Recent Advances in Preclinical Research Using PAMAM Dendrimers for Cancer Gene Therapy

Carriers of genetic material are divided into vectors of viral and non-viral origin. Viral carriers are already successfully used in experimental gene therapies, but despite advantages such as their high transfection efficiency and the wide knowledge of their practical potential, the remaining disadvantages, namely, their low capacity and complex manufacturing process, based on biological systems, are major limitations prior to their broad implementation in the clinical setting. The application of non-viral carriers in gene therapy is one of the available approaches. Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers are repetitively branched, three-dimensional molecules, made of amide and amine subunits, possessing unique physiochemical properties. Surface and internal modifications improve their physicochemical properties, enabling the increase in cellular specificity and transfection efficiency and a reduction in cytotoxicity toward healthy cells. During the last 10 years of research on PAMAM dendrimers, three modification strategies have commonly been used: (1) surface modification with functional groups; (2) hybrid vector formation; (3) creation of supramolecular self-assemblies. This review describes and summarizes recent studies exploring the development of PAMAM dendrimers in anticancer gene therapies, evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of the modification approaches and the nanomedicine regulatory issues preventing their translation into the clinical setting, and highlighting important areas for further development and possible steps that seem promising in terms of development of PAMAM as a carrier of genetic material.     

解脂耶氏酵母作为微生物细胞工厂的应用研究进展

解脂耶氏酵母（Yarrowia lipolytica）是一种重要的工业微生物菌种，被公认为食品级安全微生物。近年来，随着合成生物学和基因编辑技术的快速发展，科学家们利用合成生物学及基因编辑技术已经成功构建出了能够生产生物化学品、生物燃料、香料、药物、工业酶和药用蛋白等多种高附加值工业产品的解脂耶氏酵母细胞工厂，使得该酵母在食品、药品和生化能源等领域均具有巨大的应用潜力。本文将重点介绍解脂耶氏酵母表达系统、合成生物学元件和基因编辑方法的最新研究进展和应用情况，并对近年来以解脂耶氏酵母作为微生物细胞工厂生产高附加值产品的应用实例进行总结，希望为研究人员进一步利用解脂耶氏酵母进行底盘细胞设计、构建和优化相关合成途径并最终实现目的产物的高效合成提供有用的信息。     

Aptamer/Peptide-Functionalized Genome-Editing System for Effective Immune Restoration through Reversal of PD-L1-Mediated Cancer Immunosuppression

Effective reversal of tumor immunosuppression is of critical importance in cancer therapy. A multifunctional delivery vector that can effectively deliver CRISPR-Cas9 plasmid for β-catenin knockout to reverse tumor immunosuppression is constructed. The multi-functionalized delivery vector is decorated with aptamer-conjugated hyaluronic acid and peptide-conjugated hyaluronic acid to combine the tumor cell/nuclear targeting function of AS1411 with the cell penetrating/nuclear translocation function of TAT-NLS. Due to the significantly enhanced plasmid enrichment in malignant cell nuclei, the genome editing system can induce effective β-catenin knockout and suppress Wnt/β-catenin pathway, resulting in notably downregulated proteins involved in tumor progression and immunosuppression. Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) downregulation in edited tumor cells not only releases the PD-1/PD-L1 brake to improve the cancer killing capability of CD8⁺ T cells, but also enhances antitumor immune responses of immune cells. This provides a facile strategy to reverse tumor immunosuppression and to restore immunosurveillance and activate anti-tumor immunity.     

Tissue-Specific Ferritin- and GFP-Based Genetic Vectors Visualize Neurons by MRI in the Intact and Post-Ischemic Rat Brain

(1) Background: Neurogenesis is considered to be a potential brain repair mechanism and is enhanced in stroke. It is difficult to reconstruct the neurogenesis process only from the histological sections taken from different animals at different stages of brain damage and restoration. Study of neurogenesis would greatly benefit from development of tissue-specific visualization probes. (2) Purpose: The study aimed to explore if overexpression of ferritin, a nontoxic iron-binding protein, under a doublecortin promoter can be used for non-invasive visualization of neurogenesis using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). (3) Methods: Ferritin heavy chain (FerrH) was expressed in the adeno-associated viral backbone (AAV) under the doublecortin promoter (pDCX), specific for young neurons, in the viral construct AAV-pDCX-FerrH. Expression of the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) was used as an expression control (AAV-pDCX-eGFP). The viral vectors or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) were injected intracerebrally into 18 adult male Sprague–Dawley rats. Three days before injection, rats underwent transient middle-cerebral-artery occlusion or sham operation. Animals were subjected to In vivo MRI study before surgery and on days 7, 14, 21, and 28 days after injection using a Bruker BioSpec 11.7 T scanner. Brain sections obtained on day 28 after injection were immunostained for ferritin, young (DCX) and mature (NeuN) neurons, and activated microglia/macrophages (CD68). Additionally, RT-PCR was performed to confirm ferritin expression. (4) Results: T2* images in post-ischemic brains of animals injected with AAV-pDCX-FerrH showed two distinct zones of MRI signal hypointensity in the ipsilesioned hemisphere starting from 14 days after viral injection—in the ischemic lesion and near the lateral ventricle and subventricular zone (SVZ). In sham-operated animals, only one zone of hypointensity near the lateral ventricle and SVZ was revealed. Immunochemistry showed that ferritin-expressing cells in ischemic lesions were macrophages (88.1%), while ferritin-expressing cells near the lateral ventricle in animals both after ischemia and sham operation were mostly mature (55.7% and 61.8%, respectively) and young (30.6% and 7.1%, respectively) neurons. RT-PCR confirmed upregulated expression of ferritin in the caudoputamen and corpus callosum. Surprisingly, in animals injected with AAV-pDCX-eGFP we similarly observed two zones of hypointensity on T2* images. Cellular studies also showed the presence of mature (81.5%) and young neurons (6.1%) near the lateral ventricle in both postischemic and sham-operated animals, while macrophages in ischemic lesions were ferritin-positive (98.2%). (5) Conclusion: Ferritin overexpression induced by injection of AAV-pDCX-FerrH was detected by MRI using T2*-weighted images, which was confirmed by immunochemistry showing ferritin in young and mature neurons. Expression of eGFP also caused a comparable reduced MR signal intensity in T2*-weighted images. Additional studies are needed to investigate the potential and tissue-specific features of the use of eGFP and ferritin expression in MRI studies.     

CYP2D6基因多态性对托烷司琼预防化疗所致恶心呕吐效果的影响

肿瘤对人类健康造成很大威胁。化疗作为一种全身性的治疗方法，在肿瘤治疗中的地位不可动摇。化疗所致恶心呕吐（chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting, CINV）是化疗过程中常见的不良反应，严重影响了患者的情绪、生活质量和肿瘤的控制。CINV的防治对肿瘤患者来说非常重要。托烷司琼是较常用的5-羟色胺Ⅲ亚型（5-hydroxytryptamine type 3, 5-HT3）受体拮抗剂，在防治CINV方面具有很好的临床效果，但仍有部分患者使用托烷司琼后效果不佳。越来越多的研究表明这些个体差异可能与基因多态性密切相关。本文就细胞色素P450 2D6（cytochrome P450 2D6, CYP2D6）基因多态性对托烷司琼预防CINV效果的影响作一综述，以期为基因多态性指导下的临床个体化用药提供思路。     

pazopanib血药浓度个体差异与细胞色素P450 3A4基因多态性的关系初探

目的：分析健康受试者口服pazopanib片后体内药代动力学（PK）规律，初步探讨pazopanib片PK个体差异的遗传学机制。方法：14例健康男性受试者分别在给药当天单次口服pazopanib片（200 mg）后，采集基线至96 h血液样本，用LC-MS/MS法测定服药后各时间点血药浓度，用WinNonlin 6.3软件计算药代动力学相关参数，采用SNapShot法测定细胞色素P450 3A4（CYP3A4）基因多态性。结果：Cmax变化范围（7 361.65-26 081.00） ng/mL，平均值±标准差（15 410.72±6 366.21） ng/mL ；tmax变化范围（1.50-4.00） h、平均值±标准差（2.50±0.83） h；AUC0-t变化范围（228 013.55-775 231.63）ng·mL-1·h，平均值±标准差（516 279.90±175 688.41）ng·mL-1·h。个体间Cmax、AUC相差达3倍以上，tmax可相差2倍以上；14例受试者CYP3A4（RS35599367）位点皆为野生型。结论：pazopanib片在中国健康男性志愿者中个体差异较大，未观察到CYP3A4（rs35599367）位点单核苷酸多态性，pazopanib个体间PK差异可能与其他药物代谢相关基因多态性有关。     

Omics Analysis of Blood-Responsive Regulon in Bordetella pertussis Identifies a Novel Essential T3SS Substrate

Bacterial pathogens sense specific cues associated with different host niches and integrate these signals to appropriately adjust the global gene expression. Bordetella pertussis is a Gram-negative, strictly human pathogen of the respiratory tract and the etiological agent of whooping cough (pertussis). Though B. pertussis does not cause invasive infections, previous results indicated that this reemerging pathogen responds to blood exposure. Here, omics RNA-seq and LC–MS/MS techniques were applied to determine the blood-responsive regulon of B. pertussis. These analyses revealed that direct contact with blood rewired global gene expression profiles in B. pertussis as the expression of almost 20% of all genes was significantly modulated. However, upon loss of contact with blood, the majority of blood-specific effects vanished, with the exception of several genes encoding the T3SS-secreted substrates. For the first time, the T3SS regulator BtrA was identified in culture supernatants of B. pertussis. Furthermore, proteomic analysis identified BP2259 protein as a novel secreted T3SS substrate, which is required for T3SS functionality. Collectively, presented data indicate that contact with blood represents an important cue for B. pertussis cells.