A novel and simple platform for an efficient SERS detection was demonstrated in a hanging plasmonic droplet of Ag sols by virtue of three-dimensional (3D) SERS hotspots. The platform was a single droplet of concentrated Ag sols with analytes hung on a hydrophobically treated transparent cover glass. Liquid adhesive force, solvent evaporation, and hydrophobic interaction induced a concentration of dense nanoparticles into a 3D space. The generated 3D hotspots enable the highly-sensitive detection of ultratrace analytes and simultaneous multiplex identification of different amino acids, which are well-known molecules with low Raman cross-sections. This platform demonstrates an excellent mechanical stability and is suitable for the excellent examination of ultratrace analytes, with detection limits as low as 0.01 fmol of dye molecules and 5 pmol of amino acids with extremely low Raman cross-sections.

PURPOSE: To explore the value of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on the followup of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after radiotherapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Eighty-three NPC patients after radiotherapy were divided into two groups: 4 cases of residual tumor and 33 cases of non-residual within 6 months, the cases of recurrent and non-recurrent were 5 and 41 over 6 months, respectively. MRI and DWI imaging of these cases were closely analyzed, and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the nasopharyngeal residual mass and nasopharyngeal wall thickening, skull base destruction and lateral pterygoid muscle were measured. RESULTS: The ADC of the lateral pterygoid muscle was (1.501 ± 0.069) × 10 −3 mm 2 /s in 83 cases. The ADCs of the non-residual group, residual group, non-recurrent group and recurrent group were (1.843 ± 0.133.4) × 10 −3 mm 2 /s, (1.097 ± 0.183) × 10 −3 mm 2 /s, (1.884 ± 0.134) × 10 −3 mm 2 /s and (0.787 ± 0.067) × 10 −3 mm 2 /s respectively.The ADCs of the residual group and recurrent group were lower than that of the lateral pterygoid muscle, while the ADCs of the non-residual group and non-recurrent group were higher than that of the lateral pterygoid muscle.The differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: DWI can provide qualitative and quantitative information about the tumor cellular level; it can also identify residual, local fibrosis and recurrence after NPC radiotherapy sensitively and accurately by measuring the ADC of the region of interest.

Amplified in breast cancer 1 (AIB1) gene, has been reported to be associated with biological malignancy in several cancers. However, the molecular status of the AIB1 gene in cervical cancer and the clinicopathological/prognostic significance of AIB1 expression in chemoradiotherapy (CRT) sensitivity have not been determined. In our present study, we found that the high expression of AIB1 was frequent detected in specimens of cervical cancer patients, and this was significantly correlated with CRT response (P = 0.014), clinical stage (P = 0.003), T status (P = 0.027), N status (P = 0.021), M status (P = 0.015) and progression-free survival (P < 0.001). Moreover, the clonogenic survival fraction and cell apoptosis experiments showed that knockdown of AIB1 substantially increased cervical cancer cells sensitivity to ionizing radiation (IR) or cisplatin/5-fluorouracil. Collectively, our results demonstrated that the high expression of AIB1 in cervical cancer cells contributes to the resistance to CRT, which provides the evidence that AIB1 may be a promising predictor of aggressive cervical cancer patients with poor response to CRT.

Feline sarcoma-related protein (Fer) is a type of nuclear and cytoplasmic non-receptor protein tyrosine kinase, which is associated with the progression of numerous types of cancer. Previously, we identified that Fer is associated with the migration and invasion of bladder cancer. The present study aimed to investigate the role of Fer in bladder cancer cell viability and apoptosis. reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis were performed to detect the expression levels of Fer; short interference rna (sirna) and overexpression vectors were used to downregulate or upregulate Fer expression, respectively. The effects on cell proliferation ability and cell apoptosis were then tested by MTT assay and flow cytometry. The results revealed that Fer expression was upregulated in bladder cancer cell lines. downregulation of Fer expression by sirna significantly suppressed T24 cell viability and induced apoptosis, as well as inducing cell cycle arrest. conversely, Fer overexpression in 5637 cells significantly promoted cell viability and cell cycle progression, but inhibited cell apoptosis. Furthermore, the suppression and overexpression of Fer significantly altered the expression of cleaved caspase-3 and Bcl-2, and dysregulated the P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway. The findings of the present study indicate a possible molecular mechanism of Fer in bladder cancer and may be considered as a potential target in the treatment of this disease.