Latest ArticlesRadiotherapy (RT) is a crucial treatment for cancer; however, its effectiveness is limited by adverse effects on normal tissues, radioresistance, and tumor recurrence. To overcome these challenges, hydrogels have been employed for delivery of radiosensitizers and other therapeutic agents. This review summarizes recent advancements in the application of hydrogel-based local drug delivery systems for improving the therapeutic efficacy of RT in cancer treatment. Firstly, we introduce the classification and properties of hydrogels. Next, we detail hydrogel-based platforms designed to enhance both external beam radiation therapy and brachytherapy. We also discuss hydrogels used in combination therapy involving RT and immunotherapy. Lastly, we highlight the challenges that hydrogels face in RT. By surveying the latest developments in hydrogel applications for RT, this review aims to provide insights into the development of more effective and targeted cancer therapies.
Tumor vascular normalization has emerged as a promising strategy for synergistic therapy recently. Based on the strategy of “fluorescence turn on-controllable release”, a novel bifunctional candidate was constructed based on previous developed vascular normalization inducer QDAU5, which could self-assemble to form functional enzyme infrared QDAU5 nanoparticles (FEIRQ NPs). Subsequently, biological evaluation demonstrated that the FEIRQ NPs could induce ferroptosis, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and antigen preconditioning and maturation of dendritic cells and CD8+ T cells, leading to excellent antitumor efficacy in the absence of cytotoxic drugs. Additionally, FEIRQ NPs show high fluorescence intensity upon exposure to the β-galactosidase (β-Gal) enzyme expressed in ovarian cancer, enabling real-time monitoring of therapeutic effects. Overall, our findings suggest a prospering strategy to early diagnosis and efficient therapy for ovarian cancer without cytotoxicity.
Cyclooctatetraene (COT) attachment to fluorophores (“self-healing” dyes) is known for quenching reactive triplet states via triplet-state energy transfer (TET), enhancing photostability. However, COT’s impact on singlet states remains unclear. Quantum calculations reveal that COT induces energy transfer to dark states in deep blue dyes while promoting photoinduced electron transfer (PET) and intersystem crossing (ISC) in visible dyes, potentially compromising brightness and/or photostability. To address this, we propose the use of ΔE descriptor to optimize COT’s effects. Our findings uncover COT’s multifaceted impact. These insights will guide the development of superior triplet state quenchers and photostable dyes.
KTi2(PO4)3 is a promising anode material for potassium storage, but suffers from low conductivity and difficult balance between high capacity and good structural stability. Herein, the Ti3C2T MXene is used as a multifunctional binder to fabricate the KTi2(PO4)3 electrode by the traditional homogenizing-coating method. The MXene nanosheets, together with the conductive agent super P nanoparticles, construct a multiple conductive network for fast electron/ion transfer and high electrochemical kinetics. Moreover, the network ensures the structural stability of the KTi2(PO4)3 electrode during the de-intercalation/intercalation of 4 K+ ions, which is beneficial for simultaneously achieving high capacity and good cycle performance. Therefore, the MXene-bonded KTi2(PO4)3 electrode delivers a reversible capacity of 255.2 mAh/g at 50 mA/g, outstanding rate capability with 132.3 mAh/g at 2 A/g, and excellent cycle performance with 151.6 mAh/g at 1 A/g after 2000 cycles. This work not only suggests a high-performance anode material for potassium-ion batteries, but also demonstrates that the MXene is a promising binder material for constructing conductive electrodes in rechargeable batteries.
Fe(II) is an essential trace element for anaerobic ammonium oxidation bacteria (AAOB) metabolism, and can improve the nitrogen removal efficiency of anaerobic ammonia oxidation (Anammox). Here we operated two identical expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactors at low temperature (15 ± 3 ℃) for 154 days. Reactor 1 (R1) received additional Fe(II) (0.12 mmol/L) during the late startup phase, while reactor 0 (R0) served as the control and did not receive extra Fe(II). Nitrogen removal in R1 became stable at 55 d of operation, ten days earlier than R0. The nitrogen removal rate (NRR) of R1 was 1.64 kg N m−3 d−1 and its TN removal rate was as high as 89%, while R0 only reached 75%. The addition of Fe(II) was further beneficial to aggregation and stability of the granular sludge, and the used sludge of both reactors showed enrichment for AAOB populations compared to the inoculum, for instance, increased abundance of Candidatus-Kuenenia and in particular of Candidatus-Brocadia (from 0.17% to 10.10% in R0 and 7.79% in R1). Diverse microbial species and complex microbial network structure in R1 compared to R0 promoted the coupled denitrogenation by Anammox, dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA), nitrate-dependent Fe oxidation (NDFO), and ferric ammonium oxidation (Feammox). In addition, the microbial community in R1 was more resistant to short-term low temperature (2–7 ℃) starvation, illustrating a further positive effect of adding Fe(II) during the startup phase of an Anammox reactor.
The selective 2e− ORR reaction on polymeric carbon nitride framework is one of the most promising approaches for solar-driven hydrogen peroxide production. Poly(heptazine imide) (PHI) as a class of K+-incorporated crystalline carbon nitride framework, is highly active for photocatalytic H2O2 production. An upgrade on the H2O2 photoproduction performance of PHI is realized and the mechanistic insights are revealed in this work. By photochemical reaction, the electron withdrawing groups of hydroxyl group and cyano group are grafted on the surface of PHI frameworks. The dual polarization sites on the surface contribute significantly to the enhancement of the exciton dissociation. The optimized PHI with dual polarization sites exhibits a remarkable photocatalytic H2O2 production performance, which is 2 times of the active pristine PHI. Most importantly, the photochemical reaction method is generally applicable to improve the exciton dissociation of a wide range of polymeric carbon nitride frameworks with various structure and compositions; and the thiourea-derived polymeric carbon nitride framework with dual surface polarization sites exhibits a remarkable photocatalytic performance with a high H2O2 production rate of 40.5 mmol h−1 g−1.
We report here the synthesis and characterization of two new members of the M2E12 family of endohedral Zintl clusters, [Fe2Sn4Bi8]3– and [Cr2Sb12]3–, both of which contain open-shell metal dimers encapsulated inside a triple-decker cluster of main-group atoms. The 75-electron [Fe2Sn4Bi8]3– cluster has a D4h-symmetric structure, while [Cr2Sb12]3–, despite having the same 75-electron count, is strongly distorted to a geometry that resembles a CrSb8 crown capped by a CrSb4 unit. The structural differences between the two are driven by the increasing availability of 3d electron density in the earlier transition metal, which leads, ultimately, to different electronic configurations in the two clusters. The trends precisely mirror those observed in the ME10 and ME12 families containing a single transition metal ion.
The widespread application of phenolic substances in the field of food, medicine and industry, is harmful to the environment and human health. Therefore, it is very important to develop a convenient and effective method to detect and degrade phenolic compounds. Herein, we report a new keggin-type polyoxometallate-based metal-organic complex self-assembled under solvothermal condition, {[Cu(dap)(3-PA)]4(SiW12O40)(H2O)2}·2H2O (1, dap = 1,2-diaminopropane, 3-HPA = 3-pyridineacrylic acid). 1 shows an interesting 1D ladder-like structure. As a bifunctional catalyst, 1 can be employed as a colorimetric sensor toward phenol with the relatively low detection limit (LOD) of 0.36 µmol/L (S/N = 3) in the wide range (0.001–0.1 mmol/L). The title colorimetric sensor is applied to determine phenol in various water environment with good recoveries ranging from 95%–105%. In addition, 1 also exhibits excellent photocatalytic degradation toward phenol under visible light with the highest removal efficiency at 96% for 100 min and wide pH universality. The selectivity, stability and reliability of the detection of 1 towards phenol, as well as the detection for 4-chlorophenol, o-cresol, 4-nitrophenol and phloroglucinol were studied. Furthermore, the photocatalytic reaction kinetics and the mechanisms of photodegradation of phenol were also investigated in detail.
Concise chemistry leads to a family of heptanuclear CoⅡ-clusters, [Co7(N3)12(CH3CN)12] [Y2(NO3)4(piv)4]·2CH3CN (DC1) (pivH = pivalic acid), [Co7(N3)12(CH3CN)10(NO3)0.4 (Cl)1.6]·4CH3CN (DC2) and [Co7(N3)12(CH3CN)10(NO3)2]·4CH3CN (DC3), in which the metal ions are exclusively bridged by end-on azido ligands to stabilize a beautiful disk-like topology. The resulting clusters exhibit interesting structural transformations and thermodynamically-distinct steady states verified by theoretical calculations. Magnetic studies reveal the first observation of zero-field SMM behaviour in disk-like heptanuclear CoⅡ complexes.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has emerged as a significant cancer therapy option. Currently, cation-based organic small molecule aggregation-induced emission (AIE) photosensitizers (PSs) attract the wide attention of many scientists, due to improved reactive oxygen species (ROS) production after cationization. However, such PSs tend to localize only the mitochondria, limiting the death way of tumor cells (usually apoptosis) during PDT process, which may affect the therapeutic effect under some circumstances. Herein, we designed a novel water-soluble three positive charge PS, TPAN-18F, which could be distributed uniformly in cell cytoplasm and had distribution in different sub-organelles (mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, lysosome). The experimental results showed that TPAN-18F-based PDT process can not only disrupt mitochondrial functions (reducing ATP production and destroying mitochondrial membrane potential), but also elevate the intracellular lipid peroxides (LPOs) level, which evoke the non-apoptotic death manner of tumor cells. Further, in vivo studies showed that TPAN-18F-based PDT could effectively inhibit tumor growth. Accordingly, we believe that the construction of TPAN-18F is suggestive for tumor non-apoptotic therapy.
No. 86 Xueyuan South Road, Haidian District, Beijing
010-62199257
qkjq@cast.org.cn
Copyright © 2025 China Association for Science and Technology. All rights reserved. For all open access content, the relevant licensing terms apply.
Sponsored by the Office of the Leading Group for Cybersecurity and Informatization of CAST, and supported by Science and Technology Review Publishing House
