Genome-wide CRISPR screen identifies synthetic lethality between DOCK1 inhibition and metformin in liver cancer

Metformin is currently a strong candidate anti-tumor agent in multiple cancers. However, its anti-tumor effectiveness varies among different cancers or subpopulations, potentially due to tumor heterogeneity. It thus remains unclear which hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patient subpopulation(s) can benefit from metformin treatment. Here, through a genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9-based knockout screen, we find that DOCK1 levels determine the anti-tumor effects of metformin and that DOCK1 is a synthetic lethal target of metformin in HCC. Mechanistically, metformin promotes DOCK1 phosphorylation, which activates RAC1 to facilitate cell survival, leading to metformin resistance. The DOCK1-selective inhibitor, TBOPP, potentiates anti-tumor activity by metformin in vitro in liver cancer cell lines and patient-derived HCC organoids, and in vivo in xenografted liver cancer cells and immunocompetent mouse liver cancer models. Notably, metformin improves overall survival of HCC patients with low DOCK1 levels but not among patients with high DOCK1 expression. This study shows that metformin effectiveness depends on DOCK1 levels and that combining metformin with DOCK1 inhibition may provide a promising personalized therapeutic strategy for metformin-resistant HCC patients.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13238-022-00906-6.     

miR-34c inhibits proliferation of glioma by targeting PTP1B

Glioma is one of the most pervasive and invasive primary malignancies in the central nervous sys-tem.Due to its abnormal proliferation,glioma remains hard to cu...     

不同预处理方法影响昆虫干标本DNA提取效果

为从昆虫干标本中获取高质量DNA,以利于后期PCR扩增目的基因,本研究对DNA提取前昆虫干标本的预处理方法进行探讨,分别测定其纯度和质量,并用不同引物进行了扩增效果对比。结果显示:经过预处理的样品DNA平均含量均高于CK的52.283 ng/滋L,最高为0.9%Na Cl处理3 h,平均含量达122.632 ng/滋L;米象4种预处理方法提取的DNA利用引物Lco1490/Hco2198及UEA7/UEA10均能扩增出650 bp长度条带,仅有0.9%Na Cl溶液浸泡3 h处理的米象可通过引物J173/J1331扩增出1 000 bp的长片段条带。研究表明,经过预处理后,一定程度上减少了基因组DNA的断链,主要对样品DNA的质量浓度影响显著;以9%Na Cl溶液3 h预处理后的昆虫干标本,利用磁珠法所提DNA的质量及PCR扩增效果最佳。     

Noggin and bFGF cooperate to maintain the pluripotency of human embryonic stem cells in the absence of feeder layers

Human embryonic stem (hES) cells are typically maintained on mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) feeders or with MEF-conditioned medium. However, these xenosupport systems greatly limit the therapeutic applications of hES cells because of the risk of cross-transfer of animal pathogens. Here we showed that the bone morphogenetic protein antagonist noggin is critical in preventing differentiation of hES cells in culture. Furthermore, we found that the combination of noggin and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was sufficient to maintain the prolonged growth of hES cells while retaining all hES cell features. Since both noggin and bFGF are expressed in MEF, our findings suggest that they may be important factors secreted by MEF for maintaining undifferentiated pluripotent hES cells. Our data provide new insight into the mechanism how hES cell self-renewal is regulated. The newly developed feeder-free culture system will provide a more reliable alternative for future therapeutic applications of hES cells.     

光学方法分析GABA及GABAA受体在脑干听觉传入通路的作用

目的旨在探讨脑干听觉传入通路中GABA能神经递质及GABAA受体对电刺激位听神经传入冲动的影响.方法使用出生后0～5 d的ddy/ddy小鼠制备脑干切片.脑片经电压敏感染料NK3041染色,电刺激与脑片相连的位听神经残端.使用16×16像素的硅光电二极管阵列测量光学信号.所采集的数据使用ARGUS50/PDA软件分析.结果多部位的光学记录方法显示了从位听神经到耳蜗核和前庭核的兴奋性传导的时间-空间分布.其中每一个光学成分由快峰电位样反应和慢反应组成.抑制性神经递质GABA可降低诱发的光学信号的快反应和慢反应,GABAA受体拮抗剂荷包牡丹碱可增强这些反应.结论16×16像素的硅光电二极管阵列可记录位听神经刺激诱发的多部位光学信号,每一个光学信号含有突触前及突触后电位成分.抑制性神经递质GABA和GJBAA受体拮抗剂可调节光学信号的兴奋性传导.     

Promoting human embryonic stem cell renewal or differentiation by modulating Wnt signal and culture conditions

We previously showed that Wnt3a could stimulate human embryonic stem （hES） cell proliferation and affect cell fate determination. In the absence of feeder cell--derived factors, hES cells cultured under a feeder-free condition survived and proliferated poorly. Adding recombinant Wnt3a in the absence of feeder cell derived-factors stimulated hES cell proliferation but also differentiation. In the present study, we further extended our analysis to other Wnt ligands such as Wntl and Wnt5a. While Wntl displayed a similar effect on hES cells as Wnt3a, Wnt5a had little effect in this system. Wnt3a and Wntl enhanced proliferation of undifferentiated hES cells when feeder-derived self-renewal factors and bFGF are also present. To explore the possibility to promote the proliferation of undifferentiated hES cells by activating the Wnt signaling, we overexpressed Wnt3a or Wntl gene in immortalized human adult fibroblast （HAFi） cells that are superior in supporting long-term growth of undifferentiated hES cells than primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts. HAFi cells with or without a Wnt tmnsgene can be propagated indefinitely. Over-expression of the Wnt3a gene significantly enhanced the ability of HAFi feeder cells to support the undifferentiated growth of 3 different hES cell lines we tested. Co-expression of three commonly-used drug selection genes in Wnt3a-overpressing HAFi cells further enabled us to select rare hES clones after stable transfection or transduction. These immortalized engineered feeder cells （W3R） that co-express growth-promoting genes such as Wnt3a and three drug selection genes should empower us to efficiently make genetic modified hES cell lines for basic and translational research.     

蜘蛛基因组DNA提取方法的比较

分别用SDS法,SK251基因组DNA小量抽提试剂盒法,自制试剂盒法,对蜘蛛组织的基因组DNA进行了提取,经比较,自制试剂盒法对提取蜘蛛基因组DNA最简便面又有效的方法。     

2009年第五届“现代生态学讲座”国际会议综述

"现代生态学讲座"系列会议是由国内外华人生态学家联合发起、为加强现代生态学的新理论、新观点、新方法和热点问题的交流与合作的国际会议.总结了2009年6月27～29日在兰州大学举行的第五届现代生态学讲座国际会议的全部二十五场报告,围绕"宏观生态学和可持续发展科学"的会议主题,分别从森林生态学、草地生态学、全球变化生态学、根际和土壤生态学、分子和行为生态学以及农业生态学等角度进行了分类总结.全部报告可归纳为"生态系统服务功能的物质基础"和"生态系统服务的生态学机制"两个大的基础理论问题,而解决问题的途径必须在人类-自然耦合生态系统的大框架下进行探索.对该会议的进一步改善提出了一些建议.     

Lithium Doping to Enhance Thermoelectric Performance of MgAgSb with Weak Electron–Phonon Coupling

Despite the unfavorable band structure with twofold degeneracy at the valence band maximum, MgAgSb is still an excellent p‐type thermoelectric material for applications near room temperature. The intrinsically weak electron–phonon coupling, reflected by the low deformation potential E_def ≈ 6.3 eV, plays a crucial role in the relatively high power factor of MgAgSb. More importantly, Li is successfully doped into Mg site to tune the carrier concentration, leading to the resistivity reduction by a factor of 3 and a consequent increase in power factor by ≈30% at 300 K. Low lattice thermal conductivity can be simultaneously achieved by all‐scale hierarchical phonon scattering architecture including high density of dislocations and nanoscale stacking faults, nanoinclusions, and multiscale grain boundaries. Collectively, much higher average power factor ≈25 μW cm^?1 K^?2 with a high average ZT ≈ 1.1 from 300 to 548 K is achieved for 0.01 Li doping, which would result in a high output power density ≈1.56 W cm^?2 and leg efficiency ≈9.2% by calculations assuming cold‐side temperature T_c = 323 K, hot‐side temperature T_h = 548 K, and leg length = 2 mm.