Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have great potential to deliver bioactive agents into cells. Although there have been many recent advances in CPP-related research, it is still important to develop more efficient CPPs. The development of CPPs by in silico methods is a very useful addition to experimental methods, but in many cases it can lead to a large number of false-positive results. In this study, we developed a deep-learning-based CPP prediction method, AiCPP, to develop novel CPPs. AiCPP uses a large number of peptide sequences derived from human-reference proteins as a negative set to reduce false-positive predictions and adopts a method to learn small-length peptide sequence motifs that may have CPP tendencies. Using AiCPP, we found that short peptide sequences derived from amyloid precursor proteins are efficient new CPPs, and experimentally confirmed that these CPP sequences can be further optimized.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of porous polyethylene in paranasal augmentation on the overlying soft tissue. Thirty-three patients underwent paranasal augmentation using 3-mm-thick porous polyethylene and mandibular setback, and 35 patients underwent mandibular setback only. Lateral cephalograms were taken before and 6 months after the surgery to compare the soft-tissue changes in the paranasal area. Complications and patient satisfaction following the surgery were also analyzed. The average soft-tissue change in the paranasal area after the augmentation was 2.42 ± 0.33 mm, while there was no definite soft-tissue change in the paranasal area after mandibular setback alone. The ratio of soft-tissue changes to paranasal implant thickness was 80.7%. All patients in the augmentation group were satisfied with their surgical outcomes, which led to convex lateral profile with increase in midface volume. There were no complications such as postoperative infection or foreign body reaction requiring removal of implants. Paranasal augmentation using porous polyethylene is a predictable method providing minimal morbidity in patients with paranasal deficiency.

Hwang YJ, et al. J Korean Med Sci. 2023 Oct;38:e335. https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2023.38.e335

Zearalenone (ZEN) is a non-steroidal mycotoxin that has various toxicological impacts on mammalian health. Here, we found that ZEN significantly affected the production of nitric oxide (NO) and the expression of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) of bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs). A promoter analysis using 5′-serially deleted human eNOS promoter revealed that the proximal region (−135 to +22) was responsible for ZEN-mediated reduction of the human eNOS promoter activity. This effect was reversed by mutation of two specificity protein 1 (Sp1) binding elements in the human eNOS promoter. A chromatin immunoprecipitation assay revealed that ZEN increased Sp1 binding to the bovine eNOS promoter region (−113 to −12), which is homologous to −135 to +22 of the human eNOS promoter region. We also found that ZEN promoted the binding of the pregnane X receptor (PXR) to Sp1 of the bovine eNOS, consequently decreasing eNOS expression. This reduction of eNOS could have contributed to the decreased acetylcholine-induced vessel relaxation upon ZEN treatment in our ex vivo study using mouse aortas. In conclusion, our data demonstrate that ZEN decreases eNOS expression by enhancing the binding of PXR-Sp1 to the eNOS promoter, thereby decreasing NO production and potentially causing vessel dysfunction.