X‐Tream quality assurance in synchrotron X‐ray microbeam radiation therapy

Microbeam radiation therapy (MRT) is a novel irradiation technique for brain tumours treatment currently under development at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France. The technique is based on the spatial fractionation of a highly brilliant synchrotron X‐ray beam into an array of microbeams using a multi‐slit collimator (MSC). After promising pre‐clinical results, veterinary trials have recently commenced requiring the need for dedicated quality assurance (QA) procedures. The quality of MRT treatment demands reproducible and precise spatial fractionation of the incoming synchrotron beam. The intensity profile of the microbeams must also be quickly and quantitatively characterized prior to each treatment for comparison with that used for input to the dose‐planning calculations. The Centre for Medical Radiation Physics (University of Wollongong, Australia) has developed an X‐ray treatment monitoring system (X‐Tream) which incorporates a high‐spatial‐resolution silicon strip detector (SSD) specifically designed for MRT. In‐air measurements of the horizontal profile of the intrinsic microbeam X‐ray field in order to determine the relative intensity of each microbeam are presented, and the alignment of the MSC is also assessed. The results show that the SSD is able to resolve individual microbeams which therefore provides invaluable QA of the horizontal field size and microbeam number and shape. They also demonstrate that the SSD used in the X‐Tream system is very sensitive to any small misalignment of the MSC. In order to allow as rapid QA as possible, a fast alignment procedure of the SSD based on X‐ray imaging with a low‐intensity low‐energy beam has been developed and is presented in this publication.     

银覆盖冠状硅柱阵列基底的制备、SERS特性分析及肿瘤标志物miRNA-106a的检测

以聚苯乙烯(PS)小球为模板,采用金属辅助刻蚀和湿法化学刻蚀技术,制备大面积冠状硅柱阵列,再原位生长银纳米粒子后得到银覆盖冠状硅柱阵列(Ag/Si CPA)基底。实验表明,制备的基底具有优良的表面增强拉曼散射(SERS)特性,电磁增强因子达到1.81×10~6。同时,将制备的罗丹明分子(R6G)标记的DNA发卡探针与基底链接,在与miRNA-106a互补杂交后进行SERS信号检测,获得相应的剂量-响应曲线。结果表明,基于(Ag/Si CPA)基底的SERS特性,开展miRNA-106a的检测,具有特异性好和灵敏度高的优势,检测范围为1 fmol·L~(-1)～100 pmol·L~(-1),检测极限为0.917 fmol·L~(-1)。此外,与实时荧光定量多聚核苷酸链式反应(RT-qPCR)方法相比,不仅检测结果一致,而且基于SERS光谱技术的检测方法具有更高的灵敏度。     

Tumor‐Targeting W18O49 Nanoparticles for Dual‐Modality Imaging and Guided Heat‐Shock‐Response‐Inhibited Photothermal Therapy in Gastric Cancer

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is an emerging noninvasive and precise localized therapeutic modality; however, it is deeply limited by its poor tumor accumulation, inadequate photothermal conversion efficiency, and the thermoresistance of cancer cells. Aimed at these shortcomings, tumor‐targeting nanoparticles (iRGD‐W₁₈O₄₉‐17AAG) comprising carboxyl‐group‐functionalized W₁₈O₄₉ nanoparticles, integrin‐targeting peptide iRGD, and HSP90‐inhibitor 17AAG are developed. The W₁₈O₄₉ nanoparticles act as excellent PTT carriers and computed tomography (CT) imaging contrast agents. The ring type polypeptide iRGD promotes the accumulation of nanoparticles in the tumour and further penetration into cancer cells. The introduction of 17AAG can inhibit the heat‐shock response and overcome the thermoresistance, thus increasing the curative effect of PTT and reducing the chance of tumor recurrence. The W₁₈O₄₉ nanoparticles can also be used to monitor and guide the phototherapeutic through CT and near‐infrared fluorescence imaging after modification with Cy5.5. In addition, superior biosafety is also indicated in both preliminary in vitro and in vivo assessments. The potential of iRGD‐W₁₈O₄₉‐17AAG in tumor targeting, dual modality imaging‐guided and remarkable enhanced PTT of gastric cancer with ignorable side effect both in vitro and in vivo, which may be further applied in clinic, is highlighted.     

Studies of proteasome inhibition and apoptosis induction in triple‐negative breast cancer cells by novel amino acid–polypyridine–copper complex

An innovative ternary copper(II) complex, [Cu(Cl‐PIP)(Tyr)Cl]_n, has been synthesized and characterized using infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis. X‐ray crystallography indicates that the Cu atom is five‐coordinated in a square‐pyramidal configuration. The unit forms a one‐dimensional chain along the crystallographic c‐axis. The complex was screened for cytotoxicity against a panel of eight human cancer cell lines, namely MDA‐MB‐231, CAL‐51, K562, HeLa, SGC‐7901, A549, MCF‐7 and SMMC‐7721. The best anticancer activity was obtained with triple‐negative breast cancer CAL‐51 and MDA‐MB‐231 cell lines, with IC₅₀ values in the range 0.035–0.10 μM, and this was better than using carboplatin. The complex inhibits proteasomal chymotrypsin‐like activity, and docking studies reveal its interaction with 20S proteasome. In addition, the complex causes accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins, induces apoptosis and inhibits cell proliferation, indicating its great potential as a novel therapy for triple‐negative breast cancer.     

沙疗对骨关节炎兔子股骨骨质影响的对比研究

目的:试验研究维医沙疗对骨关节炎动物模型骨质层转移的影响.方法:采用CT扫描的手段分别四次(建立实验对象OA模型前后各一次、进沙疗第14天和第28天各一次)采集两个实验对象股骨数据.将数据导入MIMICS软件分离实验对象股骨,根据CT值范围不同把股骨分为六个骨质层并读取各层体积.分析了各骨质层的体积在股骨总骨量中所占比例的变化和股骨平均CT值的变化.结果:分析四次CT数据的变化,发现沙疗对象股骨总骨量增长,而对照对象之下降.与此同时沙疗对象股骨平均CT值上升,相比之下对照对象平均CT值下降.结论:沙疗对关节炎对象有促进骨代谢作用,使骨质从低CT值的骨质层转移至高CT值骨质层.     

Functionalized Conjugated Polyelectrolytes for Biological Sensing and Imaging

Conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) are macromolecules with highly delocalized π‐conjugated backbones and charged side chains, which are unique types of active materials, with wide applications in optoelectronics, sensing, imaging, and therapy. By attaching specific groups (e.g., recognition elements, magnetic resonance (MR) contrast agents, gene carriers, and drugs) to the side chain or backbone of CPEs, functionalized CPEs have been developed and used for specific biological applications. In this account, we summarize the recent progress of functionalized CPEs with respect to their synthesis and biomedical applications. Future perspectives are also discussed at the end.     

Multifunctional Core–Shell Upconverting Nanoparticles for Imaging and Photodynamic Therapy of Liver Cancer Cells

Lanthanide‐doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) have attracted considerable attention for their application in biomedicine. Here, silica‐coated NaGdF₄:Yb,Er/NaGdF₄ nanoparticles with a tetrasubstituted carboxy aluminum phthalocyanine (AlC₄Pc) photosensitizer covalently incorporated inside the silica shells were prepared and applied in the photodynamic therapy (PDT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of cancer cells. These UCNP@SiO₂(AlC₄Pc) nanoparticles were uniform in size, stable against photosensitizer leaching, and highly efficient in photogenerating cytotoxic singlet oxygen under near‐infrared (NIR) light. In vitro studies indicated that these nanoparticles could effectively kill cancer cells upon NIR irradiation. Moreover, the nanoparticles also demonstrated good MR contrast, both in aqueous solution and inside cells. This is the first time that NaGdF₄:Yb,Er/NaGdF₄ upconversion‐nanocrystal‐based multifunctional nanomaterials have been synthesized and applied in PDT. Our results show that these multifunctional nanoparticles are very promising for applications in versatile imaging diagnosis and as a therapy tool in biomedical engineering.     

Polymeric Gene Carriers Bearing Pendant β‐Cyclodextrin: The Relevance of Glycoside Permethylation on the “In Vitro” Cell Response

The incorporation of cyclodextrins (CDs) to nonviral cationic polymer vectors is very attractive due to recent studies that report a clear improvement of their cytocompatibility and transfection efficiency. However, a systematic study on the influence of the CD derivatization is still lacking. In this work, the relevance of β‐CD permethylation has been addressed by preparing and evaluating two series of copolymers of the cationic N‐ethyl pyrrolidine methacrylamide (EPA) and styrenic units bearing pendant hydroxylated and permethylated β‐CDs (HCDSt and MeCDSt, respectively). For both cell lines, CDs permethylation shows a strong influence on plasmid DNA complexation, “in vitro” cytocompatibility and transfection efficiency of the resulting copolymers over two murine cell lines. While the incorporation of the hydroxylated CD moiety increased the cytotoxicity of the copolymers in comparison with their homopolycationic counterpart, the permethylated copolymers have shown full cytocompatibility as well as superior transfection efficiency than the controls. This behavior has been related to the different chemical nature of both units and tentatively to a different distribution of units along the polymeric chains. Cellular internalization analysis with fluorescent copo­lymers supports this behavior.

     

Preliminary study on singlet oxygen production using CeF3:Tb3+@SiO2-PpIX

Luminescent properties and singlet oxygen production using CeF₃:Tb³⁺-based nanoparticles modified with SiO₂ and protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) were studied. CeF₃:Tb³⁺ nanopowder was prepared via sol–gel route, with subsequent surface coating by SiO₂ layer and the conjugation with photosensitive PpIX molecules. Radioluminescence spectra suggest an energy transfer from Ce³⁺ to Tb³⁺ ions and from Tb³⁺ to molecules of PpIX photosensitizer. The energy transfer was confirmed by photoluminescence decay curves. Singlet oxygen production was detected using a reaction of ¹O₂ with 3’-(p-aminophenyl) fluorescein (APF) chemical probe after X-Ray excitation. Qualitative changes in time resolved photoluminescence spectra in the region of 520 nm indicate ¹O₂ generation. Studied nanocomposites may be good candidates for the application in X-ray induced photodynamic therapy.     

光漏斗聚光定向传光中央接收太阳能集热系统

提出了一种新型中央接收式太阳能高温集热系统,介绍了系统的运行原理,分析了系统的热效率影响因素。这个新型的太阳能高温集热系统具有如下特点:可将多个光漏斗和偏光器组成一个太阳能聚光器阵列,每个聚光器都能将低能流密度的太阳光束会聚成高能流密度的平行光束,并由偏光器传送到中央接收器,于是中央接收器可获得很高的太阳光照射能流,转化为热能后将产生很高的温度,从而实现太阳光高温聚能。本系统的中央接收器无需建在高塔上,节省了建设费用,而且所有光漏斗跟踪太阳的方式相同,控制策略简单,定向偏光器的出光方向设定后可以固定不变,因而使整个系统结构简单,技术上易于实现。