Elesclomol is an anticancer drug that targets mitochondrial metabolism. In the past, elesclomol was recognized as an inducer of oxidative stress, but now it has also been found to suppress cancer by inducing cuproptosis. Elesclomol’s anticancer activity is determined by the dependence of cancer on mitochondrial metabolism. The mitochondrial metabolism of cancer stem cells, cancer cells resistant to platinum drugs, proteasome inhibitors, molecularly targeted drugs, and cancer cells with inhibited glycolysis was significantly enhanced. Elesclomol exhibited tremendous toxicity to all three kinds of cells. Elesclomol's toxicity to cells is highly dependent on its transport of extracellular copper ions, a process involved in cuproptosis. The discovery of cuproptosis has perfected the specific cancer suppressor mechanism of elesclomol. For some time, elesclomol failed to yield favorable results in oncology clinical trials, but its safety in clinical application was confirmed. Research progress on the relationship between elesclomol, mitochondrial metabolism and cuproptosis provides a possibility to explore the reapplication of elesclomol in the clinic. New clinical trials should selectively target cancer types with high mitochondrial metabolism and attempt to combine elesclomol with platinum, proteasome inhibitors, molecularly targeted drugs, or glycolysis inhibitors. Herein, the particular anticancer mechanism of elesclomol and its relationship with mitochondrial metabolism and cuproptosis will be presented, which may shed light on the better application of elesclomol in clinical tumor treatment.

The role of type I collagen, composed of collagen type I alpha 1 (COL1A1) and collagen type I alpha 2 (COL1A2), has been studied in several cancers. However, the expression of COL1A1 and COL1A2 in malignant, premalignant, and normal gastric tissues and their clinical significances in gastric cancer have not been elucidated. Real-time quantitative PCR was performed in 55 malignant, 27 premalignant, and 19 normal tissues to measure COL1A1 and COL1A2 messenger RNA (mRNA) expression, and the correlations between COL1A1 and COL1A2 expression and clinicopathological parameters and patients’ survival rate were analyzed. We found that COL1A1 mRNA expression was significantly upregulated in premalignant and malignant tissues than in normal tissues, whereas COL1A2 mRNA expression was significantly higher in malignant tissues than in premalignant and normal tissues. Moreover, COL1A1 expression was unrelated to clinicopathological parameters, while COL1A2 expression was positively related to tumor size and depth of invasion. Besides, higher COL1A1 and COL1A2 expression levels were related to lower overall survival. We find that COL1A1 might have its potential as a monitoring factor to screen early gastric cancer, and COL1A1 and COL1A2 might predict poor clinical outcomes in gastric cancer patients.

Since the development of Sanger sequencing in 1977, sequencing technology has played a pivotal role in molecular biology research by enabling the interpretation of biological genetic codes. Today, nanopore sequencing is one of the leading third‐generation sequencing technologies. With its long reads, portability, and low cost, nanopore sequencing is widely used in various scientific fields including epidemic prevention and control, disease diagnosis, and animal and plant breeding. Despite initial concerns about high error rates, continuous innovation in sequencing platforms and algorithm analysis technology has effectively addressed its accuracy. During the coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic, nanopore sequencing played a critical role in detecting the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 virus genome and containing the pandemic. However, a lack of understanding of this technology may limit its popularization and application. Nanopore sequencing is poised to become the mainstream choice for preventing and controlling COVID‐19 and future epidemics while creating value in other fields such as oncology and botany. This work introduces the contributions of nanopore sequencing during the COVID‐19 pandemic to promote public understanding and its use in emerging outbreaks worldwide. We discuss its application in microbial detection, cancer genomes, and plant genomes and summarize strategies to improve its accuracy.