Treatment of colorectal cancer by anticancer and antibacterial effects of hemiprotonic phenanthroline-phenanthroline^(+) with nanomicelle delivery

Colorectal cancer(CRC)is a common digestive tract tumor worldwide.Specific microorganisms,including Fusobacterium nucleatum(F.nucleatum)and Escherichia coli(E.coli),are abundant in colonic mucosa and can promote the cancer progression and malignancy.Therefore,a therapeutic strategy is proposed to deliver effective drugs to colorectum for both anticancer and antibacteria.Here we used thin-film dispersionmethod to encapsulate hemiprotonic phenanthroline-phenanthroline^(+)(ph-ph^(+))into nanomicelle.The results showed that the drug-loading nanomicelle had good dispersion,and the particle size was about 28 nm.In vitro assay indicated that the nanomicelle was active against CRC-related obligate and facultative anaerobes.In human CRC cells,the nanomicelle could effectively inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis.In vivo distribution showed that the nanomicelle could release ph-ph^(+) mainly in the colorectum.In CRC model mice,the nanomicelle significantly reduced tumor number and volume,and decreased the bacteria load and colorectal inflammation.Together,the study identifies that the ph-ph^(+) nanomicelle has the potential to apply in treating CRC,and also suggests that anticancer combined with antimicrobial therapy would be a feasible way for CRC therapy.

The synthetic thyroid hormone, levothyroxine, protects cholinergic neurons in the hippocampus of naturally aged mice

The thyroid hormones, triiodothyronine and thyroxine, play important roles in cognitive func- tion during the mammalian lifespan. However, thyroid hormones have not yet been used as a therapeutic agent for normal age-related cognitive deficits. In this study, CD-1 mice （aged 24 months） were intraperitoneally injected with levothyroxine （L-T4; 1.6 gg/kg per day） for 3 consecutive months. Our findings revealed a significant improvement in hippocampal cyto- skeletal rearrangement of actin and an increase in serum hormone levels of L-T4-treated aged mice. Furthermore, the survival rate of these mice was dramatically increased from 60% to 93.3%. The Morris water maze task indicated that L-T4 restored impaired spatial memory in aged mice. Furthermore, level of choline acetyltransferase, acetylcholine, and superoxide dismutase were in- creased in these mice, thus suggesting that a possible mechanism by which L-T4 reversed cognitive impairment was caused by increased activity of these markers. Overall, supplement of low-dosage L-T4 may be a potential therapeutic strategy for normal age-related cognitive deficits.

Progress in molecular docking

Background:In recent years,since the molecular docking technique can greatly improve the efficiency and reduce the research cost,it has become a key tool in computer-assisted drug design to predict the binding affinity and analyze the interactive mode.Results:This study introduces the key principles,procedures and the widely-used applications for molecular docking.Also,it compares the commonly used docking applications and recommends which research areas are suitable for them.Lastly,it briefly reviews the latest progress in molecular docking such as the integrated method and deep learning.Conclusion:Limited to the incomplete molecular structure and the shortcomings of the scoring function,current docking applications are not accurate enough to predict the binding affinity.However,we could improve the current molecular docking technique by integrating the big biological data into scoring function.