Cancer microenvironment is critical for tumorigenesis and cancer progression. The extracellular matrix (ECM) interacts with tumor and stromal cells to promote cancer cells proliferation, migration, invasion, angiogenesis and immune evasion. Both ECM itself and ECM stiffening-induced mechanical stimuli may activate cell membrane receptors and mechanosensors such as integrin, Piezo1 and TRPV4, thereby modulating the malignant phenotype of tumor and stromal cells. A better understanding of how ECM stiffness regulates tumor progression will contribute to the development of new therapeutics. The rapidly expanding evidence in this research area suggests that the regulators and effectors of ECM stiffness represent potential therapeutic targets for cancer. This review summarizes recent work on the regulation of ECM stiffness in cancer, the effects of ECM stiffness on tumor progression, cancer immunity and drug resistance. We also discuss the potential targets that may be druggable to intervene ECM stiffness and tumor progression. Based on these advances, future efforts can be made to develop more effective and safe drugs to interrupt ECM stiffness-induced oncogenic signaling, cancer progression and drug resistance. 

https://jhoonline.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s13045-022-01252-0

Targeting extracellular matrix stiffness and mechanotransducers to improve cancer therapy

Deep learning for image inpainting: A survey

Targeting endothelial dysfunction and inflammation.

Depressive disorders are among the most common psychiatric conditions and contribute to significant morbidity. Even though the use of antidepressants revolutionized the management of depression and had a tremendous positive impact on the patient's outcome, a significant proportion of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) show no or partial or response even with adequate treatment. Given the limitations of the prevailing monoamine hypothesis-based pharmacotherapy, glutamate and glutamatergic related pathways may offer an alternative and a complementary option for designing novel intervention strategies. Over the past few decades, there has been a growing interest in understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of glutamatergic dysfunctions in the pathogenesis of depressive disorders and the development of new pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment options. There is a growing body of evidence for the efficacy of neuromodulation techniques, including transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcutaneous direct current stimulation, transcranial alternating current stimulation, and photo-biomodulation on improving connectivity and neuroplasticity associated with depression. This review attempts to revisit the role of glutamatergic neurotransmission in the etiopathogenesis of depressive disorders and review the current neuroimaging, neurophysiological and clinical evidence of these neuromodulation techniques in the pathophysiology and treatment of depression.

/pdf/glutamatergic-system-in-depression-and-its-role-in-9bscmxx5.pdf

Glutamatergic System in Depression and Its Role in Neuromodulatory Techniques Optimization

Targeting endothelial ion signalling to rescue cerebral blood flow in cerebral disorders.

Reduced NO levels and activity are signs of endothelial dysfunction, which is important in mediating BP changes. Previously, we demonstrated that transient receptor potential channel V4 (TRPV4) could form a functional complex with other proteins to mediate vasodilation in endothelial cells (ECs). But how TRPV4 interacts with the NO pathway in larger arteries requires further exploration.We used single-cell RNA-sequencing to find the CD106+ TRPV4high NOS3high ECs. The TRPV4-eNOS interaction was verified by co-immunoprecipitation and immuno-FRET, and their binding site was found by site-directed mutagenesis. Endothelium-specific TRPV4 knockout (TRPV4EC-/- ) mice were used to study the effect of the TRPV4-eNOS interaction on BP. A small molecule, JNc-463, was designed through molecular docking technology.We uncovered CD106+ TRPV4high NOS3high ECs in the mouse aorta, which could regulate vasodilation via a TRPV4-eNOS interaction, and were essential to regulate BP. The TRPV4-eNOS interaction markedly decreased during the process of hypertension. We further attempted to identify molecules involved in the TRPV4-eNOS interaction and developed a small-molecule drug, JNc-463, which could increase the TRPV4-eNOS interaction to enhance vasodilation and exert antihypertensive effects in mice.This is the first study integrating single-cell RNA-Seq, single-cell functional study and drug screening in aorta. We identified a subpopulation of CD106+ TRPV4high NOS3high ECs, in which an impaired TRPV4-eNOS interaction was important in the progress of hypertension, and we designed a small molecule, JNc-463, to improve the impaired TRPV4-eNOS interaction in hypertension. 

Endothelial TRPV4– <scp>eNOS</scp> coupling as a vital therapy target for treatment of hypertension

Contrastive Attention Network with Dense Field Estimation for Face Completion

/pdf/contrastive-attention-network-with-dense-field-estimation-1p5ov24j.pdf

Contrastive attention network with dense field estimation for face completion

The self-trapped state (STS) of the interlayer exciton (IX) has aroused enormous interest owing to its significant impact on the fundamental properties of the van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHs). Nevertheless, the microscopic mechanisms of STS are still controversial. Herein, we study the corrections of the binding energies of the IXs stemming from the exciton-interface optical phonon coupling in four kinds of vdWHs and find that these IXs are in the STS for the appropriate ratio of the electron and hole effective masses. We show that these self-trapped IXs could be classified into type I with the increasing binding energy in the tens of millielectronvolts range, which are very agreement with the red-shift of the IX spectra in experiments, and type II with the decreasing binding energy, which provides a possible explanation for the blue-shift and broad line width of the IX's spectra at low temperatures. Moreover, these two types of exciton states could be transformed into each other by adjusting the structural parameters of vdWHs. These results not only provide an in-depth understanding for the self-trapped mechanism but also shed light on the modulations of IXs in vdWHs. 

Dennis Gentilin

Papers

Endothelial TRPV4– <scp>eNOS</scp> coupling as a vital therapy target for treatment of hypertension

Contrastive Attention Network with Dense Field Estimation for Face Completion

Contrastive attention network with dense field estimation for face completion

Self-Trapped Interlayer Excitons in van der Waals Heterostructures

Deep brain stimulation improved depressive-like behaviors and hippocampal synapse deficits by activating the BDNF/mTOR signaling pathway