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The catalytic properties of noble metal nanocrystals can be tuned via engineering their structures. Nanocrystals with fractal structures are fascinating catalysts regarding their large surface area-to-volume ratios, large numbers of edges and corners, which can be tuned simultaneously by their hierarchical ordering. However, it is still a great challenge to control the hierarchical ordering of noble metal fractal nanocrystals and their formation mechanism is not fully understood. Herein, we report a facile solvothermal method for the direct preparation of a unique single-crystal Rh-hyperbranched structure, which consists of hierarchically ultrathin nanoplates with threefold symmetry, large surface area and high density of low-coordinated edge/corner sites. Importantly, the hierarchical ordering can be readily tuned by changing the composition of solvent. In addition, we found the as-prepared single-crystal hyperbranched Rh nanoplates possessed great structure stability, and exhibited better catalytic performance towards both ethanol electrooxidation and hydrogenation of styrene than the commercial Rh black, which can be attributed to the large surface area and high-dentisty of edge/corner sites.

The visual color of antimicrobial drug metronidazole is tuned through cocrystallization with pyrogallol, offering a new modification approach.

In recent years, polyureas with dynamic hindered urea bonds (HUBs), a class of promising biomedical polymers, have attracted wide attention as a result of their controlled hydrolytic properties. The effect of the chemical structures on the properties of polyureas and their assemblies has rarely been reported. In this study, four kinds of polyureas with different chemical groups have been synthesized, and the polyureas from cyclohexyl diisocyanate and tert-butyl diamine showed the fastest hydrolytic rate. The amphiphilic polyurea composed of hydrophobic cyclohexyl-tert-butyl polyurea and hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was synthesized for the controlled delivery of the antitumor drug paclitaxel (PTX). The PTX-loaded PEGylated polyurea micelle more effectively entered into the murine breast cancer 4T1 cells and inhibited the corresponding tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, the PEGylated polyurea with adjustable degradation might be a promising polymer matrix for drug delivery.

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Alternative polyadenylation (APA) is an important post-transcriptional modification commonly involved in tumor development. However, the functional roles of APA in tumor immunity remain largely unknown. Here, we performed an in-depth analysis of the 3’UTR usage of protein-coding genes and tumor immune response in 10,303 tumor samples across 31 cancer types to develop the immune-related APA event (ImmAPA) score pipeline, an integrated algorithm to characterize the regulatory landscape of APA events in cancer immunity-related pathways. Tumor-specific ImmAPAs that strongly correlate with immune cell infiltration and immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) treatment-related biomarkers were identified. Among these ImmAPAs, the top-ranking COL1A1 3’UTR usage was strongly associated with worse prognosis and tumor immune evasion. Furthermore, a machine learning approach to construct an ICB-related ImmAPA score model predicted immunotherapy efficacy. Overall, the characterization of immune-related APA that correspond to tumor progression and tumor immunity highlights the clinical utility of APA events as potential biomarkers in cancer immunotherapy.

The emergence of KPC-producing Gram-negative bacteria in clinical practice highlights the need to search for novel antimicrobials and new anti-infection strategies. In this study, we constructed a laboratory KPC-2-positive strain, E. coli BL21(DE3) (pET28a-KPC-2) and identified the activity of KPC-2 in this strain. Using enzyme inhibition assays, checkerboard MIC assays, growth curves, time-killing assays and combined disk test, we found that the natural compound corosolic acid (CA) significantly inhibited the activity of the class A β-lactamase KPC-2, which is common among clinical isolates. CA treatment increased the antibacterial or bactericidal activity of imipenem and meropenem against E. coli BL21(DE3) (pET28a-KPC-2) in vitro (FIC index = 0.17 ± 0.03 for both carbapenems). In addition, the mouse intraperitoneal infection model confirmed that the combination therapy significantly reduced the bacterial load in the livers and spleens following subcutaneous administration. Our results showed that CA can be used to extend the life of carbapenems, providing a viable strategy for severe infections caused by KPC-2-positive bacteria.

Apoptosis, also named programmed cell death, is a highly conserved physiological mechanism. Apoptosis plays crucial roles in many life processes, such as tissue development, organ formation, homeostasis maintenance, resistance against external aggression, and immune responses. Apoptosis is regulated by many genes, among which Apoptosis Inhibitor-5 (API5) is an effective inhibitor, though the structure of API5 is completely different from the other known Inhibitors Of Apoptosis Proteins (IAPs). Due to its high expression in many types of tumors, API5 has received extensive attention, and may be an effective target for cancer treatment. In order to comprehensively and systematically understand the biological roles of API5, we summarized the evolution and structure of API5 and its roles in anti-apoptosis in this review.