C.A. Huang

• Prof. Dr.-Ing.
• Professor (Full) at Chang Gung University

Brain abscess is a serious, life-threatening intracranial infection caused by inflammation and collection of infected material. Given the rise of multi-drug resistant strains and the widespread presence of bacteria, it is probable that the incidence of brain abscesses is expected to endure. The sequela of brain abscess constitutes a major source of...

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly aggressive brain tumor with poor prognosis and high recurrence rates. The complex immune microenvironment of GBM is highly infiltrated by tumor-associated microglia and macrophages (TAM). TAMs are known to be heterogeneous in their functional and metabolic states and can transmit either protumoral or antitumoral signa...

Amateurs often struggle with detecting and quantifying protein biomarkers in body fluids due to the high expertise required. This study introduces a Lab‐in‐a‐Vial (LV) rapid diagnostic platform, featuring hydrangea‐like platinum nanozymes (PtNH), for rapid, accurate detection and quantification of protein biomarkers on‐site within 15 min. This meth...

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) represent a promising avenue for targeted brain tumor therapy. However, the blood–brain barrier (BBB) often presents a formidable obstacle to efficient drug delivery. This study introduces a ligand-free PEGylated MSN variant (RMSN25-PEG-TA) with a 25 nm size and a slight positive charge, which exhibits superio...

This study explored the performance of electroplated grinding tools electroplated with single and dual-layer diamond particles (DPs). These tools were fabricated through a three-step electroplating process, involving Ni-undercoating, Ni-diamond co-electroplating, and Ni–B strengthen-electroplating, on AISI 440C steel rods. Grinding tool performance...

Simple Summary The use of noninvasive sonodynamic therapy (SDT) for brain tumor treatment is considered to be highly potential. The sonosensitizer is the key component of SDT; choosing an appropriate sonosensitizer will help to enhance the treatment response. In this study, somatic and brain tumor model animals were used to evaluate the effect of t...

Introduction Blood–brain barrier (BBB) remains to be the major obstacle to conquer in treating patients with malignant brain tumors. Radiation therapy (RT), despite being the mainstay adjuvant modality regardless of BBB, the effect of radiation induced cell death is hindered by the hypoxic microenvironment. Focused ultrasound (FUS) combined with sy...

The global pandemic presents a critical threat to humanity, with no effective rapid‐response solutions for early‐stage virus dissemination. This study aims to create an AI‐driven entry‐blocker design system (AIEB) to fabricate inhalable virus‐like nanocatchers (VLNCs) fused with entry‐blocking peptides (EBPs) to counter pandemic viruses and explore...

Patients with high-grade glioma have a poor prognosis and an average survival of less than 15 months, which is associated with an increase in tumor-associated microglia and macrophages (TAMs). TAMs in the glioma microenvironment are traditionally thought to suppress antitumor immune responses and are metabolically reprogrammed by glioma. However, i...

The chemical investigation of a red alga Portieria hornemannii enabled the identification of three new halogenated monoterpenes (1–3) along with two previously identified metabolites (4 and 5). Their structures were determined by spectroscopic analysis and also by utilizing single-crystal diffraction analysis and quantum chemical calculation, as we...

Acrolein, which is the most reactive aldehyde, is a byproduct of lipid peroxidation in a hypoxic environment. Acrolein has been shown to form acrolein-cysteine bonds, resulting in functional changes in proteins and immune effector cell suppression. Neutrophils are the most abundant immune effector cells in circulation in humans. In the tumor microe...

Since glioblastomas (GBMs) are radioresistant malignancies and most GBM recurrences occur in radiotherapy, increasing the effectiveness of radiotherapy by gene-silencing has recently attracted attention. However, the difficulty in precisely tuning the composition and RNA loading in nanoparticles leads to batch-to-batch variations of the RNA therape...

Malignant glioma is a common and severe primary brain tumor, the prognosis is extremely poor with a median overall survival of approximately 1 year, and a relative very low survival rate at 5 and 10 years approximately (5% and 3%, respectively). Therefore, development for new treatment strategy is in urgent need. Recently, the potential of sonodyna...

The present chemical investigation on the organic extract of the soft coral Sarcophyton cinereum has contributed to the isolation of four new cembranoids: 16β- and 16α-hydroperoxyisosarcophytoxides (1 and 2), 16β- and 16α-methoxyisosarcophytoxides (3 and 4), and a known cembranoid, lobocrasol (5). The structures of all isolates were elucidated by d...

Fabrication and evaluation of electroplated Ni–B-diamond grinding tools made with 3-mm-diameter martensitic AISI 440C rod substrates were performed. With 25-μm-thick layer of Ni deposit serving as the undercoating, Ni–B-diamond composite deposits with a thickness of 300 μm were prepared using intermittent stirring in a Ni–B-diamond plating bath con...

Prior MALDI mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) studies reported significant changes in phosphatidylcholines (PCs), lysophosphatidylcholines (LPCs), and sphingomyelins (SMs) in ischemic rat brains yet overlooked the information on other classes of PLs and SLs and provided very little or no validation on the detected lipid markers. Relative quanti...

Lipids perform multiple biological functions, and reflect the physiology and pathology of cells, tissues, and organs. Here we sought to understand lipid content in relation to tumor pathology by characterizing phospholipids (PLs) and sphingolipids (SLs) in the orthotopic mouse glioma using matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization mass spectromet...

Electroplated Ni-B-diamond tools with D-150 diamond particles were fabricated and their tool life performances from slot grinding Al2O3 plates were evaluated. Electroplated diamond tools with high diamond particle density were prepared from martensitic stainless steel (AISI 440C) rods, using three sequential electroplating processes, namely Ni-unde...

Electroplated diamond tools with single-layered high density diamond particles in an average size of 150 μm were prepared through a three-step electroplating process, including Ni-undercoating, Ni-diamond co-electrodeposition, and Cr-C strengthening electroplating. Martensitic stainless steel (AISI 440C) rods with a diameter of 3 mm were used as su...

Glioblastoma (GBM), a grade IV glioma, is responsible for the highest years of potential life lost among cancers. The poor prognosis is attributable to its high recurrence rate, caused in part by the development of resistance to chemotherapy. Receptor-interacting protein 140 (RIP140) is a very versatile coregulator of nuclear receptors and transcri...

A persistent study on soft coral Sarcophyton tortuosum resulted in the characterization of two new cembranolides, tortuolides A and B (1 and 2), and a new related diterpene, epi-sarcophytonolide Q. Their structures were determined not only by extensive spectroscopic analysis but also by DFT calculations of ECD and NMR data, the latter of which was...

Glioma is a severe disease with a poor prognosis despite aggressive surgical resection and traditional chemotherapies. Therefore, new anti-neoplastic drugs are urgently needed. Bioactive compounds from natural products are potential sources of antiproliferative molecules, among which manzamine compounds extracted from the Formosan marine sponge Hal...

Electroplated diamond tools with single-layered high density diamond particles in an average size of 150 μm were prepared through a three-step electroplating process, including Ni-undercoating, Ni-diamond co-electrodeposition and Cr-C strengthening electroplating. Martensitic stainless steel (AISI 440C) rods with a diameter of 3 mm were used as sub...

In an attempt to explore the bioactive metabolites of the soft coral Sarcophyton cinereum, three new cembranolides, cinerenolides A–C (1–3), and 16 known compounds were isolated and identified from the EtOAc extract. The structures of the new cembranolides were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis, and the NOE analysis of cinerenolide...

Cinerelolide (1) with an unprecedented tricyclo[9.3.0.02,12]tetradecane scaffold fused with a seven-membered lactone ring, and a new sarsolenone derivative, 11-deoxo-11α-hydroxysarsolenone (2), were isolated from the Formosan soft coral Sarcophyton cinereum. Their structures were rigorously determined by spectroscopic study, chemical transformation...

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is one of the most lethal malignancies: more than half of patients are diagnosed with a metastatic disease, which is associated with a five-year survival rate of only 3%. 5-epi-Sinuleptolide, a norditerpene isolated from Sinularia sp., has been demonstrated to possess cytotoxic activity against cancer cells. However...

Alteration of extracellular glycosylation is a hallmark of malignant characteristics. In this study, we revealed that fucosyltransferase 8 (FUT8), an enzyme that mediates the core fucosylation of N-linked glycosylation, is an important regulator of malignant characteristics in human glioma that acts by modifying the activities of both the HGF recep...

Further chemical investigation of the ethyl acetate extract of the soft coral Sarcophyton tortuosum has led to the isolation of ten terpenoidal metabolites, including six new compounds, secoditerpenes secotortuosenes A and B (1 and 2), diterpenes tortuosenes C and D (3 and 4) and tortuosumol (5), and a biscembranoid bisotortuolide cyclobutane A (6)...

Glioblastoma (GBM), the most lethal type of brain tumor in adults, has considerable cellular heterogeneity. The standard adjuvant chemotherapeutic agent for GBM, temozolomide (TMZ), has a modest response rate due to the development of drug resistance. Multiple studies have shown that valproic acid (VPA) can enhance GBM tumor control and prolong sur...

Background Ferritin, the natural iron storage protein complex, self-assembles into a uniform cage-like structure. Human H-ferritin (HFn) has been shown to transverse the blood–brain barrier (BBB) by binding to transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1), which is abundant in endothelial cells and overexpressed in tumors, and enters cells via endocytosis. Ferriti...

Two new isosarcophine derivatives, cherbonolides M (1) and N (2), were further isolated from a Formosan soft coral Sarcophyton cherbonnieri. The planar structure and relative configuration of both compounds were established by the detailed analysis of the IR, MS, and 1D and 2D NMR data. Further, the absolute configuration of both compounds was dete...

Gliomas are solid tumors that originate from glial cells in the brain or spine and account for 74.6% of malignant primary central nervous system tumors worldwide. As patient-derived primary cells are important tools for drug screening and new therapy development in glioma, we aim to understand the genomic similarity of the primary cells to their pa...

Focused ultrasound (FUS) in the presence of microbubbles can transiently open the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to increase therapeutic agent penetration at the targeted brain site to benefit recurrent glioblastoma (rGBM) treatment. This study is a dose-escalating pilot trial using a device combining neuronavigation and a manually operated frameless FU...

Chemical investigation of a Red Sea Spongia sp. led to the isolation of four new compounds, i.e., 17-dehydroxysponalactone (1), a carboxylic acid, spongiafuranic acid A (2), one hydroxamic acid, spongiafuranohydroxamic acid A (3), and a furanyl trinorsesterpenoid 16-epi-irciformonin G (4), along with three known metabolites (−)-sponalisolide B (5),...

Background MicroRNA (miRNA) plays a vital role in the intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration. The expression level of miR-573 was downregulated whereas Bax was upregulated notably in human degenerative nucleus pulposus cells. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of miR-573 in human degenerative nucleus pulposus (NP) cells following hyper...

Chemical investigation of the marine soft coral Sarcophyton tenuispiculatum resulted in the isolation of a 1,4-dihydrobenzoquinone, sarcotenuhydroquinone (1), three new cembranoids, sarcotenusenes A‒C (2‒4), and ten previously reported metabolites 5–14. The chemical structures of all isolated metabolites were determined by detailed spectroscopic an...

The present investigation on chemical constituents of the soft coral Sarcophyton cherbonnieri resulted in the isolation of seven new cembranoids, cherbonolides F–L (1–7). The chemical structures of 1–7 were determined by spectroscopic methods, including infrared, one- and two-dimensional (1D and 2D) NMR (COSY, HSQC, HMBC, and NOESY), MS experiments...

Background: MicroRNA (miRNA) plays a vital role in the intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration. The expression level of miR-573 was downregulated whereas Bax was upregulated notably in human degenerative nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs). In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of miR-573 in human degenerative NPCs following hyperbaric oxygen (H...

Cr-C-Ni-diamond composite deposits with synthetic diamond particles of 50 μm in average size were electroplated onto a medium-carbon steel rod to fabricate electroplated diamond grinding rods. To make an electroplated Cr-C-Ni-diamond grinding rod with a high diamond density, three sequential electroplating processes were proposed, including Ni unde...

Chemical examination from the cultured soft coral Sarcophyton digitatum resulted in the isolation and structural identification of four new biscembranoidal metabolites, sardigitolides A–D (1–4), along with three previously isolated biscembranoids, sarcophytolide L (5), glaucumolide A (6), glaucumolide B (7), and two known cembranoids (8 and 9). The...

Temozolomide (TMZ)-resistant glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells would have abnormal redox status due to bio-thiols, like glutathione (GSH), which constitute the most crucial defense system that protects cells from therapeutic agents. Current strategies for GSH detection often require sophisticated instruments that may not be available in laborator...

Background: Blood-brain barrier (BBB) limits over 95% of drugs' penetration into brain, which has been a major obstacle in treating patients with glioblastoma. Transient BBB opening in glioblastoma (GBM) is feasible by combining focused ultrasound (FUS) with systemic infusion of microbubbles (MB). NaviFUS, a novel device that integrates neuronavig...

Patients who have diabetes must receive insulin administration two to three times every day via subcutaneous (SC) injection after measurement of blood glucose levels (BGLs) using lancet/blood-glucose meter with the side effects of pain and lipodystrophy. Achieving instrument-free glucose-biosensing and persistent glycaemic control in a painless and...

Excessive production of uric acid (UA) in blood may lead to gout, hyperuricaemia and kidney disorder; thus, a fast, simple and reliable biosensor is needed to routinely determine the UA concentration in blood without pretreatment. The purpose of this study was to develop a mobile healthcare (mHealth) system using a drop of blood, which comprised a...

Further chemical investigation of the EtOAc extract of the soft coral Lobophytum varium resulted in the discovery of eleven new diterpenoids lobovarols F–P (1–11) of lobane– and prenyleudesmane–types, along with two known metabolites (12 and 13). The structures of the new metabolites were established by spectroscopic analyses, including 2D NMR expe...

Glioma is a severe disease with poor prognosis. Chemotherapy plays an important role but very few drugs are effective. There are two major issues: (1) the specialized blood-brain barrier blocks most large molecules from penetrating into target area; (2) tumor cells frequently develop drug resistant. Therefore, developing new chemotherapeutic agents...

Human glioma facilitates an impaired anti-tumor immunity response, including defects in circulation of T lymphocytes. The level of CD8⁺ T-cell activation acts as an immune regulator associated with disease progression. However, little is known about the characteristics of peripheral and tumor-infiltrating CD8⁺ T cells in patients with glioma. In th...

Background: Glioma-associated myeloid (GAM) infiltrates are comprised of macrophages of peripheral origin and brain-intrinsic microglia, which support tumor progression. CCL5 is an inflammatory mediator produced by immune cells and is involved in tumor growth and migration in several cancers including glioma. However, the mechanisms detailing how...

Ni–diamond and Ni–B–diamond composite deposits were electroplated with a current density of 20 A/dm² on a steel cylinder with a diameter of 6.0 mm in a Ni-Watt bath with different tetramethylammonium borohydride (TMAB) concentrations and 300-g/L synthetic diamond particles with sizes between 30 and 50 μm. Prior to Ni–diamond or Ni–B–diamond composi...

Intra-neuronal α-synuclein (αSNCA) aggregation are the leading cause of dopaminergic neuron degeneration in Parkinson's disease (PD). Most PD patients is linked with αSNCA gene mutations. Gene therapy shows therapeutic potential by packing gene into viral vectors to improve gene expression through stereotactic brain injections. However, through int...

The proof-of-concept strategy in this study based on biodegradable and biocompatible self-assembling fluorescent virus-like particle/RNAi nanocomplexes (VLP/RNAi) produced in Escherichia coli (E. coli) followed by surface modification with cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) and apolipoprotein E peptide (ApoEP) (dP@VLP/RNAi), which can cross blood–brain...

Background: Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by a CAG trinucleotide repeat expansion in the gene encoding the huntingtin (Htt) protein, which results in a protein containing an abnormally expanded polyglutamine (polyQ) sequence. The expanded polyQ in the Htt protein is toxic to brain cells. No th...

Supplementary Information

Convection-enhanced delivery (CED) is a promising technique for infusing a therapeutic agent directly into the brain, bypassing the blood-brain barrier (BBB) with a pressure gradient to increase drug concentration specifically around the brain tumor, thereby enhancing tumor inhibition and limiting the systemic toxicity of chemotherapeutic agents. H...

OBJECTIVE Despite intensive medical treatment, patients with glioblastoma (grade IV glioma [GBM]) have a low 5-year survival rate of 5.5%. In this study, the authors tried to improve currently used therapies by identification of a therapeutic target, IGFBP3 , for glioma treatment. METHODS IGFBP3 RNA expression in 135 patients newly diagnosed with...

Cr–C, Cr–Ni–C and Cr–Fe–Ni–C deposits were successfully prepared from Cr³⁺-based plating baths with suitable amounts of complex agents and metal salts. The Cr-based alloy deposits could be hardened after rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at 500 °C for a few seconds. The highest hardness of 1800 Hv could be detected from the Cr–C deposit after RTA at 50...

Five new cembranoid-related diterpenoids, namely, flexibilisins D and E (1 and 2), secoflexibilisolides A and B (3 and 4), and flexibilisolide H (5), along with nine known compounds (6–14), were isolated from the soft coral Sinularia flexibilis. Their structures were established by extensive spectral analysis. Compound 3 possesses an unusual skelet...

Six new cembranoids, cherbonolides A−E (1–5) and bischerbolide peroxide (6), along with one known cembranoid, isosarcophine (7), were isolated from the Formosan soft coral Sarcophyton cherbonnieri. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analysis and chemical methods. Compound 6 was discovered to be the first exa...

The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) is a nuclear receptor that plays a key role in regulating cellular metabolism, and is a therapeutic target for cancer therapy. To search for potential PPARγ activators, a compound library comprising 11 marine compounds was examined. Among them, a sterol, 3β,11-dihydroxy-9,11-secogorgost-5-en-...

The authors wish to make the following correction to their paper [1].[...]

p>Tumor-associated macrophages/microglia (TAMs) are either macrophages of peripheral origin or brain-intrinsic microglia, and represent a considerable portion of the glioma mass, which facilitate gliomagenesis. Chemokine C-C motif ligand 5 (CCL5) is an inflammatory mediator produced by immune cells, and involves in tumor growth, and migration in se...

Six new polyoxygenated cembrane-based diterpenoids, stellatumolides A–C (1–3), stellatumonins A and B (4 and 5), and stellatumonone (6), were isolated together with ten known related compounds (7–16) from the ethyl acetate (EtOAc) extract of soft coral Sarcophyton stellatum. The structures of the new compounds were established by extensive spectros...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) chronically infects 2-3% people of the global population, which leads to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Drug resistance remains a serious problem that limits the effectiveness of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved direct-acting antiviral (DAA) drugs against HCV proteins. The objective of our study...

In this study, we aim to rapidly fabricate aptachip with dual colorimetric and fluorometric sensing strategy for easy dopamine (DA) detection with high sensitivity and selectivity. To constructe an aptachip with highest DA capture efficiency, the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is utilitized to predict the most stable configuration of DA-binding...

The natural compound sinularin, isolated from marine soft corals, is antiproliferative against several cancers, but its possible selective killing effect has rarely been investigated. This study investigates the selective killing potential and mechanisms of sinularin-treated breast cancer cells. In 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyph...

IrO2-Ta2O5/Ti anodes were thermally pretreated by means of baking and continuous heating, and then thermal decomposition at 450 °C for 30 min. To prepare an IrO2-Ta2O5/Ti anode, a Ti substrate was dipped in the precursor, baked at 80 or 90 °C for different periods, and then thermally decomposed at 450 °C for 30 min in the air furnace. The electroch...

Three new polyoxygenated steroids, michosterols A–C (1–3), and four known compounds (4–7) were isolated from the ethyl acetate (EtOAc) extract of the soft coral Lobophytum michaelae, collected off the coast of Taitung. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analyses and comparison of the nuclear magnetic r...

Cr-Fe-C alloy deposits were successfully prepared on high-carbon tool steel in a Cr³⁺-based electroplating bath containing Fe²⁺ ions and suitable complex agents. A Cr-based alloy deposit was obtained with an electroplating current density higher than 25 Adm⁻², and a Fe-based alloy deposit was obtained using a current density of 20 Adm⁻². Following...

The microenvironment of malignant glioma is characterized by a series of reactive stromal cells with an abundance of inflammatory mediators, and proteolytic enzymes. Chemokine C-C motif ligand 5 (CCL5) has been reported to facilitate angiogenesis, and migration in serval cancers including glioma. However, the mechanism of how CCL5 facilitate glioma...

New lobane-based diterpenoids lobovarols A–D (1–4) and a prenyleudesmane-typediterpenoid lobovarol E (5) along with seven known related diterpenoids (6–12) were isolatedfrom the ethyl acetate extract of a Taiwanese soft coralLobophytum varium. Their structureswere identified on the basis of multiple spectroscopic analyses and spectral comparison.Th...

Convection-enhanced delivery (CED) is a promising technique for the delivery of drugs directly into the central nervous system (CNS) and, more specifically, the brain. CED can increase drug concentration within a brain tumor, thereby improving the therapeutic efficacy and limiting the systemic toxicity of tumoricidal agents. In this study, we evalu...

A continuing chemical investigation of the ethyl acetate (EtOAc) extract of a reef soft coral Sinularia brassica, which was cultured in a tank, afforded four new steroids with methyl ester groups, sinubrasones A–D (1–4) for the first time. In particular, 1 possesses a β-D-xylopyranose. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated on the basi...

We previously reported that the soft coral-derived bioactive substance, sinuleptolide, can inhibit the proliferation of oral cancer cells in association with oxidative stress. The functional role of oxidative stress in the cell-killing effect of sinuleptolide on oral cancer cells was not investigated as yet. To address this question, we introduced...

Supplementary figures and table (Figures S1-S10 and table S1).