Chaoyi Liu

This study focuses on the diversified utilization of the sugarcane industry, and sugarcane syrup, as a by-product of the sugarcane industry, is a good raw material for fermentation. Bringing sugarcane syrup into beer is conducive to the enrichment of the sugar industry, and it can improve the flavor of beer and make it more aromatic. This study determined the optimal fermentation process for beer. By analyzing the consumption rate of the carbon and nitrogen sources of raw materials, the nutrient utilization of yeast, and the causes of differences in flavor substances, the flavor composition and flavor stability of beer were determined by SPME-HS-GC-MS technology. The results showed that beer brewed with sugarcane syrup as an auxiliary raw material met the basic specifications of beer. The addition of sugarcane syrup to the wort base increased the utilization of amino acids by the yeast, and LS (lager with added cane syrup) increased the nine flavor compounds of the beer, which constituted the basic flavor of the beer, bringing new flavor compounds compared with the normal all-barley beer. Forced aging experiments showed that LS produced fewer aging compounds than OWBL. Various experiments have shown that it is feasible to ferment beer with sugarcane syrup instead of partial wort.

Cross-linked polymeric micelles capable of undergoing de-cross-linking triggered by tumor microenvironment (TME) provide a solution to the extracellular stability vs intracellular destabilization dilemma of nanomedicine. Herein, we reported a simple yet effective strategy for the one-pot construction of enzyme and glutathione (GSH) dual-responsive zwitterionic copolymer micelles consisting of hydrophobic enzyme-degradable polytyrosine (PTyr) cores and cross-linked zwitterionic poly(oligo(ethylene glycol)monomethyl ether methacrylate-co-sulfobetaine methacrylate-co-disulfide dimethacrylate) (P(OEGMA-co-SBMA-co-DSDMA)) shells. Notably, the development of unimolecular zwitterionic copolymer micelles could be achieved simultaneously in the polymer synthesis process via regulating the feed ratio of a functionalized monomer, DSDMA, as a cross-linker. The optimized polymer construct could form stable unimolecular micelles with a drug-loading content (DLC) of 14.9% and an entrapment efficiency (EE) of 87.7% for DOX, along with promoted in vitro drug release and tumor inhibition ratio (TIR). The simple synthetic strategy developed herein provides a widespread approach for the production of multifunctional cross-linked polymeric delivery systems for efficient anticancer drug transportation.

The presence of multivalent reactive groups in the structure of natural polysaccharides enables diverse modifications toward advanced nanomedicines with integrated functionalities for enhanced cancer therapy; therefore, a polysaccharide-based nanoplatform with an optimized trade-off between multifunctionalities for a maximized therapeutic efficiency has been always a long-term research interest, which, however, remains relatively unexplored. We report herein pectin-based delivery nanoplatforms with an optimized trade-off between active targeting and drug loading for chemo-immunotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Specifically, the targeting moiety of pectin, galactose, is subjected to partial oxidization to an aldehyde function that enables the simultaneous modulation of active targeting properties and drug conjugation capacity by the degree of oxidation, affording pectin-based polymer prodrugs OP2-DOX, OP6-DOX, and OP10-DOX with three different degrees of oxidation. OP6-DOX nanoprodrugs (NPs) are subsequently screened to be the optimal nanoplatform in terms of the mean hydrodynamic size, colloidal stability, cellular uptake capacity, and in vitro cytotoxicity profiles. Most importantly, OP6-DOX NPs achieve a tumor inhibition rate (TIR) of 86.8%, which induces the efficient polarization of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) from M2 to M1 and natural killer (NK) cell recruitment in HCC tissues. Overall, the outcomes of this study could serve as an important theoretical guidance on the active targeting and drug loading trade-off modulation of polysaccharide-based nanoplatforms for cancer chemo-innate immunotherapy.