AbstractRoom-temperature phosphorescent (RTP) materials have great potential for in vivo imaging because they can circumvent the autofluorescence of biological tissues. In this study, a class of organic-doped long-wavelength (≈600 nm) RTP materials with benzo[c][1,2,5] thiadiazole as a guest was constructed. Both host and guest molecules have simple structures and can be directly purchased commercially at a low cost. Owing to the long phosphorescence wavelength of the doping system, it exhibited good tissue penetration (10 mm). Notably, these RTP nanoparticles were successfully used to image atherosclerotic plaques, with a signal-to-background ratio (SBR) of 44.52. This study provides a new approach for constructing inexpensive red organic phosphorescent materials and a new method for imaging cardiovascular diseases using these materials.

Development of the powerful building block is of great significance to construct materials with advanced properties. Herein, for the first time, a triazole-based luminescent core with balanced twist and conjugation is reported, which is explored to construct a D-A near-infrared (NIR) aggregation-induced emission luminogens (TPT-DCM) with high molar extinction coefficient, good brightness and excellent reactive oxygen species generation rate. These features enable it to function as a nanoprobe with ultralong NIR afterglow luminescence (up to 20 days) and ultrahigh tumor-to-liver signal ratio (up to 187) for in vivo deep-tissue afterglow imaging (with depth reaching 1.6 cm), in combination with chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer aided by active Schaap's dioxetane. Moreover, thanks to the excellent properties of the nanoprobe, the afterglow imaging-guided surgery navigation can be successfully conduced to remove the tumors especially with tiny size of < 1 mm. This is particularly useful to eliminate tumor residuals and prevent the cancer recurrence after surgery.

AbstractAdjuvants play an important role in enhancing vaccine-induced immune protection. Adequate cellular uptake, robust lysosomal escape, and subsequent antigen cross-presentation are critical steps for vaccine adjuvants to effectively elicit cellular immunity. Here, a fluorinated supramolecular strategy to generate a series of peptide adjuvants by using arginine (R) and fluorinated diphenylalanine peptide (DP) is adopted. It is found that the self-assembly ability and antigen-binding affinity of these adjuvants increase with the number of fluorine (F) and can be regulated by R. By comparison, 4RDP(F5) shows the strongest binding affinity with model antigen ovalbumin (OVA) and the best performance in dendritic cells maturation and antigen's lysosomal escape, which contributes to the subsequent antigen cross-presentation. As a consequence, 4RDP(F5)-OVA nanovaccine generates a strong cellular immunity in a prophylactic OVA-expressing EG7-OVA lymphoma model, leading to long-term immune memory for resisting tumor challenge. What's more, 4RDP(F5)-OVA nanovaccine in combination with anti-programmed cell death ligand-1 (anti-PD-L1) checkpoint blockade could effectively elicit anti-tumor immune responses and inhibit tumor growth in a therapeutic EG7-OVA lymphoma model. Overall, this study demonstrates the simplicity and effectiveness of fluorinated supramolecular strategies for constructing adjuvants and might provide an attractive vaccine adjuvant candidate for cancer immunotherapy.

AbstractMultifunctional phototheranostics that integrate several diagnostic and therapeutic strategies into one platform hold great promise for precision medicine. However, it is really difficult for one molecule to possess multimodality optical imaging and therapy properties that all functions are in the optimized mode because the absorbed photoenergy is fixed. Herein, a smart one-for-all nanoagent that the photophysical energy transformation processes can be facilely tuned by external light stimuli is developed for precise multifunctional image-guided therapy. A dithienylethene-based molecule is designed and synthesized because it has two light-switchable forms. In the ring-closed form, most of the absorbed energy dissipates via nonradiative thermal deactivation for photoacoustic (PA) imaging. In the ring-open form, the molecule possesses obvious aggregation-induced emission features with excellent fluorescence and photodynamic therapy properties. In vivo experiments demonstrate that preoperative PA and fluorescence imaging help to delineate tumors in a high-contrast manner, and intraoperative fluorescence imaging is able to sensitively detect tiny residual tumors. Furthermore, the nanoagent can induce immunogenic cell death to elicit antitumor immunity and significantly suppress solid tumors. This work develops a smart one-for-all agent that the photophysical energy transformation and related phototheranostic properties can be optimized by light-driven structure switch, which is promising for multifunctional biomedical applications.

Influenza, as one of the most serious communicable respiratory infectious diseases, is caused by influenza viruses. Neuraminidase (NA), also referred to as sialidase, is an important protein on the influenza virus surface. Because of its enzymatic function, NA has been selected as a promising target to develop influenza virus diagnosis reagents or drugs. Herein, a neuraminidase-responsive, light-up, near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence probe (SA-DCM) was reported that possesses both ratiometric and colormetric properties for different applications. Benefitting from the ratiometric properties, SA-DCM showed an increased anti-interference capacity for environmental fluctuation and enhanced detection accuracy with a large Stokes shift (>150 nm) and outstanding sensitivity and selectivity. Due to its colorimetric property, a color shift of the product HO-DCM from yellow to purple occurs when the pH value is adjusted. Therefore, a colorimetric approach through direct color conversion on a cotton swab to detect NA was established, and the result could be directly read by the naked eye with simplicity and practicality.

Induction of immunogenic cell death (ICD) in tumor combined with immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy is widely developed to improve the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy. However, the current ICD induced based on apoptosis, i.e., immunogenic apoptosis, is often restricted in immunogenicity owing to the inflammatory quenching that occurs early in apoptosis. Recently, pyroptosis is demonstrated to be a more efficient ICD form, i.e., immunogenic pyroptosis. The cell contents released during pyroptosis can powerfully activate tumor immunogenicity. Herein, first, it is demonstrated that lower doses of epigenetic drug decitabine can increase GSDME expression in prostate cancer (PCa) RM-1 cells and successfully induce an apoptosis-pyroptosis transition after photodynamic therapy (PDT). Subsequently, a microenvironment dual-responsive nano-drug equipped with PD-L1 blocking peptide (TSD@LSN-D) is developed for self-synergistic cancer immunotherapy. The poorly immunogenic RM-1 PCa model confirm that the powerful antitumor immune response evoked by TSD@LSN-D not only can effectively inhibit the primary tumor but also form a long-term immune memory to prevent PCa recurrence and metastasis.

The 35th "Lingyun" League Theory Learning Course of College of Life Science was held in the lecture hall of Biology Station. The keynote speaker was Professor Ding Dan, Vice President of College of Life Science. The theme of the lecture was "Connecting Natural Science and Feeling Academic Life".Professor Ding Dan first pointed out the theme of the lecture: "Are you ready to learn biology?" With this theme in mind, Professor Ding Dan explained in detail why we should choose basic subjects. He pointed out that there is no good or bad discipline, any discipline shoulders the mission of cultivating talents for the country, and as long as they study hard, they will have a bright future in any discipline. Then, Professor Ding Dan shared his study and research experience to enlighten the students.Finally, Professor Ding Dan introduced the School of Life Sciences from the aspects of faculty, discipline distribution, scientific research platform, academic achievements, cultivation characteristics, international exchanges and so on. He congratulated the students of 2022 to come to Nankai University and encouraged them to lay a good foundation at this stage, enter the laboratory as soon as possible, and make continuous efforts to live up to youth and fight for the future.

AbstractThe main obstacle of multiple myeloma (MM) therapy is the compromised immune microenvironment, which leads to MM relapses and extramedullary disease progression. In this study, we report a novel strategy of enhanced immunogenic cell death (ICD) immunotherapy with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) photosensitizer-loaded BSA nanoparticles (referred as BSA/TPA-Erdn), which could activate T cells, convert the cold tumor to hot, and reverse T cell senescence to restore the immune microenvironment for MM treatment. Loading AIE photosensitizer into the hydrophobic domain of BSA proteins significantly immobilizes the molecular geometry, which massively increases reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and elicit a promising ICD immune response. Employing a NOD-SCID IL-2receptor gamma null mice model with MM patients’ monocytes, we show that BSA/TPA-Erdn could simulate human DC maturation, activate functional T lymphocytes, and increase additional polarization and differentiation signals to deliver a promising immunotherapy performance. Intriguingly, we show for the first time that BSA/TPA-Erdn could greatly reverse T cell senescence, a main challenge in treating MM. Additionally, BSA/TPA-Erdn could effectively recruit more functional T lymphocytes into MM tumor. As a consequence, BSA/TPA-Erdn restored MM immune microenvironment and shows the best MM tumor eradication performance, which shall pave new insights for MM treatment in clinical practices.Advanced Materials. ( IF 32.086 ) DOI: 10.1002/adma.202208692

College of Life Sciences, Nankai University 2023 graduate student recruitment online information Conference -- Vice Dean Ding Dan and 6 academic leaders will bring the most comprehensive professional introduction and the most accurate hot topic interpretation to the general candidates from 20:00 to 21:30 on September 20. Welcome to pay attention, participate and share. Scan the QR code below to watch.

Highlights •Combination of molecular targeting and immune activation for TNBC treatment. •Peptide assemblies trigger lysosomal membrane permeabilization and cell death. •EGFR-targeting peptides stimulate immune immunogenic cell death.Journal of Controlled Release. (IF 11.467) DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2022.09.018