Encapsulation for Cancer Therapy

Abstract

The current rapid advancement of numerous nanotechnology tools is being employed in treatment of many terminal diseases such as cancer. Nanocapsules (NCs) containing an anti-cancer drug offer a very promising alternative to conventional treatments, mostly due to their targeted delivery and precise action, and thereby they can be used in distinct applications: as biosensors or in medical imaging, allowing for cancer detection as well as agents/carriers in targeted drug delivery. The possibility of using different systems—inorganic nanoparticles, dendrimers, proteins, polymeric micelles, liposomes, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), quantum dots (QDs), biopolymeric nanoparticles and their combinations—offers multiple benefits to early cancer detection as well as controlled drug delivery to specific locations. This review focused on the key and recent progress in the encapsulation of anticancer drugs that include methods of preparation, drug loading and drug release mechanism on the presented nanosystems. Furthermore, the future directions in applications of various nanoparticles are highlighted.

Gold Nanoparticles as Colorimetric Sensors for the Detection of DNA Bases and Related Compounds

“…This observation supports the proposed binding mode; otherwise, the NPs assembly Given that the only difference between uracil and cytosine is the amine group in the latter, this group must adsorb to the gold surface. We assumed a binding mode of the type shown in Scheme 3, where both the amine group and the N (3) are bonded to gold surface, in agreement with FTIR results by Borse et al [8], according to them, the change of the stretching bonds C (4) -NH 2 and C (4) -N (3) of cytosine are the most affected by the presence of AuNPs. Ab initio calculations, supported by spectroscopic experiments, point to metal surface adsorption via -NH 2 , where the N atom shows sp 3 hybridization [34].…”

“…The substitution of an exocyclic oxygen atom by a sulfur atom in 2TU or 4TU shifts to the red the maximum wavelength absorption; thus, 2TU shows two prominent absorption peaks due to π→π * transitions, while 4TU exhibits a strong absorption band representing π→π * transition and a weaker one at shorter wavelength, 242 nm, and no changes have been observed in mild acid medium. By contrast, the spectrum of cytosine changes from neutral to mild acid medium, and two clear isosbestic points were drawn attributed to the protonation at N (3) site since the pK a1 is around 4.4. In neutral medium, adenine shows a broad band at 261 nm that, in 10.4 mM of acetic acid, λ max shifts to 263 nm, which is consistent with protonation at N (1) H + whose equilibrium step has a pK a1 = 4.1 [27,28].…”

“…We assumed a binding mode of the type shown in Scheme 3, where both the amine group and the N(3) are bonded to gold surface, in agreement with FTIR results by Borse et al [8], according to them, the change of the stretching bonds C(4)-NH2 and C(4)-N(3) of cytosine are the most affected by the presence of AuNPs. Ab initio calculations, supported by spectroscopic experiments, point to metal surface adsorption via -NH2, where the N atom shows sp 3 hybridization [34].…”

“…Interactions between DNA nucleobases and noble metallic surfaces are important for the exploitation of the biological reactivity used in biosensor development, nanoparticle-assisted cancer treatment, and DNA microarray optimization [1][2][3]. In recent years, colorimetric assays based on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have emerged as a promising new method due to their unique and size-dependent optical, electrical, and catalytic properties [4][5][6][7][8].…”

Drug Delivery Systems of Natural Products in Oncology

“…There are many in vitro and in vivo studies focusing on drug delivery systems of natural compounds in the field of oncology aimed at improve their solubility, bioavailability and selectivity [ 23 , 121 , 122 , 123 ].…”