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Background: Tumors frequently evade immune surveillance through multiple pathways to escape T cell recognition and destruction. Previous studies indicated that lipid metabolism alteration could affect the anti-tumor immunity of cancer cells. Nonetheless, the studies that investigated lipid metabolism-related gene for cancer immunotherapy are still few. Materials and methods: By mining the TCGA database, we screened out carnitine palmitoyltransferase-2 (CPT2), a key enzyme in the fatty acid β-oxidation (FAO) process associated with anti-tumor immunity. We then analyzed the gene expression and clinicopathological features of CPT2 using open-source platforms and databases. Molecular proteins interacting with CPT2 were also identified using web interaction tools. Subsequently, the relationship between CPT2 and survival was analyzed in cancer patients. Results: Our study revealed that CPT2 played a vital role in tumormicroenvironment and immune response signaling pathways. We have also demonstrated that increased CPT2 gene expression could enhance the level of tumor immune cell infiltration. Furthermore, high CPT2 expression positively related with overall survival associated with immunotherapy. CPT2 expression was also associated with the prognosis of human cancers, suggesting that CPT2 may be a potential biomarker for predicting the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, the relationship between CPT2 and tumor immune microenvironment was first proposed in this study. Therefore, further studies on CPT2 may provide new insights into the development of effective cancer immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lentiviral expression vectors carrying human NRP-1 short hairpin RNA (shRNA) were constructed and selected to present highly efficient NRP-1/shRNA interference sequences, in order to investigate the effects of RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated NRP-1 silencing on the biological activities of breast cancer cells. Three pairs of human NRP-1 targeted specific interference sequences and one pair of non-specific control sequences were designed, synthesized and subcloned into pLB lentiviral vectors, which were further identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing. Recombinant and lentiviral packaging plasmids were co-transfected into 293FT cell lines in order to produce lentiviral particles and to infect breast cancer cells with high NRP-1 expression. Flow cytometry was used to sort green fluorescent protein-positive cells. Fluorescence quantitative-reverse transcription-PCR and western blot analysis were employed to identify the interference silencing sequence with the most efficient silencing profile. A cell counting kit-8 assay and an Annexin V-propidium iodide method in combination with flow cytometry were used to examine the effects of RNA interference- mediated NRP-1 gene silencing on cell proliferation, apoptosis and sensitivity to chemotherapy. The recombinant lentiviral plasmid pLB-NRP-1/shRNA was constructed successfully, as confirmed by PCR and sequencing. After the infection of recombinant lentiviral plasmids, the expression profiles of NRP-1 mRNA, and proteins of MCF-7 and SK-BR-3 cell-specific interference group (pLB-NRP-1/shRNA3) were significantly lower than that of the control group (P<0.05). Compared with the control group, the MCF-7 and SK-BR-3 cell-specific interference group (pLB-NRP-1/shRNA3) showed lower optical density values and higher apoptotic rates at 48, 72 and 96 h; these differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). EPI administration resulted in increased apoptosis in the MCF-7 and SK-BR-3 cell-specific interference groups compared with the control group (P<0.05). Lentiviral vectors encoding the human NRP-1 gene were constructed successfully and highly efficient NRP-1/shRNA interference sequences were selected. Furthermore, RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated NRP-1 silencing may induce proliferation suppression, apoptosis promotion, as well as enhanced sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For piezo-resistive sensors have outstanding low-frequency response, micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) piezo-resistive vector hydrophones play an important role in low-frequency sound waves measurements. However, their signal-noise ratio can be decreased by vibration noise. The conventional solution is to suspend the hydrophone elastically, which can reduce the influence of vibration with frequencies higher than the natural frequency of the elastic element used for suspension. However, this approach has little effect on reducing low-frequency vibration noise. To overcome this problem, a novel hydrophone structure with a large-volume supporting block is proposed in this study. When the hydrophone is subject to vibration, the actions of the supporting block and cilium on the piezo-resistors counteract each other. Therefore, the proposed hydrophone can effectively reduce output voltages caused by vibration. Mathematical models of this new hydrophone are established to verify the feasibility of the method. Simulations are performed and found to be in accordance with the mathematical models. The experimental results clearly demonstrate that the proposed hydrophone can dramatically reduce vibration noise without reducing sensitivity to sound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]