Background The association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and coronary artery disease (CAD) is controversial. We conducted this study to determine and quantify this association. Methods We used an established, national, observational cohort of all HCV-infected veterans receiving care at all Veterans Affairs facilities, the Electronically Retrieved Cohort of HCV Infected Veterans, to identify HCV-infected subjects and HCV-uninfected control subjects. We used the Cox proportional-hazards model to determine the risk of CAD among HCV-infected subjects and control subjects. Results We identified 82,083 HCV-infected and 89,582 HCV-uninfected subjects. HCV-infected subjects were less likely to have hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes but were more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs and to have renal failure and anemia. HCV-infected subjects had lower mean (± standard deviation) total plasma cholesterol (175 ± 40.8 mg/dL vs. 198 ± 41.0 mg/dL), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (102 ± 36.8 mg/dL vs. 119 ± 38.2 mg/dL), and triglyceride (144 ± 119 mg/dL vs. 179 ± 151 mg/dL) levels, compared with HCV-uninfected subjects. In multivariable analysis, HCV infection was associated with a higher risk of CAD (hazard ratio, 1.25; 95% confidence interval, 1.20–1.30; P < .001 for all comparisons). Traditional risk factors (age, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia) were associated with a higher risk of CAD in both groups, whereas minority race and female sex were associated with a lower risk of CAD. Conclusions HCV-infected persons are younger and have lower lipid levels and a lower prevalence of hypertension. Despite a favorable risk profile, HCV infection is associated with a higher risk of CAD after adjustment for traditional risk factors.

Tumor hypoxia greatly suppresses the therapeutic efficacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT), mainly because the generation of toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) in PDT is highly oxygen-dependent. In contrast to ROS, the generation of oxygen-irrelevant free radicals is oxygen-independent. A new therapeutic strategy based on the light-induced generation of free radicals for cancer therapy is reported. Initiator-loaded gold nanocages (AuNCs) as the free-radical generator were synthesized. Under near-infrared light (NIR) irradiation, the plasmonic heating effect of AuNCs can induce the decomposition of the initiator to generate alkyl radicals (R ), which can elevate oxidative-stress (OS) and cause DNA damages in cancer cells, and finally lead to apoptotic cell death under different oxygen tensions. As a proof of concept, this research opens up a new field to use various free radicals for cancer therapy.

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Two major bottlenecks in elucidating the structure and function of membrane proteins are the difficulty of producing large quantities of functional receptors, and stabilizing them for a sufficient period of time. Selecting the right surfactant is thus crucial. Here we report using peptide surfactants in commercial Escherichia coli cell-free systems to rapidly produce milligram quantities of soluble G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). These include the human formyl peptide receptor, human trace amine-associated receptor, and two olfactory receptors. The GPCRs expressed in the presence of the peptide surfactants were soluble and had α-helical secondary structures, suggesting that they were properly folded. Microscale thermophoresis measurements showed that one olfactory receptor expressed using peptide surfactants bound its known ligand heptanal (molecular weight 114.18). These short and simple peptide surfactants may be able to facilitate the rapid production of GPCRs, or even other membrane proteins, for structure and function studies.in vitro translation | label-free M embrane proteins play vital roles in all living systems. Approximately 30% of genes in almost all sequenced genomes code for membrane proteins (1-3). However, our detailed understanding of membrane protein structure and function lags far behind that of soluble proteins. Indeed, as of April 2011, there are over 72,000 structures in the Protein Data Bank. Of these, only 280 are unique membrane proteins, and only six are unique G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). This surprising disparity is due to bottlenecks at nearly every stage of experimentation, from large-scale membrane protein production to X-ray crystal diffraction.Recent advances have overcome several bottlenecks in studying membrane proteins. Commercial development of nanoliter drop-setting robots and a wide variety of kits have made crystal screening less laborious. The development of worldwide accessible synchrotron facilities, and microfocus beamlines capable of collecting data from crystals <10-60 μm, have overcome the bottlenecks in data collection. Likewise, rapid advancements in computing power and an increase in open access software development have made the determination of structures a much less daunting task. However, inexpensive large-scale production of soluble and nonaggregated membrane proteins still remains a formidable challenge. Likewise, systematic surfactant screens still remain one of the most time-consuming and expensive experimental tasks. To overcome these bottlenecks, the discovery or invention of simple and broadly useful surfactants is crucial.Several cell-based membrane protein production systems have been developed, but they are costly and require months to generate sufficient quantities of protein. Commercial cell-free systems are alternative methods of producing membrane proteins. However, to produce nonaggregated membrane proteins, optimal selection of surfactants is critical: The newly produced membrane proteins must not only fold correctly, they must al...