Paclitaxel (PTX) can bind to human serum albumin (HSA) via hydrophobic interaction, forming Abraxane, which is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved effective antitumor nanomedicine drug. Herein, the effective antitumor drug PTX is used to induce the self-assembly of HSA modified with either a photosensitizer chlorin e6 (Ce6), which at the same time serves as a chelating agent for Mn(2+) to enable magnetic resonance imaging, or acyclic Arg-Gly-Asp (cRGDyK) peptide that targets αvβ3-integrin overexpressed on tumor angiogenic endothelium. Two types of tumor-targeting theranostic nanoparticles are constructed, either by coassembly of both HSA-Ce6 and HSA-RGD simultaneously or by forming an HSA-Ce6@HSA-RGD core-shell structure, with the assistance of PTX-induced albumin aggregation. Such albumin-based nanoparticles on one hand could targetαvβ3-integrin, as evidenced by both in vitro and in vivo experiments, and on the other hand enable combined photodynamic/chemotherapy, which offers remarkably improved therapeutic efficacy to kill cancer in comparison to the respective monotherapies. Our work presents a new type of tumor-targeted multifunctional albumin-based nanoparticles by drug-induced self-assembly, which is a rather simple method without any sophisticated chemistry or materials engineering and is promising for multimodel imaging-guided combination therapy of cancer.

As an emerging drug carrier, hydrogels have been widely used for tumor drug delivery. A hydrogel drug carrier can cause less severe side effects than systemic chemotherapy and can achieve sustained delivery of a drug at tumor sites. In addition, hydrogels have excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability and lower toxicity than nanoparticle carriers. Smart hydrogels can respond to stimuli in the environment (e.g., heat, pH, light, and ultrasound), enabling in situ gelation and controlled drug release, which greatly enhance the convenience and efficiency of drug delivery. Here, we summarize the different sizes of hydrogels used for cancer treatment and their related delivery routes, discuss the design strategies for stimuli-responsive hydrogels, and review the research concerning smart hydrogels reported in the past few years.

Hypoxia, and hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), can induce tumor resistance to radiation therapy. To overcome hypoxia-induced radiation resistance, recent studies have described nanosystems to improve tumor oxygenation for immobilizing DNA damage and simultaneously initiate oxygen-dependent HIF-1α degradation. However, HIF-1α degradation is incomplete during tumor oxygenation treatment alone. Therefore, tumor oxygenation combined with residual HIF-1 functional inhibition is crucial to optimizing therapeutic outcomes of radiotherapy. Here, a reactive oxygen species (ROS) responsive nanoplatform is reported to successfully add up tumor oxygenation and HIF-1 functional inhibition. This ROS responsive nanoplatform, based on manganese dioxide (MnO) nanoparticles, delivers the HIF-1 inhibitor acriflavine and other hydrophilic cationic drugs to tumor tissues. After reacting with overexpressed hydrogen peroxide (HO) within tumor tissues, Mn and oxygen molecules are released for magnetic resonance imaging and tumor oxygenation, respectively. Cooperating with the HIF-1 functional inhibition, the expression of tumor invasion-related signaling molecules (VEGF, MMP-9) is obviously decreased to reduce the risk of metastasis. Furthermore, the nanoplatform could relieve T-cell exhaustion via downregulation of PD-L1, whose effects are similar to the checkpoint inhibitor PD-L1 antibody, and subsequently activates tumor-specific immune responses against abscopal tumors. These therapeutic benefits including increased X-ray-induced damage, downregulated resistance, and T-cell exhaustion related proteins expression achieved synergistically the optimal inhibition of tumor growth. Overall, this designed ROS responsive nanoplatform is of great potential in the sensitization of radiation for combating primary and metastatic tumors.

No abstract

No abstract

Quantum dots (QDs), also named semiconductor nanocrystals, have initiated a new realm of bioscience by combining nanomaterials with biology, which will profoundly influence future biological and biomedical research. In this review, we describe the extraordinary optical properties of QDs and developments in methods for their synthesis. We focus on fluorescent imaging with QDs both in vitro and in vivo, and the cytotoxicity of QDs and potential barriers to their use in practical biomedical applications. Finally, we provide insights into improvements aimed at decreasing the cytotoxicity of QDs and the future outlook of QD applications in biomedical fields.

No abstract

No abstract