Latest ArticlesAs a vital negative regulator of Wnt signaling pathway, human Notum (hNotum) plays a crucial regulatory role in the progression of many human diseases. Deciphering the relevance of hNotum to human diseases requires practical and reliable tools for visualizing hNotum activity in living systems. Herein, an enzyme-activatable fluorogenic tool (IR-783 octanoate) was rationally engineered for sensing and imaging hNotum activity in living systems by integrating computer-aided molecular design and biochemical assays. IR-783 octanoate showed good optical properties, excellent specificity and high binding-affinity towards hNotum (Km = 0.98 µmol/L). IR-783 octanoate could be well up-taken into the cancerous cells or tumors that over-expressed organic anion transporting polypeptides (OATPs), and then hydrolyzed by cellular hNotum to release free IR-783 ketone, which created brightly fluorescent signals around 646 nm. Further investigations showed that IR-783 octanoate achieved a good performance for in-situ functional imaging of hNotum in both living cells, cancerous tissues and organs. It was also found that some SW620 cells with multipolar spindles could be stained by IR-783 octanoate to emit extremely bright signals, suggesting that this agent could be used as a novel visualizing tool for tracing the cells undergoing abnormal cell mitoses. Collectively, this study devises a highly specific fluorogenic tool for in-situ functional imaging of hNotum in living systems, which offers a practical and reliable tool to dynamically track the changes in hNotum activity under various conditions.
Triple-negative breast cancer, due to its aggressive nature and lack of targeted treatment, faces serious challenges in breast cancer treatment. Conventional therapies, such as chemotherapy, are encumbered by a range of limitations, and there is an urgent need for more effective treatment strategies. Ferroptosis, as an iron-dependent form of cell death, has exhibited promising potential in cancer treatment. Combining ferroptosis with other cancer therapies offers new avenues for treatment. Tetrahedral DNA nanostructure (TDN), a novel DNA-based three-dimensional (3D) nanomaterial, is promising drug delivery vehicle and can be utilized for functionalizing inorganic nanomaterials. In this work, we have demonstrated the preparation of Fe3O4-PEI@TDN-DOX nanocomposites and elucidated their antitumor mechanism. The TDN facilitated the enhanced cellular uptake of polyetherimide (PEI)-modified Fe3O4, and the delivery of the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin (DOX) further augmented their anti-tumor effect. This novel strategy can destroy the tumor redox homeostasis and produce overwhelming lipid peroxides, consequently sensitizing the tumor to ferroptosis. The integration of ferroptosis with other cancer therapies opens up new possibilities for treatment. This research provides valuable mechanistic insights and practical strategies for leveraging nanotechnology to induce ferroptosis and amplify its impact on tumor cells.
Metal batteries have attracted considerable attention from researchers because of their low reduction voltage and high specific capacity. However, the reduction in the capacity and lifespan of batteries caused by the dendrite growth of metal anode limits the development of metal batteries. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) can be used to protect metal anodes owing to their advantages of ideal specific surface area, tunable porosity, and physiochemical stability in electrolytes. Therefore, MOFs have been extensively investigated in metal batteries. The introduction of MOFs to the metal anode interface can greatly improve the performance of batteries. In this review, the synthesis methods of typical MOFs and their derivatives, their protective mechanism on the metal anode, including Li, Na, K, Zn, and Mg, and their effects on the performance of metal batteries were elucidated. This review would help to design and apply MOFs to the anode interface in metal batteries.
For the first time, proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTAC) technology was utilized to achieve the isoform-selective degradation of class Ⅰ phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks) in this study. Through screening and optimization, the PROTAC molecule ZM-PI05 was identified as a selective degrader of p110α in multiple breast cancer cells. More importantly, the degrader can down-regulate p85 regulatory subunit simultaneously, thereby inhibiting the non-enzymatic functions of PI3K that are independent on p110 catalytic subunits. Therefore, compared with PI3K inhibitor copanlisib, ZM-PI05 displayed the stronger anti-proliferative activity on breast cancer cells. In brief, a selective and efficient PROTAC molecule was developed to induce the degradation of p110α and concurrent reduction of p85 proteins, providing a tool compound for the biological study of PI3K-α by blocking its enzymatic and non-enzymatic functions.
Antibacterial agent of activatable photosensitizer not only has the advantages of traditional photosensitizers, such as good curative effect and low resistance, but also has better selectivity for bacteria and lower toxicity to normal tissues. Limited reports of activatable photosensitizer can be used to treat drug-resistant bacteria. In order to meet this challenge, we designed and synthesized an activatable photosensitizer (Ce-OHOA), which can not only selectively identify methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with high expression of β-lactamase by fluorescence imaging, but also kill MRSA with less than 10 times the concentration and 10 times the irradiation dose of CySG-2 reported. Ce-OHOA not only combines the dual functions of fluorescence diagnosis and photodynamic therapy, but also selectively acts on bacteria with high expression of β-lactamase and has little toxicity to normal cells. We expect that the study of this activating photosensitizer will provide a new solution for antibacterial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) of drug-resistant bacteria.
Rare earth ions (RE3+)-doped double perovskites have attracted tremendous attention for its fascinating optical properties. Nevertheless, RE3+ generally exhibits poor photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) for their parity-forbidden 4f-4f transition and the low doping concentration. Herein, we reported Sb3+/Sm3+-codoped rare earth-based double perovskite Cs2NaLuCl6 that enables efficient visible and near-infrared (NIR) emission, which stems from self-trapped exciton (STE) and Sm3+, respectively. Benefit from up to 72.89% energy transfer efficiency from STE to Sm3+ and high doping concentrations due to similar ionic activity between Sm3+ and Lu3+, thus eruptive PLQY of 74.58% in the visible light region and 23.12% in the NIR light region can be obtained. Moreover, Sb3+/Sm3+-codoped Cs2NaLuCl6 exhibits tunable emission characteristic in the visible light region under different excitation wavelengths, which can change from blue emission (254 nm excitation) to white emission (365 nm excitation). More particularly, only the NIR emission can be captured by the NIR camera when a 700 nm cutoff filter is added. The excellent stability and unique optical properties of Sb3+/Sm3+-codoped Cs2NaLuCl6 enable us to demonstrate its applications in NIR light-emitting diode, triple-mode fluorescence anti-counterfeiting and information encryption. These findings provide new inspiration for the application of rare earth-based double perovskite in optoelectronic devices.
Sodium (Na) metal batteries have gained increasing attention more recently, owing to their high energy densities and cost efficiencies, but are severely handicapped by the unsatisfactory Coulombic efficiency (CE) and cycling stability stemming from dendrite growth on Na anodes. In this study, we developed a strategy of direct ink writing (DIW) 3D printing combined with electroless deposition to construct a hierarchical Cu grid coated with a dense nanoscale Ag interfacial layer as the host material for Na plating. The sodiophilic Ag interface contributes to a fall in the Na nucleation energy, hence enabling uniform Na deposition on each 3D-printed filament. The constructed 3D-printed structure can effectively moderate the electric-field distribution and lower the local current density for relieving Na inhomogeneous growth, as confirmed by finite element simulation and Na plating/stripping morphology evolution results. In particular, the unique 3D structure also promotes the lateral growth of Na, thus the volume change of Na metal was accommodated to stabilize the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI). As a result, the CE of the half-cell can reach 99.9% at the current density of 1 mA/cm2 after 300 cycles and the full-cell exhibits outstanding electrochemical performance (capacity retention of 91.0% after 500 cycles at 2 C).
The complicated and diverse deep defects, voids, and grain boundary in the CZTSSe absorber are the main reasons for carrier recombination and efficiency degradation. The further improvement of the open-circuit voltage and fill factor so as to increase the efficiency of CZTSSe device is urgent. In this work, we obtained K-doped CZTSSe absorber by a simple solution method. The medium-sized K atoms, which combine the advantages of light and heavy alkali metals, are able to enter the grain interior as well as segregate at grain boundary. The K-Se liquid phase can improve the absorber crystallinity. We find that the accumulation of the wide bandgap compound K2Sn2S5 at grain boundary can increase the contact potential difference of grain boundary, form more effective hole barriers, and enhance the charge separation ability. At the same time, K doping passivates the interface as well as bulk defects and suppresses the non-radiative recombination. The improved crystallinity, enhanced charge transport capability and reduced defect density due to K doping result in a significant enhancement of the carrier lifetime, leading to 13.04% device efficiency. This study provides a new idea for simultaneous realization of grain boundary passivation and defect suppression in inorganic kesterite solar cells.
The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are the two half reactions that make up the over water splitting reaction. Increasing oxygen evolution reaction rate wound immensely raise the efficiency of over water splitting reaction because it is the rate limiting reaction in water splitting reaction. The key to improve OER performance is the development and utilization of advanced catalysts. As one of the most potential catalysts for HER, it has gradually attracted the attention of researchers in the aspect of catalytic OER. It is very necessary to review the research progress of Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) in catalytic OER to promote the research process in the field. In this review, we comprehensively and systematically summarized the strategies to improve TMDs electrocatalytic OER. First of all, structural regulation of TMDs-based electrocatalyst was summarized in detail, mainly including size engineering, defect engineering, doping engineering, phase engineering and heterojunction engineering. Once more, magnetic field regulation as a representative of external field regulation to improve TMDs electrocatalytic OER performance was discussed in depth. Last but not least, the strategies to improve TMDs electrocatalytic OER is prospected and some views on the development of this field are also put forward, which are expected to enhance the catalytic efficiency of TMDs for OER.
Nanozymes are the paradigm for bridging inorganic nanomaterials with biology and environment for taking the spontaneous responsibilities to outplay natural enzymes. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are mesoporous materials of inorganic-organic coordination, bearing ampoules of active/target sites and having the tendency to mimic natural enzymes. Thus MOF-based nanozymes (NZs) could be recognized for their tremendous potential for bio-catalysis. However, MOFs are of four types namely: modified MOFs, pristine MOFs, MOF-derived materials and MOFs comprised of natural enzymes. The MOFs-based NZ modulated via ultrasound, light, and heat revealed diversified applications. This article is concentrated on different methods for the preparation of MOF-based NZ for mimicking the responses of catalases, multi-functional enzymes, oxidases, superoxide dismutase, hydrolases, and peroxidases, progress and challenges of MOFs/MOF-based materials for exploiting their recent and futuristic approaches in biomedical sector.
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