The Aptamer Functionalized Nanocomposite Used for Prostate Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy

Prostate cancer is one of the major malignancies that threaten men’s health all over the world. Due to the lack of specific symptoms and signs in the early stage, as well as the limitations of existing detection methods, it is difficult to achieve early diagnosis for prostate cancer. As short single-stranded oligonucleotides (DNA or RNA) with specific 3D structure which can be produced using an in vitro selection process termed systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX), aptamers can specifically bind to the corresponding targets. They have become a class of novel targeting ligand for accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of cancer. Owing to distinctive physicochemical features, and some other special properties such as easy modifiability, good biocompatibility, being easily coupled with other ligands, nanomaterials are extensively used in biological medical field research. Enlighteningly, the combination of aptamers with nanomaterials, including metal nanoparticles, nanosilica, quantum dots, and carbon nanomaterials, can enhance the ability of nanomaterials to recognize tumor cells, which is beneficial to overcome the shortcomings such as low sensitivity in early detection and lack of specificity of traditional antineoplastic drugs, thus, clinically helpful to improve the early metaphase diagnosis rate, providing a technical guarantee for the “personalized treatment” strategy for prostate cancer. Herein, we mainly review the basic and applied research of aptamer functionalized nanocomposite in prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment, including biosensing, bioimaging, and cancer therapy, hoping to provide new ideas for prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Aptamers: Potential Diagnostic and Therapeutic Agents for Blood Diseases

Aptamers are RNA/DNA oligonucleotide molecules that specifically bind to a targeted complementary molecule. As potential recognition elements with promising diagnostic and therapeutic applications, aptamers, such as monoclonal antibodies, could provide many treatment and diagnostic options for blood diseases. Aptamers present several superior features over antibodies, including a simple in vitro selection and production, ease of modification and conjugation, high stability, and low immunogenicity. Emerging as promising alternatives to antibodies, aptamers could overcome the present limitations of monoclonal antibody therapy to provide novel diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive treatments for blood diseases. Researchers in several biomedical areas, such as biomarker detection, diagnosis, imaging, and targeted therapy, have widely investigated aptamers, and several aptamers have been developed over the past two decades. One of these is the pegaptanib sodium injection, an aptamer-based therapeutic that functions as an anti-angiogenic medicine, and it is the first aptamer approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for therapeutic use. Several other aptamers are now in clinical trials. In this review, we highlight the current state of aptamers in the clinical trial program and introduce some promising aptamers currently in pre-clinical development for blood diseases.

OPTIMIZATION OF IN VITRO SELECTIVE MEDIA FOR SELECTING ANTHRACNOSIS-RESISTANT FLAX CELLS

Цель исследований – оптимизация селективных сред для проведения отбора in vitro каллусных клеток льна, устойчивых к культуральному фильтрату штаммов возбудителя антракноза и создание in vitro новых генотипов, устойчивых к болезни. В результате исследований уточнен состав культурального фильтрата штаммов антракноза. Выявлено, что токсичность культуральных фильтратов не зависела от вирулентности используемых штаммов – более токсичными оказались культуральные фильтраты штаммов 784 (сильновирулентного) и 780 (средневирулентного) (загнивание и отмирание первичных корешков на 5 сутки наблюдали у 67 – 88% проросших семян), менее токсичны – штаммы 793 (сильновирулентный) и 788 (слабовирулентный) (на 5 сутки загнивание и отмирание первичных корешков отмечено у 9 – 15% проросших семян). Установлено, что морфогенные очаги формировались активнее у генотипов, морфогенный каллус которых переносили на среду с аналогичной или более высокой концентрацией культурального фильтрата. Показано, что на 14 сутки во втором пассаже с большей частотой формировались морфогенные каллусы, почки и побеги при использовании в первом и втором пассажах селективной среды, содержащей культуральный фильтрат в концентрации 40 мл/л, или в первом пассаже – 40 мл/л, а во втором – 44 мл/л. Выделены генотипы, сохраняющие устойчивость к антракнозу в течение трёх поколений на уровне 50 – 60%: НО-78 х Ленок, HJI-103-2 х Ленок, НЛ-40-1 х Ленок, HЭ-38 х Росинка, НЭ-36 х Ленок, НЭ-17 х Ленок, HЭ-16-2 х Росинка. Research objective – optimization of selective media for in vitro selection of flax callus cells resistant to culture filtrate of anthracnose pathogen strains and in vitro creation of new disease-resistant genotypes. As a result of the research, the composition of the culture filtrate of anthracnose strains was clarified. It was revealed that the toxicity of cultural filtrates did not depend on the virulence of the strains used - cultural filtrates of strains 784 (highly virulent) and 780 (medium virulent) turned out to be more toxic (decay and death of primary roots on day 5 was observed in 67 - 88% of germinated seeds), less toxic - strains 793 (strongly virulent) and 788 (weakly virulent) (on the 5th day, decay and death of primary roots was noted in 9-15% of germinated seeds). It was found that morphogenic foci were formed more actively in genotypes, the morphogenic callus of which was transferred to a medium with a similar or higher concentration of the culture filtrate. It was shown that on the 14th day in the second passage, morphogenic callus, buds and shoots were formed with a greater frequency when using in the first and second passages a selective medium containing a culture filtrate at a concentration of 40 ml/l, or in the first passage - 40 ml/l, and in the second - 44 ml/l. Genotypes were identified that retain resistance to anthracnose for three generations at a level of 50 - 60%: NO-78 x Lenok, HJI-103-2 x Lenok, NL-40-1 x Lenok, NE-38 x Rosinka, NE-36 x Lenok, NE-17 x Lenok, NE-16-2 x Rosinka.

Obtaining Salt Stress-Tolerant Eggplant Somaclonal Variants from In Vitro Selection

An efficient regeneration protocol was applied to regenerate shoots on salt stress-tolerant calli lines of aubergine (Solanum melongena). These NaCl-tolerant cell lines were obtained by two different methods. On the one hand, the developed callus tissue was transferred to a medium with a continuous salt content of 40, 80, 120, or 160 mM NaCl. On the other hand, the callus tissue was subjected to a stepwise increasing salinity to 160 mM NaCl every 30 days. With the second method, calli which could be selected were characterized by compact growth, a greenish color, and absence of necrotic zones. When grown on salt-free medium again, NaCl-tolerant calli showed a decline in relative growth rate and water content in comparison to the control line. This was more obvious in the 120 mM NaCl-tolerant callus. Lipid peroxidase activity increased in 40 and 80 mM NaCl-tolerant calli; yet did not increase further in 120 mM-tolerant callus. An increase in ascorbic acid content was observed in 80 and 120 mM NaCl-tolerant calli compared to the 40 mM NaCl-tolerant lines, in which ascorbic acid content was twice that of the control. All NaCl-tolerant lines showed significantly higher superoxide dismutase (SOD) (208–305–370 µmol min−1 mg−1 FW) and catalase (CAT) (136–211–238 µmol min−1 mg−1 FW) activities compared to control plants (231 and 126 µmol min−1 mg−1 FW). Plants were regenerated on the calli lines that could tolerate up to 120 mM NaCl. From the 32 plants tested in vitro, ten plants with a higher number of leaves and root length could be selected for further evaluation in the field. Their high salt tolerance was evident by their more elevated fresh and dry weight, their more increased relative water content, and a higher number and weight of fruits compared to the wild-type parental control. The presented work shows that somaclonal variation can be efficiently used to develop salt-tolerant mutants.

In-Vitro Selection of Ceftazidime/Avibactam Resistance in OXA-48-Like-Expressing Klebsiella pneumoniae: In-Vitro and In-Vivo Fitness, Genetic Basis and Activities of β-Lactam Plus Novel β-Lactamase Inhibitor or β-Lactam Enhancer Combinations

Ceftazidime/avibactam uniquely demonstrates activity against both KPC and OXA-48-like carbapenemase-expressing Enterobacterales. Clinical resistance to ceftazidime/avibactam in KPC-producers was foreseen in in-vitro resistance studies. Herein, we assessed the resistance selection propensity of ceftazidime/avibactam in K. pneumoniae expressing OXA-48-like β-lactamases (n = 10), employing serial transfer approach. Ceftazidime/avibactam MICs (0.25–4 mg/L) increased to 16–256 mg/L after 15 daily-sequential transfers. The whole genome sequence analysis of terminal mutants showed modifications in proteins linked to efflux (AcrB/AcrD/EmrA/Mdt), outer membrane permeability (OmpK36) and/or stress response pathways (CpxA/EnvZ/RpoE). In-vitro growth properties of all the ceftazidime/avibactam-selected mutants were comparable to their respective parents and they retained the ability to cause pulmonary infection in neutropenic mice. Against these mutants, we explored the activities of various combinations of β-lactams (ceftazidime or cefepime) with structurally diverse β-lactamase inhibitors or a β-lactam enhancer, zidebactam. Zidebactam, in combination with either cefepime or ceftazidime, overcame ceftazidime/avibactam resistance (MIC range 0.5–8 mg/L), while cefepime/avibactam was the second best (MIC: 0.5–16 mg/L) in yielding lower MICs. The present work revealed the possibility of ceftazidime/avibactam resistance in OXA-48-like K. pneumoniae through mutations in proteins involved in efflux and/or porins without concomitant fitness cost mandating astute monitoring of ceftazidime/avibactam resistance among OXA-48 genotypes.

Novel DNA Aptameric Sensors to Detect the Toxic Insecticide Fenitrothion

Fenitrothion is an insecticide belonging to the organophosphate family of pesticides that is widely used around the world in agriculture and living environments. Today, it is one of the most hazardous chemicals that causes severe environmental pollution. However, detection of fenitrothion residues in the environment is considered a significant challenge due to the small molecule nature of the insecticide and lack of molecular recognition elements that can detect it with high specificity. We performed in vitro selection experiments using the SELEX process to isolate the DNA aptamers that can bind to fenitrothion. We found that newly discovered DNA aptamers have a strong ability to distinguish fenitrothion from other organophosphate insecticides (non-specific targets). Furthermore, we identified a fenitrothion-specific aptamer; FenA2, that can interact with Thioflavin T (ThT) to produce a label-free detection mode with a Kd of 33.57 nM (9.30 ppb) and LOD of 14 nM (3.88 ppb). Additionally, the FenA2 aptamer exhibited very low cross-reactivity with non-specific targets. This is the first report showing an aptamer sensor with a G4-quadruplex-like structure to detect fenitrothion. Moreover, these aptamers have the potential to be further developed into analytical tools for real-time detection of fenitrothion from a wide range of samples.

In vitro selection of birch for tolerance to salinity stress

In vitro modelling of stress is one of the promising avenues for plant breeding for tolerance to negative environmental factors. In this study we examined the effect of NaCl (0.5%) on callusogenesis and morphogenesis of stem explants of different birch genotypes: Betula pendula Roth, B. pendula Roth var. carelica (Mercklin) Hämet-Ahti, B. pendula f. ‘dalecarlica’ (L.f.) Schneid., B. pubescens Ehrh. In our experiments we used pre-selected microclones from our in vitro collection on NaCl (0.2-1.0%) selective media. The clones were contrasted by the degree of their sensitivity to salinity (so-called ‘stable’ and ‘sensitive’ microclones). With the use of stem callus cultures we identified informative, simple and reproducible indicators for the selection of salt-tolerant genotypes. Among these indicators were the frequency of callus formation and the viability of callus cultures, which were significantly higher in ‘stable’ group of microclones. Polyploid birch clones (2n=4x=56, 2n=3x=42) were more resistant to salination compared to diploid clones (2n=28). Our study has shown that the selection of salt-tolerant birch lines can be based on the plants’ genetic diversity presented in the collection (various species, varieties, hybrids, polyploids) and manifested in the process of in vitro cultivation, as well as in the cellular heterogeneity of callus cultures.