Traditional anticancer treatments have several limitations, but cancer is still one of the deadliest diseases. As a result, new anticancer drugs are required for the treatment of cancer. The use of metal nanoparticles (NPs) as alternative chemotherapeutic drugs is on the rise in cancer research. Metal NPs have the potential for use in a wide range of applications. Natural or surface-induced anticancer effects can be found in metals. The focus of this review is on the therapeutic potential of metal-based NPs. The potential of various types of metal NPs for tumor targeting will be discussed for cancer treatment. The in vivo application of metal NPs for solid tumors will be reviewed. Risk factors involved in the clinical application of metal NPs will also be summarized.

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Background Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising antitumor strategy with fewer adverse effects and higher selectivity than conventional therapies. Recently, a series of reports have suggested that PDT induced by Cerenkov radiation (CR) (CR-PDT) has deeper tissue penetration than traditional PDT; however, the strategy of coupling radionuclides with photosensitizers may cause severe side effects. Methods We designed tumor-targeting nanoparticles (131I-EM@ALA) by loading 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) into an 131I-labeled exosome mimetic (EM) to achieve combined antitumor therapy. In addition to playing a radiotherapeutic role, 131I served as an internal light source for the Cerenkov radiation (CR). Results The drug-loaded nanoparticles effectively targeted tumors as confirmed by confocal imaging, flow cytometry, and small animal fluorescence imaging. In vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that 131I-EM@ALA produced a promising antitumor effect through the synergy of radiotherapy and CR-PDT. The nanoparticles killed tumor cells by inducing DNA damage and activating the lysosome-mitochondrial pathways. No obvious abnormalities in the hematology analyses, blood biochemistry, or histological examinations were observed during the treatment. Conclusions We successfully engineered a nanocarrier coloaded with the radionuclide 131I and a photosensitizer precursor for combined radiotherapy and PDT for the treatment of breast cancer. Graphical Abstract

Significant prevalence rates of adolescent scoliosis in China were suggested in previous studies. However, school screenings for adolescent scoliosis have been suspended due to low rates of positive detection under the past screening system in China. The present study was undertaken to screen for adolescent scoliosis in middle school students under a modern assessment system in a district of Shanghai. We performed a population-based, cross-sectional study of a middle school scoliosis screening program in the Jingan district. In 2015, schoolchildren were initially screened by visual inspection of clinical signs and the forward-bending test. Suspected cases were referred for radiography in hospital for scoliosis diagnosis. A total of 5327 middle school students (grades 6–8) were screened with 520 (9.76%) positives (the positive rates of girls and boys at 15.28% and 4.59%, respectively) and no statistically significant difference among grades. Only 301 positives (57.9%) followed the referral for hospital radiography. There were 102 cases (33.9%) that were diagnosed with scoliosis by radiography criteria (Cobb angle ≥10°) including mild scoliosis (Cobb 10–25) for 94 cases and moderate scoliosis (Cobb 25–40) for 8 cases, and false-positives (Cobb 0) for 39 cases. The putative prevalence rate was estimated as 1.9% from the referred students. Under an accurate and modern assessment system, school screenings can detect scoliosis at a significant rate, but awareness of scoliosis risks is needed for residents in China to take up referrals for hospital diagnosis after school screenings.

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EZH2, the catalytic subunit of polycomb repressor complex 2, has oncogenic properties, whereas RASSF2A, a Ras association domain family protein, has a tumor suppressor role in many types of human cancer. However, the interrelationship between these two genes remains unclear. Here, we showed that the downregulation of EZH2 reduces CpG island methylation of the RASSF2A promoter, thereby leading to increased RASSF2A expression. Our findings also showed that knockdown of EZH2 increased RASSF2A expression in the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 in cooperation with DNMT1. This was similar to the effect of 5-Aza-CdR, a DNA methylation inhibitor that reactivates tumor suppressor genes and activated RASSF2A expression in our study. The EZH2 inhibitor DZNep markedly suppressed the proliferation, migration, and invasion of MCF-7 cells treated with ADR and TAM. EZH2 inhibits the expression of tumor suppressor gene RASSF2A via promoter hypermethylation. Thus, it plays an important role in tumorigenesis and is a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of breast cancer.

BackgroundPhotodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising antitumor strategy with fewer adverse effects and higher selectivity than conventional therapies. Recently, a series of reports have suggested that PDT (CR-PDT) induced by Cerenkov radiation (CR) has deeper tissue penetration than traditional PDT. While the combination strategy by coupling radionuclides with photosensitizers might cause severe side effects. MethodsWe designed tumor-targeting nanoparticles ( 131 I-EM@ALA) by loading 5-Aminolevulinic acid (ALA) into 131 I-labeled exosome mimetic (EM) to achieve combined antitumor therapy. In addition to the role of radiotherapy, 131 I can also serve as an internal light source for its Cerenkov radiation (CR). ResultsThe drug-loaded nanoparticles could effectively target tumors as confirmed by confocal imaging, flow cytometry, and small animal fluorescence imaging. The in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that 131 I-EM@ALA produced a promising antitumor effect by synergizing radiotherapy and CR-PDT. The nanoparticles killed tumor cells by inducing DNA damage and activating the lysosome-mitochondrial pathways. During the treatment, there were no obvious abnormalities found in hematology analyses, blood biochemistry, and histological examinations. ConclusionsWe successfully engineered nanocarrier coloaded with radionuclide 131 I and a photosensitizer precursor for combinational radiotherapy and PDT in treatment of breast cancer.

Background and AimsThe extent of surgical treatment for most patients with thyroid cancer (TC) remains controversial and varies widely. As an emerging technology, genetic testing facilitates tumor typing and disease progression monitoring and is expected to influence the choice of surgical approach for patients with TC. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified that rs2439302 (8p12) variants near NRG1 are associated with TC risk; however, the results remain inconclusive. Therefore, we aimed to perform a meta-analysis to clarify the association between rs2439302 variants and the risk of TC.MethodsWe search eligible studies using Pubmed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane library by July 2021. We analyzed the pooled OR and the corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of the included studies and then conducted subgroup analysis according to the ethnicity. We also performed a sensitivity analysis to validate the findings.ResultsThis meta-analysis finally included 7 studies involving 6,090 cases and 14,461 controls. Results showed that the G allele of the rs2439302 polymorphism was a significant risk factor of TC in Allele (G/C), Dominant (GG+GC/CC), Recessive (GG/GC+CC), Homozygote (GG/CC), Heterozygote (GC/CC) models, with pooled ORs of 1.38 (95%CI, 1.31–1.45), 1.51 (95%CI, 1.41–1.62), 1.52 (95%CI, 1.40–1.66), 1.90 (95%CI, 1.71–2.10), and 1.40 (95%CI, 1.30–1.51), respectively. The subgroup analysis showed that rs2439302 polymorphism was associated with higher TC risk in different ethnicities with OR > 1. The sensitivity analysis exhibited that the results were stable by omitting any included studies.ConclusionsThe study revealed that rs2439302 variants were associated with higher TC risk and may have a major influence on the choice of operative approach for patients with TC.