Diversity of DNA Nanostructures and Applications in Oncotherapy

Engineering a pH-responsive polymeric micelle co-loaded with paclitaxel and triptolide for breast cancer therapy

Breast cancer has overtaken lung cancer as the number one cancer worldwide. Paclitaxel (PTX) is a widely used first-line anti-cancer drug, but it is not very effective in clinical breast cancer therapy. It has been reported that triptolide (TPL) can enhance the anticancer effect of paclitaxel, and better synergistic therapeutic effects are seen with concomitant administration of PTX and TPL. In this study, we developed pH-responsive polymeric micelles for co-delivery of PTX and TPL, which disassembling in acidic tumour microenvironments to target drug release and effectively kill breast cancer cells. Firstly, we synthesized amphiphilic copolymer mPEG2000-PBAE through Michael addition reaction, confirmed by various characterizations. Polymer micelles loaded with TPL and PTX (TPL/PTX-PMs) were prepared by the thin film dispersion method. The average particle size of TPL/PTX-PMs was 97.29 ± 1.63 nm, with PDI of 0.237 ± 0.003 and Zeta potential of 9.57 ± 0.80 mV, LC% was 6.19 ± 0.21%, EE% was 88.67 ± 3.06%. Carrier material biocompatibility and loaded micelle cytotoxicity were assessed using the CCK-8 method, demonstrating excellent biocompatibility. Under the same drug concentration, TPL/PTX-PMs were the most toxic to tumour cells and had the strongest proliferation inhibitory effect. Cellular uptake assays revealed that TPL/PTX-PMs significantly increased intracellular drug concentration and enhanced antitumor activity. Overall, pH-responsive micellar co-delivery of TPL and PTX is a promising approach for breast cancer therapy.

A review of DNA nanoparticles-encapsulated drug/gene/protein for advanced controlled drug release: Current status and future perspective over emerging therapy approaches

In the last ten years, the field of nanomedicine has experienced significant progress in creating novel drug delivery systems (DDSs). An effective strategy involves employing DNA nanoparticles (NPs) as carriers to encapsulate drugs, genes, or proteins, facilitating regulated drug release. This abstract examines the utilization of DNA NPs and their potential applications in strategies for controlled drug release. Researchers have utilized the distinctive characteristics of DNA molecules, including their ability to self-assemble and their compatibility with living organisms, to create NPs specifically for the purpose of delivering drugs. The DNA NPs possess numerous benefits compared to conventional drug carriers, such as exceptional stability, adjustable dimensions and structure, and convenient customization. Researchers have successfully achieved a highly efficient encapsulation of different therapeutic agents by carefully designing their structure and composition. This advancement enables precise and targeted delivery of drugs. The incorporation of drugs, genes, or proteins into DNA NPs provides notable advantages in terms of augmenting therapeutic effectiveness while reducing adverse effects. DNA NPs serve as a protective barrier for the enclosed payloads, preventing their degradation and extending their duration in the body. The protective effect is especially vital for delicate biologics, such as proteins or gene-based therapies that could otherwise be vulnerable to enzymatic degradation or quick elimination. Moreover, the surface of DNA NPs can be altered to facilitate specific targeting towards particular tissues or cells, thereby augmenting the accuracy of delivery. A significant benefit of DNA NPs is their capacity to regulate the kinetics of drug release. Through the manipulation of the DNA NPs structure, scientists can regulate the rate at which the enclosed cargo is released, enabling a prolonged and regulated dispensation of medication. This control is crucial for medications with limited therapeutic ranges or those necessitating uninterrupted administration to attain optimal therapeutic results. In addition, DNA NPs have the ability to react to external factors, including alterations in temperature, pH, or light, which can initiate the release of the payload at precise locations or moments. This feature enhances the precision of drug release control. The potential uses of DNA NPs in the controlled release of medicines are extensive. The NPs have the ability to transport various therapeutic substances, for example, drugs, peptides, NAs (NAs), and proteins. They exhibit potential for the therapeutic management of diverse ailments, including cancer, genetic disorders, and infectious diseases. In addition, DNA NPs can be employed for targeted drug delivery, traversing biological barriers, and surpassing the constraints of conventional drug administration methods.

Application of aptamer functionalized nanomaterials in targeting therapeutics of typical tumors

Cancer is a major cause of human death all over the world. Traditional cancer treatments include surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and hormone therapy. Although these conventional treatment methods improve the overall survival rate, there are some problems, such as easy recurrence, poor treatment, and great side effects. Targeted therapy of tumors is a hot research topic at present. Nanomaterials are essential carriers of targeted drug delivery, and nucleic acid aptamers have become one of the most important targets for targeted tumor therapy because of their high stability, high affinity, and high selectivity. At present, aptamer-functionalized nanomaterials (AFNs), which combine the unique selective recognition characteristics of aptamers with the high-loading performance of nanomaterials, have been widely studied in the field of targeted tumor therapy. Based on the reported application of AFNs in the biomedical field, we introduce the characteristics of aptamer and nanomaterials, and the advantages of AFNs first. Then introduce the conventional treatment methods for glioma, oral cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer, colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, and prostate cancer, and the application of AFNs in targeted therapy of these tumors. Finally, we discuss the progress and challenges of AFNs in this field.

Metastable DNA hairpins driven isothermal amplification for in situ and intracellular analysis

Intracellular substance analysis is critical for understanding cellular physiological mechanisms and predicting disease progression. Isothermal amplification technologies have been raised to accurately detect intracellular substances due to their low abundance, which is significant for the mechanism analysis and clinical application. However, traditional isothermal method still needs to cell destruction and extraction, resulting in fluctuant results. Moreover, it only works on dead cells. Therefore, non-destructive analysis based on isothermal amplification deserves to be studied, which directly reveals the content and position of relevant molecules. In recent years, metastable DNA hairpins-driven isothermal amplification (Mh-IA) blazes a trail for analysis in living cells. This review tracks the recent advances of Mh-IA strategy in living cell detection and highlights the potential challenges regarding this field, aiming to improve in vivo isothermal amplification. Also, challenges and prospects of Mh-IA for in situ and intracellular analysis are considered.

The biological applications of DNA nanomaterials: current challenges and future directions

DNA, a genetic material, has been employed in different scientific directions for various biological applications as driven by DNA nanotechnology in the past decades, including tissue regeneration, disease prevention, inflammation inhibition, bioimaging, biosensing, diagnosis, antitumor drug delivery, and therapeutics. With the rapid progress in DNA nanotechnology, multitudinous DNA nanomaterials have been designed with different shape and size based on the classic Watson-Crick base-pairing for molecular self-assembly. Some DNA materials could functionally change cell biological behaviors, such as cell migration, cell proliferation, cell differentiation, autophagy, and anti-inflammatory effects. Some single-stranded DNAs (ssDNAs) or RNAs with secondary structures via self-pairing, named aptamer, possess the ability of targeting, which are selected by systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) and applied for tumor targeted diagnosis and treatment. Some DNA nanomaterials with three-dimensional (3D) nanostructures and stable structures are investigated as drug carrier systems to delivery multiple antitumor medicine or gene therapeutic agents. While the functional DNA nanostructures have promoted the development of the DNA nanotechnology with innovative designs and preparation strategies, and also proved with great potential in the biological and medical use, there is still a long way to go for the eventual application of DNA materials in real life. Here in this review, we conducted a comprehensive survey of the structural development history of various DNA nanomaterials, introduced the principles of different DNA nanomaterials, summarized their biological applications in different fields, and discussed the current challenges and further directions that could help to achieve their applications in the future.

Toehold-Mediated Selective Assembly of Compact Discrete DNA Nanostructures

Production of small discrete DNA nanostructures containing covalent junctions requires reliable methods for the synthesis and assembly of branched oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) conjugates. This study reports an approach for self-assembly of hard-to-obtain primitive discrete DNA nanostructures-"nanoethylenes", dimers formed by double-stranded oligonucleotides using V-shaped furcate blocks. We scaled up the synthesis of V-shaped oligonucleotide conjugates using pentaerythritol-based diazide and alkyne-modified oligonucleotides using copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) and optimized the conditions for "nanoethylene" formation. Next, we designed nanoethylene-based "nanomonomers" containing pendant adapters. They demonstrated smooth and high-yield spontaneous conversion into the smallest cyclic product, DNA tetragon aka "nano-methylcyclobutane". Formation of DNA nanostructures was confirmed using native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) and additionally studied by molecular modeling. The proposed facile approach to discrete DNA nanostructures using precise adapter-directed association expands the toolkit for the realm of DNA origami.

Nanoparticle-mediated gene transformation strategies for plant genetic engineering

Plant genetic engineering, a recent technological advancement in the field of plant science, is an important tool used to improve crop quality and yield, to enhance secondary metabolite content in medicinal plants or to develop crops for sustainable agriculture. A new approach based on nanoparticle-mediated gene transformation can overcome the obstacle of the plant cell wall and accurately transfer DNA or RNA into plants to produce transient or stable transformation. In this review, several nanoparticle-based approaches are discussed, taking into account recent advances and challenges to hint at potential applications of these approaches in transgenic plant improvement programs. This review also highlights challenges in implementing the nanoparticle-based approaches used in plant genetic engineering. A new technology that improves gene transformation efficiency and overcomes difficulties in plant regeneration has been established and will be used for the de novo production of transgenic plants, and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing has accelerated crop improvement. Therefore, we outline future perspectives based on combinations of genome editing, nanoparticle-mediated gene transformation and de novo regeneration technologies to accelerate crop improvement. The information provided here will assist an effective exploration of the technological advances in plant genetic engineering to support plant breeding and important crop improvement programs.

Progress in Biomedical Applications of Tetrahedral Framework Nucleic Acid-Based Functional Systems

The past decades have witnessed the development of DNA nanotechnology and the emergence of various spatial DNA nanostructures, from two-dimensions to three-dimensions. The typical example is the tetrahedral framework nucleic acid (tFNA). In this review, we summarize the progress in fabrication, modification of tFNA-based functional systems and their potentials in biomedical applications. Through a one-step assembly process, tFNA is synthesized via four single stranded DNAs with three short sequences complementary to the other sequence of another single strand. Characterizations including polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, atomic force microscopy, and dynamic light scattering measurement show tFNA as a pyramid-like nanostructure with the size of around 10 nm. Feathered with intrinsic biocompatibility and satisfactory cellular membrane permeability, the first generation of tFNA shows promising capacities in regulating cell biological behavior, promoting tissue regeneration, and immunomodulation. Along with excellent editability and relative biostability in complicated conditions, tFNA could be modified via hanging functional domains on the vertex or side arm and incorporating small-molecular-weight drugs to form the second generation, for reversing multidrug resistance in tumor cells or microorganisms, target therapy, anticancer and antibacterial treatments. The third generation of tFNA is currently tried via a multistep assembly process for stimuli-response and precise drug release. Although tFNAs show promising potentials in cargo delivery, massive efforts still need to be made to improve biostability, maximal load, and structural controllability.