BackgroundAlthough the antitumor efficacy of docetaxel (DTX) has long been attributed to the antimitotic activities, its impact on the tumor microenvironment (TME) has recently gained more attention. Macrophages are a major component of the TME and play a critical role in DTX efficacy; however, the underlying action mechanisms remain unclear.MethodsDTX chemotherapeutic efficacy was demonstrated via both macrophage depletion and C–C motif chemokine ligand 3 (Ccl3)-knockout transgenic allograft mouse model. Ccl3-knockdown and Ccl3-overexpressing breast cancer cell allografts were used for the in vivo study. Combination therapy was used to evaluate the effect of Ccl3 induction on DTX chemosensitivity. Vital regulatory molecules and pathways were identified using RNA sequencing. Macrophage phagocytosis of cancer cells and its influence on cancer cell proliferation under DTX treatment were assessed using an in vitro coculture assay. Serum and tumor samples from patients with breast cancer were used to demonstrate the clinical relevance of our study.ResultsOur study revealed that Ccl3 induced by DTX in macrophages and cancer cells was indispensable for the chemotherapeutic efficacy of DTX. DTX-induced Ccl3 promoted proinflammatory macrophage polarization and subsequently facilitated phagocytosis of breast cancer cells and cancer stem cells. Ccl3 overexpression in cancer cells promoted proinflammatory macrophage polarization to suppress tumor progression and increase DTX chemosensitivity. Mechanistically, DTX induced Ccl3 by relieving the inhibition of cAMP-response element binding protein on Ccl3 via reactive oxygen species accumulation, and Ccl3 then promoted proinflammatory macrophage polarization via activation of the Ccl3–C-C motif chemokine receptor 5–p38/interferon regulatory factor 5 pathway. High CCL3 expression predicted better prognosis, and high CCL3 induction revealed better DTX chemosensitivity in patients with breast cancer. Furthermore, both the Creb inhibitor and recombinant mouse Ccl3 significantly enhanced DTX chemosensitivity.ConclusionsOur results indicate that Ccl3 induced by DTX triggers proinflammatory macrophage polarization and subsequently facilitates phagocytosis of cancer cells. Ccl3 induction in combination with DTX may provide a promising therapeutic rationale for increasing DTX chemosensitivity in breast cancer.

Diabetes is a serious global disease that threatens more than 400 million people's health. Therefore, timely detection of body's glucose level becomes extremely important for control, diagnosis and treatment of diabetes. Based on the feature of stimuli-responsive volume phase transition of hydrogel materials, this review will provide a systematic summary of glucose detection devices in recent years, including hydrogel preparation methods based on glucose-sensitive pattern, detection mechanisms based on signal transduction, current and emerging devices based on different body fluids and discuss the challenge, prospect the future development trend in the end.

A microfluidic chip for detecting tumor markers integrated functions including blood plasma separation, microvalve operation, and antibody immobilization.

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Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is an important disease biomarker, related to cancers such as hepatocarcinomas and gastric cancer. However, traditional methods are time-consuming, relied on bulky instruments and trained professionals, cannot satisfy the demand for low cost and point-of-care testing (POCT). In this study, a power-free POCT device is developed for rapid and low-cost detection of AFP via one-sampling. Based on the principle of sandwich immunofluorescence, the chip is capable of automatically accomplishing on-chip mixing, labeling and capturing procedures, which only requires the operator add 40 μl sample into the chip one time. The proposed device is capable of sensitively detecting human AFP in FBS with a dynamic ranging from 10-1 000 ng/mL and LOD (1.88 ng/ml) within a short time of 3 min.Predictably, our method holds the great potential to be applied in POC diagnostics of proteins, especially for some regions with resource-limited.

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