Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Qiwei Wu, Xiaodong Ma, Wenhui Zhou, Rong Yu, Jessica M. Rosenholm, Weizhong Tian, Lirong Zhang, Dongqing Wang, Hongbo Zhang
Summary: A stable nanoplatform combining chemotherapy with photodynamic therapy has been established for more effective treatment of pancreatic carcinoma. The designed TPG NPs can carry multiple drugs to improve targeting and enhance therapeutic effects against cancer cells.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Dengyuan Hao, Qian Meng, Chaonan Li, Shaojin Lu, Xiujuan Xiang, Qing Pei, Xiabin Jing, Zhigang Xie
Summary: Tuning the content of copper is highly significant for cancer and neurodegenerative disease treatment. A copper-chelating PTX prodrug was synthesized and could form stable nanoparticles in aqueous media. After internalization by tumor cells, the nanoparticles responded to redox-active species and released PTX, resulting in an enhanced therapeutic outcome for breast cancer with minimal systemic toxicity. This work provides insight into combining metabolic regulation and chemotherapy for malignant tumors.
Review
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Qing Pei, Bowen Jiang, Dengyuan Hao, Zhigang Xie
Summary: Chemotherapy plays a critical role in cancer treatment, especially for advanced and metastatic tumors. However, the therapeutic effect of Paclitaxel-based formulations is limited by off-target toxicity and drug resistance. Self-assembled PTX nanoparticles have shown promise in enhancing therapeutic index. This study summarizes the self-assembly strategy of PTX nanodrugs and outlines the advancements in tumor therapy, including mono chemotherapy, combination therapy, and theranostics.
ACTA PHARMACEUTICA SINICA B
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Qin Chen, Shu Xu, Shuo Liu, Yue Wang, Guangxuan Liu
Summary: Malignant tumor remains a major threat to human health. Although targeted therapeutic strategies have developed rapidly, treatments that act on a single target are prone to tumor resistance. Therefore, traditional broadspectrum chemotherapy still plays a critical role in clinical cancer therapy. However, most chemotherapeutic drugs have unsatisfactory therapeutic efficacy and severe off-target toxicity. To overcome this, researchers have focused on developing novel nano-formulations for efficient delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs.
JOURNAL OF CONTROLLED RELEASE
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Seo Yeon Kim, Min Jeong Jo, Moon Sup Yoon, Chae Eun Jin, Yu Been Shin, Jae Min Lee, Hee Ji Shin, Joon Gyo Oh, Jae Min Cho, Hyunjun Kim, Hyunjin Park, Yong-Won Choi, Chun-Woong Park, Jin-Seok Kim, Dae Hwan Shin
Summary: This study developed a drug delivery strategy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma using a thermosensitive gel, which successfully achieved controlled release of drugs based on the researchers' tolerance settings. The gel consisted of gemcitabine (GEM) and the mammalian TOR (mTOR) inhibitor rapamycin (RAPA), demonstrating good cytotoxicity and anti-tumor effects in in vitro and in vivo experiments.
JOURNAL OF CONTROLLED RELEASE
(2023)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Lei Luo, Yiming Qi, Hong Zhong, Shinan Jiang, Hu Zhang, Hao Cai, Yahui Wu, Zhongwei Gu, Qiyong Gong, Kui Luo
Summary: In this study, a redox-responsive polymeric prodrug was synthesized by RAFT polymerization for precise delivery of combinational therapeutic agents. The prodrug exhibited a chemo-photodynamic therapeutic effect to kill breast cancer cells and showed a remarkable in vivo anticancer efficacy. The findings suggest that the redox-responsive polymeric prodrug has great potential as an anti-cancer agent for combinational therapy.
ACTA PHARMACEUTICA SINICA B
(2022)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Shalini Gautam, Disha Marwaha, Neha Singh, Nikhil Rai, Madhu Sharma, Pratiksha Tiwari, Sandeep Urandur, Ravi Prakash Shukla, Venkatesh Teja Banala, Prabhat Ranjan Mishra
Summary: A two-tier approach was proposed for targeted combination therapy against metastatic breast cancer. It involves the development of a paclitaxel-loaded micellar system and the chemical anchoring of hyaluronic acid to achieve CD44 receptor mediated targeting. The combination of paclitaxel and betulinic acid showed significant synergy. The integrated system exhibited preferential CD44-mediated uptake and rapid release of drugs in response to higher glutathione concentrations. In vivo administration of targeted micelles resulted in improved pharmacokinetic parameters and significant tumor growth inhibition in mice.
MOLECULAR PHARMACEUTICS
(2023)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Yuang Chen, Yixian Huang, Qinzhe Li, Zhangyi Luo, Ziqian Zhang, Haozhe Huang, Jingjing Sun, LinXinTian Zhang, Runzi Sun, Daniel J. Bain, James F. Conway, Binfeng Lu, Song Li
Summary: The activation of scramblases, a mechanism that regulates the exposure of phosphatidylserine on cell surfaces, plays an important role in tumor immunosuppression. In this study, the researchers found that chemotherapeutic agents induce overexpression of a specific scramblase, Xkr8, in cancer cells. They developed a nanocarrier that can deliver Xkr8 short interfering RNA and a cancer prodrug to tumors, leading to significant inhibition of tumor growth and increased antitumor immune response in animal models. Targeting Xkr8 in combination with chemotherapy may be a promising strategy for treating different types of cancers.
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Renshuai Zhang, Xiaohua Zhao, Ang Jia, Chao Wang, Hongfei Jiang
Summary: Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a natural polysaccharide that has gained significant attention for its improved tumor targeting capacity, enzyme degradation capacity, and excellent biocompatibility. Its receptor, CD44, is overexpressed in various cancer cells and is closely related to tumor progress and metastasis. Therefore, researchers have designed HA-based drug delivery platforms for CD44-mediated tumor targeting. HA-based nanoprodrugs possess distinct advantages such as good bioavailability, long circulation time, and controlled drug release and retention ability, and have been extensively studied in the past years.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES
(2023)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Francesca Moret, Luca Menilli, Manuele Battan, Daniele Tedesco, Marta Columbaro, Andrea Guerrini, Greta Avancini, Claudia Ferroni, Greta Varchi
Summary: The study introduces a novel approach using TME-responsive nanoparticles to combine PTX prodrug and photosensitizer PheoA, aiming to achieve controlled release of PTX and synergistic effect of PheoA-mediated photodynamic therapy. Results demonstrate elevated cytotoxicity and significant reduction in drug dosage within cells using this method.
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Yajing Sun, Qingshan Yang, Xue Xia, Xiaozhe Li, Weimin Ruan, Meng Zheng, Yan Zou, Bingyang Shi
Summary: Researchers are focusing on developing polymeric nanoparticles targeted at mitochondria to enhance the efficiency of cancer therapy.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Hamed Nosrati, Farzad Seidi, Ali Hosseinmirzaei, Navid Mousazadeh, Ali Mohammadi, Mohammadreza Ghaffarlou, Hossein Danafar, Joao Conde, Ali Sharafi
Summary: Utilizing all-in-one nanoparticles for synchronous chemoradiotherapy significantly enhances cancer therapy efficacy, as demonstrated by studies on cell viability, proliferation, and ROS production. In vivo anticancer experiments show that the mPEG-CUR@Au system improves radiation sensitivity in 4T1 mammary carcinoma and completely eradicates breast cancer.
ADVANCED HEALTHCARE MATERIALS
(2022)
Review
Materials Science, Biomaterials
Raut Bholakant, Bin Dong, Xiang Zhou, Xin Huang, Changshun Zhao, Dechun Huang, Yinan Zhong, Hongliang Qian, Wei Chen, Jan Feijen
Summary: Combination therapy based on multifunctional polymeric micelles (PMs) plays a crucial role in cancer treatment by synergistically optimizing therapeutic outcomes and minimizing adverse effects. Strategies such as combining multiple anticancer drugs and chemo-gene therapy are emerging as key research focuses in this field.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY B
(2021)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Bingbing Zhao, Yuqing Wan, Xiang Zhou, Junmei Zhang, Jiaxin Chen, Jiachen Yang, Yunzhu Liu, Wei Chen, Yinan Zhong, Hongliang Qian
Summary: By incorporating a bombesin (BBN)-decorated two-in-one prodrug (T-NO/E-2-PMs) into the body, the expression of androgen receptor (AR) can be inhibited, the tumor microenvironment of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) can be reprogrammed, and the therapeutic effect of estradiol on hypoxic CRPC can be enhanced.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ashok Kumar Jangid, Deep Pooja, Poonam Jain, Nitin Gupta, Shwathy Ramesan, Hitesh Kulhari
Summary: A pH-responsive self-assembled nanomicelle system was designed to improve the delivery of paclitaxel to breast cancer cells. The nanomicelles released PTX in response to varying pH environments, exhibiting superior cytotoxicity compared to free PTX against MDA-MB-231 cells, inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. These findings suggest a promising approach for breast cancer treatment using pluronic nanomicelles.
Article
Oncology
Sung-Ill Jang, Jae-Hee Cho, So-Young Kim, In-Young Hong, Joon-Seong Park, Hye-Sun Lee, Goeun Park, Jong-Kyoung Kim, Hyung-Keun Lee, Dong-Ki Lee
Summary: This study identified IL-7R as a potential early diagnostic biomarker for PDAC and demonstrated that the combination of IL-7R and CA19-9 can improve diagnostic performance.
Editorial Material
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Sung Iii Jang, Dong Ki Lee
Article
Biophysics
Jeong Moon, Jayeon Song, Hyowon Jang, Hyunju Kang, Yong-Min Huh, Hye Young Son, Hyun Wook Rho, Mirae Park, Chandana S. Talwar, Kwang-Hyun Park, Euijeon Woo, Jaewoo Lim, Eun-Kyung Lim, Juyeon Jung, Yongwon Jung, Hyun Gyu Park, Taejoon Kang
Summary: In this study, a ligation-free DNA extension method for nucleic acid amplification was developed. This method allows for high sensitivity detection of target RNA and shows potential applications in cancer companion diagnostics and other gene detection platforms.
BIOSENSORS & BIOELECTRONICS
(2022)
Article
Biophysics
Jinyoung Kim, Joowon Park, Jisun Ki, Hyun Wook Rho, Yong-Min Huh, Eunjung Kim, Hye Young Son, Seungjoo Haam
Summary: Breast cancer is a common global cancer, and early detection is crucial for improving the 5-year survival rate. In this study, the combination of seed-mediated grown silver nanopillars and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy was used for rapid and sensitive detection of circulating miRNA in breast cancer.
BIOSENSORS & BIOELECTRONICS
(2022)
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Seung-Hyun Yang, Yuna Choi, Mirae Park, Hye-Young Son, Yong-Min Huh, Chan Gyu Joo
Summary: This study investigated the potential use of alanine as an MRI contrast agent and measured its relaxation properties in solution. The uptake of alanine in a mouse xenograft model of glioblastoma was measured using MRI and compared with immunohistochemistry staining. Statistically significant differences in ASCT2 distribution were found between regions with strong and weak alanine uptake in MRI.
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Sihwa Joo, Ui Jin Lee, Hye Young Son, Moonil Kim, Yong-Min Huh, Tae Geol Lee, Mina Lee
Summary: miRNAs play a crucial role in regulating gene expression and are potential biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. A highly selective miRNA detection method using FRET technology was developed, allowing for accurate measurement of miRNA concentrations and discrimination of nucleotide mismatches.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ilkoo Noh, Zhongyuan Guo, Jiarong Zhou, Weiwei Gao, Ronnie H. Fang, Liangfang Zhang
Summary: Vaccination with nanovaccines based on bacterial outer membrane has shown promising results in protecting against antibiotic-resistant infections. The cellular nanodiscs developed in this study effectively interact with antigen-presenting cells and can efficiently transport to lymph nodes. In a murine model, the nanovaccine elicits potent immune responses and confers protection against subsequent lung infection.
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Jiwon Kim, Incheol Heo, Quy Son Luu, Quynh Thi Nguyen, Uyen Thi Do, Nicholas Whiting, Seung-Hyun Yang, Yong-Min Huh, Sun-Joon Min, Jeong Hyun Shim, Won Cheol Yoo, Youngbok Lee
Summary: 29Si silica nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs) show promise as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) probes, due to their biocompatibility and dispersibility. However, using dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) for SiO2 NPs has been challenging due to the lack of required electronic defects. In this study, SiO2 NPs were synthesized with selective 29Si isotope enrichment and optimal DNP signal enhancement was achieved by controlling the proportion of 29Si in the shell layer. The effective hyperpolarization depth was found to be less than 10 nm, indicating improved diffusion length for the shell-enriched NPs compared to natural abundance NPs.
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Seung-Hyun Yang, Kiyoung Jeong, Jaemoon Yang, Hye Young Son, Jin-Suck Suh, Yong-Min Huh, Seung Jae Oh
Summary: This study used magnetic resonance thermometry to investigate the temperature increases and thermal transfer during plasmonic photothermal therapy with gold nanorods. The results showed that MR thermometry can be a useful tool for monitoring the therapy and establishing ideal laser irradiation conditions.
CURRENT APPLIED PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zhongyuan Guo, Jiarong Zhou, Yiyan Yu, Nishta Krishnan, Ilkoo Noh, Audrey Ting Zhu, Raina M. Borum, Weiwei Gao, Ronnie H. Fang, Liangfang Zhang
Summary: Researchers have explored the use of nanoparticulate strategies for more effective antigen delivery to the immune system. They formulated nanotoxoids against staphylococcal alpha-hemolysin and embedded them into a DNA-based hydrogel with immunostimulatory CpG motifs to improve immunogenicity. The resulting nanoparticle-hydrogel composite enhances vaccine delivery and stimulates immune responses, providing protection against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Oncology
Munseok Choi, Minsu Park, Sung Hwan Lee, Min Jung Lee, Young-Ki Paik, Sung Il Jang, Dong Ki Lee, Sang-Guk Lee, Chang Moo Kang
Summary: This study developed a diagnostic calculator based on serum metabolites for detecting pancreatic cancer (PC) with high accuracy. The predictive performance of two models, OPLS-DA and SPLS-DA, were compared and a set of 76 metabolite candidates were identified. The developed model showed high diagnostic performance in differentiating PC from other diseases.
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Xiangzhao Ai, Dan Wang, Ilkoo Noh, Yaou Duan, Zhidong Zhou, Nilesh Mukundan, Ronnie H. Fang, Weiwei Gao, Liangfang Zhang
Summary: This study reports a novel detoxification strategy against botulinum toxin (BoNT) using glycan-modified cellular nanosponges. The study demonstrates that higher levels of gangliosides on the cellular nanosponges result in greater binding capacities with BoNT, showing superior efficacy in neutralizing BoNT cytotoxicity in vitro and in a mouse model of BoNT intoxication. This research highlights the potential of cellular nanosponges, especially when modified with glycans, as a promising countermeasure platform against BoNT and related clostridial toxins.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zhongyuan Guo, Ilkoo Noh, Audrey T. T. Zhu, Yiyan Yu, Weiwei Gao, Ronnie H. H. Fang, Liangfang Zhang
Summary: Cell membrane-based nanovaccines incorporating adjuvants have shown promising features for antitumor vaccination. This study presents cellular nanodiscs made from cancer cell membranes and a lipid-based adjuvant. The nanodiscs are efficiently taken up by antigen-presenting cells and stimulate the immune system, leading to effective control of tumor growth in both prophylactic and therapeutic settings, especially when combined with checkpoint blockades. These multiantigenic nanovaccines hold potential for activating antitumor immune responses in a wide range of cancers.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jeongsoo Kim, Seungri Song, Hongseong Kim, Bora Kim, Mirae Park, Seung Jae Oh, Daesuk Kim, Barry Cense, Yong-min Huh, Joo Yong Lee, Chulmin Joo
Summary: In this study, a lens-less polarization-sensitive microscopy method is proposed for complex and birefringence imaging of transparent objects. The method achieves high-resolution imaging without the need for optical lenses or moving parts.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Oncology
Sung Ill Jang, Ji Hae Nahm, See Young Lee, Jae Hee Cho, Min-Young Do, Joon Seong Park, Hye Sun Lee, Juyeon Yang, Jiwon Kong, Seunghwan Jung, Sunghoon Kim, Dong Ki Lee
Summary: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a major cause of cancer-related deaths, but there is a lack of effective prognostic markers. This study found that expression of MARS1 is significantly increased in PDAC and high expression is associated with poor prognosis in patients.
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Lin-Lin Luo, Jie Xu, Bing-Qiao Wang, Chen Chen, Xi Chen, Qiu-Mei Hu, Yu-Qiu Wang, Wan-Yun Zhang, Wan-Xiang Jiang, Xin-Ting Li, Hu Zhou, Xiao Xiao, Kai Zhao, Sen Lin
Summary: A novel AAV serotype, AAVYC5, introduced in this study, showed more efficient transduction into multiple retinal layers compared to AAV2, and enabled successful delivery of anti-angiogenic molecules in mice and non-human primates.
