Cancer has become an increasingly important public health issue owing to its high morbidity and mortality rates. Although traditional treatment methods are relatively effective, they have limitations such as highly toxic side effects, easy drug resistance, and high individual variability. Meanwhile, emerging therapies remain limited, and their actual anti-tumor effects need to be improved. Nanotechnology has received considerable attention for its development and application. In particular, artificial nanocarriers have emerged as a crucial approach for tumor therapy. However, certain deficiencies persist, including immunogenicity, permeability, targeting, and biocompatibility. The application of erythrocyte-derived materials will help overcome the above problems and enhance therapeutic effects. Erythrocyte-derived materials can be acquired via the application of physical and chemical techniques from natural erythrocyte membranes, or through the integration of these membranes with synthetic inner core materials using cell membrane biomimetic technology. Their natural properties such as biocompatibility and long circulation time make them an ideal choice for drug delivery or nanoparticle biocoating. Thus, red blood cell-derived materials are widely used in the field of biomedicine. However, further studies are required to evaluate their efficacy, in vivo metabolism, preparation, design, and clinical translation. Based on the latest research reports, this review summarizes the biology, synthesis, characteristics, and distribution of red blood cell-derived materials. Furthermore, we provide a reference for further research and clinical transformation by comprehensively discussing the applications and technical challenges faced by red blood cell-derived materials in the treatment of malignant tumors.

Diabetic wounds are characteristically difficult to heal, have a risk of serious long-term effects, and can lead to amputation and death in severe cases. In addition to routine blood glucose control, dressing is a promising diabetic wound treatment. Bionic hydrogels are novel biomaterials that combine the advantages of biomimetics and hydrogels, resulting in good biocompatibility and water retention and, thus, ideal wound dressing characteristics. A significant amount of research has gone into the pathogenesis of diabetic wounds, which has guided the design of bionic hydrogels with special functions for treating diabetic wounds and supported novel therapeutic interventions. This review provides a detailed overview of bionic hydrogel materials and their construction methods and summarizes bionic hydrogel treatments for diabetic wounds to provide a theoretical basis for future developments.

Zebrafish have become a popular animal model for studying various biological processes and human diseases. The metabolic pathways and players conserved among zebrafish and mammals facilitate the use of zebrafish to understand the pathological mechanisms underlying various metabolic disorders in humans. Adipocytes play an important role in metabolic homeostasis, and zebrafish adipocytes have been characterized. However, a versatile and reliable zebrafish model for long-term monitoring of adipose tissues has not been reported. In this study, we generated stable transgenic zebrafish expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) in adipocytes. The transgenic zebrafish harbored adipose tissues that could be detected using GFP fluorescence and the morphology of single adipocyte could be investigated in vivo. In addition, we demonstrated the applicability of this model to the long-term in vivo imaging of adipose tissue development and regulation based on nutrition. The transgenic zebrafish established in this study may serve as an excellent tool to advance the characterization of white adipose tissue in zebrafish, thereby aiding the development of therapeutic interventions to treat metabolic diseases in humans.

This cohort study was designed to assess the association between serum endocan levels and the prognosis of acute ischemic stroke. A total of 227 patients were recruited consecutively. Study outcome data on death and major disability (modified Rankin Scale score ≥3) were collected at 3 months after stroke onset. After 3 months of follow-up, death and disability occurred in 48 and 85 patients, respectively, while the primary (death) and secondary (death or disability) outcome incident rate was 21.15% and 37.44%, respectively. The multivariable adjusted odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval, 95% CIs) of the highest endocan quartile for death or major disability was 1.21 (1.10, 4.13) compared with the lowest quartile. After adjusting for confounding factors, the increase in the risk of death was not significant. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that endocan predicted primary and secondary outcomes with C-statistical values (95% CIs) of 0.61 (0.55–0.67, P = .001) and 0.68 (0.59–0.76, P < .001), respectively. Elevated endocan levels were independently related to increased risk of poor outcome at 3 months after ischemic stroke onset. Endocan is a potential prognostic factor for ischemic stroke.