Discovery of Metastasis-Associated Biomarkers in Ovarian Cancer Using SELDI-TOF: An in Vitro and Clinical Study

OBJECTIVE To identify metastasis-related biomarkers in humanovarian cancer cell lines and in serum.METHODS We isolated total protein from cell lysis solutionsand cultured supernatants from 2 human ovarian cancer cell linesand used SELDI-TOF-MS to detect the differential expressionof the proteins in the 2 cell lines.The proteomic spectra weregenerated using weak cation exchange chips.The biomarkerswere validated by analyzing serum proteins or peptides in ovariancancer patients,relapsed ovarian cancer patients,patients withbenign ovarian tumors,and healthy people.RESULTS Four proteins in the culture supernatant fromHO-8910PM cells were up-regulated,relative to the culturesupernatant of HO-8910 cells.One protein (3,144 Da m/z value)was up-regulated in both the cell lysis solution and in the culturesupernatant of HO-8910PM cells.In addition,expression of the3,144 Da m/z protein differed significantly between serum fromthe 26 ovarian cancer patients,from the 22 relapsed ovarianpatients and from the 37 healthy women (P<0.01).However,therewas no difference between patients with benign ovarian tumorsand healthy people (P>0.5).CONCLUSION Ovarian cancer cell lines with high or lowmetastatic potential have distinct protein profiles.Protein 3,144Da m/z could be a useful biomarker for diagnosing ovarian cancermetastasis.

Erratum:A Search for Solar Axions and Anomalous Neutrino Magnetic Moment with the Complete PandaX-Ⅱ Data[CHIN.PHYS.LETT.38(2021)011301]

In our published letter,[1]we have identified a minor error in Figs.2 and 3.Instead,we have 2111 events in these two plots with 646,249,382,and 834 events in Run 9(20.0 ton·day),Run 10(19.4 ton·day),Run 11–1(24.2 ton·day),and Run 11–2(37.1 ton·day).The mistake is due to an incorrect application of a small energy non-linearity(known as the BLS non-linearity)in making plots,but has no impact to the final results.Figures 2 and 3 are now updated in this note.

A Search for Solar Axions and Anomalous Neutrino Magnetic Moment with the Complete Panda X-Ⅱ Data

We report a search for new physics signals using the low energy electron recoil events in the complete data set from PandaX-Ⅱ,in light of the recent event excess reported by XENON1 T.The data correspond to a total exposure of 100.7 ton·day with liquid xenon.With robust estimates of the dominant background spectra,we perform sensitive searches on solar axions and neutrinos with enhanced magnetic moment.It is found that the axionelectron coupling gAe<4.6×10^(-12) for an axion mass less than 0.1 keV/c^(2) and the neutrino magnetic moment μv<4.9×10^(-11)μB at 90%confidence level.The observed excess from XENON1 T is within our experimental constraints.

Determination of Double Beta Decay Half-Life of 136Xe with the PandaX-4T Natural Xenon Detector

Precise measurement of two-neutrino double beta decay(DBD)half-life is an important step for the searches of Majorana neutrinos with neutrinoless double beta decay.We report the measurement of DBD half-life of 136xe using the Pandax-4T dual-phase Time Projection Chamber(TPC)with 3.7-tonne natural xenon and the first 94.9-day physics data release.

Polyphyllin I inhibits proliferation and metastasis of ovarian cancer cell line HO-8910PM invitro

OBJECTIVE: To study the anticancer mechanism of polyphyllin I (PPI), a Traditional Chinese Medicine, on the ovarian cancer cell line HO-8910PM invitro. METHODS: Transwell chamber invasive assays were used to investigate the inhibitory capacity of PPI on HO-8910PM metastasis. Gene expression profiling chips was used to screen differentially expressed genes between experiment group and control group. Reverse transcription PCR and Western blotting were used to determine mRNA and protein levels. RESULTS: With increasing PPI concentration, the metastatic capacity of cells decreased, with significance differences between the experimental and control groups (P<0.01) as well as between two concentration groups. Gene expression profiling identified 123 differentially expressed genes, of which 70 were downregulated and 53 were upregulated. The genes were involved in multiple signal transduction pathways, including apoptosis, proliferation and metastasis. Real-time PCR (RT-PCR) showed that differential genes PIK3C2B, Caspase 9and Wnt5A were downregulated with increasing PPI, showing an evident dose-effect relationship. The c-Jun was an exception. As the PPI dosage increased and the exposure time was extended, c-Jun relative expression showed an upward trend. There were significant differences between the experiment and control (P<0.05). Western blot analyses showed that PPI treatment decreased levels of Caspase 9, Wnt5A and PIK3C2B and increased activatedCaspase9,c-Junandp-c-Junexpressionlevels. CONCLUSION: PPI has strong antitumor and anti transfer activity. It can activate c-Jun expression and the JNK signaling pathway, elicit cell apoptosis via the mitochondrial-mediated Caspase activation pathway, and finally inhibit tumor growth and mi- gration in vitro. The downregulation of PIK3C2B and Wnt5A jointly inhibit the proliferation and metastasis of HO-8910PM. PPI may be a novel treatment for ovarian cancer.

Dark matter direct search sensitivity of the PandaX-4T experiment

The Panda X-4T experiment, a 4-ton scale dark matter direct detection experiment, is being planned at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory. In this paper we present a simulation study of the expected background in this experiment. In a 2.8-ton fiducial mass and the signal region between 1-10 keV electron equivalent energy, the total electron recoil background is found to be 4.9 × 10^(-5) kg^(-1) d^(-1) keV^(-1). The nuclear recoil background in the same region is 2.8 × 10^(-7) kg^(-1) d^(-1) keV^(-1). With an exposure of 5.6 ton-years, the sensitivity of Panda X-4 T could reach a minimum spin-independent dark matter-nucleon cross section of 6 × 10^(-48) cm^2 at a dark matter mass of 40 Ge V/c^2.

Searching for neutrino-less nouble neta necay of 136Xe with PandaX-Ⅱ liquid xenon detector

We report the Neutrino-less Double Beta Decay(NLDBD)search results from PandaX-II dual-phase liquid xenon time projection chamber.The total live time used in this analysis is 403.1 days from June 2016 to August 2018.With NLDBD-optimized event selection criteria,we obtain a fiducial mass of 219 kg of natural xenon.The accumulated xenon exposure is 242 kg·yr,or equivalently 22.2 kg·yr of 136Xe exposure.At the region around 136Xe decay Q-value of 2458 keV,the energy resolution of PandaX-II is 4.2%.We find no evidence of NLDBD in PandaX-II and establish a lower limit for decay half-life of 2.1 ×10^23 yr at the 90%confidence level,which corresponds to an effective Majorana neutrino mass mββ<(1.4-3.7) eV.This is the first NLDBD result reported from a dual-phase xenon experiment.

An improved evaluation of the neutron background in the PandaX-Ⅱ experiment

In dark matter direct detection experiments,neutron is a serious source of background,which can mimic the dark matter-nucleus scattering signals.In this paper,we present an improved evaluation of the neutron background in the PandaX-II dark matter experiment by a novel approach.Instead of fully relying on the Monte Carlo simulation,the overall neutron background is determined from the neutron-induced high energy signals in the data.In addition,the probability of producing a dark-matter-like background per neutron is evaluated with a complete Monte Carlo generator,where the correlated emission of neutron(s)andγ(s)in the(α,n)reactions and spontaneous fissions is taken into consideration.With this method,the neutron backgrounds in the Run 9(26-ton-day)and Run 10(28-ton-day)data sets of PandaX-II are estimated to be(0.66±0.24)and(0.47±0.25)events,respectively.

Constraining self-interacting dark matter with the full dataset of PandaX-II

Self-interacting dark matter(SIDM)is a leading candidate proposed to solve discrepancies between predictions of the prevailing cold dark matter theory and observations of galaxies.Many SIDM models predict the existence of a light force carrier that mediates strong dark matter self-interactions.If the mediator couples to the standard model particles,it could produce characteristic signals in dark matter direct detection experiments.We report searches for signals of SIDM models with a light mediator using the full dataset of the PandaX-II experiment,basing on a total exposure of 132 tonne-days.No significant excess over background is found,and our likelihood analysis leads to a strong upper limit on the dark matter-nucleon coupling strength.We further combine the PandaX-II constraints and those from observations of the light element abundances in the early universe,and show that direct detection and cosmological probes can provide complementary constraints on dark matter models with a light mediator.

Determination of responses of liquid xenon to low energy electron and nuclear recoils using a PandaX-Ⅱ detector

We present a systematic determination of the responses of PandaX-Ⅱ,a dual phase xenon time projection chamber detector,to low energy recoils.The electron recoil(ER) and nuclear recoil(NR) responses are calibrated,respectively,with injected tritiated methane or 220Rn source,and with 241Am-Be neutron source,in an energy range from 1-25 keV(ER) and 4-80 keV(NR),under the two drift fields,400 and 317 V/cm.An empirical model is used to fit the light yield and charge yield for both types of recoils.The best fit models can describe the calibration data significantly.The systematic uncertainties of the fitted models are obtained via statistical comparison to the data.

Study of background from accidental coincidence signals in the PandaX-Ⅱexperiment

Ⅰ.INTRODUCTION The direct detection of dark matter particles,especially the weakly interacting massive particles(WIMPs),is being actively carried out by a couple of experiments worldwide[1].In recent years,the PandaX-Ⅱ experiment located in the China Jinping Underground Laboratory(CJPL)[1-3],which uses the technology of dual phase liquid xenon time projection chambers(TPCs),has pushed the limits of the cross section between WIMPs and nucleons to a new level for most of the possible WIMP masses;other experiments of the same type are also being performed[4–10].

Neutron-induced nuclear recoil background in the PandaX-4T experiment

Neutron-induced nuclear recoil background is critical to dark matter searches in the PandaX-4T liquid xenon experiment.In this study,we investigate the features of neutron background in liquid xenon and evaluate its contribution in single scattering nuclear recoil events using three methods.The first method is fully based on Monte Carlo simulations.The last two are data-driven methods that also use multiple scattering signals and high energy signals in the data.In the PandaX-4T commissioning data with an exposure of 0.63 tonne-year,all these methods give a consistent result,i.e.,there are 1.15±0.57 neutron-induced backgrounds in the dark matter signal region within an approximated nuclear recoil energy window between 5 and 100 keV.

Results of dark matter search using the full PandaX-Ⅱ exposure

We report the dark matter search results obtained using the full 132 ton·day exposure of the PandaX-II experiment,including all data from March 2016 to August 2018.No significant excess of events is identified above the expected background.Upper limits are set on the spin-independent dark matter-nucleon interactions.The lowest 90%confidence level exclusion on the spin-independent cross section is 2.2×10−46 cm2 at a WIMP mass of 30 GeV/c2.

Detecting neutrinos from supernova bursts in PandaX-4T

Neutrinos from core-collapse supernovae are essential for understanding neutrino physics and stellar evolution.Dual-phase xenon dark matter detectors can be used to track explosions of galactic supernovae by detecting neutrinos through coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scatterings.In this study,a variation of progenitor masses and explosion models are assumed to predict neutrino fluxes and spectra,which result in the number of expected neutrino events ranging from 6.6 to 13.7 at a distance of 10 kpc over a 10-s duration with negligible backgrounds at PandaX-4T.Two specialized triggering alarms for monitoring supernova burst neutrinos are built.The efficiency of detecting supernova explosions at various distances in the Milky Way is estimated.These alarms will be implemented in the real-time supernova monitoring system at PandaX-4T in the near future,which will provide supernova early warnings for the astronomical community.