Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most malignant subtype of breast cancer (BC) with a poor prognosis. Current treatment options are limited to surgery, adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy; however, a proportion of patients have missed the surgical window at the time of diagnosis. TNBC is a highly heterogeneous cancer with specific mutations and aberrant activation of signaling pathways. Hence, targeted therapies, such as those targeting DNA repair pathways, androgen receptor signaling pathways, and kinases, represent promising treatment options against TNBC. In addition, immunotherapy has also been demonstrated to improve overall survival and response in TNBC. In this review, we summarize recent key advances in therapeutic strategies based on molecular subtypes in TNBC.

Aquaporin-1 (AQP1) is a member of the membrane intrinsic protein (MIP) gene family and is known to provide pathways for water flux across cell membranes. We show here that cloned human AQP1 not only mediates water flux but also serves as a cGMP-gated ion channel. Two-electrode voltage-clamp analyses showed consistent activation of an ionic conductance in wild-type AQP1-expressing oocytes after the direct injection of cGMP (50 nl of 100 mM). Current activation was not observed in control (water-injected) oocytes or in AQP5-expressing oocytes with osmotic water permeabilities equivalent to those seen with AQP1. Patch-clamp recordings revealed large conductance channels (150 pS in K⁺ saline) in excised patches from AQP1-expressing oocytes after the application of cGMP to the internal side. Amino acid sequence alignments between AQP1 and sensory cyclic-nucleotide-gated channels showed similarities between the cyclic-nucleotide-gated binding domain and the AQP1 carboxyl terminus that were not present in AQP5. Competitive radioligand-binding assays with [³H]cGMP demonstrated specific binding (K_D = 0.2 μM) in AQP1-expressing Sf9 cells but not in controls. These results indicate that AQP1 channels have the capacity to participate in ionic signaling after the activation of cGMP second-messenger pathways.

Pyroptosis, a type of inflammatory programmed cell death, is triggered by caspase cleavage of gasdermin family proteins. Based on accumulating evidence, pyroptosis is closely associated with tumour development, but the molecular mechanism underlying pyroptosis activation and the signalling pathways regulated by pyroptosis remain unclear. In this review, we first briefly introduce the definition, morphological characteristics, and activation pathways of pyroptosis and the effect of pyroptosis on anticancer immunity. Then we review recent progress concerning the complex role of pyroptosis in various tumours. Importantly, we summarise various FDA-approved chemotherapy drugs or natural compounds that exerted antitumor properties by inducing pyroptosis of cancer cells. Moreover, we also focus on the current application of nanotechnology-induced pyroptosis in tumour therapy. In addition, some unsolved problems and potential future research directions are also raised.

Acinetobacter baumannii is a gram-negative, non-fermenting aerobic bacterium which is often associated with hospital-acquired infections and known for its ability to develop resistance to antibiotics, form biofilms, and survive for long periods in hospital environments. In this study, we present two novel viruses, vB_AbaP_AS11 and vB_AbaP_AS12, specifically infecting and lysing distinct multidrug-resistant clinical A. baumannii strains with K19 and K27 capsular polysaccharide structures, respectively. Both phages demonstrate rapid adsorption, short latent periods, and high burst sizes in one-step growth experiments. The AS11 and AS12 linear double-stranded DNA genomes of 41,642 base pairs (bp) and 41,402 bp share 86.3% nucleotide sequence identity with the most variable regions falling in host receptor–recognition genes. These genes encode tail spikes possessing depolymerizing activities towards corresponding capsular polysaccharides which are the primary bacterial receptors. We described AS11 and AS12 genome organization and discuss the possible regulation of transcription. The overall genomic architecture and gene homology analyses showed that the phages are new representatives of the recently designated Fri1virus genus of the Autographivirinae subfamily within the Podoviridae family.

The rapid increase of plant diseases caused by bacterial phytopathogens calls for an urgent search for new antibacterials. Antimicrobial compounds of natural origin stand up as frontiers in the attempts of the antibiotic overuse replacement. With this in mind, the Hermetia illucens (H. illucens) larvae have recently gained attention as a promising approach to fulfill this need. This study aimed to isolate the active constituents of H. illucens larvae fat and to estimate its antimicrobial capacity. We discovered the best composition of extracting solution retaining the pronounced antimicrobial activity of the extract. Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), we identified the unique natural array of fatty acids as the major constituents of the acidified water-methanol extract (AWME) as having new antimicrobial potency. In standard turbidimetric assay, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the AWME was 0.78 mg/mL after 24 h of incubation for all five tested phytopathogenic bacteria strains: Pantoea agglomerans, Xanthomonas campestris, Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum, Pectobacterium atrosepticum, and Dickeya solani. The minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) ranged from 0.78 to 1.56 mg/mL against all tested strains after 24 h of incubation. The inhibition zone size of AWME (INZ) at 50 mg/mL concentration was in the range 12.2 ± 0.56 to 19.0 ± 0.28 mm, while zone size for the positive control (penicillin-streptomycin) (5000 IU/mL–5000 µg/mL) was in the scale of 20.63 ± 0.53 to 24.0 ± 0.35 mm as revealed by standard disk diffusion assay. For the first time, our findings indicated the substantial antibacterial potential of AWME of H. illucens larvae fat against these actual phytopathogens, thus paving the way for further research to determine the mechanism of action in crop protection.