No abstract

NLRP3 inflammasome was introduced as a double-edged sword in tumorigenesis and influenced immunotherapy response by modulating host immunity. However, a systematic assessment of the NLRP3-inflammasome-related genes across human cancers is lacking, and the predictive role of NLRP3 inflammasome in cancer immunotherapy (CIT) response remains unexplored. Thus, in this study, we performed a pan-cancer analysis of NLRP3-inflammasome-related genes across 24 human cancers. Out of these 24 cancers, 15 cancers had significantly different expression of NLRP3-inflammasome-related genes between normal and tumor samples. Meanwhile, Cox regression analysis showed that the NLRP3 inflammasome score could be served as an independent prognostic factor in skin cutaneous melanoma. Further analysis indicated that NLRP3 inflammasome may influence tumor immunity mainly by mediating tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and macrophages, and the effect of NLRP3 inflammasome on immunity is diverse across tumor types in tumor microenvironment. We also found that the NLRP3 inflammasome score could be a stronger predictor for immune signatures compared with tumor mutation burden (TMB) and glycolytic activity, which have been reported as immune predictors. Furthermore, analysis of the association between NLRP3 inflammasome and CIT response using six CIT response datasets revealed the predictive value of NLRP3 inflammasome for immunotherapy response of patients in diverse cancers. Our study illustrates the characterization of NLRP3 inflammasome in multiple cancer types and highlights its potential value as a predictive biomarker of CIT response, which can pave the way for further investigation of the prognostic and therapeutic potentials of NLRP3 inflammasome.

[reaction: see text] A new class of thiourea catalysts have been developed which integrate saccharide and primary amine moieties into one small organic molecule. These simple catalysts are shown to be highly enantioselective for direct Michael addition of aromatic ketones to a range of nitroolefins (up to 98% ee).

The water vapor exhaled by the human body can severely accelerate the charge dissipation of a polypropylene (PP)-based medical mask, thereby reducing the electrostatic adsorption efficiency to cause infection. To solve this problem, a new type of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based medical mask through electrostatic spinning to replace the PP melt-blown layer, which has self-charging and charge retention performance in a high humidity environment is fabricated. The PVA is rich in hydroxyl groups, which can spontaneously form hydrogen bonds with water vapor molecules exhaled by the human body and fix water molecules to increase the triboelectricity. By analyzing the electrical output performance of PVA-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), it is shown that the short circuit current is ≈26 times larger than that of PP-based TENG in 95% relative humidity (RH). Moreover, PVA has a strong charge storage capacity and self-charging performance, as determined by hand touching under a high humidity environment. The static dissipation rate of PVA is 1.4 times lower than that of PP at a 95% RH. In comparison with PP-based medical masks, PVAbased medical masks have a high humidity resistance and self-charging performance and can be easily recharged in situ by hand slapping without taking it off for many times.