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We have developed a convenient chemical conversion method of preparing a Mg3(PO4)2 coating with a lamellar structure of about 1–5 μm width on Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr (denoted as JDBM) alloy, aiming to improve the corrosion resistance and biological response. The protective effect of the phosphate coating on JDBM alloy leads to an increase in corrosion resistance of about 25% from 0.337 ± 0.021 to 0.253 ± 0.047 mm y−1. A systematic study on in vitro cytocompatibility test shows that the phosphate coated JDBM has minimal negative effect on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) viability, growth and proliferation, and the coating also presents a favorable affinity for HUVECs by supporting higher adherent cell density and sufficient cell spreading. In addition, the investigation of in vitro hemocompatibility confirms reduced hemolysis ratio and excellent anti-platelet adhesion property of the phosphate coated JDBM. Furthermore, this study also presents our more recent efforts to develop an in-depth understanding of the mechanism which is involving anti-platelet adhesion on the surface of biodegradable Mg substrate.

The administration of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) preceding radical cystectomy benefits overall survival for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). However, the relationship between the genetic profiling of MIBC and NAC response remains unclear. Here, a mutation panel of six cancer-associated genes (TSC1, FGFR3, TERT, TP53, PIK3CA and ERBB2) and an immunohistochemistry (IHC) panel containing eight bladder cancer (BC) biomarkers (EGFR, RRM1, PD-L1, BRCA1, TUBB3, ERCC, ERCC1, aberrantly glycosylated integrin α3β1 (AG) and CK5/6) were developed. BC samples from patients who showed a pathologic response (n = 39) and non-response (n = 13) were applied to the panel analysis. ERBB2, FGFR3 and PIK3CA exclusively altered in the responders group (19/39, 48.7%), in which FGFR3 mutations were significantly enriched in patients with a response in the cohort (14/39, 35.9%; P = 0.01). Additionally, strong expression of ERCC1 was associated with a pathologic response (P = 0.01). However, positive lymph node metastasis (P