Recent evidence has indicated that overexpression of the epigenetic reader bromodomain‐containing protein 4 (BRD4) contributes to a poor prognosis of lung cancers, and the suppression of its expression promotes cell apoptosis and leads to tumor shrinkage. Proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) has recently emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy with the capability to precisely degrade targeted proteins. Herein, a novel style of versatile nano‐PROTAC (CREATE (CRV‐LLC membrane/DS‐PLGA/dBET6)) is developed, which is constructed by using a pH/GSH (glutathione)‐responsive polymer (disulfide bond‐linked poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic acid), DS‐PLGA) to load BRD4‐targeted PROTAC (dBET6), followed by the camouflage with engineered lung cancer cell membranes with dual targeting capability. Notably, CREATE remarkably confers simultaneous targeting ability to lung cancer cells and tumor‐associated macrophages (TAMs). The pH/GSH‐responsive design improves the release of dBET6 payload from nanoparticles to induce pronounced apoptosis of both cells, which synergistically inhibits tumor growth in both subcutaneous and orthotopic tumor‐bearing mouse model. Furthermore, the efficient tumor inhibition is due to the direct elimination of lung cancer cells and TAMs, which remodels the tumor microenvironment. Taken together, the results elucidate the construction of a versatile nano‐PROTAC enables to eliminate both lung cancer cells and TAMs, which opens a new avenue for efficient lung cancer therapy via PROTAC.
Taking into account the difficulty to spin pure keratin fibers, blended fibers of keratin/poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) are developed by wet spinning. Effects of keratin content on the structure and properties of blended fibers are analyzed by the combination of scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric‐differential thermal analysis (TG‐DTA), and tensile test. The results indicate that the blended fibers have an average diameter about 110 μm with oblate cross section and rough surface. The hydrogen bonds are established between PVA and keratins during the spinning process. The curves of thermal performances of blended fibers are between those of keratin and PVA. In the case of the mechanical properties of blended fibers, they gradually decrease with an increase in keratin content. Hence, it should be pointed out that to obtain satisfactory fibers, the content of keratin in the blended solution has to be less than or equal to 15%.
28 September 2021 in Journal of Water Reuse and Desalination
In the present study, we investigated the effect of probiotics immobilized by oyster shells (Os), vesuvianite (Ve) and walnut shells (Ws) on the remediation of aquaculture water and sediment by analyzing the variation of ammonia-nitrogen (NH4–N), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3–N), nitrite-nitrogen (NO2–N), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and chemical oxygen demand (CODCr), as well as the microbiota of the water and sediment. The positive or negative effects of the treatment groups on the water quality parameters were both observed. Compared with their effects on water quality parameters, the treatment groups had better effects on sediment parameters. Group Ve had the best remediation effect of NH4–N and NO3–N in the sediment (decreased by 5.22 and 1.66 times, respectively). Group Os showed a lower relative concentration of TN and CODCr (decreased by 3.77 and 0.95 times, respectively). The high-throughput sequencing results revealed that the immobilized probiotics increased the relative abundances of functional bacteria in the treatment groups at the phylum and genus level. The above results showed that probiotics immobilized by oyster shells, vesuvianite and walnut shells positively affected the aquaculture environment's remediation, especially the sediment.