The communication between tumor-derived elements and stroma in the metastatic niche has a critical role in facilitating cancer metastasis. Yet, the mechanisms tumor cells use to control metastatic niche formation are not fully understood. Here we report that in the lung metastatic niche, high-metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells exhibit a greater capacity to convert normal fibroblasts to cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) than low-metastatic HCC cells. We show high-metastatic HCC cells secrete exosomal miR-1247-3p that directly targets B4GALT3, leading to activation of β1-integrin–NF-κB signaling in fibroblasts. Activated CAFs further promote cancer progression by secreting pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-6 and IL-8. Clinical data show high serum exosomal miR-1247-3p levels correlate with lung metastasis in HCC patients. These results demonstrate intercellular crosstalk between tumor cells and fibroblasts is mediated by tumor-derived exosomes that control lung metastasis of HCC, providing potential targets for prevention and treatment of cancer metastasis.

Summary Background The frequent recurrence of early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is generally attributable to metastatic disease undetected at complete resection. Management of such patients depends on prognostic staging to identify the individuals most likely to have occult disease. We aimed to develop and validate a practical, reliable assay that improves risk stratification compared with conventional staging. Methods A 14-gene expression assay that uses quantitative PCR, runs on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue samples, and differentiates patients with heterogeneous statistical prognoses was developed in a cohort of 361 patients with non-squamous NSCLC resected at the University of California, San Francisco. The assay was then independently validated by the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in a masked cohort of 433 patients with stage I non-squamous NSCLC resected at Kaiser Permanente Northern California hospitals, and on a cohort of 1006 patients with stage I–III non-squamous NSCLC resected in several leading Chinese cancer centres that are part of the China Clinical Trials Consortium (CCTC). Findings Kaplan-Meier analysis of the Kaiser validation cohort showed 5 year overall survival of 71·4% (95% CI 60·5–80·0) in low-risk, 58·3% (48·9–66·6) in intermediate-risk, and 49·2% (42·2–55·8) in high-risk patients (ptrend=0·0003). Similar analysis of the CCTC cohort indicated 5 year overall survivals of 74·1% (66·0–80·6) in low-risk, 57·4% (48·3–65·5) in intermediate-risk, and 44·6% (40·2–48·9) in high-risk patients (ptrend<0·0001). Multivariate analysis in both cohorts indicated that no standard clinical risk factors could account for, or provide, the prognostic information derived from tumour gene expression. The assay improved prognostic accuracy beyond National Comprehensive Cancer Network criteria for stage I high-risk tumours (p<0·0001), and differentiated low-risk, intermediate-risk, and high-risk patients within all disease stages. Interpretation Our practical, quantitative-PCR-based assay reliably identified patients with early-stage non-squamous NSCLC at high risk for mortality after surgical resection. Funding UCSF Thoracic Oncology Laboratory and Pinpoint Genomics.

Activation of inert chemical bonds, such as C-H, C-O, C-C, and so on, is a very important area, to which has been drawn much attention by chemists for a long time and which is viewed as one of the most ideal ways to produce valuable chemicals. Under modern chemical bond activation logic, many conventionally viewed "inert" chemical bonds that were intact under traditional conditions can be reconsidered as novel functionalities, which not only avoids the tedious synthetic procedures for prefunctionalizations and the emission of undesirable wastes but also inspires chemists to create novel synthetic strategies in completely different manners. Although activation of "inert" chemical bonds using stoichiometric amounts of transition metals has been reported in the past, much more attractive and challenging catalytic transformations began to blossom decades ago. Compared with the broad application of late and noble transition metals in this field, the earth-abundant first-row transition-metals, such as Fe, Co, and Ni, have become much more attractive, due to their obvious advantages, including high abundance on earth, low price, low or no toxicity, and unique catalytic characteristics. In this Account, we summarize our recent efforts toward Fe, Co, and Ni catalyzed "inert" chemical bond activation. Our research first unveiled the unique catalytic ability of iron catalysts in C-O bond activation of both carboxylates and benzyl alcohols in the presence of Grignard reagents. The benzylic C-H functionalization was also developed via Fe catalysis with different nucleophiles, including both electron-rich arenes and 1-aryl-vinyl acetates. Cobalt catalysts also showed their uniqueness in both aromatic C-H activation and C-O activation in the presence of Grignard reagents. We reported the first cobalt-catalyzed sp(2) C-H activation/arylation and alkylation of benzo[h]quinoline and phenylpyridine, in which a new catalytic pathway via an oxidative addition process was demonstrated to be much preferable. Another interesting discovery was the Co-catalyzed magnesiation of benzylic alcohols in the presence of different Grignard reagents, which proceeded via Co-mediated selective C-O bond activation. In C-O activation, Ni catalysts were found to be most powerful, showing the high efficacy in different kinds of couplings starting form "inert" O-based electrophiles. In addition, Ni catalysts exhibited their power in C-H and C-C activation, which have been proven by us and pioneers in this field. Notably, our developments indicated that the catalytic efficacy in cross coupling between aryl bromides and arenes under mild conditions was not the privilege of several noble metals; most of the transition metals exhibited credible catalytic ability, including Fe, Co, and Ni. We hope our studies inspire more interest in the development of first row transition metal-catalyzed inert chemical bond functionalization.

EGFR T790M mutation occurs in half of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with acquired EGFR-TKI (TKI) resistance, based on tumor re-biopsies using an invasive clinical procedure. Here, we dynamically monitored T790M mutation in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) using serial plasma samples from NSCLC patients receiving TKI through Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) method and the associations between overall survival (OS) starting from initial TKI treatment and the T790M ctDNA status detected in plasma were analyzed. Among 318 patients, 117 who acquired TKI resistance were eligible for the analysis. T790M ctDNA was detected in the plasma of 55/117 (47%) patients. Almost half of the T790M ctDNA positive patients were identified at a median time of 2.2 months prior to clinically progressive disease (PD). Furthermore, within the patients receiving TKI treatment at 2nd line or later, the T790M ctDNA positive group had significantly shorter OS than the negative group (median OS: 26.9 months versus NA, P = 0.0489). Our study demonstrates the feasibility of monitoring EGFR mutation dynamics in serial plasma samples from NSCLC patients receiving TKI therapy. T790M ctDNA can be detected in plasma before and after PD as a poor prognostic factor.

Racemic phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids tylophorine, antofine, and deoxytylophorinine, and optically pure alkaloids S-(+)-tylophorine and R-(-)-tylophorine were synthesized and evaluated for their antiviral activities against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). Further salinization modifications based on tylophorine increased stability and water solubility and improved the antiviral activity in application. The bioassay results showed that most of these synthesized compounds showed higher antiviral activity against TMV in vitro and in vivo than commercial Ningnanmycin. Especially, tylophorine salt derivatives 10, 11, 13, 17, and 22 emerged as potential inhibitors of plant virus. These findings demonstrate that these phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids and their salt derivatives represent a new template for antiviral studies and could be considered for novel therapy against plant virus infection.

The selective functionalization of strong, typically inert carbon-hydrogen (C–H) bonds in organic molecules is changing synthetic chemistry. However, the undirected functionalization of primary C–H bonds without competing functionalization of secondary C–H bonds is rare. The borylation of alkyl C–H bonds has occurred previously with this selectivity, but slow rates required the substrate to be the solvent or in large excess. We report an iridium catalyst ligated by 2-methylphenanthroline with activity that enables, with the substrate as limiting reagent, undirected borylation of primary C–H bonds and, when primary C–H bonds are absent or blocked, borylation of strong secondary C–H bonds. Reactions at the resulting carbon-boron bond show how these borylations can lead to the installation of a wide range of carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds at previously inaccessible positions of organic molecules.

Disinfection of hazardous microorganisms that may challenge environmental safety is a crucial issue for economic and public health. Here, we explore the potential of a novel electrochemical disinfectant named plasma activated water (PAW), which was generated by nonthermal plasma, for inactivating Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Meanwhile, the influence of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on the PAW disinfection efficacy was investigated. In the presence of BSA, PAW treatments achieved a reduction of S. aureus ranging from 2.1 to 5.5 Log, when without BSA it reached 7 Log. The sterilization efficacy depended on the PAW treatment time of S. aureus and plasma activation time for PAW generation. The results of electron spin resonance spectra showed the concentrations of hydroxyl radical (OH•) and nitric oxide radical (NO•) in water activated by plasma for 10 min (10-PAW) were higher than those in water activated by plasma for 5 min (5-PAW). Additionally, the physiological analysis of S. aureus demonstrated that the integrity of cell membrane, membrane potential, and intracellular pH homeostasis as well as DNA structure were damaged by PAW, and the molecule structure and chemical bonds of S. aureus were also altered due to PAW. Thus, PAW can be a promising chemical-free and environmentally friendly electrochemical disinfectant for application in the medical and food industries.

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