| RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS |


says Yu, “and therefore context dependency is always an important factor when it comes to targeted therapies.” Yu and his team discovered this paradox


by examining the chemical pathways of these genes in breast cancer cells. They showed that hypoxia leads to impaired PRC2 expression but promotes EZH2 partnering with another tumor-promoting gene, FoxM1. Together EZH2 and FoxM1 increase expression of the cancer migration promoting gene, matrix metallopro- teinase (MMP), and enhance tumor migration. “The double face of EZH2 as both a tumor


suppressor and an oncogene, and hypoxia to facilitate a switch of the dual functions were surprising,” explains Yu. “This helped to explain how hypoxia can promote growth and invasion.” Examining these factors in breast cancer was


important because PRC2 and EZH2 appeared to be expressed at differential levels in breast cancer subtypes, suggesting that they may not always function together. In particular, they have opposite expression levels — PRC2 is low and EZH2 is high — in the TNBC subtype, which is highly aggressive and kills more patients than any other breast cancer. Therefore, the switching


of partners by EZH2 from PRC2 to FoxM1 may be responsible for mortality. This mechanism may also explain the


apparently paradoxical nature of EZH2 in other cancer types. “This may be also seen in other instances, as non-canonical EZH2 activity has also been documented in other cancers,” notes Yu.


1. Mahara, S., Lee, P. L., Feng, M., Tergaonkar V., Chng, W. J., Yu, Q. HIFI-α activation underlies a functional switch in the paradoxical role of Ezh2/PRC2 in breast cancer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 113, E3735 (2016).


Materials


NANOSTRUCTURED COATINGS TAKE A BITE OUT OF POLLUTANTS


LOW-COST IRON HYDROXIDE COATINGS WITH UNIQUE FIN-LIKE SHAPES CAN CLEAN HEAVILY CONTAMINATED WATER WITH A SIMPLE DIPPING PROCEDURE


An A*STAR team has found a way to turn iron hydroxides into an environmentally friendly coating that repeatedly absorbs large amounts of pollutants, such as dyes, from drinking water at room temperature1. Conventional activated charcoal treatments


have trouble removing heavy metals and bulky organic compounds from water. Instead, iron hydroxides are being increasingly used because they can form stable chemical bonds to these unwanted pollutants. Researchers have recently found that turning iron particles into miniscule nanomaterials boosts their active surface areas and enhances chemical absorption processes. Separating iron hydroxide nanomaterials


from water, however, remains difficult. Commercial filtration systems and experimental magnetic treatments introduce significant


www.astar-research.com


complexity and cost into treatment plants. Failure to remove these substances may lead to acute or chronic health issues if they are ingested. To improve handling of the nanosized iron


hydroxides, Sing Yang Chiam from A*STAR’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering and co-workers decided to attach them to a solid, sponge-like support known as nickel foam. This type of material could safely trap and remove contaminants by immersion into dirty water, and then be regenerated with a simple chemical treatment. But immobilizing the nanoparticles also diminishes their valuable high surface areas — a paradox the team had to solve. “We were not totally convinced that a


coating approach could perform as well as traditional powders and particles,” says Chiam. “So we were really pleased when some


Iron-based coatings with elongated nanoscale ‘fins’ can easily absorb large amounts of dye molecules from contaminated water.


nice test results came through.” The A*STAR team found their answer by


synthesizing iron hydroxide coatings with a hierarchy of structural features, from nano- to micrometer scales. To do so, they turned to electrodeposition, a green synthesis method that


A*STAR RESEARCH 29


Reprinted from Ref. 1 with permission of The Royal Society of Chemistry


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