Plasma exosomal hsa_circ_0079439 as a novel biomarker for early detection of gastric cancer

BACKGROUND Due to the poor prognosis of gastric cancer(GC),early detection methods are urgently needed.Plasma exosomal circular RNAs(circRNAs)have been suggested as novel biomarkers for GC.AIM To identify a novel biomarker for early detection of GC.METHODS Healthy donors(HDs)and GC patients diagnosed by pathology were recruited.Nine GC patients and three HDs were selected for exosomal whole-transcriptome RNA sequencing.The expression profiles of circRNAs were analyzed by bioinformatics methods and validated by droplet digital polymerase chain reaction.The expression levels and area under receiver operating characteristic curve values of plasma exosomal circRNAs and standard serum biomarkers were used to compare their diagnostic efficiency.RESULTS There were 303 participants,including 240 GC patients and 63 HDs,involved in the study.The expression levels of exosomal hsa_circ_0079439 were significantly higher in GC patients than in HDs(P<0.0001).However,the levels of standard serum biomarkers were similar between the two groups.The area under the curve value of exosomal hsa_circ_0079439 was higher than those of standard biomarkers,including carcinoembryonic antigen,carbohydrate antigen(CA)19-9,CA72-4,alpha-fetoprotein,and CA125(0.8595 vs 0.5862,0.5660,0.5360,0.5082,and 0.5018,respectively).The expression levels of exosomal hsa_circ_0079439 were significantly decreased after treatment(P<0.05).Moreover,the expression levels of exosomal hsa_circ_0079439 were obviously higher in early GC(EGC)patients than in HDs(P<0.0001).CONCLUSION Our results suggest that plasma exosomal hsa_circ_0079439 is upregulated in GC patients.Moreover,the levels of exosomal hsa_circ_0079439 could distinguish EGC and advanced GC patients from HDs.Therefore,plasma exosomal hsa_circ_0079439 might be a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of GC during both the early and late stages.

OCT6 inhibits differentiation of porcine-induced pluripotent stem cells through MAPK and PI3K signaling regulation

As a transcription factor of the Pit-Oct-Unc(POU)domain family,octamer-binding transcription factor 6(OCT6)participates in various aspects of stem cell development and differentiation.At present,however,its role in porcine-induced pluripotent stem cells(piPSCs)remains unclear.Here,we explored the function of OCT6 in piPSCs.We found that piPSCs overexpressing OCT6 maintained colony morphology and pluripotency under differentiation conditions,with a similar gene expression pattern to that of non-differentiated piPSCs.Functional analysis revealed that OCT6 attenuated the adverse effects of extracellular signal-regulated kinase(ERK)signaling pathway inhibition on piPSC pluripotency by activating phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-protein kinase B(PI3K-AKT)signaling activity.Our research sheds new light on the mechanism by which OCT6 promotes PSC maintenance.

Optimization of sgRNA expression strategy to generate multiplex gene-edited pigs

DEAR EDITOR,The use of CRISPR/Cas9 technology to breed polygenicmodified animals with desired traits holds great promise in agriculture and biomedicine. However, as most studies are based on human and mouse models, whether different single guide RNA(sg RNA) expression strategies affect multiplex gene-editing efficiency in domestic animals remains elusive.

β-CuGaO_(2):a ferroelectric semiconductor with narrow band gap as degradation catalyst for wastewater environmental remediation

As a narrow band gap semiconductor,wurtziteβ-CuGaO_(2)has drawn increasing attention in the area of solar energy.Althoughβ-CuGaO_(2)has been theoretically predicted to possess ferroelectric polarization,its experi-mental ferroelectric characterization and practical appli-cations have not yet been presented.Herein,firstly we experimentally confirmed its ferroelectric property via hysteresis loop measurement.The result showed a rema-nent polarization value of 10.20μC·cm^(-2) with low coer-cive electricfield of 6.45 kV·cm^(-1) at 20 Hz at room temperature,while the leakage current density(J)value was found to be 1.188 A·cm^(-2),which suggested the property of a larger remnant polarization with low coercive electricfield than current value if the compactness was strengthened.Then,the synergistic effect of ferroelectric and semiconductor was comparatively highlighted by the experiment of pollutant degradation.Within 30 min,methyl orange degradation efficiency had reached 30.73%only in the case of spontaneous polarization(electricity),while it could reach 67.58%under the effect of pre-po-larizedβ-CuGaO_(2)powder due to the modulating orienta-tion of ferroelectric domains.Once irradiated(light),it was up to 92%within 30 min;in comparison,it merely took 16 min up to 92%degradation efficiency under both illu-mination and pre-polarization.If without illumination,it was 92.01%with 30 min in the condition of ordinary ultrasonic vibration(force)while under both illumination and ultrasonic vibration,only 11 min was spent to reach 92.79%degradation efficiency.All these results felici-tously indicated thatβ-CuGaO_(2)had fascinating potential in energy harvesting(such as electricity,light,force)and transformation as wastewater environment remediation catalyst.