Janus nanostructures formed by mesoporous silica coating Au nanorods for near-infrared chemo–photothermal therapy

Mesoporous silica was partly coated on AuNRs (Janus AuNRs@mSiO₂) as a hyperthermia and drug delivery platform for chemo–photothermal therapy.

Epigallocatechin gallate based magnetic gold nanoshells nanoplatform for cancer theranostic applications

A new type of epigallocatechin gallate based magnetic core–shell nanoplatform for cancer theranostic applications.

An aza-BODIPY photosensitizer for photoacoustic and photothermal imaging guided dual modal cancer phototherapy

A novel NIR absorbing aza-BODIPY photosensitizer with high ¹O₂ quantum yield and excellent photothermal conversion efficiency was designed for synergistic phototherapy.

Gold nanoparticles enhance anti-tumor effect of radiotherapy to hypoxic tumor

Purpose

Hypoxia can impair the therapeutic efficacy of radiotherapy (RT). Therefore, a new strategy is necessary for enhancing the response to RT. In this study, we investigated whether the combination of nanoparticles and RT is effective in eliminating the radioresistance of hypoxic tumors.

Materials and Methods

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) consisting of a silica core with a gold shell were used. CT26 colon cancer mouse model was developed to study whether the combination of RT and GNPs reduced hypoxia-induced radioresistance. Hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) was used as a hypoxia marker. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining were conducted to evaluate cell death.

Results

Hypoxic tumor cells had an impaired response to RT. GNPs combined with RT enhanced anti-tumor effect in hypoxic tumor compared with RT alone. The combination of GNPs and RT decreased tumor cell viability compare to RT alone in vitro. Under hypoxia, tumors treated with GNPs + RT showed a higher response than that shown by tumors treated with RT alone. When a reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger was added, the enhanced antitumor effect of GNPs + RT was diminished.

Conclusion

In the present study, hypoxic tumors treated with GNPs + RT showed favorable responses, which might be attributable to the ROS production induced by GNPs + RT. Taken together, GNPs combined with RT seems to be potential modality for enhancing the response to RT in hypoxic tumors.

Dendrimer nanoarchitectures for cancer diagnosis and anticancer drug delivery

Dendrimers are novel nanoarchitectures with unique properties including a globular 3D shape, a monodispersed unimicellar nature and a nanometric size range. The availability of multiple peripheral functional groups and tunable surface engineering enable the facile modification of the dendrimer surface with different therapeutic drugs, diagnostic agents and targeting ligands. Drug encapsulation, and solubilizing and passive targeting also equally contribute to the therapeutic use of dendrimers. In this review, we highlight recent advances in the delivery of anticancer drugs using dendrimers, as well as other biomedical and diagnostic applications. Taken together, the immense potential and utility of dendrimers are envisaged to have a significant positive impact on the growing arena of drug delivery and targeting.

Cationic porphyrin@SPION nanospheres as multifunctional anticancer therapeutics: magnetic targeting, photodynamic potential and bio-safety research

Porphyrin@SPION nanospheres are described as pH-controllable, multifunctional photosensitizations with delivery bio-safety.

Multifunctional UCNPs@PDA-ICG nanocomposites for upconversion imaging and combined photothermal/photodynamic therapy with enhanced antitumor efficacy

Polydopamine (PDA)-shelled NaYF₄:Yb,Er@NaYF₄:Yb upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) capable of loading indocyanine green (ICG) molecules were successfully designed and synthesized.

BODIPY-containing nanoscale metal–organic frameworks for photodynamic therapy

BODIPY-immobilized metal–organic frameworks for photodynamic therapy were developed through solvent-assisted ligand exchange.