BackgroundThe role of cancer cell FOXP3 in tumorigenesis is conflicting. We aimed to study FOXP3 expression and regulation, function and clinical implication in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).MethodsOne hundred and six patients with histologically-confirmed NSCLC who underwent surgery were recruited for the study. Tumor samples and NSCLC cell lines were used to examine FOXP3 and its related molecules. Various cell functions related to tumorigenesis were performed. In vivo mouse tumor xenograft was used to confirm the in vitro results.ResultsNSCLC patients with the high level of FOXP3 had a significant decrease in overall survival and recurrence-free survival. FOXP3 overexpression significantly induced cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, whereas its inhibition impaired its oncogenic function. In vivo studies confirmed that FOXP3 promoted tumor growth and metastasis. The ectopic expression of FOXP3 induced epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) with downregulation of E-cadherin and upregulation of N-cadherin, vimentin, snail, slug, and MMP9. The oncogenic effects by FOXP3 could be attributed to FOX3-mediated activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling, as FOXP3 increased luciferase activity of Topflash reporter and upregulated Wnt signaling target genes including c-Myc and Cyclin D1 in NSCLC cells. Co-immunoprecipitation results further indicated that FOXP3 could physically interacted with β-catenin and TCF4 to enhance the functions of β-catenin and TCF4, inducing transcription of Wnt target genes to promote cell proliferation, invasion and EMT induction.ConclusionsFOXP3 can act as a co-activator to facilitate the Wnt-b-catenin signaling pathway, inducing EMT and tumor growth and metastasis in NSCLC.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12943-017-0700-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Herein we report a self-cleaning coating derived from zwitterionic poly(2-methacryloyloxylethyl phosphorylcholine) (PMPC) brushes grafted on a solid substrate. The PMPC surface not only exhibits complete oil repellency in a water-wetted state (i.e., underwater superoleophobicity), but also allows effective cleaning of oil fouled on dry surfaces by water alone. The PMPC surface was compared with typical underwater superoleophobic surfaces realized with the aid of surface roughening by applying hydrophilic nanostructures and those realized by applying smooth hydrophilic polyelectrolyte multilayers. We show that underwater superoleophobicity of a surface is not sufficient to enable water to clean up oil fouling on a dry surface, because the latter circumstance demands the surface to be able to strongly bond water not only in its pristine state but also in an oil-wetted state. The PMPC surface is unique with its described self-cleaning performance because the zwitterionic phosphorylcholine groups exhibit exceptional binding affinity to water even when they are already wetted by oil. Further, we show that applying this PMPC coating onto steel meshes produces oil-water separation membranes that are resilient to oil contamination with simply water rinsing. Consequently, we provide an effective solution to the oil contamination issue on the oil-water separation membranes, which is an imperative challenge in this field. Thanks to the self-cleaning effect of the PMPC surface, PMPC-coated steel meshes can not only separate oil from oil-water mixtures in a water-wetted state, but also can lift oil out from oil-water mixtures even in a dry state, which is a very promising technology for practical oil-spill remediation. In contrast, we show that oil contamination on conventional hydrophilic oil-water separation membranes would permanently induce the loss of oil-water separation function, and thus they have to be always used in a completely water-wetted state, which significantly restricts their application in practice.

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Thyroid cancer occurs three times more frequently in females than in males, and in females the incidence decreases after menopause. This gender difference suggests that the growth and progression of thyroid cancer may be influenced by female sex hormones, particularly estrogens. Experimental data have clearly demonstrated that estrogens can influence cancer cell growth. The action of estrogens on target sites is mediated through related but distinct estrogen receptors, designated estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) and estrogen receptor beta (ERbeta), both of which are known to be expressed in thyroid cancer cells. The proliferation of thyroid cancer cells is promoted by an ERalpha agonist, whereas the proliferation is reduced by the enhanced expression of ERbeta or by an ERbeta agonist. When ERbeta is down-regulated, the proliferation of thyroid cells is significantly increased. Studies have shown that the expression of ERalpha in thyroid cancer cells is increased while the expression of ERbeta is either very low or absent. In conclusion, it appears that estrogens have opposite effects on the growth of thyroid cancer cells, depending on the balance between ERalpha and ERbeta in the cells. The modulation of ERalpha and ERbeta and the intervention of their pathways may open up new potential targets for the treatment of thyroid cancer.

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efficiency boosting of solar evaporation has become the forefront research interest in the area of solar energy conversion and applications. As water evaporation is an interfacial process, the localization of heat at the air-water interface by floating a photothermal material at the air-water interface, instead of heating the bulk water, has been considered to be the key of solar-evaporation acceleration. [13][14][15][16][17] However, solar evaporation by interfacial heat-localization involves the cooperation of sequential processes of sunlight absorbing/converting, heat localization, and water translocation. Accordingly, various self-floating double-layer materials consisting of a bottom water-pumping layer and a top light-absorbing layer have been deliberately designed to optimize/reconcile the above-described processes. [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] Complex/harsh fabrication processes (e.g., high temperature, freeze drying) and/or expensive raw materials (e.g., noble metals and graphene) are generally required to optimize the composite properties, which results in high cost and poor scalability for practical applications. Therefore, it is imperative to develop low-cost and scalable photothermal materials to meet the high-volume production of solar evaporation with further improved efficiency. Herein, inspired by the transpiration process and capillary action of natural plants, we developed a simple and low-cost strategy to make a photothermal material for solar evaporation by coating nature-produced wood with polydopamine (PDA) (main composition of melanin and adhesive protein of mussel). Both of the materials are cost effective, biodegradable, and environmentally friendly. The as-fabricated PDA-coated wood exhibits superior solar-steam generation efficiency compared to the previously reported materials for solar evaporation.In nature, the transpiration process of plants is associated with the interfacial evaporation of water on the leaves and the translocation of water from the underground to the leaf. [27] The evaporation on plant leaves creates a negative water vapor pressure, which triggers the pulling of water from root up to the leaf via capillary action. Inspired by this natural process extensively employed by plants, we hypothesized that naturally produced wood could be an excellent candidate for application in solar evaporation. Because of its lower density (compared to water) and capillary-induced superhydrophilic nature, wood can float on the water surface and translocate water from the bulk The conversion of solar energy into heat for solar steam generation is significant for energy saving and clean water supply. Recent advances in the design and application of photothermal-based water-evaporation systems have attracted intense research interest. However, it is imperative to develop a low-cost and scalable photothermal system with further improved energy conversion efficiency to meet the demand for real-world applications. Inspired by the natural transpiration process of plants, a wood-polyd...

Ni1Co3@PDA nanosheets were utilized as photothermal materials in a kerosene lamp-like evaporator for solar steam generation. A high evaporation rate of 2.42 kg m−2 h−1 with a corresponding energy efficiency beyond the theoretical limit was achieved.