and transportation. In this study, we propose an innovative method for storing and releasing H2O2 using hydrogels. Commercial hydrogels (sodium polyacrylate) can undergo swelling and absorb H2O2 in aqueous solutions, and the swollen hydrogel can continuously release H2O2 under osmotic pressure. And the characteristics of osmotic pressure drive ensure the recyclability of hydrogel for H2O2 storage. Experimental results demonstrate that H2O2 can stably exist within the hydrogel for an extended period, and this strategy helps to avoid explosion the risk and potential environmental hazards during the transportation of H2O2. Finally, experiments confirm that the hydrogel controlled sustained release of H2O2 is effective in both Fenton reactions and the process of bacterial inactivation. This work introduces new ideas for the storage of H2O2, and the sustained release of H2O2 may have significant implications in the fields of healthcare, environmental science, catalysis, and beyond.
Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are a class of promising carbon-based nanomaterials that have attracted considerable interest from researchers due to their excellent physical, chemical, and biological properties. However, the high cost, toxicity, and laborious preparation process of GQDs also limit their widespread use. To address this issue, the actual research directions consist in replacing traditional non-renewable feedstocks via screening cheap, easily available, and renewable biomass materials based on the concept of resource conservation and environmental friendliness. Herein, the state-of-the-art technologies in the green preparation of GQDs using biomass as carbon source are reported. Initially, the green synthesis strategies as well as the structural, optical, and biosafety properties of GQDs are discussed in detail. Subsequently, the most representative applications of GQDs in energy and environmental remediation fields are summarized. Finally, the current challenges and future potential of the GQDs are presented.
Although the powder Fenton-like catalysts have exhibited high catalytic performances towards pollutant degradation, they cannot be directly used for Fenton-like industrialization considering the problems of loss and recovery. Therefore, the membrane fixation of catalyst is an important step to realize the actual application of Fenton-like catalysts. In this work, an efficient catalyst was developed with Co-Nx configuration facilely reconstructed on the surface of Co3O4 (Co-Nx/Co3O4), which exhibited superior catalytic activity. We further fixed the highly efficient Co-Nx/Co3O4 onto three kinds of organic membranes and one kind of inorganic ceramic membrane installing with the residual PMS treatment device to investigate its catalytic stability and sustainability. Results indicated that the inorganic ceramic membrane (CM) can achieve high water flux of 710 L m-2 h-1, and the similar water flux can be achieved by Co-Nx/Co3O4/CM even without the pressure extraction. We also employed the Co-Nx/Co3O4/CM system to the wastewater secondary effluent, and the pollutant in complicated secondary effluent could be highly removed by the Co-Nx/Co3O4/CM system. This paper provides a new point of view for the application of metal-based catalysts with M-Nx coordination in catalytic reaction device.
Although diverse signal-amplified methods have been committed to improve the sensitivity of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensing, introducing convenient and robust signal amplification strategy into SPR biosensing remains challenging. Here, a novel nanozyme-triggered polymerization amplification strategy was proposed for constructing highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance (SPR) immunosensor. In detail, Au@Pd core-shell nanooctahedra nanozyme with superior peroxidase (POD)-like activity was synthesized and utilized as a label probe. Simultaneously, Au@Pd core-shell nanooctahedra nanozyme can catalyze the decomposition of H2O2 to form hydroxyl radicals (•OH) that triggers the polymerization of aniline to form polyaniline attaching on the surface of sensor chip, significantly amplifying SPR responses. The sensitivity of SPR immunosensor was enhanced by nanozyme-triggered polymerization amplification strategy. Using human immunoglobulin G (HIgG) as a model, the constructed SPR immunosensor obtains a wide linear range of 0.005–1.0 µg/mL with low detection limit of 0.106 ng/mL. This research provides new sights on establishing sensitive SPR immunosensor and may evokes more inspiration for developing signal amplification methods based on nanozyme in biosensing.
Invasive fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS), inflammatory macrophages and osteoclasts are the main three contributors to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) progression by promoting synovial inflammation and destructing cartilage and bone. Targeting these three cell types for restoring the inflammatory homeostasis microenvironment may be a promising anti-RA strategy. Herein, we prepared a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-responsive micelles (DPTM) to co-load dexamethasone (DEX) and pristimerin (PRI) for RA therapy. This ROS-responsive system exhibits the following advantages: (1) It makes use of the "ELVIS" effect for passive delivery and targeting the ROS environment of RA-related cells to rapidly release the payload drugs DEX and PRI. (2) Compared with free drugs, DPTM showed stronger effect on the inhibition of RA-FLS proliferation and the promotion of RA-FLS apoptosis. Moreover, DPTM could significantly weaken the migration ability of RA-FLS as indicated by the results of wound healing assay and transwell assay. (3) DPTM exerted stronger cellular uptake and anti-inflammatory effect in M1 macrophages. (4) In the model studying receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL)-induced differentiation of bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) to osteoclasts, DPTM showed a stronger inhibitory activity on osteoclast formation as compared to free drugs. Taken together, these results highlighted the potential of DPTM for targeted RA therapy via inhibition of RA-FLS abnormal activation, macrophage polarization and osteoclastogenesis.
The significance of axial chiral compounds in asymmetric organic catalysis, functional materials, and pharmaceutical useful molecules has encouraged advancements in the atroposelective synthesis of such compounds. Herein, we report the first atroposelective construction of axially chiral N-aryl benzimidazoles catalyzed by a polymer-supported chiral phosphoric acid. A varied library of atropisomers has been synthesized in 30%-96% yield with 58%-98% enantiomeric excess (ee) under a straightforward reaction setup (without the use of molecular sieves). Notably, even after 12 cycles, the immobilized catalyst maintained its reactivity and selectivity (TON > 540).
Benziodazole-triflate, as a novel heterocyclic hypervalent iodine(Ⅲ) reagent, was prepared from the reaction of hypervalent chloroiodine(Ⅲ) with silver triflate under mild conditions. The structure of this new reagent was elucidated by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography, and its reactions with diverse α-electron withdrawing group substituted carbonyl compounds were investigated. The results implied that benziodazole-triflate could be selectively used as both a 2-iodobenzamido-transfer reagent for the synthesis of oxazole compounds, and a triflate-transfer reagent for the triflation of β-keto-sulfones. Ionic mechanistic pathways, supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, were proposed to account for the divergent selectivities of the transformations.