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DNA self-assembling nanostructure has been considered as a promising candidate as a drug delivery vehicle because of its compactness, mechanical stability, and noncytotoxicity. In this work, we developed functional, multiform DNA nanostructures by appending a tumor-penetrating peptide to tetrahedral DNA nanostructure (p-TDN). This functional structure is able to efficiently increase the rate of uptake of glioblastoma cell U87MG compared with the DNA tetrahedron and the double-stranded DNA structures. We found that the DNA tetrahedron plays the main role in the endocytosis of U87MG cells, whereas the tumor-penetrating peptide could also bind to transmembrane glycoprotein neuropilin-1 and mediate the endocytosis of the p-TDN nanostructure. Moreover, given the high efficiency of the growth inhibitory effect of the p-TDN loading doxorubicin hydrochloride, the p-TDN distinguishes itself as a promising candidate as an effective delivery carrier.

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune-mediated disorder, the etiology of which involves both environmental factors and genetics. While the exact factors responsible for predisposition to MG remain elusive, it is hypothesized that gut microbiota play a critical role in the pathogenesis of MG. This study investigated whether gut microbiota are altered in MG patients by comparing the fecal microbiota profiles of MG patients to those of age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Phylotype profiles of gut microbial populations were generated using hypervariable tag sequencing of the V4 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene. Fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were assessed by gas chromatographic analyses. The results demonstrated that, compared to the healthy cohort, the gut microbiota of the MG group was changed in terms of the relative abundances of bacterial taxa, with sharply reduced microbial richness, particularly in the genus Clostridium. The fecal SCFA content was significantly lower in the MG group. Furthermore, microbial dysbiosis was closely related to the levels of inflammatory biomarkers in the sera of MG patients.

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