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Malignant melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer, and it is characterized by poor prognosis in patients with metastatic diseases. Accurate prediction of prognosis is crucial for therapeutic decisions. In this study, bioinformatics analysis was used to explore the prognostic value of growth factor receptor-bound protein 2-associated binding protein 3 (GAB3) mRNA. RNA transcriptome sequencing data and clinical data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and genotype-tissue expression (GTEx) were analyzed for differentially expressed genes in high and low GAB3 mRNA expression groups in melanoma. Performing gene enrichment analysis and constructing protein-protein interaction networks. High expression of GAB3 was significantly correlated with a lower T stage, melanoma Clark level, Breslow depth, and melanoma ulceration. And high GAB3 expression was also associated with better progression-free interval in T1 and T2 stages and N0 stage and longer overall survival in T1 and T2 stages, N0 stage, and N1 stage. GAB3 promoted high levels of infiltration of macrophages and activated natural killer cells in melanoma. High expression of GAB3 predicted a positive prognosis in early-stage melanoma that may be mediated by the anticancer immune response.

Our previous reports have shown that Inonotus obliquus polysaccharide (IOP) has protective effects against Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection in vivo. The aim of the present research is to explore the in vitro anti-inflammatory effects of IOP and its mechanism in RAW264.7 macrophages infected by T. gondii. In this study, it is indicated that IOP decreased the excessive secretion of inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-4, and IL-6 in T. gondii-infected RAW264.7 macrophages. IOP effectively suppressed the mRNA expression of these cytokines and chemokines monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and macrophage inflammatory protein-1α (MIP-1α). Moreover, IOP inhibited the phosphorylation of inhibitor kappa B kinase α/β (IKKα/β), inhibitor κBα (IκBα), p65 in nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway and p38, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) in mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) signaling pathway. Meantime, IOP prevented NF-κB p65 and c-Jun translocation from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. Further, IOP downregulated the protein expression of toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and TLR4 in T. gondii-infected RAW264.7 macrophages. The above results suggest that IOP can inhibit the inflammatory response infected with T. gondii via regulating TLR2/TLR4-NF-κB/MAPKs pathways and exerting its anti-T. gondii role in vitro.

Hierarchically porous iron/nitrogen-doped carbons (Fe-N-PC) were developed for the oxidation of ibuprofen (IBP) with peroxymonosulfate (PMS). The incorporation of trace-level iron and nitrogen dopants promoted the catalytic performance remarkably, leading to 4.8, 16.4 and 22.9-fold enhancement over N-doped carbon (N-PC), porous carbon (PC), and Fe-doped carbon (Fe-PC), respectively. Fe(III) was anchored in nitrogen-coordinated pots (Fe-N

The phytoalexin resveratrol exhibits anti-tumour activity in many types of cancer. In this study, we showed that resveratrol suppressed the survival of gastric tumour cells both in vivo and in vitro. Resveratrol promoted apoptosis, autophagy and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in a dose-dependent manner. RNA-seq analysis showed that multiple cell death signalling pathways were activated after resveratrol treatment, while the use of ER stress activators (tunicamycin and thapsigargin) in combinatorial with resveratrol led to further inhibition of cancer cell survival. Results also showed that resveratrol altered the expression of several long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), including MEG3, PTTG3P, GAS5, BISPR, MALAT1 and H19. Knockdown of H19 in resveratrol-treated cells further enhanced the effects of resveratrol on apoptosis, ER stress and cell cycle S-phase arrest. Furthermore, the migratory ability of resveratrol-treated cells was dramatically decreased after H19 knockdown. In conclusion, resveratrol inhibited cancer cell survival, while knockdown of lncRNA H19 resulted in increased sensitivity to resveratrol therapy.

As a medicinal and edible fungus,This study aimed to investigate theMouse splenic lymphocytes were infected withIOP significantly decreased the over-release of cytokine interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), IL-4, IL-6, interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in supernatant fromThese data indicate that IOP can inhibit the excessive inflammatory response caused by

Feature selection and sample partitioning are both important to establish a quantitative analytical model for near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. The classical interval partial least squares (iPLS) model for waveband selection can be improved in combination of the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm. The sample set partitioning based on a joint x-y distance (SPXY) method for sample partitioning is based on the distances of both the x- and y- dimensions; it is expected to be optimized using the non-dominant sorting strategies (NS) combined with the immune algorithm (IA). In this study, we investigated the dual model optimization mode for simultaneous selection of feature waveband and sample partitioning, and proposed a novel method defined as SA-iPLSSPXY-NSIA. The method explores a population evolution process, and takes the candidate individual as the link for the fusion optimization of SA-iPLS and SPXY-NSIA. The method screens feature wavebands and observes a good partition of the modeling samples, to construct a combined optimization strategy for fusion optimization of the target waveband and suitable sets of sample partitioning. The performance of the SA-iPLSSPXY-NSIA method was tested using a soil sample dataset. To prove model enhancement, the proposed method was compared to the two traditional methods of Kennard-Stone (KS) and SPXY in combination with SA-iPLS. Experimental results show that the fusion model established by SA-iPLSSPXY-NSIA performed better than the KS-SA-iPLS and SPXY-SA-iPLS models. The best testing results of the fusion model is with RMSET, RPD

Diarrhea caused by Escherichia coli (E. coli) is one of the most common diseases that affects the growth and development of poultry. This study was conducted to investigate the synergistic effects of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) combined with probiotics against E. coli infection and its mechanism in broiler chickens. The optimal proportion formula TCM and probiotics was screened by orthogonal test and range analysis method; the in vitro antibacterial activity was based on the Oxford cup method. Isolated pathogenic E. coli was injected subcutaneously into the neck of the broilers to establish an E. coli–infected model. The broilers were administrated with drugs in drinking water daily for 7 d before and after E. coli infection. The diarrhea rate, mortality, body weight (BW) gain, feed intake, immune organ index, intestinal and hepatic histopathological changes were monitored. The expression of IL-2, IL-10, and TLR-4 mRNA in the intestinal tissues was measured by RT-PCR. Our results showed that the optimal proportion formula of Taraxacum extracts: total flavonoids of Astragalus: polysaccharides of Astragalus: probiotics was 5: 2: 2: 2; TCM combined with probiotics was highly sensitive to E. coli. TCM combined with probiotics synergistically increased BW gain, decreased the diarrhea rate and mortality of broilers, alleviated intestinal and hepatic pathological changes, accompanied by the increase of IL-2 and IL-10 mRNA expression and the inhibition of TLR-4 mRNA expression. It suggests that the combination of TCM and probiotics may produce a synergistic protective effect against E. coli infection by improving the indicators of diarrhea and regulating the expression of IL-2, IL-10, and TLR-4 mRNA in broiler chickens. The synergistic interactions between TCM and probiotics represent a promising strategy for the treatment of E. coli infection.

Accurately distinguishing tumors from noncancerous inflammation and normal tissues is hugely significent for tumor diagnosis and therapy. However, tumor and inflammatory tissues have similar pathologic characteristics in their microenvironment, making differentiation very difficult. Here, a fluorescent cocktail nanoparticle capable of simultaneously detecting intracellular mRNA and H2O2 was designed to differentiate tumors from nontumor cells. To detect targeted mRNA in living cells, a DNA probe was generated using the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) principle. A pH-responsive amphiphilic polymer was synthesized to realize the transportation of the DNA probe. In addition, the polymer was conjugated with a coumarin-boronic acid ester (Cou-BE) H2O2 probe. According to the change in the fluorescence of Cou-BE, tumor and inflammatory cells could be distinguished from normal cells owing to their high concentration of H2O2. Because of the different concentrations of tumor-related mRNA in tumor and nontumor cells, the fluorescence intensity of the DNA probe-loaded nanoparticles inside tumor cells was different from that inside inflammatory cells. Therefore, our fluorescent cocktail strategy could discriminate simultaneously tumor, inflammation, and normal cells through the cooperative detection of intracellular mRNA and H2O2, which demonstrated potential application value in biomedical research and clinical diagnosis.

Accurately distinguishing tumors from noncancerous inflammation and normal tissues is hugely significent for tumor diagnosis and therapy. However, tumor and inflammatory tissues have similar pathologic characteristics in their microenvironment, making differentiation very difficult. Here, a fluorescent cocktail nanoparticle capable of simultaneously detecting intracellular mRNA and H

The application of intensity-based H2O2-responsive fluorescence nanoprobe for circulating tumor cell detection was limited by the complex background and the nanoprobe uptake in each CTC. In this context, we developed a ratiometric fluorescence nanoprobe, on which a H2O2-responsive subunit and a stable subunit grafted working as a H2O2 detector and a reference, respectively. When responding to intracellular H2O2, the reference fluorescence (580 nm) maintained as a correction background while the detector fluorescence (450 nm) was turned on to conduct CTC enumeration and intracellular H2O2 evaluation. Two normal cells and three colon cancer cells were examined to evaluate their endogenous H2O2 with the ratiometric nanoprobe by flow cytometry and confocal laser scanning microscopy. CTC sample from colorectal cancer patients was used to validate the performance of the nanoprobe for CTC enumeration and H2O2 evaluation. The results indicated that not only CTC could be effectively identified based on the “turn on” fluorescence, but also the viability of the identified CTCs could be assessed with the intensity of the reference fluorescence to avoid the false-positive number. Moreover, the clinical results demonstrated that the viability CTC count combined with intracellular H2O2 content (described as I450/580)were related to the tumor TNM stage, which might provide significant guidance for clinical treatments.

To develop feasible probes for heavy metal ions has been considered as one of the most important research topics, due to the significance in monitoring and evaluating the toxicity of environmental water system, especially for the drinking water. This work provided a probe for Pb(II) ion detection in purified drinking water. Nickel hexacyanoferrate (NiHCF) films were prepared by vacuum evaporating nickel fine wire and transforming in a potassium ferricyanide solution on the front surface of platinum coated n-silicon. The transformed NiHCF film shows a reversible insertion electrochemistry and possesses electrocatalytic activity under illumination. The NiHCF-modified electrode was used as photoelectrode and dihydroxybenzene as photocurrent mediators to make up photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensor for Pb(II) ion detection in purified drinking water based on a two-electrode cell in absence of reference electrode and operated at zero working voltage. We have investigated the effects of Pb(II) ions on the photocurrent of hydroquinone or catechol in the purified water. The assay demonstrated good photocurrent responses by adding different concentrations of Pb(II) ion into purified drinking water with a linear range of 20–1560 nM and the limit of determination (based on S/N = 3) is 4.8 nM and 5.3 nM for the presence of hydroquinone and catechol, respectively.

The red maple (Acer rubrum) species is economically important to North America because of its sap, which is used to produce maple syrup. In addition, various other red maple plant parts, including leaves, were used as a traditional medicine by the Native Americans. Currently, red maple leaves are being used for nutraceutical and cosmetic applications but there are no published analytical methods for comprehensive phytochemical characterization of this material. Herein, a rapid and sensitive method using liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry was developed to characterize the phenolics in a methanol extract of red maple leaves and a proprietary phenolic-enriched red maple leaves extract (Maplifa™). Time-of-flight mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry experiments led to the identification of 106 phenolic compounds in red maples leaves with the vast majority of these compounds also detected in Maplifa™. The compounds included 68 gallotannins, 25 flavonoids, gallic acid, quinic acid, catechin, epicatechin, and nine other gallic acid derivatives among which 11 are potentially new and 75 are being reported from red maple for the first time. The developed method to characterize red maple leaves phenolics is rapid and highly sensitive and could aid in future standardization and quality control of this botanical ingredient.

Fishmeal is a high-energy feed. Fishmeal quality has an important influence on animal growth. The detection of ash content is essential for evaluating fishmeal quality. Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is a rapid detection technique that can be used to determine the ash content in fishmeal. The wavelength related to the target component must be selected in NIR quantitative analysis considering that the NIR spectrum has a strong correlation. In this paper, the adaptive binary differential evolution (ABDE) algorithm was proposed for feature selection. The algorithm was an improvement of the mutation operator of binary differential evolution (BDE) and improved binary differential evolution (IBDE) algorithms. The performance of the BDE, IBDE, and ABDE algorithms was compared in secondary wavelength selection on 11 combined intervals selected by the move window partial least squares (MWPLS) algorithm. The performance of the model established by the ABDE algorithm in feature selection was superior to that constructed by the BDE and IBDE algorithms. Frequency ABDE (FABDE) was designed by introducing frequency into the ABDE algorithm to minimize the influence of random factors. The root mean square error (RMSET) and the correlation coefficient (RT) of the FABDE model for the test set were 1.160 ​% and 0.941, respectively. By comparison, the RMSET and the RT of the ABDE model were 1.212 ​% and 0.935, respectively. The results of model prediction indicated that the FABDE algorithm proposed herein can be feasibly used to improve the model effects for the rapid NIR analysis of ash content in fishmeal.

In the clinic, numeration of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) plays a critical role in cancer diagnosis and treatment, but conventional CTC identification and counting that rely on specific antibodies to characterize a cell’s surface antigens are costive and with limitations. Importantly, false positive or negative results may occur due to the high heterogeneity and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of CTCs. Herein we demonstrate a novel and effective CTC detecting nanoprobe that could rapidly respond to the high level of endogenous H2O2 of CTCs and report the signal through fluorescence emission. Briefly, a hydrophobic coumarin–benzene boronic acid pinacol ester (Cou-Bpin) was grafted onto hydrophilic glycol chitosan (GC) to form an amphiphilic molecule, which further assembled into micellar nanoparticles in aqueous solution. This new nanoprobe was highly sensitive to H2O2 with a detection limit of 0.1 μM and could rapidly enter the cells within 30 min. Upon exposure to intracellular H2O2, the nanopr...

Until now, the relationship of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) with diabetic retinopathy (DR) was controversial. This meta-analysis was performed to obtain definitive conclusion on this topic. Relevant articles were searched on databases of Pubmed, Google Scholar, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). The articles were selected according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to evaluate the relationship of OSA with risk of DR.I2andPvalue were used to assess the presence of heterogeneity.I2≥ 50% orP<0.05indicated significant heterogeneity. Sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the robustness of pooled results. Begg’s funnel plot and Egger’s regression analysis were adopted to assess publication bias. 6 eligible studies were selected in the present meta-analysis. The pooled results indicated that OSA was significantly associated with increased risk of DR (OR = 2.01, 95% CI = 1.49–2.72). Subgroup analysis based on type of diabetes mellitus suggested that OSA was related to DR in both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Sensitivity analysis demonstrated that pooled results were robust. No significant publication bias was observed (P=0.128). The results indicate that OSA is related to increased risk of DR.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) represent the most common way of tumor metastasis and has been considered as a significant index for tumor diagnosis, staging and prognosis. However, CTC detection and analysis are always limited by the scarcity of CTC in the peripheral blood and the interference of blood cells. Therefore, here we presented with a hydrogen peroxide (H

This paper proposes an optimized Bat algorithm combining local search and global search to solve the problem of low accuracy of bat algorithm and easy to fall into local optimum in the later stage. The optimized Bat algorithm enhance the diversity of bat algorithm, improve the search accuracy and convergence speed of bat algorithm, And by solving a variety of different types of functions, it is proved that the optimized bat algorithm that combines local search and global search proposed in this paper is feasible.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) represent the most common way of tumor metastasis and has been considered as a significant index for tumor diagnosis, staging and prognosis. However, CTC detection and analysis are always limited by the scarcity of CTC in the peripheral blood and the interference of blood cells. Therefore, here we presented with a hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-response nanoprobes with CD44-targeted ability to reduce the interference of blood cells and improve the detection efficiency and accuracy and the pancreatic cancer cell was used to evaluate the feasibility of our probe. Shortly, hydrophobic H2O2-response naphthalimide-borate fluorophore was introduced onto the hydrophilic hyaluronic acid to form an amphiphilic complex, which could self-assemble into fluorescent nanoprobes in water. Our studies demonstrated that the nanoprobes were not only able to specifically recognize the pancreatic cancer cells with overexpressed CD44 proteins and reduce the influence of white blood cells in the peripheral blood, but also capable of semi-quantifying H2O2 content in CTCs, Which could be further used as a significant index for tumor clinical evaluation and therapy.

In order to study the variation and correlation of mode I fracture toughness and tensile strength of red sandstone under different moisture content conditions, Brazilian splitting and NSCB tests were carried out on the red sandstone specimens with moisture content of 0%, 1.63% and 3.33% respectively by using the CMT53 test loading system, and the test data obtained were fitted and analyzed. The test results show that: 1. The tensile strength and fracture toughness of red sandstone gradually decrease with the increase of moisture content, and the softening effect of water on red sandstone is obvious, with the reduction coefficients of 0.72 and 0.66, respectively. 2. With the increase of moisture content, the dispersion of tensile strength and fracture toughness of red sandstone increases. 3. The fitting formulas of water content and tensile strength and fracture toughness are obtained by data fitting, and the fitting correlation is relatively high. The piecewise function is used to describe the relationship between tensile strength and fracture toughness. It is convenient to estimate the fracture toughness of red sandstone through its tensile strength and it has a certain reference value for studying the relationship between tensile strength and fracture toughness of red sandstone.

Aiming at the coupling of a pair of sliding circular steel tubular columns with one end fixed by fire and impact, this paper analyzes the model by finite element software ABAQUS. The impact load is applied to the mid-span of the test piece. Through the analysis of the displacement of the mid-section of the test piece, the following three points are clarified: 1) The circular steel pipe column absorbs energy through integral plastic deformation and local plastic deformation; 2) The displacement of the end of the circular steel tubular column and the displacement and displacement of the upper and lower surfaces of the span depend on the axial compression ratio, the impact velocity and the temperature; 3) Under the coupling of fire and impact, the safe area of the column member depends on the temperature. And axial compression ratio; the greater the temperature and axial compression ratio, the smaller the safety zone. In order to study the concrete-filled steel tube under the coupling of fire and impact.

Objectives Previous research has demonstrated that exercise–induced arousal has the ability to improve the stopping of an already initiated response. So far the effects of arousal on response inhibition have been investigated with paradigms concerned with inhibition driven by external stimuli. Since in everyday life situations the origin of decisions to inhibit might be entirely internally driven, the present study aims to explore whether intentional action and inhibition responses depend on the physical exertion in a cycle ergometer test. Design and method While cycling in conditions of low and high exercise-induced arousal, participants were asked to respond to cued and free-choice targets following the presentation of three varieties of masked primes that could elicit congruent or incongruent prime-response conflicts. Results In condition of high exercise-induced arousal an improvement on reaction times was observed in both cued and free-choice action conditions and less omission errors in cued action trials. Concerning free-choice behavior, overall participants made more ‘action’ choices when compared to the low arousal condition. Conclusions Our results widen previous evidence by showing that as for externally driven cognitive processes, also intentional action and inhibition choices are modulated by exercise. Under specific conditions arousal helps individuals to perform the tasks rapidly and efficiently even when task’ requirements are entirely internally driven. However higher-order processes, such as making a free-choice, resulted impaired.

A redox-responsive PEGylated poly(diselenide-phosphate) nanogel with biocompatibility and biodegradability has been designed and prepared. Firstly, monomethoxy poly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG) was used to initiate the ring opening polymerization (ROP) of the cyclic phosphate monomer 2-(2-(2-(4-methyl-benzene-sulfonate)-ethoxy)ethoxy)ethoxy-2-oxo-1,3,2-dioxaphospholane (MBS-EEEP) to produce a diblock copolymer with 4-methylbenzenesulfonate (MBS) side groups in the block of polyphosphate. Then, the nanogel with a polyphosphate core cross-linked by many hydrophobic diselenide bonds and a hydrophilic PEG shell was obtained by using sodium diselenide as a crosslinking agent to react with the MBS side groups in the diblock copolymers. Dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy measurements reveal that the nanogel has a spherical morphology with an average diameter of 150 nm. The systematic evaluation in vitro demonstrates that the nanogel can be endocytosed easily by tumor cells, and potently inhibit the proliferation of the tested cancer cells, with only slight cytotoxicity to normal cells. After 48 h incubation, the 50% growth inhibitory concentration (IC50) of the nanogel against the three tested cancer cell lines ranges from 12 to 16 μg mL−1. The remarkable anticancer efficacy might be ascribed to the active selenium species released from the nanogel in the presence of over expressed reactive peroxides and GSH within cancer cells. Besides its inherent anticancer ability, this nanogel may encapsulate other hydrophobic anticancer drugs for a cocktail therapy.

This paper describes a system for the preparation of lappaconitine from Aconitum leucostmum Worosch., using HSCCC, and examines the effect of the two-immiscible solvent system (TISS) composed of chloroform- methanol-0.2 mol/L hydrochloric acid (4:1.5:2). Under the optimized condition, about 75 mg of lappaconitine, at a purity of 98% that was done by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), are obtained from 250 mg of the crude alkaloid extract. The compound was checked by HPLC-UV, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), 1H NMR and 13C NMR.

To improve the performance of precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) as a papermaking filler, the combination of cationically derivatized chitosan and carboxymethyl chitosan was employed as modification agents for PCC. When the dosage ratio of cationic chitosan to carboxymethyl chitosan was 1:2, the two polymers were efficiently deposited onto precipitated calcium carbonate, which showed better retention than the control PCC at the same dosage. The brightness and opacity of handsheets filled with modified precipitated calcium carbonate were markedly improved in comparison to the control. Furthermore, handsheets filled with modified precipitated calcium carbonate reduced the loss of tensile strength compared to the control at the same precipitated calcium carbonate content.

High performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole-time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry was used to profile the phenylethanoid glycosides in Lagotis brevituba. A total of twenty-three phenylethanoid glycosides were characterized by comparing the retention time and fragmentation with standards, accurate mass measurements, and fragmentation at low and high collision energies. Most phenylethanoid glycosides were reported in L. brevituba for the first time. This established method may be employed for comprehensive quality control of L. brevituba.

Liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-QTOF-MS) was applied to identify chemical components occurring in Neopicrorhiza scrphulariiflora roots. 24 compounds, including 12 iridoid glycosides, 3 phenyl glycosides and 9 phenylethanoid glycosides, were detected and tentatively characterized according to accurate mass measurements and their characteristic fragmentation at low and high collision energy. Meanwhile, appropriate fragmentation pathways were proposed based on definite composition of the product ions. 6'-O-Feruloyl-3,4-dihydrocatalpol and 1-[2-(4-(3,4-dihydroxycinnamoyl)-3-glucosyl)glucosy]ethy-3-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzene are potentially novel compounds. 6'-O-Caffeoylcatalpol and maxoside were characterized in N. scrphulariiflora for the first time. This study established that the LC-ESI-QTOF-MS method is efficient for identifying, and could be the basis for the comprehensive quality control of, N. scrphulariiflora roots.

Chemotherapy is an important modality in cancer treatment. The major challenge of recent works in this research field is to develop new types of smart nanocarriers that can respond selectively to cancer cell-specific conditions and realize rapid drug release in target cells. In the present study, a reactive oxygen species-responsive nanocarrier has been successfully self-assembled from an amphiphilic hyperbranched polymer consisting of alternative hydrophobic selenide groups and hydrophilic phosphate segments in the dendritic backbone. Because the hydrophobic selenide groups transformed into the hydrophilic selenone groups after oxidation under the exclusive oxidative microenvironment within cancer cells, the amphiphilic hyperbranched precursors become hydrophilic ones. As a result, the nanocarriers were rapidly disassembled in target cells, resulting in fast intracellular drug release. The hydrophilic products of oxidation can be degraded into harmless small molecular species via the enzymatic digestion of the phosphate segments and then eliminated by renal excretion. Meanwhile, the reactive selenium-containing nanocarrier possesses a potent intrinsic anticancer effect since selenium compounds can produce antitumor metabolites which induce apoptosis of cancer cells efficiently. Therefore, this type of therapeutic nanocarriers with a unique drug release mechanism based on an amphiphilic-to-hydrophilic transition provides a new platform for targeted drug delivery and combined therapy.