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Nanodrugs represent a drug delivery form that brings hope for optimal drug release due to their inherent properties. Special carrier materials give hydrophobic drugs excellent water solubility, and coupled with their small size and delicate design, the uptake of drugs by specific tissues can be enhanced. However, problems such as the rejection of exogenous carriers and the toxicity of the carriers themselves have prevented the clinical translation of nanodrugs. In recent years, the emergence of carrier-free nanodrugs has led to promising results to solve the above problems. In recent years, supramolecular self-assembled nanodrugs formed by non-covalent bonds have been a hot research topic. This review systematically evaluates currently available information on the dynamics of supramolecular self-assembled nanodrug formation and presents the advances in single-component, two-component, and multicomponent self-assembled nanoparticles in tumor therapy. Then it explores how these carrier-free nanodrugs could be functionally optimized based on the perspective of marketed drugs. Last but not least, it analyzes the marketed drugs with supramolecular self-assembly potential. Importantly, these findings could be instrumental in refining the drug delivery systems of novel drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To understand the regulatory roles of miR-1972 and GZMH in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and explore their potential as therapeutic biomarkers., Methods: In vitro verification of the regulation of malignant cell behavior by differential expression of miR-1972 in HCC cells. The GSE113996 dataset was studied using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and differential expressed genes respectively to identify the key prognostic gene GZMH and assess the effect of its differential expression on the prognosis of the patient. Finally, the regulation of GZMH expression by miR-1972 was verified, and the effect of their combination on HCC cell behavior was analyzed., Results: Inhibition of miR-1972 can reduce cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, while overexpression of miR-1972 has the opposite effect in HCC cells. According to the data, a positive prognosis for HCC was linked with higher GZMH expression. Interestingly, miR-1972 was observed to reverse-regulate the expression of GZMH. Besides, the combined regulation of GZMH and miR-1972 has been discovered to affect the cell growth, invasive capacity, and migratory potential of HCC cells, especially the cell cycle arrest in the G2 phase., Conclusions: miR-1972 regulates the malignant behavior of HCC cells, especially cell proliferation, by regulating GZMH expression., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Cancer cells consume considerable glucose quantities and majorly employ glycolysis for ATP generation. This metabolic signature (the Warburg effect) allows cancer cells to channel glucose to biosynthesis to support and maintain their dramatic growth along with proliferation. Currently, our understanding of the metabolic and mechanistic implications of the Warburg effect along with its relationship with biosynthesis remains unclear. Herein, we illustrate that the tumor repressor p53 mediate Magnolol (MAG) triggers colon cancer cell apoptosis. And MAG regulates the glycolytic and oxidative phosphorylation steps through transcriptional modulation of its downstream genes TP53-induced glycolysis modulator and biosynthesis of cytochrome c oxidase, attenuating cell proliferation and tumor growth in vivo and in vitro. Meanwhile, we show that MAG cooperates with its own intestinal microflora characteristic metabolites to repress tumors, especially remarkably declined kynurenine (Kyn)/tryptophan (Trp) ratio. Besides, strong relationships of MAG influenced genes, microbiota, as well as metabolites, were explored. Therefore, we established that p53-microbiota-metabolites function as a mechanism, which enable therapy approaches against metabolism-implicated colorectal cancer, in particular MAG as a prospective candidate for treating colorectal cancer., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

With three types of ecological slope protection projects of rock slope, soil slope and rock soil mixed slope (geotechnical slope) in Xishan mining area of Taiyuan as the object, CCA ranking was used to examine the relationship between environmental factors and species distribution of different types of slopes, and analyze the impacts of environmental factors such as soil and topography on plant diversity. The results showed that geotechnical slope was rich in vegetation composition (8 families, 17 genera, and 19 species), including Asteraceae, Gramineae, Fabaceae, Vitaceae, Lamiaceae, Simaroubaceae, etc . The species richness, Shannon index, Simpson index, and Pielou evenness index of the geotechnical slope were significantly higher than that of soil slope and rocky slope. The artificial soil nutrient contents of the three types of slopes were significantly higher than that of the control. The ave-rage contents of total nitrogen (1.24 g·kg -1 ), organic matter (21.28 g·kg -1 ), and available potassium (0.21 g·kg -1 ) of geotechnical slope were higher than that of rocky slope (1.02, 15.56 and 0.14 g·kg -1 ) and soil slope (0.80, 11.65 and 0.15 g·kg -1 ), respectively. Vegetation diversity was significantly related to soil factors, with organic matter and soil water content as the main limiting factors. Soil factors had greater impacts on vegetation restoration than topographical factors. Results of structural equation modeling showed that topographical factors, such as slope gradient, indirectly affected vegetation restoration by affecting soil moisture and nutrients.

Objective: To study genome-wide gene expression changes in gastric cancer cells after iodine-125 ¹²⁵(I) particle irradiation., Methods: ¹²⁵I particles were used to irradiate three gastric cancer cell lines of various differentiation levels:high (BGC-823) , medium (AGS) and low (NCI-N87) .Whole-genome gene expression was investigated with microarray. The gene expression in iodine-125 irradiated and untreated cancer cells was compared, and the genes with transcript levels altered for at least 2 folds (P < 0.05) were selected. The change in gene expression levels was verified by using quantitative real-time (qRT) -PCR., Results: The three gastric cancer cell lines received the same dose rate of ¹²⁵I particle irradiation. Cluster analysis showed that the Gene Ontology (GO) categories did not change in the three cell lines, but changes in gene expression levels were evident for many genes. After ¹²⁵I particle irradiate NCI-N87 cells, 895 genes were up-regulated, 786 genes were down-regulated; AGS was irradiated by ¹²⁵I seed, there were 124 genes upregulated, 161 genes were down-regulated; BGC-823 cells were treated by ¹²⁵I seed irradiation, 2 412 genes upregulated, 3 243 downregulated genes. After ionizing radiation can cause very complex transcriptional regulation changes, KEGG pathway analysis shows that these differentially expressed genes overlap in a particular cell pathway. Four genes, TRAF3IP2-AS1, SDC1, RABL2B and NOM, were found having at least 2-fold difference in expression (P < 0.05) , and the gene expression alteration was confirmed by qRT-PCR., Conclusions: ¹²⁵I particle irradiation caused gene expression changes in gastric cancer cells. The expressions of TRAF3IP2-AS1, SDC1, RABL2B and NOM are altered significantly in all three cell lines studied, indicating that these genes may play an important role in the ¹²⁵I seed treatment of gastric cancer. These genes could be potential targets for developing anti-cancer drugs in the future.