In recent years, it has become apparent that cancer nanomedicine’s reliance on synthetic nanoparticles as drug delivery systems has resulted in limited clinical outcomes. This is mostly due to a poor understanding of their “bio–nano” interactions. Protein-based nanoparticles (PNPs) are rapidly emerging as versatile vehicles for the delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic agents, offering a potential alternative to synthetic nanoparticles. PNPs are abundant in nature, genetically and chemically modifiable, monodisperse, biocompatible, and biodegradable. To harness their full clinical potential, it is important for PNPs to be accurately designed and engineered. In this review, we outline the recent advancements and applications of PNPs in cancer nanomedicine. We also discuss the future directions for PNP research and what challenges must be overcome to ensure their translation into the clinic.
This development of MRI-visual order-disorder structures for cancer nanomedicine explores pH-trigger mechanism for theragnosis of tumour hallmark functions. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) stabilised with amphiphilic poly(styrene)-b-poly(acrylic acid)-doxorubicin with folic acid (FA) surfacing is employed as a multi-functional approach to specifically target, diagnose and deliver drugs via a single nanoscopic platform for cancer therapy. The functional aspects of the micellar nanocomposite is investigated in vitro using human breast SkBr3 and colon cancer HCT116 cell lines for the delivery, release, localisation and anticancer activity of the drug. Our work shows, for the first time, concentration dependent T 2 -weighted MRI contrast for a monolayer of clustered cancer cells. The pH tunable order-disorder transition of the core-shell structure induces the relative changes in MRI contrast. The outcomes elucidate the potential of this material for smart cancer theranostics by delivering non-invasive real-time diagnosis, targeted therapy and monitoring the course and response of the action before, during and after the treatment regimen.Submitted to 3
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