Jie Qiao

Oral and maxillofacial tumors (OMTs), such as oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), pleomorphic adenoma, and ameloblastoma, are common head and neck tumors. Lipopolysaccharide‐binding protein (LBP) is a type I acute reactive protein, which participates in body inflammatory response modulation through lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐induced signaling pathway by targeting macrophages (expressing cluster of differentiation 204 [CD204]). Although it is well established that LBP is associated with the development of multiple types of cancer, little is known about the role of LBP in OMTs. This study aims to explore the expression of LBP in OMTs. Here, immunohistochemical (IHC) double staining of LBP and CD204 and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were conducted to explore the LBP expression in OMTs. The findings demonstrated that the LBP expression in OMTs was significantly elevated (p < 0.001). In addition, the LBP expression was associated with the clinical stage (p < 0.001), T classification (p < 0.001), and lymph node metastasis (p < 0.001, except ELISA) but independent of histological grade of SCC, gender, and age in patients with SCC. The optional cutoff of the LBP serum level is 0.721 μg/ml. To conclude, LBP contributes to the development of OMTs and could be a biomarker in the screening and predicting metastasis in patients with OMTs.

Backgrounds: Engineering yeast as a consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) microorganism by surface assembly of cellulosomes has been aggressively utilized for cellulosic ethanol production. However, most of the previous studies focused onSaccharomyces cerevisiae, achieving efficient conversion of phosphoric acid-swollen cellulose (PASC) or microcrystalline cellulose (Avicel) but not carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) to ethanol, with an average titer below 2 g/L.Results: Harnessing an ultra-high-affinity IM7/CL7 protein pair, here we describe a method to engineerPichia pastoriswith minicellulosomes by in vitro assembly of three recombinant cellulases including an endoglucanase (EG), an exoglucanase (CBH) and a β-glucosidase (BGL), as well as a carbohydrate-binding module (CBM) on the cell surface. For the first time, the engineered yeasts enable efficient and direct conversion of CMC to bioethanol, observing an impressive ethanol titer of 5.1 g/L.Conclusions: The research promotes the application ofP. pastorisas a CBP cell factory in cellulosic ethanol production and provides a promising platform for screening the cellulases from different species to construct surface-assembly celluosome.