Effective excretion of nanostructured noble metals is still one of the most challenging bottlenecks for their employment in clinical practice. Besides the persistence issue, the clinical translation of inorganic nanomaterials is also affected by a bewildering lack of investigations regarding their quantitative biokinetics. Here, we have quantitatively correlated the chemical nature of the three most interesting noble metals for biomedical applications to their biosafety and biokinetics in, respectively, zebrafish and murine models. Gold, silver, and platinum ultrasmall-in-nano architectures with comparable size elicit, after intravenous administration, different excretion pathways depending on their intrinsic metallic nature. Understanding the in vivo fate of noble metal nanoparticles is a significant breakthrough to unlock their clinical employment for the establishment of treatments for neoplasms, infectious diseases, and neurological disorders.

The persistence of metals in the body after the designed theranostic action has hampered the clinical translation of noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) to clinics. Therefore, the appealing behaviors of NPs for healthcare applications are still on the bench‐side. Here, quantitative evaluation in healthy murine models show that gold comprised in passion fruit‐like nanoarchitectures (NAs) are excreted daily over a 10 d period by both renal and biliary pathways after biodegradation to the building blocks. Furthermore, histological analyses confirm the absence of nephrotoxicity and the remarkable biocompatibility of NAs up to the higher tested amount of 150 mg kg−1. These in vivo findings demonstrate that NAs are the first full‐inorganic disassembling nanoplatforms exhibiting a noticeable excretion rate from model organisms. Such results are a significant step in bringing noble metal nanotheranostics to the forefront of cancer treatments once again.

Here, we report: (i) the straightforward production of narrow-NIR-absorbing gold ultrasmall-in-nano architectures (tNAs), and (ii) their suitability as excretable platforms for photothermal therapy upon CW-irradiation at 808 nm. These findings are a significant step toward the translation of metal nanotheranostics to cancer treatments.

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Among the organism’s entry portals, the respiratory tract is one of the most promising routes for a non-invasive administration of therapeutics for local and systemic delivery. On the other hand,...

Several nanomaterials rely on the passive accumulation in the neoplasm target because of enhanced permeability and retention effect. On the other hand, directing nanomaterials to the target by employing the targeting agents may lead to a pivotal improvement in the efficacy of the treatment for a number of cancers. However, targeting moieties often lose their functionality upon injection in the bloodstream, leaving questions on their efficiency. Here, we assessed using a significant in vitro 3D model of pancreatic carcinoma the targeting efficiency of passion fruit-like nanoarchitectures (NAs) incorporated with a peptide that can recognize transferrin directly in the medium, thereby modulating protein solvation. NAs are biodegradable ultrasmall-in-nano platforms that combine the most appealing behaviors of noble metal nanomaterials with organism excretion of the building blocks by the renal pathway. Although the confocal images did not illustrate the significant differences in the targeting efficiency of the peptide-modified NAs, an improved internalization was quantitatively observed by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry analysis. Our findings demonstrate that the peptide conjugation of NAs might be considered to enhance their theranostic potentials for this type of neoplasm.

Introduction: Advancements in cancer management and treatment are associated with strong preclinical research data, in which reliable cancer models are demanded. Indeed, inconsistent preclinical findings and stringent regulations following the 3Rs principle of reduction, refinement, and replacement of conventional animal models currently pose challenges in the development and translation of efficient technologies. The chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) is a system for the evaluation of treatment effects on the vasculature, therefore suitable for studies on angiogenesis. Apart from vascular effects, the model is now increasingly employed as a preclinical cancer model following tumorgrafting procedures. Areas covered: The broad application of CAM tumor model is highlighted along with the methods for analyzing the neoplasm and vascular system. The presented and cited investigations focus on cancer biology and treatment, encompassing both conventional and emerging nanomaterial-based modalities. Expert opinion: The CAM tumor model finds increased significance given the influences of angiogenesis and the tumor microenvironment in cancer behavior, then providing a qualified miniature system for oncological research. Ultimately, the establishment and increased employment of such a model may resolve some of the limitations present in the standard preclinical tumor models, thereby redefining the preclinical research workflow.