Upregulation of tissue factor (TF) expression leads to increased patient morbidity and mortality in many solid tumor types. The goal of this study was to develop a positron emission tomography (PET) tracer for imaging of TF expression in pancreatic cancer. Methods ALT-836, a chimeric anti-human TF monoclonal antibody, was conjugated to 2-S-(4-isothiocyanatobenzyl)-1, 4, 7-triazacyclononane-1, 4, 7-triacetic acid (p-SCN-Bn-NOTA) and labeled with 64Cu. To compare the TF binding affinity of ALT-836 and NOTA-ALT-836, flow cytometry analysis was performed in three pancreatic cancer cell lines with different expression level of TF (from low to high: PANC-1, ASPC-1, and BXPC-3). PET imaging, biodistribution, blocking, and histology studies were performed on pancreatic tumor-bearing mice to evaluate the ability and specificity of 64Cu-NOTA-ALT-836 to target TF in vivo. Results There was no difference in TF binding affinity between ALT-836 and NOTA-ALT-836. 64Cu-labeling was achieved with high yield and specific activity. Serial PET imaging revealed that the uptake of 64Cu-NOTA-ALT-836 in BXPC-3 tumors (high TF expression) was 5.7 ± 0.5, 10.3 ± 0.5, and 16.5 ± 2.6 %ID/g at 4, 24, and 48 h post-injection respectively (n = 4), significantly higher than that in the PANC-1 and ASPC-1 tumors. Biodistribution data as measured by gamma counting were consistent with the PET findings. Blocking experiments and histology further confirmed the TF specificity of 64Cu-NOTA-ALT-836. Conclusion Herein we report the first successful PET imaging of TF expression. Persistent and TF-specific uptake of 64Cu-NOTA-ALT-836 was observed in pancreatic cancer models.

Heavy metal ions coexisting with salts in the contaminant water are difficult to remove due to the interference of salts. Herein, biochars were pyrolyzed by corn straw at different temperatures, aiming to remove Cr(VI) in the presence of salts. Results show that biochars had surprisingly selective adsorption of Cr(VI). X-ray photoelectron and X-ray absorption near edge spectra revealed that Cr(VI) was reduced to Cr(III). All the adsorption was conducted at pH ∼ 7, which differed from the previous studies that Cr(VI) could only be reduced at pH 2-4. Environmental persistent free radicals (EPFRs) on biochars were found to play the role in reducing Cr(VI) in neutral solutions, which was confirmed by electron spin resonance and free radical quenching. The biochar with EPFRs reveals a highly selective removal of Cr(VI), which has implications for the remediation of contaminated water. This work provides a new insight into biochar's properties and potential environmental applications.

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Natural deep eutectic solvents (NaDESs) are recently developed green solvent alternatives to conventional fossil solvents. The present work systematically screened 22 different NaDESs for the ultrasonic-assisted extraction of bioactive components from Salvia miltiorrhiza (SM), a widely used traditional Chinese medical plant. The suitable solvent and extraction condition were optimized in a two-round screening. In comparison with fossil solvents, NaDESs, especially L-proline-lactic acid (L-Pro-Lac) showed significant advantages in the extraction of salvianolic acid B (SAB), tanshinone IIA (TIIA) and cryptotanshinone (CYT). The optimized yields of the three targeting compounds were 42.05, 1.485 and 0.839 mg/g, respectively. The present method was also applied to the pretreatment of SM samples from different geographic origins. The 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activities of NaDES extracts were determined in the study to prove the feasibility of NaDES in bioactive component extraction. The application of NaDESs in the extraction of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic small molecules from SM is proved to be a green and efficient method for pretreatment of herbal materials.