Nanotheranostics

Liver diseases are responsible for over 2 million deaths each year and the number is rapidly increasing. There is a strong link between edibles, gut microbiota, liver fat and the liver damage. There are very limited therapeutic options for treatment specifically for Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and Non-Alcoholic liver disease (NAFLD). Recently, identified Edible Exosomes-like nanoparticles (ELNs) are plant derived membrane bound particles, released by microvesicular bodies for cellular communication and regulate immune responses against many pathogens...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.7150/ntno.25119.].

Detection of solid tumours through tissue- from depths relevant to humans- has been a significant challenge for biomedical Raman spectroscopy. The combined use of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) imaging agents with deep Raman spectroscopy (DRS), i.e., surface enhanced deep Raman spectroscopy (SEDRS), offer prospects for overcoming such obstacles. In this study, we investigated the maximum detection depth through which the retrieval of SERS signal of a passively targeted biphenyl-4-thiol tagged gold nanoparticle (NP) imaging agent, injected subcutaneously into a mouse bearing breast cancer tumour, was possible...

Background: Numbers of HIV latency reversal agents (LRAs) have been tested in clinical trials, but with limited effect. EK-16A is an ingenol derivative that isolated from Euphorbia kansui . Our prior studies have suggested that it could reactivate latent HIV and meanwhile inhibit HIV infection in vitro . Here, we further advanced the research in vivo . Methods: In vitro , the activity of EK-16A liposomes was measured in HIV latently infected cells. In serum pharmacology test, BALB/c mice were orally administered with EK-16A liposomes, serum was separated and co-cultured with cells, HIV reactivation was measured...

Recent years have seen considerable progress in the development of nanomedicine by the advent of 2D nanomaterials serving as ideal platforms to integrate multiple theranostic functions. We synthesized multifunctional stimuli-responsive 2D-based smart nanocomposites (NCs), comprising gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and superparamagnetic iron oxides (SPIOs) scaffolded within graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets, coated with doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded 1-tetradecanol (TD), and further modified with an alginate (Alg) polymer...

Lanthanide-based beta-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) upconversion nanoparticles are exploited as a non-viral vector for imaging guided-gene therapy by virtue of their unique optical properties and multi-modality imaging ability, high transfection efficiency, high biocompatibility, dispersibility, simplicity of synthesis and surface modification. Ytterbium and thulium-doped β-TCP nanoparticles (βTCPYbTm) are synthesized via co-precipitation method, coated with polyethylenimine (PEI) and functionalized with a nuclear-targeting peptide (TAT)...

Novel targeted therapies are rapidly emerging for the treatment of cancer. With the advent of new immune targeting agents, understanding the changes in the tumor microenvironment (TME) is critical. Given the complexity and several cellular mechanisms and factors that play a role in the TME, novel imaging methods to assess and evaluate the dynamic changes in the TME during treatment are needed. Several techniques are being developed for imaging TME including optical, fluorescence and photoacoustic methods. Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging can be used to track the dynamics of different molecular targets in the TME in live animals and in humans...

Gas-core nanoscale bubbles (or nanobubbles) have gained significant recent attention as promising contrast agents for cancer molecular imaging using medical ultrasound. Previous work has shown that active targeting of nanobubbles to tumor biomarkers such as the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) significantly prolongs ultrasound signal enhancement, which is a critical feature for successful tumor diagnosis. However, the specific mechanism behind this effect is not well understood, and has not been previously studied in detail...

Cell surface marker expression in tumors dictates the selection of therapeutics, therapy response, and survival. However, biopsies are invasive, sample only a small area of the tumor landscape and may miss significant areas of heterogeneous expression. Here, we investigated the potential of antibody-conjugated surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering nanoparticles (SERRS-NPs) to depict and quantify high and low tumoral surface marker expression, focusing on the surface markers epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) in an intracerebral and peripheral setting with an inter- and intratumoral comparison of Raman signal intensities...

Background: Immune checkpoint therapies are effective in the treatment of a subset of patients in many different cancers. Immunotherapy offers limited efficacy in part because of rapid drug clearance and off-target associated toxicity. PEG-PLGA is a FDA approved, safe, biodegradable polymer with flexible size control. The delivery of immune checkpoint inhibitors such as anti-PD-L1 (α-PD-L1) via PEG-PLGA polymer has the potential to increase bioavailability and reduce immune clearance to enhance clinical efficacy and reduce toxicity...

Mild hyperthermia (HT) (40-43 °C) has been combined with temperature-sensitive liposomes (TSL), offering on-demand drug release for increased drug bioavailability and reduced systemic toxicity. Different HT regimens have been applied to trigger liposome drug release in the blood vessels (intravascular) of heated tumours or following tumour extravasation (interstitial). The present study systematically assessed the in vivo doxorubicin (Dox) release and therapeutic efficacy of Dox-loaded TSL with different release profiles...

Rationale: The treatment of microvascular obstruction (MVO) using ultrasound-targeted LNP cavitation (UTC) therapy mechanically relieves the physical obstruction in the microcirculation but does not specifically target the associated inflammatory milieu. Electrophilic fatty acid nitroalkene derivatives (nitro-fatty acids), that display pleiotropic anti-inflammatory signaling and transcriptional regulatory actions, offer strong therapeutic potential but lack a means of rapid targeted delivery. The objective of this study was to develop nitro-fatty acid-containing lipid nanoparticles (LNP) that retain the mechanical efficacy of standard LNP and can rapidly target delivery of a tissue-protective payload that reduces inflammation and improves vascular function following ischemia-reperfusion...

Graphene quantum dots (GQD) have attracted much attention due to their unique properties in biomedical application, such as biosensing, imaging, and drug delivering. However, scale preparing red luminescing GQD is still challenging now. Herein, with the help of electron beam irradiation, a simple, rapid, and efficient up-to-down strategy was developed to synthesize GQD with size of 2.75 nm emitting 610 nm luminescence. GQD were further functionalized with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and exhibited good solubility and biocompatibility...

Assessment and enhancement of liver clearance are promising strategies for protection of liver from various liver diseases. Iron-tannic nanoparticles (FTs) were previously considered as imageable autophagic enhancers with biodegradation potential. Herein, we present a new approach for utilizing Iron-tannic nanoparticles (FTs) as a tool for imaging and increasing liver clearance. Pharmacokinetic profiling suggested that FTs were initially found in blood circulation and thereafter were distributed to the liver...

The application of nanomaterials made of rare earth elements within biomedical sciences continues to make significant progress. The rare earth elements, also called the lanthanides, play an essential role in modern life through materials and electronics. As we learn more about their utility, function, and underlying physics, we can contemplate extending their applications to biomedicine. This particularly applies to diagnosis and radiation therapy due to their relatively unique features, such as an ultra-wide Stokes shift in the luminescence, variable magnetism and potentially tunable properties, due to the library of lanthanides available and their multivalent oxidation state chemistry...

Flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) plays a key role in an extensive range of cellular oxidation-reduction reactions, which is engaged in metabolic pathways. The purpose of this study was to realize pegylated flavins formulation, named FAD and FAD-PEG diacid complex as theranostic tool in cancer therapy. For this objective, a murine breast cancer model, which was induced by mouse-derived4T1 breast cancer cells was studied to assess the therapeutic efficacy of FAD (named NP1) and FAD-PEG diacid complex (named NP2)...

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the predominant subtype of liver cancer with an extraordinary high mortality. Resistance to systemic therapy is a major cause of inferior clinical outcome in most patients with HCC. CD44 is a transmembrane cell-surface glycoprotein that is characterized by its variants displaying differential overexpression in human cancers. Aptamers, also known as chemical antibodies, can target cell-surface molecules with high affinity and specificity via structural recognition...

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), composited with metal ions and organic linkers, have become promising candidates in the biomedical field own to their unique properties, such as high surface area, pore-volume, tunable pore size, and versatile functionalities. In this review, we introduce and summarize the synthesis and characterization methods of MOFs, and their bioimaging applications, including optical bioimaging, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and multi-mode. Furthermore, their bioimaging strategies, remaining challenges and future directions are discussed and proposed...

Cognitive impairment is a common aspect of multiple sclerosis (MS) for which there are no treatments. Reduced brain N -acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) levels are linked to impaired cognition in various neurological diseases, including MS. NAAG levels are regulated by glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII), which hydrolyzes the neuropeptide to N -acetyl-aspartate and glutamate. GCPII activity is upregulated multifold in microglia following neuroinflammation. Although several GCPII inhibitors, such as 2-PMPA, elevate brain NAAG levels and restore cognitive function in preclinical studies when given at high systemic doses or via direct brain injection, none are clinically available due to poor bioavailability and limited brain penetration...

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