经典Wnt 信号通路在牙齿发育中的研究新进展

经典Wnt信号通路是参与胚胎及器官发育的四大信号传导途径之一,在牙齿发育中扮演了重要的角色。本文对其中的β-catenin,Lef1,Apc,Axin2这4个关键因子在牙齿发育中研究的新进展做了简要的概述:β-catenin在间充质中会调控多个信号,影响牙上皮和间充质相互作用;Lef1会和Tcf家族一道调控上皮细胞命运;Apc能抑制多余牙齿的形成;Axin2在牙晚期发育中影响牙本质的形成。通过这些因子的研究,希望人们能在牙齿再生等生物医学工程上有新的突破。     

Genotypic variation in phosphorus acquisition from sparingly soluble P sources is related to root morphology and root exudates in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Brassica napus</Emphasis>

Genotypic variations in the adaptive response to low-phosphorus (P) stress and P-uptake efficiency have been widely reported in many crops. We conducted a pot experiment to evaluate the P-acquisition ability of two rapeseed (Brassica napus) genotypes supplied with two sparingly soluble sources of P, Al-P and Fe-P. Then, the root morphology, proton concentrations, and carboxylate content were investigated in a solution experiment to examine the genotypic difference in P-acquisition efficiency. Both genotypes produced greater biomass and accumulated more P when supplied with Al-P than when supplied with Fe-P. The P-efficient genotype 102 showed a significantly greater ability to deplete sparingly soluble P from the rhizosphere soil because of its greater biomass and higher P uptake compared with those of the P-inefficient genotype 105. In the solution experiment, the P-efficient genotype under low-P conditions developed dominant root morphological traits, and it showed more intensive rhizosphere acidification because of greater H⁺ efflux, higher H⁺-ATPase activity, and greater exudation of carboxylates than the P-inefficient genotype. Thus, a combination of morphological and physiological mechanisms contributed to the genotypic variation in the utilization of different sparingly soluble P sources in B. napus.     

聚乙二醇介导鹅掌楸悬浮细胞与CdSe／ZnS量子点纳米颗粒共孵育的互作特征

利用纳米材料介导的药物靶向治疗和动物细胞转基因等相关研究,日益受到人们的关注．但植物因存在细胞壁的障碍,无论原位还是离体细胞培养条件下,利用纳米技术进行基因转移均存在很大难度．因此设想,如通过纳米颗粒材料物理尺寸的改变和表面化学修饰,能改变纳米颗粒与植物细胞壁界面上的生物物理或生物化学特征,从而有利于纳米颗粒材料穿越植物细胞壁进入植物细胞,将对推动纳米技术在植物转基因领域中的应用产生重要意义．根据以上设想,研究了不同的共孵育时间和温度等条件下,杂交鹅掌楸的胚性悬浮细胞与经不同表面化学修饰的CdSe／ZnS纳米颗粒之间相互作用过程的细胞生物学特征,以及CdSe／ZnS量子点的细胞毒性．结果表明,在共孵育后3h以内,激光共聚焦显微镜和电子扫描显微镜下,均可观察到经表面后修饰带正电荷的CdSe／ZnS纳米颗粒．同时,胞吞进入细胞内部的表面携带正电荷的CdSe／ZnS纳米颗粒的量明显与共培养时间、温度有明显的依赖关系,表明它们可以通过细胞的液相胞吞作用进入杂交鹅掌楸细胞内,且不影响细胞的活性;而表面带负电荷的CdSe／ZnS纳米颗粒则主要聚集在细胞外壁附近．在培养溶液中添加20％（质量比）聚乙二醇,可进一步提高鹅掌楸细胞胞吞CdSe／ZnS纳米颗粒的量和减轻CdSe／ZnS纳米颗粒的细胞毒性．本研究表明,以表面携带正电荷的CdSe／ZnS量子点纳米材料作为基因载体,在植物悬浮细胞的转基因研究和应用中具有广泛的前景．     

Release of hydrophobic anticancer drug from a newly designed self-assembling peptide

A newly designed self-assembling peptide, P4 (Ac-NH-LDLKLELKLDLKLELK-CONH(2)), capable of stabilizing hydrophobic compounds in aqueous solution has been discovered. The ionic self-complementary peptide P4 has 16 amino acids, ～5 nm in size, with an alternating polar and non-polar pattern. Circular dichroism analysis demonstrated that P4 forms stable β-sheet structures, and self-assembles into nanofibers, which was demonstrated by atomic force microscopy. These nanofibers can form a scaffold hydrogel consisting of >99% water. It showed that the P4 hydrogel had stable hydrogel rheological properties. The ability of the peptide to stabilize the hydrophobic anticancer agent ellipticine was tested in this research. The results showed that the state of ellipticine in the complexes was dependent on the concentration of the peptide, which also affected the size and morphology of the complex. The anticancer activity of the complexes was studied by testing the viability with a MTT assay and a LIVE/DEAD Viability/Cytotoxicity kit in two cancer cell lines including SMMC7721 and EC9706. The viability results showed that complexes of protonated ellipticine could significantly reduce the viability of the two cell lines. The results described herein provide further incentives for basic studies on self-assembling peptide-based delivery of hydrophobic anticancer drugs.     

A photocrosslinking assay for reporting protein interactions in polyketide and fatty acid synthases

Understanding protein-protein interactions that occur between ACP and KS domains of polyketide synthases and fatty acid synthases is critical to improving the scope and efficiency of combinatorial biosynthesis efforts aimed at producing non-natural polyketides. Here, we report a facile strategy for rapidly reporting such ACP-KS interactions based on the incorporation of an amino acid with photocrosslinking functionality. Crucially, this photocrosslinking strategy can be applied to any polyketide or fatty acid synthase regardless of substrate specificity, and can be adapted to a high-throughput format for directed evolution studies.     

Resonance assignments and secondary structure prediction of the As(III) metallochaperone ArsD in solution

ArsD is a metallochaperone that delivers As(III) to the ArsA ATPase, the catalytic subunit of the ArsAB pump encoded by the arsRDABC operon of Escherichia coli plasmid R773. Conserved ArsD cysteine residues (Cys¹², Cys¹³ and Cys¹⁸) construct the As(III) binding site of the protein, however a global structural understanding of this arsenic binding remains unclear. We have obtained NMR assignments for ArsD as a starting point for probing structural changes on the protein that occur in response to metalloid binding and upon formation of a complex with ArsA. The predicted solution structure of ArsD is in agreement with recently published crystallographic structural results.     

Adjuvant chemotherapy, with or without taxanes, in early or operable breast cancer: a meta-analysis of 19 randomized trials with 30698 patients

Background

Taxanes have been extensively used as adjuvant chemotherapy for the treatment of early or operable breast cancer, particularly in high risk, node-negative breast cancer. Previous studies, however, have reported inconsistent findings regarding their clinical efficacy and safety. We investigated disease-free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS), and drug-related toxicities of taxanes by a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Methodology and Principal Findings

We systematically searched PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Center Register of Controlled Trials, proceedings of major meetings, and reference lists of articles for studies conducted between January 1980 and April 2011. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing chemotherapy with and without taxanes in the treatment of patients with early-stage or operable breast cancer were eligible for inclusion in our analysis. The primary endpoint was DFS. Nineteen RCTs including 30698 patients were identified, including 8426 recurrence events and 3803 deaths. Taxanes administration yielded a 17% reduction of hazard ratio (HR) for DFS (HR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.79–0.88, p<0.001) and a 17% reduction of HR for OS (HR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.77–0.90, p<0.001). For high risk, node-negative breast cancer, the pooled HR also favoured the taxane-based treatment arm over the taxane-free treatment arm (HR = 0.82, 95% CI 0.77–0.87, p = 0.022). A significantly increased rate of neutropenia, febrile neutropenia, fatigue, diarrhea, stomatitis, and oedema was observed in the taxane-based treatment arm.

Conclusions/Significance

Adjuvant chemotherapy with taxanes could reduce the risk of cancer recurrence and death in patients with early or operable breast cancer, although the drug-related toxicities should be balanced. Furthermore, we also demonstrated that patients with high risk, node-negative breast cancer also benefited from taxanes therapy, a result that was not observed in previous studies.