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BackgroundEarly detection of colorectal cancer (CRC) is crucial to the treatment and prognosis of patients. Traditional screening methods have disadvantages.Methods231 blood samples were collected from 86 CRC, 56 colorectal adenoma (CRA), and 89 healthy individuals, from which extracellular vesicle long RNAs (exLRs) were isolated and sequenced. An CRC diagnostic signature (d-signature) was established, and prognosis-associated cell components were evaluated.ResultsThe exLR d-signature for CRC was established based on 17 of the differentially expressed exLRs. The d-signature showed high diagnostic efficiency of CRC and control (CRA and healthy) samples with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.938 in the training cohort, 0.943 in the validation cohort, and 0.947 in an independent cohort. The d-signature could effectively differentiate early-stage (stage I–II) CRC from healthy individuals (AUC 0.990), as well as differentiating CEA-negative CRC from healthy individuals (AUC 0.988). A CRA d-signature was also generated and could differentiate CRA from healthy individuals both in the training (AUC 0.993) and validation (AUC 0.978) cohorts. The enrichment of class-switched memory B-cells, B-cells, naive B-cells, and mast cells showed increasing trends between CRC, CRA, and healthy cohorts. Class-switched memory B-cells, mast cells, and basophils were positively associated with CRC prognosis while natural killer T-cells, naive B-cells, immature dendritic cells, and lymphatic endothelial cells were negatively associated with prognosis.ConclusionsOur study identified that the exLR d-signature could differentiate CRC from CRA and healthy individuals with high efficiency and exLR profiling also has potential in CRA screening and CRC prognosis prediction.

Microphotoluminescence (μ-PL) of high-aspect-ratio Si nanopillars fabricated by etching Ni-nanodot∕SiO2 masked Si substrate is investigated. The 320-nm-tall Si nanopillars obtained by CF4∕Ar mixed inductively coupled-plasma reactive ion etching process with density of 2.8×1010cm−2 further shrink size from 30to6nm by oxidation and etching. Blue-green μ-PL with two decomposed wavelengths at 425 and 475nm is attributed to oxygen-related defects on the oxidized Si nanopillar surface. Defect-related near-infrared PL at 703 and 740nm remains unchanged, while a quantum-confinement-effect-dependent PL blueshifted from 874to826nm as the Si nanopillar size reduces from 7.2to6.0nm is preliminarily observed.