FOXO3a is a member of the FOXO subfamily of forkhead transcription factors that mediate a variety of cellular processes including apoptosis, proliferation, cell cycle progression, DNA damage and tumorigenesis. It also responds to several cellular stresses such as UV irradiation and oxidative stress. The function of FOXO3a is regulated by a complex network of processes, including post-transcriptional suppression by microRNAs (miRNAs), post-translational modifications (PTMs) and protein–protein interactions. FOXO3a is widely implicated in a variety of diseases, particularly in malignancy of breast, liver, colon, prostate, bladder, and nasopharyngeal cancers. Emerging evidences indicate that FOXO3a acts as a tumor suppressor in cancer. FOXO3a is frequently inactivated in cancer cell lines by mutation of the FOXO3a gene or cytoplasmic sequestration of FOXO3a protein. And its inactivation is associated with the initiation and progression of cancer. In experimental studies, overexpression of FOXO3a inhibits the proliferation, tumorigenic potential, and invasiveness of cancer cells, while silencing of FOXO3a results in marked attenuation in protection against tumorigenesis. The role of FOXO3a in both normal physiology as well as in cancer development have presented a great challenge to formulating an effective therapeutic strategy for cancer. In this review, we summarize the recent findings and overview of the current understanding of the influence of FOXO3a in cancer development and progression.

Food safety analysis is an important procedure to control food contamination and supervision. It is urgently needed to construct effective methods for on-site, fast, accurate and popular food safety sensing. Among them, microfluidic chip technology exhibits distinguish advantages in detection, including less sample consumption, fast detection, simple operation, multi-functional integration, small size, multiplex detection and portability. In this review, we introduce the classification, material, processing and application of the microfluidic chip in food safety sensing, in order to provide a good guide for food safety monitoring.

Aptamers, referring to single-stranded DNA or RNA molecules can specifically recognize and bind to their targets. Based on their excellent specificity, sensitivity, high affinity, and simplicity of modification, aptamers offer great potential for pathogen detection and biomolecular screening. This article reviews aptamer screening technologies and aptamer application technologies, including gold-nanoparticle lateral flow assays, fluorescence assays, electrochemical assays, colorimetric assays, and surface-enhanced Raman assays, in the detection of foodborne pathogens. Although notable progress (more rapid, sensitive, and accurate) has been achieved in the field, challenges and drawbacks in their applications still remain to be overcome.

Fungi forming biofilm would produce various toxin in food. The toxin contamination will cause great harm to food and human health. Herein, a novel graphene-based steganographic aptasensor was assembled for multifunctional applications, which depended on the specific recognition and information encoding ability of DNA aptamers (mycotoxins, including zearalenone (ZEN) and ochratoxin A (OTA) aptamers, as models) and the selective absorption and fluorescence quenching capacities of graphene oxide (GO). The graphene-based steganographic aptasensor can be regarded as an information encryption and steganographic system using GO as a cover, aptamers for specific target recognition as information carriers and dual targets (ZEN and OTA) as special keys. In our work, the fluorescence of capture probes (Cy3-aptamer and Alexa Fluor 488-aptamer) was quenched by GO to realize information encryption. In the presence of dual targets in the GO-APT solution, Cy3-aptamer (APT1) and Alexa Fluor 488-aptamer (APT2) were released from the surface of GO, decrypting the hidden information. In addition, our work offers a sensor for rapid and sensitive simultaneous fluorescence determination of ZEN and OTA. The detection limit of the aptasensor was 0.72 ng/mL for ZEN and 0.25 ng/mL for OTA. In addition, the graphene-based steganographic aptasensor can be used to construct a molecular logic gate system in which GO, apatmers, and mycotoxins are employed as the input, and compounds and fluorescence signals were used as the output. This would be helpful to control the biofilm toxin in the future.