Biofilms are microbial communities composed of bacteria cells and self-produced extracellular polymeric substances and lead to antibiotic resistance, forming a great threat in the fields of medicine, food industries and so on. The formation of biofilms is a multi-stage dynamic process regulated by multiple mechanisms. Recently, researchers paid much more attention to the related research areas of biofilms, especially the detection methods of biofilms. This paper introduced the characteristics and formation process of biofilms as well as the effects of quorum sensing on biofilms development. Meanwhile, we discussed the detection methods of biofilms, especially electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in detection of biofilms in detail. Furthermore, we reviewed and predicted that microfluidic chips based EIS served as an in-situ and online monitoring method for biofilms growth.

HuR (human antigen R), an mRNA-binding protein responsible for poor prognosis in nearly all kinds of malignancies, is a potential anti-tumor target for drug development. While screening HuR inhibitors with a fluorescence polarization (FP) based high-throughput screening (HTS) system, the clinically used drug eltrombopag was identified. Activity of eltrombopag on molecular level was verified with FP, electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA), simulation docking and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Further, we showed that eltrombopag inhibited cell proliferation of multiple cancer cell lines and macrophages, and the anti-tumor activity was also demonstrated in a 4T1 tumor-bearing mouse model. The data showed that eltrombopag was efficient in reducing microvessels in tumor tissues. We then confirmed the HuR-dependent anti-angiogenesis effect of eltrombopag in 4T1 cells and RAW264.7 macrophages with qRT-PCR, HuR-overexpression and HuR-silencing assays, RNA stability assays, RNA immunoprecipitation and luciferase assays. Finally, we analyzed the anti-angiogenesis effect of eltrombopag on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) mediated by macrophages with cell scratch assay and Matrigel angiogenesis assay. With these data, we revealed the HuR-dependent anti-angiogenesis effect of eltrombopag in breast tumor, suggesting that the existing drug eltrombopag may be used as an anti-cancer drug.