Sialic acid-engineered mesoporous polydopamine nanoparticles loaded with SPIO and Fe3+ as a novel theranostic agent for T1/T2 dual-mode MRI-guided combined chemo-photothermal treatment of hepatic cancer

Recent advances in hepatocellular carcinoma therapeutic strategies and imaging-guided treatment

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant cancer in the world, which greatly threatens human health. However, the routine treatment strategies for HCC have failed to specifically eradicate the tumorigenic cells, leading to the occurrence of metastasis and recurrence. To improve treatment efficacies, the development of novel effective technologies is urgently required. Recently, nanotechnologies have gained the extensive attention in cancer targeted therapy, which could provide a promising way for HCC clinical practice. However, a successful cancer management depends on accurate diagnosis of the tumour along with precise therapeutic protocol, thereby predicting the tumour response to existing therapies. The synergistic effect of targeted therapeutic systems and imaging approaches (also called 'imaging-guided cancer treatment') may establish a more effective platform for individual cancer care. This review outlines the recent advanced nano-targeted and -traceable therapeutic strategies for HCC management. The multifunctional nano agents that have both diagnosis and therapy abilities are highlighted. Finally, we conclude with our perspectives on the future development and challenges of HCC nanotheranostics.

A Melanin-like Nanoenzyme for Acute Lung Injury Therapy via Suppressing Oxidative and Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Response

Nanoenzyme-mediated catalytic activity is emerging as a novel strategy for reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging in acute lung injury (ALI) treatment. However, one of the main hurdles for these metal-containing nanoenzymes is their potential toxicity and single therapeutic mechanism. Herein, we uncovered a melanin-like nanoparticles derived from the self-polymerization of 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene (PDH nanoparticles), showing a significant anti-inflammation therapeutic effect on ALI mice. The prepared PDH nanoparticles rich in phenol groups could not only act as radical scavengers to alleviate oxidative stress but could also chelate calcium overload to suppress the endoplasmic reticulum stress response. As revealed by the therapeutic effect in vivo, PDH nanoparticles significantly prohibited neutrophil infiltration and the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and IL-6), thus improving the inflammatory cascade in the ALI model. Above all, our work provides an effective anti-inflammatory nanoplatform by using the inherent capability of melanin-like nanoenzymes, proposing the potential application prospects of these melanin-like nanoparticles for acute inflammation-induced injury treatment.

Recent development for biomedical applications of magnetic nanoparticles

In recent decades, the use of engineered nanoparticles has been increasing in various sectors, including biomedicine, diagnosis, water treatment, and environmental remediation leading to significant public concerns. Among these nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have gained many attentions in medicine, pharmacology, drug delivery system, molecular imaging, and bio-sensing due to their various properties. In addition, various studies have reviewed MNPs main applications in the biomedical engineering area with intense progress and recent achievements. Nanoparticles, especially the magnetic nanoparticles, have recently been confirmed with excellent antiviral activity against different viruses, including SARS-CoV-2(Covid-19) and their recent development against Covid-19 also has also been discussed. This review aims to highlight the recent development of the magnetic nanoparticles and their biomedical applications such as diagnosis of diseases, molecular imaging, hyperthermia, bio-sensing, gene therapy, drug delivery and the diagnosis of Covid-19.

Application of lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles for cancer treatment: a review

With the excellent ability to transform near-infrared light to localized visible or UV light, thereby achieving deep tissue penetration, lanthanide ion-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNP) have emerged as one of the most striking nanoscale materials for more effective and safer cancer treatment. Up to now, UCNPs combined with photosensitive components have been widely used in the delivery of chemotherapy drugs, photodynamic therapy and photothermal therapy. Applications in these directions are reviewed in this article. We also highlight microenvironmental tumor monitoring and precise targeted therapies. Then we briefly summarize some new trends and the existing challenges for UCNPs. We hope this review can provide new ideas for future cancer treatment based on UCNPs.

Recent Advances in Multimodal Molecular Imaging of Cancer Mediated by Hybrid Magnetic Nanoparticles

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world, which is why it is so important to make an early and very precise diagnosis to obtain a good prognosis. Thanks to the combination of several imaging modalities in the form of the multimodal molecular imaging (MI) strategy, a great advance has been made in early diagnosis, in more targeted and personalized therapy, and in the prediction of the results that will be obtained once the anticancer treatment is applied. In this context, magnetic nanoparticles have been positioned as strong candidates for diagnostic agents as they provide very good imaging performance. Furthermore, thanks to their high versatility, when combined with other molecular agents (for example, fluorescent molecules or radioisotopes), they highlight the advantages of several imaging techniques at the same time. These hybrid nanosystems can be also used as multifunctional and/or theranostic systems as they can provide images of the tumor area while they administer drugs and act as therapeutic agents. Therefore, in this review, we selected and identified more than 160 recent articles and reviews and offer a broad overview of the most important concepts that support the synthesis and application of multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles as molecular agents in advanced cancer detection based on the multimodal molecular imaging approach.

Red Fluorescent Emissive Gd-Phenolic Nanoparticles for In Vivo Fluorescence and Magnetic Resonance Bimodal Imaging

Due to the combination of the high resolution of fluorescence imaging and the no limitation in penetration depth of magnetic resonance imaging, dual-mode imaging of magnetic resonance and fluorescence (MR/FI) have attracted extensive research in recent years. Herein, a novel MR/FI bimodal imaging probe is facile fabricated by attaching the rhodamine fluorophore covalently to the surface of the Gd-phenolic coordination polymer nanoparticles. The contents of Gd³⁺ and RB of the as prepared probe are calculated to be 8.2% and 12.5%. The quantum yield of the probe is about 8.84% as well as red fluorescent emissive. The longitudinal r1 value is 6.94 mM^-1 s^-1 and the ratio r2/r1 is very low and about 1.22. Subsequently, the and MR imaging and fluorescence both in vitro and In Vivo are performed. The metabolic pathways In Vivo are inferred by studying the bio-distribution of the probe in major organs. The as-prepared probe exhibits excellent imaging performance and biocompatibility, which is conducive to its further application.

Biodegradable cascade nanocatalysts enable tumor-microenvironment remodeling for controllable CO release and targeted/synergistic cancer nanotherapy

Gas therapy as an emerging therapeutic modality for cancer treatment is still facing critical challenges such as precise delivery and controllable release of therapeutic gas. Herein, we report a "tumor-microenvironment remodeling" strategy for in situ sustained release of CO gas and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-monitored targeted/synergistic cancer gas/starvation nanotherapy by engineering cascade biodegradable nanocatalyst. The nanocatalyst integrates the enzyme catalyst glucose oxidase (GOD) and H₂O₂-sensitive molecule manganese carbonyl (MnCO) entrapped biodegradable hollow mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles (HMONs). Especially, GOD is initially exploited as a gatekeeper, followed by surface engineering with arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) for specifically targeting α_vβ₃ integrin-overexpressed cancer cells. The GOD is dissociated under reduced pH to release the loaded MnCO, and sequentially produce gluconic acid and H₂O₂ to remodel the TME for facilitating the in situ generation of CO/Mn²⁺. As systematically demonstrated both at cellular level and in an animal tumor xenograft model, the engineered nanocatalyst achieves superior theranostics performance via combinatorial CO gas and starving-like nanotherapy. This work provides an effective strategy for augmenting CO-mediated antitumor efficacy by remodeling the tumor microenvironment.

Intelligent Molybdenum Disulfide Complexes as a Platform for Cooperative Imaging-Guided Tri-Mode Chemo-Photothermo-Immunotherapy

Design of new nanoplatforms that integrates multiple imaging and therapeutic components for precision cancer nanomedicine remains to be challenging. Here, a facile strategy is reported to prepare polydopamine (PDA)-coated molybdenum disulfide (MoS2 ) nanoflakes as a nanocarrier to load dual drug cisplatin (Pt) and 1-methyl-tryptophan (1-MT) for precision tumor theranostics. Preformed MoS2 nanoflakes are coated with PDA, modified with methoxy-polyethylene glycol (PEG)-amine, and loaded with 1-MT and Pt. The formed functional 1-MT-Pt-PPDA@MoS2 (the second P stands for PEG) complexes exhibit good colloidal stability and photothermal conversion efficiency (47.9%), dual pH-, and photothermal-sensitive drug release profile, and multimodal thermal, computed tomography and photoacoustic imaging capability. Due to the respective components of Pt, MoS2 , and 1-MT that can block the immune checkpoint associated to tumoral indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-induced tryptophan metabolism, tri-mode chemo-photothermo-immunotherapy of tumors can be realized. In particular, under the near infrared laser irradiation, fast release of both drugs can be facilitated to achieve cooperative tumor therapy effect, and the combined immunogenic cell death induced by the dual-mode chemo-photothermo treatment and the 1-MT-induced immune checkpoint blockade can boost enhanced antitumor immune response to generate significant cytotoxic T cells for tumor killing. The developed 1-MT-Pt-PPDA@MoS2 complexes may be used as an intelligent nanoplatform for cooperative precision imaging-guided combinational tumor therapy.

Detection of sialic acid using boronic-acid-functionalized metal organic framework UiO-66-NH2@B(OH)2

Sialic acid (SA) is a crucial component of glycoproteins and glycolipids on the cellular membrane, which is essential for maintaining the function of cell membranes, such as cell recognition and communication. Simultaneously, sialic acid plays a significant role in many physiological and pathological processes. Hence, it is urgent to develop a simple and sensitive strategy for determining sialic acid. In this work, a new metal-organic framework called UiO-66-NH₂@B(OH)₂ has been designed and synthesized for the recognition and detection of sialic acid. The boronic acid functional group in UiO-66-NH₂@B(OH)₂ can bind to a diol moiety of the glycerol side chain of sialic acid, which will attenuate or even quench the fluorescence of UiO-66-NH₂@B(OH)₂, thus opening a new road to detect sialic acid. Based on the measurement results, sialic acid can be quantitatively measured in a linear range of 0.05-2.5 mmoL/L with the UiO-66-NH₂@B(OH)₂ probe. The detection limit of sialic acid is as low as 0.025 mmol/L. Furthermore, the boronic-acid functionalized probe UiO-66-NH₂@B(OH)₂ displays high sensitivity and high selectivity to recognize the sialic acid in mouse serum samples. Therefore, the developed UiO-66-NH₂@B(OH)₂ can be used as a promising probe to identify and detect sialic acid in the practical application.

Dendrimers based cancer nanotheranostics: An overview

Cancer is a known deadliest disease that requires a judicious diagnostic, targeting, and treatment strategy for an early prognosis and selective therapy. The major pitfalls of the conventional approach are non-specificity in targeting, failure to precisely monitor therapy outcome, and cancer progression leading to malignancies. The unique physicochemical properties offered by nanotechnology derived nanocarriers have the potential to radically change the landscape of cancer diagnosis and therapeutic management. An integrative approach of utilizing both diagnostic and therapeutic functionality using a nanocarrier is termed as nanotheranostic. The nanotheranostics platform is designed in such a way that overcomes various biological barriers, efficiently targets the payload to the desired locus, and simultaneously supports planning, monitoring, and verification of treatment delivery to demonstrate an enhanced therapeutic efficacy. Thus, a nanotheranostic platform could potentially assist in drug targeting, image-guided focal therapy, drug release and distribution monitoring, predictionof treatment response, and patient stratification. A class of highly branched nanocarriers known as dendrimers is recognized as an advanced nanotheranostic platform that has the potential to revolutionize the oncology arena by its unique and exciting features. A dendrimer is a well-defined three-dimensional globular chemical architecture with a high level of monodispersity, amenability of precise size control, and surface functionalization. All the dendrimer properties exhibit a reproducible pharmacokinetic behavior that could ensure the desired biodistribution and efficacy. Dendrimers are thus being exploited as a nanotheranostic platform embodying a diverse class of therapeutic, imaging, and targeting moieties for cancer diagnosis and treatment.