Overview on experimental models of interactions between nanoparticles and the immune system

Nanoparticles and targeted drug delivery in cancer therapy

Surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and hormone therapy are the main common anti-tumor therapeutic approaches. However, the non-specific targeting of cancer cells has made these approaches non-effective in the significant number of patients. Non-specific targeting of malignant cells also makes indispensable the application of the higher doses of drugs to reach the tumor region. Therefore, there are two main barriers in the way to reach the tumor area with maximum efficacy. The first, inhibition of drug delivery to healthy non-cancer cells and the second, the direct conduction of drugs into tumor site. Nanoparticles (NPs) are the new identified tools by which we can deliver drugs into tumor cells with minimum drug leakage into normal cells. Conjugation of NPs with ligands of cancer specific tumor biomarkers is a potent therapeutic approach to treat cancer diseases with the high efficacy. It has been shown that conjugation of nanocarriers with molecules such as antibodies and their variable fragments, peptides, nucleic aptamers, vitamins, and carbohydrates can lead to effective targeted drug delivery to cancer cells and thereby cancer attenuation. In this review, we will discuss on the efficacy of the different targeting approaches used for targeted drug delivery to malignant cells by NPs.

Pitfalls and Challenges in Nanotoxicology: A Case of Cobalt Ferrite (CoFe2O4) Nanocomposites

Nanotechnology is developing at a rapid pace with promises of a brilliant socio-economic future. The apprehensions of vivid future involvement with nanotechnology make nanoobjects ubiquitous in the macroscopic world of humans. Nanotechnology helps us to visualize the new mysterious horizons in engineering, sophisticated electronics, environmental remediation, biosensing, and nanomedicine. In all these hotspots, cobalt ferrite (CoFe) nanoparticles (NPs) are outstanding contestants because of their astonishing controllable physicochemical and magnetic properties with ease of synthesis methods. The extensive use of CoFe NPs may result in CoFe NPs easily penetrating the human body unintentionally by ingestion, inhalation, adsorption, etc. and intentionally being instilled into the human body during biomedical diagnostics and treatment. After being housed in the human body, it might induce oxidative stress, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, inflammation, apoptosis, and developmental, metabolic and hormonal abnormalities. In this review, we compiled the toxicity knowledge of CoFe NPs aimed to provide the safe usage of this breed of nanomaterials.

Multiple sclerosis: Therapeutic applications of advancing drug delivery systems

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system, which is accompanying with demyelination, neurodegeneration and sensibility to oxidative stress. In MS, auto-reactive lymphocytes cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and reside in the perivenous demyelinating lesions which create various distinct inflammatory demyelinated plaques situated predominantly in the white matter. The current MS-related therapeutic approaches can be classified into disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) and symptomatic therapy. DMTs suppress circulating immune cells, inhibit passing the BBB and decrease the inflammatory responses. Recent advances have remarkably delayed disease development and improved the quality of life for numerous patients. In spite of major improvements in therapeutic options, there are some limitations regarding the routes of administration and the necessity for repeated and long-term dosing in which cause to systemic disadvantageous consequences and patient non-compliance. Nanotechnology presents promising approaches to improve autoimmune disease treatment with the capability to overcome many of the limitations common to the current immunosuppressive and biological therapies. Here we emphasis on nanomedicine-based drug delivery approaches of biological immunomodulatory mediators for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. This comprehensive review details the most successful drugs in MS therapy and also focuses on conceptions and clinical potential of novel nanomedicine attitudes for inducing immunosuppression and immunological tolerance in MS to modulate abnormal and pathologic immune responses.