An innovative approach for efficient synthesis of petal-like molybdenum disulfide nanosheets inside hollow mesoporous carbon spheres (HMCSs), the yolk-shell structured MoS@C, has been developed. HMCSs effectively control and confine in situ growth of MoS nanosheets and significantly improve the conductivity and structural stability of the hybrid material. The yolk-shell structured MoS@C is proven to achieve high reversible capacity (993 mA h g at 1 A g after 200 cycles), superior rate capability (595 mA h g at a current density of 10 A g), and excellent cycle performance (962 mA h g at 1 A g after 1000 cycles and 624 mA h g at 5 A g after 400 cycles) when evaluated as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries. This superior performance is attributed to the yolk-shell structure with conductive mesoporous carbon as the shell and the stack of two-dimensional MoS nanosheets as the yolk.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are responsible for metastases in distant organs via hematogenous dissemination. Fundamental studies in the past decade have suggested that neutralization of CTCs in circulation could represent an effective strategy to prevent metastasis. Current paradigms of targeted drug delivery into a solid tumor largely fall into two main categories: unique cancer markers (e.g. overexpression of surface receptors) and tumor-specific microenvironment (e.g. low pH, hypoxia, etc.). While relying on a surface receptor to target CTCs can be greatly challenged by cancer heterogeneity, targeting of tumor microenvironments has the advantage of recognizing a broader spectrum of cancer cells regardless of genetic differences or tumor types. The blood circulation, however, where CTCs transit through, lacks the same tumor microenvironment as that found in a solid tumor. In this study, a unique “microenvironment” was confirmed upon introduction of cancer cells of different types into circulation where activated platelets and fibrin were physically associated with blood-borne cancer cells. Inspired by this observation, synthetic silica particles were functionalized with activated platelet membrane along with surface conjugation of tumor-specific apoptosis-inducing ligand cytokine, TRAIL. Biomimetic synthetic particles incorporated into CTC-associated micro-thrombi in lung vasculature and dramatically decreased lung metastases in a mouse breast cancer metastasis model. Our results demonstrate a “Trojan Horse” strategy of neutralizing CTCs to attenuate metastasis.

Antimicrobial peptides are important candidates for developing new classes of antibiotics because of their potency against antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Current research focuses on topical applications and it is unclear how to design peptides with systemic efficacy. To address this problem, we designed two potent peptides by combining database-guided discovery with structure-based design. When bound to membranes, these two short peptides with an identical amino acid composition can adopt two distinct amphipathic structures: A classic horizontal helix (horine) and a novel vertical spiral structure (verine). Their horizontal and vertical orientations on membranes were determined by solid-state 15N NMR data. While horine was potent primarily against gram-positive pathogens, verine showed broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. Both peptides protected greater than 80% mice from infection-caused deaths. Moreover, horine and verine also displayed significant systemic efficacy in different murine models comparable to conventional antibiotics. In addition, they could eliminate resistant pathogens and preformed biofilms. Significantly, the peptides showed no nephrotoxicity to mice after intraperitoneal or intravenous administration for 1 wk. Our study underscores the significance of horine and verine in fighting drug-resistant pathogens.

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