Proteasome inhibition is an attractive approach for anticancer therapy. Cisplatin (cis-diamminedichloroplatinum, CDDP) is widely used as a standard chemotherapy drug in the treatment of solid malignant tumors, such as cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, colorectal cancer, and lung cancer. However, the development of CDDP resistance largely limits its clinical application. Proteasome inhibitors may enhance traditional chemotherapy agent-induced cytotoxicity and apoptosis. Marizomib (NPI-0052, salinosporamide A, Mzb), a second-generation proteasome inhibitor, shows synergistic anticancer activity with some drugs. Currently, the effect of Mzb on cervical cancer cell proliferation remains unclear. In this study, we explored the role of Mzb in three cervical cancer cell lines, HeLa, CaSki, and C33A, representing major molecular subtypes of cervical cancer and xenografts. We found that Mzb alone showed noteworthy cytotoxic effects, and its combination with CDDP resulted in more obvious cytotoxicity and apoptosis in cervical cancer cell lines and xenografts. In order to investigate the mechanism of this effect, we probed whether Mzb alone or in combination with CDDP had a better antitumor response by enhancing CDDP-induced angiopoietin 1 (Ang-1) expression and inhibiting the expression of TEK receptor tyrosine kinase (Tie-2) in the Ang-1/Tie-2 pathway, FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (Flt-3L) and stem cell factor (SCF) as identified by a cytokine antibody chip test. The results suggest that Mzb has better antitumor effects on cervical cancer cells and can sensitize cervical cancer cells to CDDP treatment both in vitro and in vivo. Accordingly, we conclude that the combination of CDDP with Mzb produces synergistic anticancer activity and that Mzb may be a potential effective drug in combination therapy for cervical cancer patients.

Searching for efficient electrode materials with excellent electrochemical performance is of great significance to the development of magnesium-ion batteries (MIBs). Two-dimensional Ti-based materials are appealing for use in MIBs due to their high cycling capability. On the basis of density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we comprehensively investigate a novel two-dimensional Ti-based material, namely, TiClO monolayer, as a promising anode for MIBs. Monolayer TiClO can be exfoliated from its experimentally known bulk crystal with a moderate cleavage energy of 1.13 J/m2. It exhibits intrinsically metallic properties with good energetical, dynamical, mechanical, and thermal stabilities. Remarkably, TiClO monolayer possesses an ultra-high storage capacity (1079 mA h g−1), a low energy barrier (0.41–0.68 eV), and a suitable average open-circuit voltage (0.96 V). The lattice expansion for the TiClO monolayer is slight (<4.3%) during the Mg-ion intercalation. Moreover, bilayer and trilayer TiClO can considerably enhance the Mg binding strength and maintain the quasi-one-dimensional diffusion feature compared with monolayer TiClO. All these properties indicate that TiClO monolayers can be utilized as high-performance anodes for MIBs.