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Antigen self-assembly nanovaccines advance the minimalist design of therapeutic cancer vaccines, but the issue of inefficient cross-presentation has not yet been fully addressed. Herein, we report a unique approach by combining the concepts of "antigen multi-copy display" and "calcium carbonate (CaCO3) biomineralization" to increase cross-presentation. Based on this strategy, we successfully construct sub-100 nm biomineralized antigen nanosponges (BANSs) with high CaCO3 loading (38.13 wt%) and antigen density (61.87%). BANSs can be effectively uptaken by immature antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in the lymph node upon subcutaneous injection. Achieving efficient spatiotemporal coordination of antigen cross-presentation and immune effects, BANSs induce the production of CD4+ T helper cells and cytotoxic T lymphocytes, resulting in effective tumor growth inhibition. BANSs combined with anti-PD-1 antibodies synergistically enhance anti-tumor immunity and reverse the tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment. Overall, this CaCO3 powder-mediated biomineralization of antigen nanosponges offer a robust and safe strategy for cancer immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)‐guided biopsy is the standard procedure for evaluating the presence and aggressiveness of prostate cancer. TRUS biopsy involves tissue removal, and suffers from low core yield as well as high false negative rate. A less invasive and more accurate diagnostic procedure for prostate cancer is therefore highly desired. Combining the optical sensitivity and ultrasonic resolution to resolve the spatial distribution of the major molecular components in tissue, photoacoustic (PA) technology could be an alternative approach for the diagnosis of prostate cancer. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of identifying aggressive prostate cancer using interstitial PA measurements. Methods: Seventeen patients with prebiopsy magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), TRUS biopsies, and planned prostatectomies were enrolled in this study. The interstitial PA measurements were achieved using our recently developed needle PA probe, which was inserted into the ex vivo prostates in the fashion of a biopsy needle. A total of 70 interstitial PA measurements were acquired. The PA measurements were quantified by a previously established PA physio‐chemical analysis (PAPCA) method. The histology has confirmed the nonaggressive and aggressive cancerous conditions at the insertion locations. The diagnostic accuracy was also compared to that provided by the prebiopsy MRI. Results: The quantitative study shows significant differences between the individual parameters of the nonaggressive and the aggressive cancerous regions (P < 0.005). Multivariate analysis of the quantitative features achieved a diagnostic accuracy of 78.6% for differentiating nonaggressive and aggressive prostate cancer tissues. Conclusions: The proposed procedure has shown promises in the diagnosis of aggressive prostate cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Research has shown that gonadal hormones are involved in metabolic pathways relevant to metabolic syndrome (MetS). Nevertheless, no longitudinal study has been conducted on the association between SHBG and MetS in Chinese. The objective of our study was to determine whether there is any association between middle-aged and elderly males in China., Methods: A total of 531 eligible male subjects, aged above 40 years or older, without MetS at baseline, were recruited. Sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), total testosterone (TT), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinizing hormone (LH) were measured. A harmonized definition and recommended thresholds for the Chinese population were used to determine metabolic syndrome., Results: During 3.2 years of follow-up, 20.7% of subjects had developed MetS. Compared with the non-MetS group, subjects in the new-onset MetS group had significantly lower SHBG (43.5 nmol/L [28.8, 74.9] vs 53.7nmol/L [33.8, 115.0], P=0.0018), TT (18.1nmol/L [13.6-21.7] vs 19.5nmol/L[15.0-23.6], P=0.0204), and LH (5.13mIU/L [3.63-7.29] vs 5.87mIU/L [4.05-8.36]) at baseline. The incidence of MetS was decreased according to elevated SHBG quartiles (Q1:26.9%, Q2:22.7%, Q3:21.1%, Q4:12.1%, P for trend =0.0035), TT (Q1: 25.2%, Q2:23.7%, Q3: 17.3%, Q4: 16.7%, P for trend=0.0425), and LH (Q1:25.0%, Q2:21.8%, Q3: 21.8%, Q4: 14.3%, P for trend=0.0411). Compared with those in quartile 4, the OR[CI] of incident MetS for participants in Quartile 1 was 2.33[1.13-4.79] after multiple adjustments. But associations between incident MetS and different quartiles of LH, TT, and FSH were not observed after multiple adjustments. In the subgroup analyses, the significant association between SHBG level and Mets was detected in subjects over 60 years or older, with normal BMI, without insulin resistance, and with eGFR ≥90 mL/min per 1.73m2., Conclusion: Compared with TT, LH, and FSH, a lower level of SHBG is significantly related to the incidence of MetS among middle-aged and elderly males in China., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Zhang, Chen, Li, Huang, Lin, Wang, Wang, You, Li, Li, Liang, Xiao, Yan, Lao and Sun.)

Pathology is currently the gold standard for grading prostate cancer (PCa). However, pathology takes considerable time to provide a final result and is significantly dependent on subjective judgment. In this study, wavelet transform-based photoacoustic power spectrum analysis (WT-PASA) was used for grading PCa with different Gleason scores (GSs). The tumor region was accurately identified via wavelet transform time-frequency analysis. Then, a linear fitting was conducted on the photoacoustic power spectrum curve of the tumor region to obtain the quantified spectral parameter slope . The results showed that high GSs have small glandular cavity structures and higher heterogeneity, and consequently, the slopes at both 1210 nm and 1310 nm were high ( p  < 0.01). The classification accuracy of the PA time frequency spectrum (PA-TFS) of tumor region using ResNet-18 was 89% at 1210 nm and 92.7% at 1310 nm. Further, the testing time was less than 7 mins. The results demonstrated that identification of PCa can be rapidly and objectively realized using WT-PASA., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Photoacoustic (PA) techniques are potential alternatives to histopathology. The physicochemical spectrogram (PCS) generated by the PA measurement at multiple wavelengths can presents the morphology and chemical composition target at multi-biomarkers simultaneously. In this work, via multi-wavelength PA measurements performed on rabbit bone models, we investigated the feasibility of using PCSs for bone health assessment. A comprehensive analysis of the PCSs, termed PA physicochemical analysis (PAPCA), was conducted. The " slope " and " relative content " were used as the PAPCA-quantified parameters to characterize the changes in the physical and chemical properties of bone tissue, respectively. The findings are consistent well with the gold-standard imaging results. It demonstrated that the PAPCA can be used to characterize both the microstructure and content of multi-biomarkers which highly related with bone health. Considering the PA technique is noninvasive and radiation-free, it has great potential in the implementation and monitoring of bone diseases progression., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier GmbH.)