Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading cause of cancer-associated mortality, and is a major health problem. Collagen type I α 1 (COL1A1) is a major component of collagen type I. Recently, it was reported to be overexpressed in a variety of tumor tissues and cells. However, the function of COL1A1 in CRC remains unclear. Herein, the present study demonstrated that COL1A1 was upregulated in CRC tissues and the paired lymph node tissues. Transwell assays showed that COL1A1 promoted CRC cell migration in vitro. Moreover, it was revealed that COL1A1 levels were correlated with those of WNT/planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling pathway genes; inhibition of COL1A1 decreased the expression levels of Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1-GTP, phosphorylated-c-Jun N-terminal kinase, and RhoA-GTP, all of which are key genes in the WNT/PCP signaling pathway. These results may indicate the mechanisms underlying the oncogenic role of COL1A1 in CRC. In summary, the present data indicated that COL1A1 may serve as an oncoprotein, and that it may be used as a potential therapeutic target in CRC.

With phosphorus pentachloride (PCl5) as a cationic initiator, new benzoxazine-based semicrystalline and amorphous thermoplastics with significant molecular weights have been synthesized for the first time. 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and elemental analysis are used to characterize the resulting polymers. Both Mannich base phenoxy-type (Type I) and Mannich base phenolic-type (Type II) polybenzoxazines are obtained. The polymer properties have been studied by differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, and wide-angle X-ray diffraction.

Catalyzed by the (pyridylamido)hafnium/organoboron system, a series of halogen-functionalized isotactic polypropylenes were synthesized via the stereospecific copolymerization of propylene with ω-halo-α-alkenes. The (pyridylamido)hafnium/organoboron system has been proved to be a potent catalyst for propylene/ω-iodo-α-alkenes copolymerization, producing well-defined poly(propylene-coω-iodo-α-undecene)s with outstanding properties. The high molecular weight (M w > 100 kg mol −1 ) functional iPPs possessing abundant iodoalkene units (up to 11.7 mol %) and unimodal molecular weight distributions (M w /M n ≈ 2) could be easily obtained under mild conditions with excellent catalytic activity. High isotactic selectivity of monomers, including propylene and polar comonomer, was unexpectedly observed ([mmmm] > 99%). Moreover, based on the unique copolymerization process and the highly reactive sites on the copolymers, the halogen groups of the resultant copolymers could be easily transformed into other polar groups via click chemistry, and the new functional iPPs with high molecular weights and abundant polar groups could be efficiently obtained.