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A facile wet chemical method has been used to synthesize bifunctional core-shell nanoparticles of Fe3O4@RE(DBM)3·Phen (RE=Eu3+,Tb3+) showing an interesting combination of magnetic and luminescent properties. This method is convenient, cheap, and efficient. The morphology, structure, luminescent, and magnetic properties of the nanoparticles were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-vis absorption, fluorescence emission, and superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer (SQUID-VSM). The maximum emission peaks of novel Eu3+ and Tb3+ nanocomposites are at 618 nm and at 514 nm, respectively. And their corresponding special saturation magnetization Ms. are 25.853 emu/g and 24.015 emu/g, respectively. For the nanoparticles, it is shown that there have better magnetic behavior and they may act as red- and green-emitting material with potential application for fluorescent magnetic particle testing. Moreover, this chemical route could be used to obtain the development of several bifunctional systems of other rare earth ions for practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hierarchical Fe3O4 nanospheres with superparamagnetism have been fabricated via a solvothermal method without any surfactants. The effect of reaction parameters like the types of the reagent, the reaction time, and the reagent concentration on the morphology and structure of the resultant samples are investigated. In this method, ferric chloride (FeCl3 ⋅ 6H2O) is used as the iron source, and EG acts as both solvent and reducing agent. The presence of NaHCO3 or Na2CO3 provides alkine condition and gaseous bubbles in the control over the size of Fe3O4 nanospheres. The formation mechanism for Fe3O4 nanospheres is illustrated by an Ostwald ripening process. The Fe3O4 nanospheres were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer (SQUID-VSM). The Fe3O4 nanospheres exhibited a wider size distribution at the amount of 0.397 mol/L NaHCO3, showing a high saturation magnetization close to 84.46 emu/g. The Fe3O4 nanospheres soluble in deionized water is also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a negative regulatory molecule, T-cell immunoglobulin-and mucin domain-3 (Tim-3) plays a crucial role in the tumor immunological tolerance. In the present study, we aimed to determine the Tim-3 expression in gastric cancer tissue and its relationship with clinicopathological parameters and prognosis. The Tim-3 expression was assessed in 52 gastric cancer specimens and 15 gastritis tissues by flow cytometry, and gastritis tissues served as the control. As a result, we found that the Tim-3 expressions on CD4(+)T cells and CD8(+)T cells in gastric cancer tissue was significantly higher than those in gastritis tissue (P=0.022, P=0.047, respectively). The median expression level of Tim-3 on CD4(+)T cells were significantly correlated with clinicopathological parameters, such as tumor size, lymph node metastasis, the depth of tumor invasion and TNM staging (P=0.042, P=0.026, P=0.001, P=0.003, respectively), while it was not correlated with sex, age and histological subtype (all P>0.05). In CD8(+)T cells, the Tim-3 expression was relevant to tumor invasion and TNM staging (P=0.035, P=0.017, respectively), while it was irrelevant to other clinicopathological parameters (all P>0.05). Additionally, Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that the median overall survival time of patients with lower Tim-3 expression was greater than that of patients with higher Tim-3 expression in CD4(+)T cells and CD8(+)T cells (χ(2)=18.036, P<0.001 and χ(2)=18.036, P<0.001, respectively). Moreover, the multivariate analysis revealed that the Tim-3 expression and TNM stage were independent prognostic factors for gastric cancer patients (P=0.029, P=0.043 and P=0.003, respectively). These results suggest that Tim-3 played an important role in the development and progression of gastric cancer, and it could be used as an independent prognostic factor for gastric cancer patients.

Purpose: We aimed to determine the expression level of serum soluble lemur tyrosine kinase-3 (sLMTK3) in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and to examine whether the s sLMTK3 level could be used as a biomarker to screen primary NSCLC and to predict lung cancer progression., Methods: Serum levels of sLMTK3 in 67 patients with primary NSCLC, 28 patients with lung benign lesion, and 53 healthy volunteers were measured by sandwich ELISA. LMTK3 protein expression in NSCLC tissues and normal lung tissues was also detected by using immunohistochemical staining. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was selected to evaluate the sensitivity and the specificity of serum sLMTK3 level., Results: The mean concentration of sLMTK3 in NSCLC group was significantly higher than in the lung benign lesion group (P < 0.001) and the healthy control group (P < 0.001). Higher sLMTK3 level was correlated with age (P = 0.013), tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage (P < 0.001), and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.001) of NSCLC. In contrast to the normal lung tissues, increased LMTK3 expression was found in the NSCLC tissues, and was mainly located on the cytoplasm and the nuclei of cancer cells. For separating NSCLC from control group, the corresponding areas under the ROC curve (AUC) were 0.947 for sLMTK3 and 0.804 for CEA. With cutoffs of 10.05 ng/ml for sLMTK3 and 5.0 ng/ml for CEA respectively, the sensitivity and the specificity of sLMTK3 and CEA were, 80.60% and 97.53%, 35.82% and 96.30%, respectively, indicating better diagnostic value of sLMTK3., Conclusions: The sLMTK3 level was significantly increased in human NSCLC, and could be used as a potential and valuable biomarker for screening primary NSCLC and for predicting the progression of patients with this malignancy.

Lemur tyrosine kinase-3 (LMTK3) belongs to the family of serine-threonine-tyrosine kinases and the aberrant expression of LMTK3 was observed in several human malignancies. However, the association of LMTK3 with clinical outcomes in colorectal cancer patients is unclear. Thus, this present study was to evaluate the association of LMTK3 expression level with clinicopathologic factors and prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). The expression level of LMTK3 in 69 archival paraffin-embedded colorectal tumor tissue specimens was examined by immunohistochemistry (IHC). As a result, we found that the LMTK3 expression level was significantly elevated in CRC tissues as compared with Crohn's disease or colorectal polyp tissues (P<0.0001, P<0.0001, respectively). Positive LMTK3 signals in the colorectal cancer cells were observed in about 89.9% (62 of 69) CRC tissue specimens. Additionally, LMTK3 expression was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) classification (P=0.003, and P=0.008, respectively), but not with sex, age, tumor location, histological differentiation, tumor size, or depth of tumor invasion (all P>0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that the overall survival rate was significantly higher in the patients with low expression of LMTK3 when compared with those patients with high LMTK3 (P=0.010). Moreover, multivariate analysis revealed that LMTK3 expression was an independent prognostic factor for CRC patients (P=0.047). These results suggest that LMTK3 protein could serve as a prognostic marker for CRC patients.