撤稿声明: Resistance to Nano-Based Antifungals Is Mediated by Biomolecule Coronas (Retraction of Vol 12, Pg 15953, 2020)

Summary: This study demonstrates the selective disruption of the Survivin/Histone H3 and Survivin/Crm1 interactions using a supramolecular approach, leading to a reduction in cancer cell proliferation.

Summary: In this study, a tumor acidity-responsive intracellular protein delivery system, named TpG, was designed and shown to effectively enter tumor cells under weakly acidic conditions, suppressing tumor growth with minimal toxicity.

Summary: Cucurbitacin E (CE) induces cellular senescence in colorectal cancer (CRC) cells by attenuating the expression of the transcription factor TFAP4. This finding presents potential therapeutic opportunities for CRC.

Summary: In this study, a computational approach was used to predict the binding sites of a designed hybrid compound as a supramolecular ligand for 14-3-3 protein. The results suggest that the most probable binding site is the area above and below the central pore of the dimeric 14-3-3 protein, and the position of the ligand is sensitive to the presence of phosphorylated C-Raf peptides.

Summary: Many natural proteins utilize flexible loops to interact with their binding partners and undergo structural rearrangements for perfect binding. The molecular recognition of such flexible structures is challenging due to their conformational dynamics. Protein-protein interactions, on the other hand, involve the display of multiple complementary binding partners to enhance affinity and specificity. In this study, advanced multivalent supramolecular tweezers were rationally designed to target specific lysine and arginine clusters on a flexible protein surface loop.

Summary: We designed a series of amphiphilic peptides and found that their sequence periodicity determines their secondary and supramolecular structures. Helical and unstructured peptides can assemble into DNA-polypeptide complexes and effectively deliver DNA into cells, which makes them potential candidates for cancer treatment.

Summary: Treatment success of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is often hindered by cisplatin resistance. In order to overcome this resistance and improve long-term survival, novel multi-targeting strategies are urgently required. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) is significantly overexpressed in HNSCC tumors, and VitD/cisplatin combinations synergistically kill even cisplatin-resistant cells at clinically achievable levels, providing a potential strategy to overcome cisplatin resistance in HNSCC and other malignancies.

Summary: The human protease Taspase1 is involved in developmental processes and cancerous diseases by processing important regulators. However, its biology and cellular function have been poorly understood. Through experiments, we have discovered that Taspase1 is functionally linked to hormone-induced DNA double-strand breaks and active transcription. Furthermore, Taspase1 acts as a co-activator of estrogen-stimulated transcription by altering chromatin modifications.

Summary: A transfection vector based on a peptide dendrimer has been developed and its abilities for DNA binding and transport have been investigated. By attaching a fluorophore to the vector system, several steps in the transfection process could be monitored directly. The labeled vector condensed DNA into tightly packed aggregates able to enter eukaryotic cells, and co-localization experiments revealed the uptake pathway and subsequent fate of the ligand/plasmid complex.

Summary: The expression of VDR in head and neck cancer tumors is correlated with patients' clinical parameters. The differentiation levels of tumors are negatively correlated with the expression levels of VDR and Ki67. The serum levels of vitamin D vary among patients with different levels of tumor differentiation, and female patients have a higher incidence of vitamin D insufficiency.

Summary: A nanobody (SuN) targeting the disease-relevant protein Survivin is used to track its concentration inside cells but fails to inhibit its biological functions. The coupling of multiple SuN to ultra-small gold nanoparticles (SuN-N) enables intracellular uptake and interference with mitotic progression. This demonstrates the universal applicability of coupling nanobodies to nanosized scaffolds to improve their function and therapeutic applicability.

Summary: In this study, three deoxyestrone-based emissive lipofection agents were developed. These agents can emit light in both solution and solid-state due to the incorporation of a terephthalonitrile motif. Furthermore, by attaching tobramycin, these amphiphilic structures can form lipoplexes and enable gene transfection in HeLa and HEK 293T cells.

Summary: Among all kinds of anticancer agents, small molecule drugs produce an unsatisfactory therapeutic effect due to the lack of selectivity, notorious drug resistance and side effects. Therefore, researchers have begun to pay extensive attention to macromolecular drugs with high efficacy and specificity. As a plant toxin, gelonin exerts potent antitumor activity via inhibiting intracellular protein synthesis. However, gelonin lacks a translocation domain, and thus its poor cellular uptake leads to low outcomes of antitumor response. Here, tumor acidity and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) dual-responsive functional gelonin (Trx-PVGLIG-pHLIP-gelonin, TPpG), composed of a thioredoxin (Trx) tag, a pH low insertion peptide (pHLIP), an MMP-responsive motif PVGLIG hexapeptide and gelonin, was innovatively proposed and biologically synthesized by a gene recombination technique. TPpG exhibited good thermal and serum stability, showed MMP responsiveness and could enter tumor cells under weakly acidic conditions, especially for MMP2-overexpressing HT1080 cells. Compared to low MMP2-expressing MCF-7 cells, TPpG displayed enhanced in vitro antitumor efficacy to HT1080 cells at pH 6.5 as determined by different methods. Likewise, TPpG was much more effective in triggering cell apoptosis and inhibiting protein synthesis in HT1080 cells than in MCF-7 cells. Intriguingly, with enhanced stability and pH/MMP dual responsiveness, TPpG notably inhibited subcutaneous HT1080 xenograft growth in mice and no noticeable off-target side effect was observed. This ingeniously designed strategy aims at providing new perspectives for the development of a smart platform that can intelligently respond to a tumor microenvironment for efficient protein delivery. A tumor acidity and MMP dual-responsive plant toxin, gelonin (TPpG), was biosynthesized and it displayed excellent antitumor efficacy.