Rapid detection of exon 2-deleted AIMP2 mutation as a potential biomarker for lung cancer by molecular beacons

Bibliometric analysis of current trends and emerging patterns in the application of nanomaterials for non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND

Lung cancer is one of the most prevalent tumor diagnoses and a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Among its two primary subtypes, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for approximately 80-85% of all lung cancer cases. Over the past decade, a significant number of publications have explored the application of nanomaterials in NSCLC. This study aimed to comprehensively evaluate the current state and evolving trends in research focused on utilizing nanomaterials as potent diagnostic and therapeutic tools for NSCLC.

METHODS

To identify all pertinent publications, we used the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database. Based on stringent inclusion and exclusion criteria, relevant publications were carefully selected. For the bibliometric and visual analyses, we employed VOSviewer (version 1.6.20), CiteSpace (version 6.1.6), and R-bibliometrix (version 4.3.2).

RESULTS

Our analysis encompassed 1880 studies that fulfilled the inclusion criteria. We observed a steady increase in annual publications from 2014 to June 22, 2024. China, the USA, and India have emerged as leading nations in this field. Notably, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Wang J stood out as the most influential institutions and authors, respectively. Most publications are featured in The International Journal of Nanomedicine. The keywords used in these publications were closely tied to non-small cell lung cancer and nanomaterials. In the past three years, "green synthesis" exhibited the highest burst strength, while "immune response" and "nanocrystal" represented emerging areas of intense research interest.

CONCLUSION

Through our exhaustive analysis, we synthesized the current research trends and emerging landscapes of nanomaterials in NSCLC. We characterized the publication patterns, pinpointed the most influential nations, institutions, authors, journals, and hot topics related to nanomaterial applications in NSCLC, and proposed potential avenues for future development.

New insights into nanosystems for non-small-cell lung cancer: diagnosis and treatment

Lung cancer is caused by a malignant tumor that shows the fastest growth in both incidence and mortality and is also the greatest threat to human health and life. At present, both in terms of incidence and mortality, lung cancer is the first in male malignant tumors, and the second in female malignant tumors. In the past two decades, research and development of antitumor drugs worldwide have been booming, and a large number of innovative drugs have entered clinical trials and practice. In the era of precision medicine, the concept and strategy of cancer from diagnosis to treatment are experiencing unprecedented changes. The ability of tumor diagnosis and treatment has rapidly improved, the discovery rate and cure rate of early tumors have greatly improved, and the overall survival of patients has benefited significantly, with a tendency to transform to a chronic disease with tumor. The emergence of nanotechnology brings new horizons for tumor diagnosis and treatment. Nanomaterials with good biocompatibility have played an important role in tumor imaging, diagnosis, drug delivery, controlled drug release, etc. This article mainly reviews the advancements in lipid-based nanosystems, polymer-based nanosystems, and inorganic nanosystems in the diagnosis and treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Potential Method of Autophagy Imaging with Cationized Gelatin Nanospheres Incorporating Molecular Beacon

The objective of this research is to develop an imaging method with cationized gelatin nanospheres incorporating molecular beacon (cGNS_MB) to visualize an autophagy activity in living cells. Cationized gelatin nanospheres (cGNS) were prepared by the conventional coacervation method, and then molecular beacon (MB) was incorporated into them. The cGNS_MB prepared were internalized into cells at a high efficiency. In this study, a starvation medium of serum and amino acids-free was used to induce autophagy. The autophagy activity was confirmed by an immunofluorescence staining for microtubule-associated proteins light chain 3B (LC3B) of an autophagy specific protein. With the autophagy induction time, the number of LC3 fluorescent dots increased, which indicated an increased autophagy activity. As the autophagy-related genes, sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1) and cathepsin F (CTSF), which up-regulate after autophagy induction, were chosen as the targets of cGNS_MB. The fluorescence intensity of cGNS_MB targeting to SQSTM1 and CTSF increased with the starvation treatment time, which well corresponded with the gene expression results. When applied to cells in different autophagy conditions, the cGNS_MB visualized the autophagy activity corresponding with the autophagy condition of cells. From the results obtained, it was concluded that the cGNS_MB provide a promising method to visualize the autophagy of cells. The advantage of cGNS_MB visualization is to obtain the temporal and spatial information without destroying sample cells.

Complexation design of cationized gelatin and molecular beacon to visualize intracellular mRNA

The objective of this study is to prepare cationized gelatin-molecular beacon (MB) complexes for the visualization of intracellular messenger RNA (mRNA). The complexes were prepared from cationized gelatins with different extents of cationization and different mixing ratios of MB to cationized gelatin. The apparent size of complexes was almost similar, while the zeta potential was different among the complexes. Irrespective of the preparation conditions, the complexes had a sequence specificity against the target oligonucleotides in hybridization. The cytotoxicity and the amount of complexes internalized into cells increased with an increase in the cationization extent and the concentration of cationized gelatin. After the incubation with complexes prepared from cationized gelatin with the highest extent of cationization and at mixing ratios of 10 and 20 pmole MB/μg cationized gelatin, a high fluorescent intensity was detected. On the other hand, the complex prepared with the mixing ratio at 20 pmole/μg did not show any cytotoxicity. The complex was the most effective to visualize the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) mRNA endogenously present. In addition, even for enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) mRNA exogenously transfected, the complex permitted to effectively detect it as well. It is concluded that both the endogenous and exogenous mRNA can be visualized in living cells by use of cationized gelatin-MB complexes designed.

Single-cell analysis of AIMP2 splice variants informs on drug sensitivity and prognosis in hematologic cancer

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase-interacting multifunctional protein 2 (AIMP2) is a non-enzymatic component required for the multi-tRNA synthetase complex. While exon 2 skipping alternatively spliced variant of AIMP2 (AIMP2-DX2) compromises AIMP2 activity and is associated with carcinogenesis, its clinical potential awaits further validation. Here, we found that AIMP2-DX2/AIMP2 expression ratio is strongly correlated with major cancer signaling pathways and poor prognosis, particularly in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Analysis of a clinical patient cohort revealed that AIMP2-DX2 positive AML patients show decreased overall survival and progression-free survival. We also developed targeted RNA-sequencing and single-molecule RNA-FISH tools to quantitatively analyze AIMP2-DX2/AIMP2 ratios at the single-cell level. By subclassifying hematologic cancer cells based on their AIMP2-DX2/AIMP2 ratios, we found that downregulating AIMP2-DX2 sensitizes cells to anticancer drugs only for a subgroup of cells while it has adverse effects on others. Collectively, our study establishes AIMP2-DX2 as a potential biomarker and a therapeutic target for hematologic cancer.

Ku, Kim et al develop a method to analyse the ratio of the alternatively spliced variant of AIMP2 to full length AIMP via single-molecule RNA-FISH. They can subclassify hematologic cancer based on AIMP2-DX2/AIMP2 ratio and find that cells with high AIMP2-DX2 ratio can be sensitized to chemotherapy drugs by depleting AIMP2-DX2.

2-Aminophenylpyrimidines as Novel Inhibitors of Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetase Interacting Multifunctional Protein 2 (AIMP2)-DX2 for Lung Cancer Treatment

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase interacting multifunctional proteins (AIMPs) have recently been considered novel therapeutic targets in several cancers. In this publication we report the development of novel 2-aminophenylpyrimidines as new AIMP2-DX2 inhibitors. In particular, aminophenylpyrimidine 3 not only exhibited promising in vitro and in vivo potency but also exerted selective inhibition of H460 and A549 cells and AIMP2-DX2 rather than WI-26 cells and AIMP2. Aminophenylpyrimidine 3 offers possible therapeutic potential in the treatment of lung cancer.

An aptamer-tethered, DNAzyme-embedded molecular beacon for simultaneous detection and regulation of tumor-related genes in living cells

Simultaneous detection and regulation of tumor-related genes presents a promising strategy for early diagnosis and treatment of cancer, but achieving this has been a huge challenge for both chemical and biomedical communities. Towards this objective, we have devised a novel aptamer-tethered, DNAzyme-embedded molecular beacon (MB) for multiple functions in cancer cells. In this design, a tumor targeting aptamer was employed to specifically deliver the sensor into cancer cells for target gene detection, and an RNA-cleaving DNAzyme was embedded to realize gene regulation. Both aptamer-tethering and DNAzyme-embedding had little influence on the sensor performance, with a detection limit of ∼2 nM and high specificity. After delivering into tumor cells, our device could monitor the tumor-related genes by producing detectable fluorescence signals, and regulate the gene expression at both mRNA and protein levels as evidenced by the RT-PCR and western blot analyses. This study provides a simple and efficient strategy to rationally combine various functional nucleic acids for multi-functional applications in living cells, which hold great potential for cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Label-free molecular probe based on G-quadruplex and strand displacement for sensitive and selective detection and naked eye discrimination of exon 2 deletion of AIMP2

Exon 2 deletion of aminoacyl tRNA synthetase complex-interacting multifunctional protein 2 (AIMP2) is a genetic deletion related to various cancers, for instance ovarian and lung cancers. It can be worked as an indicator of cancer for diagnosis of diseases. Here, we developed a label-free method based on the formation of split G-quadruplex in the presence of target DNA combined with strand displacement to detect exon 2 deletion of AIMP2 (DE2) sensitively and selectively. This method is easy-operating and cost-saving. Moreover, it has observed discrimination of gene deletion from wild-types by naked eyes. The results demonstrate that this strategy can be further used for the detection of different gene deletions to achieve early diagnosis of diseases and allow better prognosis.

New molecular beacon for p53 gene point mutation and significant potential in serving as the polymerization primer

Molecular beacon (MB) is usually explored as a convenient probe for various bioassays. In an enzymatic polymerization-based biosensing system, primer, and MB, sometimes involving other oligonucleotides, are often required to collaboratively generate an amplified fluorescent signal to detect target molecules with high sensitivity and specificity. In the current study, a multifunctional primer-integrated MB (MP-MB) was developed to detect the p53 tumor suppressor gene. Compared with the traditional MB, our MP-MB can not only selectively identify the target of interest and signal sensitively its hybridization event, but also act as the primer during enzymatic polymerization. Specifically, hybridization of MP-MB to target p53 gene restored the fluorescence intensity and activated the pre-locked primer designed by changing the molecular configuration of MP-MB. Moreover, the p53 gene could be detected down to 1nM with a linear response range of 1×10(-9)-3×10(-7)M, and p53 gene point mutation was readily distinguished from the wild-type one. Its potential application as a primer of replication in enzymatic polymerization-based assay systems was validated by running parallel gel electrophoreses in comparison with the native counterpart of MP-MB without any chemical modification. Owning to its excellent assay characteristics, less species requirement, broad sequence diversity and preserved intrinsic bioactivity, the proof-of-concept of MP-MB exhibits a great potential in various biomedical applications.