Tailored lipid nanoparticles (LNPs)-mediated small interfering RNA (siRNA) nanomedicines show promise in treating liver disease, such as acute liver injury (ALI) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). However, constructing LNPs that address biosafety concerns, ensure efficient delivery, and target specific hepatic subcellular fractions has been challenging. To evade above obstacles, we develop three novel self-degradable "gemini-like" ionizable lipids (SS-MA, SS-DC, SS-MH) by incorporating disulfide bonds and modifying the length of ester bond and tertiary amino head. Our findings reveal that the disulfide-bond-bridged LNPs exhibit reduction-responsive drug release, improving both biosafety and siRNA delivery efficiency. Furthermore, the distance of ester bond and tertiary amino head significantly influences the LNPs' pK _a, thereby affecting endosomal escape, hemolytic efficiency, absorption capacity of ApoE, uptake efficiency of hepatocytes and liver accumulation. We also develop the modified-mannose LNPs (M-LNP) to target liver macrophages specifically. The optimized M-MH_LNP@TNFα exhibits potential in preventing ALI by decreasing tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) levels in the macrophages, while MH_LNP@DGAT2 could treat NASH by selectively degrading diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 2 (DGAT2) in the hepatocytes. Our findings provide new insights into developing novel highly effective and low-toxic "gemini-like" ionizable lipids for constructing LNPs, potentially achieving more effective treatment for hepatic diseases.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2021.08.008.].

A 55-year-old male patient was admitted to the hospital due to "recurrent chest pain for 8 months, with worsening symptoms for 2 weeks". After admission, comprehensive relevant examinations led to the consideration of a giant chronic left ventricular pseudoaneurysm caused by myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries. Surgical treatment was performed at our hospital. We discuss the diagnosis and treatment of this patient.

Substantial progress in the use of chemo-photodynamic nano-drug delivery systems (nano-DDS) for the treatment of the malignant breast cancer has been achieved. The inability to customize precise nanostructures, however, has limited the therapeutic efficacy of the prepared nano-DDS to date. Here, we report a structurally defined tandem-responsive chemo-photosensitive co-nanoassembly to eliminate primary breast tumor and prevent lung metastasis. This both-in-one co-nanoassembly is prepared by assembling a biocompatible photosensitive derivative (pheophorbide-diphenylalanine peptide, PPA-DA) with a hypoxia-activated camptothecin (CPT) prodrug [(4-nitrophenyl) formate camptothecin, N-CPT]. According to computational simulations, the co-assembly nanostructure is not the classical core-shell type, but consists of many small microphase regions. Upon exposure to a 660 nm laser, PPA-DA induce high levels of ROS production to effectively achieve the apoptosis of normoxic cancer cells. Subsequently, the hypoxia-activated N-CPT and CPT spatially penetrate deep into the hypoxic region of the tumor and suppress hypoxia-induced tumor metastasis. Benefiting from the rational design of the chemo-photodynamic both-in-one nano-DDS, these nanomedicines exhibit a promising potential in the inhibition of difficult-to-treat breast tumor metastasis in patients with breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical feature, diagnosis and phenotype of Majeed syndrome. METHODS: Clinical manifestation, diagnostic process, imaging feature and genetic testing of an ethnic Han Chinese patient with Majeed syndrome were reviewed. RESULTS: The patient, a 3-year-9-month-old boy, had featured psychomotor retardation and developed bone pain from 8 month on. The child had tenderness of the lower limbs and presented with repeatedly joint swelling and pain accompanied by fever. Physical signs included limb muscle weakening, slightly decreased muscle tone, reduced muscle volume and positive Gower sign. High-throughput sequencing revealed that the child has carried compound heterozygous variants of the LPIN2 gene, including c.1966A>G and c.2534delG. MRI showed multiple lesions in bilateral knee joints and distal middle tibia presenting as patchy SPAIR high signals with unclear edge, in addition with edema of soft tissue surrounding the right distal femur. CONCLUSION Majeed syndrome is characterized by chronic and recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis, congenital dyserythropoietic anemia, and growth retardation. Surrounding muscle tissue of osteomyelitis may also be involved. The syndrome may also affect the central nervous system, resulting in delayed language and motor development. Discovery of multiple pathological variants of the LPIN2 gene suggested that the clinical phenotype of this syndrome may vary between patients to some extent.
Anemia, Dyserythropoietic, Congenital/genetics* ; Child ; Genetic Testing ; Humans ; Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes/genetics* ; Infant ; Male ; Osteomyelitis/genetics*

OBJECTIVE: To summarize the clinical phenotype and genotype of a Chinese child affected with Mowat-Wilson syndrome (MWS). METHODS: Clinical data of the patient were collected. The patient was analyzed by whole-exome sequencing (WES) as well as Sanger sequencing. RESULTS: The patient was a male infant with recurrent fever and slow growth. He also had characteristic facies, recurrent spasm, and growth retardation. WES revealed that he has carried a heterozygous nonsense c.2609C>G (p.Ser870X) variant of the ZEB2 gene (30% mosaicism). Based on the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics standards and guidelines, the variant was predicted to be pathogenic (PVS1+PS1+PS2+PM2). CONCLUSION The c.2609C>G variant of the ZEB2 gene probably underlay the MWS in this child. The mosaicism of the variant may explain his mild symptoms.
Child ; Facies ; Hirschsprung Disease/genetics* ; Humans ; Infant ; Intellectual Disability/genetics* ; Male ; Microcephaly/genetics* ; Mutation

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of Aurora kinase B (AURKB) silencing-induced autophagy on apoptosis of osteosarcoma 143B cells and the underlying molecular mechanisms. METHODS: Human osteosarcoma 143B cells were transfected with Lv/shAURKB or the negative control vector Lv/shScrambled followed by treatment with chloroquine (CQ) for 24 h. Western blotting was performed to detect the protein expression levels of AURKB, P62, LC3, cleaved caspase-3, Bcl-2, and P-ULK1. Transmission electron microscopy and LC3 dual-label fluorescence method were used to trace the autophagosomes in 143B cells to assess cell autophagy, and the cell apoptosis was detected using flow cytometry and TUNEL assay. Co-immunoprecipitation assay was used to detect the interaction between AURKB and ULK1. RESULTS: The ratio of autophagy-related proteins LC3 II/I and the number of autophagosomes were significantly increased in 143B cells after transfection with Lv/shAURKB ( < 0.05), which significantly increased the expression of cleaved caspase-3 and reduced the expression of Bcl-2 ( < 0.05). Combined treatment of the cells with Lv/shAURKB and the autophagy inhibitor chloroquine obviously restored the expressions of caspase-3 and Bcl-2 ( < 0.05). Transfection with Lv/shAURKB significantly increased the apoptosis rate of 143B cells ( < 0.05), and this effect was significantly antagonized by combined treatment with chloroquine ( < 0.05). AURKB silencing strongly activated the phosphorylation of the autophagy-initiating protein ULK1 in 143B cells ( < 0.05). The results of co-immunoprecipitation assay confirmed when AURKB was immunoprecipitated, ULK1 also precipitated. CONCLUSIONS Silencing AURKB can induce autophagy by activating ULK1 phosphorylation to promote apoptosis in 143B cells.

Hypoxia, a salient feature of most solid tumors, confers invasiveness and resistance to the tumor cells. Oxygen-consumption photodynamic therapy (PDT) suffers from the undesirable impediment of local hypoxia in tumors. Moreover, PDT could further worsen hypoxia. Therefore, developing effective strategies for manipulating hypoxia and improving the effectiveness of PDT has been a focus on antitumor treatment. In this review, the mechanism and relationship of tumor hypoxia and PDT are discussed. Moreover, we highlight recent trends in the field of nanomedicines to modulate hypoxia for enhancing PDT, such as oxygen supply systems, down-regulation of oxygen consumption and hypoxia utilization. Finally, the opportunities and challenges are put forward to facilitate the development and clinical transformation of PDT.

Objective To explore the value of the Accordion severity grading system (ASGS) in predicting short-term outcomes after orthotopic liver transplantation for severe hepatitis by classifying post-surgery complications.Methods The clinical documents of 159 patients were retrospectively analyzed who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation for severe hepatitis between Aug.1,2004 to Sept.1,2014 at our center.Complications were categorized according to the ASGS:grade 1 (mild),grade 2 (moderate),grade 3-5 (severe),and grade 6 (death).Outcome measures included ventilator support time,the length of ICU stay,postoperative recovery time.Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to test the correlation between the different grades with these outcome measures.1-year survival trends of different grade complication groups were demonstrated by Kaplan-Meier method and compared by Log-rank test.Results In total,43 (27.0％) patients had a grade 2 complication;41 (25.8％) grade 3;31 (19.5％) grade 4;9 (5.7％) grade 5;and 35 (22.0％) grade 6.There was no grade 1 patient.There was a significant correlation between the complication grades and the ventilator support time,the length of ICU stay and postoperative inpatient time (P＜0.01).With the increase of the complication grades,the outcome measures were even worse.Severe grade complication group had a longer ventilator support time,the length of ICU stay and postoperative inpatient time than the moderate grade complication group (P＜0.01).There was a significant downward trend in 1-year survival with the increase of the complication grade (P＜0.01).Conclusion The ASGS is helpful to assess risks and predict short-term outcomes after liver transplantation for severe hepatitis.Higher Accordion grades are correlated with even worse short-term outcomes.

Objective To evaluate the expression of transient receptor potential melastatin 7(TRPM7)in cholangiocarcinoma and its correlation with prognosis.Methods The expressions of TRPM7 were detected by SP immunohistochemical in 49 cases of cholangiocarcinoma,7 cases of benign bile duct lesions and 36 cases of adjacent histologically noncancerous bile duct tissues,and to analysis its relationship with the clinical pathological characteristics of cholangiocarcinoma.Results The positive expression rate of TRPM7 in cholangiocarcinoma was 77.6%(38/49),which was higher than that in benign bile duct lesions(0,0/7)and adjacent his-tologically noncancerous bile duct tissues(2.8%,1/36),the difference was statistically significant(P <0.05).The positive expres-sion of TRPM7 in cholangiocarcinoma was correlated with the TNM stage of tumor,lymph node metastasis and organ metastasis (P <0.05),but not related to patients′age,gender,site,differentiation and hepatitis(P >0.05).Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that increased expression of TRPM7 was associated with shorted overall survival (P <0.05).Cox regression analysis showed that the expression level of TRPM7 was significantly associated with prognosis and an independent risk factor for prognosis(P <0.05 ). Conclusion TRPM7 plays an important role in the tumorigenesis progression,invasion,and metastasis of cholangiocarcinoma,and is an important factor for prognosis in patients with cholangiocarcinoma.