Heavy metal pollution has become an environmental and health problem worldwide. With the aim of finding novel strategies for metal bioremediation, endophytic fungi from the heavy metal hyperaccumulator plant Vachellia farnesiana were isolated and characterized. The plants were growing in mine tailings, rich in Zn, Pb, and Cu. Morphological and phylogenetic analyses indicated that the fungal strains belonged to Neocosmospora and Aspergillus genera. The Neocosmospora isolate belongs to the Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC) that groups phytopathogen species. However, in this case the plants from which it was isolated did not show any signs of disease. Both fungal strains were able to remove significant amounts of heavy metals from liquid cultures, either in a mixture of the three metals or each metal in a single culture. In response to lead exposure, the Neocosmospora sp. strain secreted specific novel phenolic compounds other than anthraquinones or naphtoquinones, which have been described in similar situations. The Aspergillus sp. dropped the pH in the medium. High-performance liquid chromatography determinations indicated that this strain secreted mainly glutamic acid in response to lead, a novel mechanism, which has not been reported elsewhere. Malic and succinic acids were also produced in response to lead exposure. Possibly, glutamic and succinic acids (synthesized in the Krebs cycle) can be used to cope with metal toxicity due to the plant providing photosynthates to the fungus. These fungi showed the potential to be used for bioremediation or restoration of metal-polluted environments.

Cancer is the second cause of mortality worldwide. Early diagnosis of this multifactorial disease is challenging, especially in populations with limited access to healthcare services. A vast repertoire of cancer biomarkers has been studied to facilitate early diagnosis; particularly, the use of antibodies against these biomarkers has been of interest to detect them through biorecognition. However, there are certain limitations to this approach. Emerging biorecognition engineering technologies are alternative methods to generate molecules and molecule-based scaffolds with similar properties to those presented by antibodies. Molecularly imprinted polymers, recombinant antibodies, and antibody mimetic molecules are three novel technologies commonly used in scientific studies. This review aimed to present the fundamentals of these technologies and address questions about how they are implemented for cancer detection in recent scientific studies. A systematic analysis of the scientific peer-reviewed literature regarding the use of these technologies on cancer detection was carried out starting from the year 2000 up to 2021 to answer these questions. In total, 131 scientific articles indexed in the Web of Science from the last three years were included in this analysis. The results showed that antibody mimetic molecules technology was the biorecognition technology with the highest number of reports. The most studied cancer types were: multiple, breast, leukemia, colorectal, and lung. Electrochemical and optical detection methods were the most frequently used. Finally, the most analyzed biomarkers and cancer entities in the studies were carcinoembryonic antigen, MCF-7 cells, and exosomes. These technologies are emerging tools with adequate performance for developing biosensors useful in cancer detection, which can be used to improve cancer diagnosis in developing countries.

Five new structurally related half-sandwich cationic Ru(II) complexes of general formula [(η⁶-p-cymene)RuL]Cl (6) and [(η⁶-p-cymene)RuL]PF₆ (L = [2-C₈H₅N(Ph₂PNC₆H₄XR)]⁻ [R = C₆H₅, X = S (9), and Se (6, and 10); R = CH₃, X = S (11), and Se (12)]) were designed and synthesized in search of new ruthenium anticancer drugs. The complexes were fully characterized by elemental analysis and various spectral methods (multinuclear NMR, and MS). The solid-state molecular structures of complexes 6, 9, and 10 were determined by X-ray crystallography and confirm the presence of pseudo-octahedral geometry around ruthenium and the facial tridentate N,N,X coordination of the iminophosphorane ligands. Solubility tests have shown compounds 9–12 to be highly soluble in polar solvents (DMSO, DMF, THF, and CH₂Cl₂), but insoluble in water or mixtures of DMSO/water. Different surfactants have been tested to resolve this issue, and only Tween 80 advantageously prevented precipitation in aqueous medium, and allowed for cytotoxic evaluation of complexes 9–12 using sulforhodamine B (SRB) colorimetric assay against breast carcinoma (MCF-7), prostate carcinoma (PC-3), and cervical carcinoma (SiHa) along with noncancerous HFF cells (human foreskin fibroblasts), using cisplatin as the reference standard drug. All four complexes showed high cytotoxic effects (IC₅₀: 0.664–3.496 μg mL⁻¹|0.717–3.973 μM) against the three cancer cell lines but only complexes 9–11 showed poor cytoxicity in normal fibroblasts (IC₅₀: 6.069–7.227 μg mL⁻¹|6.898–8.214 μM). Complex 10 showed a high selectivity index (SI > 3) for the three cancer types and appeared as a promising cancer therapeutic candidate worthy of further investigation.