[Journal of The American Chemical Society] Scientists identified the vital genes glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) and alanine-serine-cysteine transporter 2 (ASCT2) through bioinformatics analysis. Human serum albumin nanoparticles for delivery of GLUT1 and ASCT2 inhibitors were prepared by a self-assembly process.

[Cancer Research] Researchers identified FBXO32 as an oncogenic driver in PDAC. FBXO32 was aberrantly upregulated in PDAC, and high FBXO32 expression was significantly associated with an unfavorable prognosis in PDAC patients.

[Cell Death Discovery] The authors assessed the possible role of lithocholic acid (LCA) in pancreatic adenocarcinoma, and reported that LCA induced a multi-pronged antineoplastic program in pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells. LCA inhibited cancer cell proliferation and induced mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition that reduced cell invasion capacity.

[Nature Communications] Investigators reported that deficiency of Lgr4 in intestinal epithelium decreased the proportion of enterocytes selective for long-chain fatty acid absorption, leading to reduction in lipid absorption and subsequent improvement in lipid and glucose metabolism.

[Scientific Reports] Scientists explored the upstream transcription factors responsible for elevating prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (PTGS2) expression in coloretal cancer (CRC) cells. PTGS2 silencing repressed cell growth, migration and invasion in CRC cells.

[Nature Reviews Drug Discovery] The authors review current challenge in inflammatory bowel disease drug discovery, and examine how advances in machine learning and tissue engineering could be used at the preclinical stage where attrition rates are high.

[UZ Brussel-VUB] The Vrije Universiteit Brussel and UZ Brussel have been awarded a €2.5 million grant to further research FLASH radiation. This new technique means that a cancer patient needs to be treated with radiation only once, instead of dozens of time. The research will first be offered to people with skin cancer, rectal cancer and sarcomas.

[Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology] Continued prospective evaluation of toxicity management strategies and the design of less-toxic CAR T cell products are both crucial for ongoing success in this field. The authors discuss the evolving understanding and clinical management of CAR T cell-associated toxicities.

[IRBM] ERS Genomics Limited and IRBM, announced a non-exclusive CRISPR/Cas9 license agreement. The agreement grants IRBM access to ERS’ CRISPR/Cas9 patent portfolio.

[eLife] Researchers employed the myogenic/lipogenic transdifferentiation of chicken fibroblasts in 3D to produce muscle mass and deposit fat into the same cells without the co-culture or mixture of different cells or fat substances.

[Heliyon] Using transcriptional and immunoflourance method, investigators established homocol signautre, which was able to transcriptionally and histologically detect homotrimeric collagen type I.

[Scientific Reports] Investigators proposed a novel approach for using a combination of biopolymers and decellularised EC ECM as a bioink additive in the development of scalable organs-on-a-chip using a microfluidic platform.