BackgroundGastric cancer (GC) is characterized by the excessive deposition of extracellular matrix, which is thought to contribute to this tumor’s malignant behavior. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is regarded as a crucial contributing factor to cancer progression. Galectin-1 (Gal-1), a β-galactoside-binding protein abundantly expressed in activated cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), has been reported to be involved in GC progression and metastasis by binding to β1 integrin, which, in turn, can bind to matrix proteins and activate intracellular cascades that mediate EMT. Increasing evidence suggests that abnormal activation of the hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway enhances GC cell migration and invasion. The purpose of our study is to explore the role of Gal-1 in the GC progression and metastasis as well as the regulatory mechanism.MethodsWe hypothesized that Gal-1 binding to β1 integrin would lead to paracrine signaling between CAFs and GC cells, mediating EMT by upregulating Gli1. Invasion and metastasis effects of the Gal-1 and Gli1 were evaluated using wound healing and invasion assay following transfection with mimics. Additionally, to facilitate the delineation of the role of the Hh signaling in GC, we monitored the expression level of associated proteins. We also evaluated the effects of β1 integrin on these processes. Furthermore, Gal-1 and Gli1 expression in GC patient samples were examined by immunohistochemistry and western blot to determine the correlation between their expression and clinicopathologic characteristics. The Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards model were used to analyze the relationship of expression with clinical outcomes.ResultsGal-1 was found to induce EMT, GC cell migration and invasion. Further data showed that Gal-1 up-regulated Gli1 expression. β1 integrin was responsible for Gal-1-induced Gli1 expression and EMT. In clinical GC tissue, it confirmed a positive relationship between Gal-1 and Gli1 expression. Importantly, their high expression is correlated to poor prognosis.ConclusionGal-1 from CAFs binds to a carbohydrate structure in β1 integrin and plays an important role in the development of GC by inducing GC metastasis and EMT through targeting Gli1. This study highlights the potential therapeutic value of Gal-1 for suppression of GC metastasis.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13046-016-0449-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A 3C-SiC/NiO p–n heterojunction photoanode exhibits a substantially improved photoelectrochemical water-splitting performance in terms of photocurrent, onset potential and fill-factor.

Engineering tunable graphene–semiconductor interfaces while simultaneously preserving the superior properties of graphene is critical to graphene-based devices for electronic, optoelectronic, biomedical, and photoelectrochemical applications. Here, we demonstrate this challenge can be surmounted by constructing an interesting atomic Schottky junction via epitaxial growth of high-quality and uniform graphene on cubic SiC (3C-SiC). By tailoring the graphene layers, the junction structure described herein exhibits an atomic-scale tunable Schottky junction with an inherent built-in electric field, making it a perfect prototype to systematically comprehend interfacial electronic properties and transport mechanisms. As a proof-of-concept study, the atomic-scale-tuned Schottky junction is demonstrated to promote both the separation and transport of charge carriers in a typical photoelectrochemical system for solar-to-fuel conversion under low bias. Simultaneously, the as-grown monolayer graphene with an extremely high conductivity protects the surface of 3C-SiC from photocorrosion and energetically delivers charge carriers to the loaded cocatalyst, achieving a synergetic enhancement of the catalytic stability and efficiency.

Galectin-1 (Gal-1) has been reported to be an independent prognostic indicator of poor survival in gastric cancer and overexpression of Gal-1 enhances the invasiveness of gastric cancer cells. However, the downstream mechanisms by which Gal-1 promotes invasion remains unclear. Moreover, the function of Gal-1 in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in gastric cancer has not yet been elucidated. In this study, we observed Gal-1 expression was upregulated and positively associated with metastasis and EMT markers in 162 human gastric cancer tissue specimens. In vitro studies showed Gal-1 induced invasion, the EMT phenotype and activated the non-canonical hedgehog (Hh) pathway in gastric cancer cell lines. Furthermore, our data revealed that Gal-1 modulated the non-canonical Hh pathway by increasing the transcription of glioma-associated oncogene-1 (Gli-1) via a Smoothened (SMO)-independent manner, and that upregulation of Gal-1 was strongly associated with gastric cancer metastasis. We conclude that Gal-1 promotes invasion and the EMT in gastric cancer cells via activation of the non-canonical Hh pathway, suggesting Gal-1 could represent a promising therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of gastric cancer metastasis.

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It is desired to develop self-healing gel electrolytes for flexible electrochromic devices (ECDs) due to the demand of healing damages caused during operations. We here report a hydrogel electrolyte with remarkable self-healing capability, excellent stretchability, and ionic conductivity. The hydrogel electrolyte was synthesized via one-step copolymerization of glycerol monomethacrylate (GMA) and acrylamide (AAm) in the presence of borate. Within the hydrogel electrolyte, dynamic cross-linking is expected to be formed due to the borate-didiol complexation and hydrogen-bonding interactions. As a result, the hydrogel electrolyte demonstrates an excellent self-healing efficiency of up to 97%, a fracture strain of 1155%, a fracture toughness of 136.6 kJ m–3, and a fracture stress of 13.0 kPa. Additionally, a flexible ECD based on the hydrogel electrolyte and an electrochromic layer of poly­(3,4-(2,2-dimethyl-propylenedioxy)­thiophene) (PProDOT-Me2) was assembled and evaluated. The device is found to be stable in both mechanical and optical properties over 1000 operation cycles. This study may provide a promising way for self-healing electrolyte gels to be utilized in a variety of flexible electrochemical devices, including ECDs, supercapacitors, and batteries.

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The stacking order of multilayer graphene significantly influences its electronic properties. The rhombohedral stacking sequence is predicted to introduce a flat band, which has high density of states and the enhanced Coulomb interaction between charge carriers, thus possibly resulting in superconductivity, fractional quantum Hall effect, and many other exotic phases of matter. In this work, we comprehensively study the effect of the stacking sequence and interlayer spacing on the electronic structure of four-layer graphene, which was grown on a high crystalline quality 3C-SiC(111) crystal. The number of graphene layers and coverage were determined by low energy electron microscopy. First-principles density functional theory calculations show distinctively different band structures for ABAB (Bernal), ABCA (rhombohedral), and ABCB (turbostratic) stacking sequences. By comparing with angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy data, we can verify the existence of a rhombohedral stacking sequence and a nearly dispersionless electronic band (flat band) near the Fermi level. Moreover, we find that the momentum width, bandgap, and curvature of the flat-band region can be tuned by the interlayer spacing, which plays an important role in superconductivity and many other exotic phases of matter.