Construction of Hyaluronic Acid-Covered Hierarchically Porous MIL-nanoMOF for Loading and Controlled Release of Doxorubicin

Diclofenac sodium nanomedicine results in pain-relief and differential expression of the RNA transcriptome in the spinal cord of SNI rats

Neuropathic pain is chronic pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system. Neuropathic pain, with a high incidence and complex pathogenesis, is one of the most significant areas of clinical medicine and basic research. Currently, prescribed treatments are still unsatisfactory or have limited effectiveness. A medicinal preparation is required that relieves the neuropathic pain and prolongs action time, which has not yet been discovered. In this study, MIL-101 (Fe) was employed as a drug carrier to regulate the release of diclofenac sodium, thereby achieving the effect of analgesia and sustained release. The release curves demonstrated that diclofenac sodium could be continuously released from MIL-101 (Fe) for more than 48 h. There was no toxicity in vitro and in vivo, and the safety of MIL-101 (Fe) was confirmed by hematoxylin and eosin as well as ELISA tests in vivo. The results of behavioral testing, pharmacokinetics, and RNA sequencing analysis showed that MIL-101 (Fe) loaded with diclofenac sodium could enhance the mechanical withdrawal threshold and alleviate cold allodynia induced by Spared Nerve Injury, prolonging the work time by three days. The results indicated that MIL-101 (Fe) exhibited excellent biocompatibility, while the MIL-101 (Fe)-DS demonstrated analgesic and controlled-release properties. These findings provide a scientific foundation for the clinical management of neuropathic pain and the development of a novel formulation.

Metal-organic framework based drug delivery systems as smart carriers for release of poorly soluble drugs hydrochlorothiazide and dapsone

Drug delivery systems (DDSs) that are derived from biocompatible carriers are attractive platforms for sustained release of drugs. In particular, sustained and controlled release of poorly soluble BCS (Biopharmaceutics Classification System) class IV drugs is important and this requires the development of new DDSs. In this work, we exploit two porous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) MIL-100(Fe) and MIL-53(Fe) as carriers/DDSs for the release of two BCS class IV drugs hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) and dapsone (DAP). The chosen MOFs are known to possess good physicochemical stability and we realized high drug loading capacity that is attributed to the high porosity of the MOFs. The drug-encapsulated MOFs were characterized thoroughly and our results show ∼23.1% loading of HCT in MIL-100(Fe) and ∼27.6% loading of DAP in MIL-Fe(53), respectively. The release study of these drugs was carried out under simulated physiological conditions that shows sustained release of the drug molecules from the MOFs up to 72 h. Cell viability studies through MTT assays show insignificant cytotoxicity signalling biocompatibility of the proposed DDSs. Our investigations suggest MIL-100(Fe) and MIL-53(Fe) are potential DDSs for enhancing the performance of poorly soluble drugs HCT and DAP.

Advances in surface-modified nanometal-organic frameworks for drug delivery

Nanometal-organic frameworks (NMOFs) are porous network structures composed of metal ions or metal clusters through self-assembly. NMOFs have been considered as a promising nano-drug delivery system due to their unique properties such as pore and flexible structures, large specific surface areas, surface modifiability, non-toxic and degradable properties. However, NMOFs face a series complex environment during in vivo delivery. Therefore, surface functionalization of NMOFs is vital to ensure that the structure of NMOFs remain stable during delivery, and can overcome physiological barriers to deliver drugs more accurately to specific sites, and achieve controllable release. In this review, the first part summarizes the physiological barriers that NMOFs faced during drug delivery after intravenous injection and oral administration. The second part summarizes the current main ways to load drugs into NMOFs, mainly including pore adsorption, surface attachment, formation of covalent/coordination bonds between drug molecules and NMOFs, and in situ encapsulation. The third part is the main review part of this paper, which summarizes the surface modification methods of NMOFs used in recent years to overcome the physiological barriers and achieve effective drug delivery and disease therapy, which are mainly divided into physical modifications and chemical modifications. Finally, the full text is summarized and prospected, with the hope to provide ideas for the future development of NMOFs as drug delivery.

Fe-Based Metal Organic Frameworks (Fe-MOFs) for Bio-Related Applications

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous materials composed of metal ions and organic ligands. Due to their large surface area, easy modification, and good biocompatibility, MOFs are often used in bio-related fields. Fe-based metal-organic frameworks (Fe-MOFs), as important types of MOF, are favored by biomedical researchers for their advantages, such as low toxicity, good stability, high drug-loading capacity, and flexible structure. Fe-MOFs are diverse and widely used. Many new Fe-MOFs have appeared in recent years, with new modification methods and innovative design ideas, leading to the transformation of Fe-MOFs from single-mode therapy to multi-mode therapy. In this paper, the therapeutic principles, classification, characteristics, preparation methods, surface modification, and applications of Fe-MOFs in recent years are reviewed to understand the development trends and existing problems in Fe-MOFs, with the view to provide new ideas and directions for future research.

Confined Cascade Metabolic Reprogramming Nanoreactor for Targeted Alcohol Detoxification and Alcoholic Liver Injury Management

Alcoholic liver injury (ALI) is the leading cause of serious liver disease, whereas current treatments are mostly supportive and unable to metabolize alcohol directly. Here we report a metabolic reprogramming strategy for targeted alcohol detoxification and ALI management based on a confined cascade nanoreactor. The nanoreactor (named AA@mMOF) is designed by assembling natural enzymes of alcohol oxidase (AOx) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) in the cavity of a mesoporous metal organic framework (mMOF) nanozyme with intrinsic catalase (CAT)-like activity. By conducting confined AOx/CAT/ALDH cascade reactions, AA@mMOF enables self-accelerated alcohol degradation (>0.5 mg·mL^-1·h^-1) with negligible aldehyde diffusion and accumulation, reprogramming alcohol metabolism and allowing high-efficiency detoxification. Administered to high-dose alcohol-intoxicated mice, AA@mMOF shows surprising liver targeting and accumulation performance and dramatically reduces blood alcohol concentration and rapidly reverses unconsciousness and acute liver injury to afford targeted alcoholism treatment. Moreover, AA@mMOF dramatically alleviates fat accumulation and oxidative stress in the liver of chronic alcoholism mice to block and reverse the progression of ALI. By conducting confined AOx/CAT/ALDH cascade reactions for high-efficiency alcohol metabolism reprogramming, AA@mMOF nanoreactor offers a powerful modality for targeted alcohol detoxification and ALI management. The proposed confined cascade metabolic reprogramming strategy provides a paradigm shift for the treatment of metabolic diseases.

Metal-organic framework decorated with glycyrrhetinic acid conjugated chitosan as a pH-responsive nanocarrier for targeted drug delivery

Stimulus-responsive nanomaterials have become a hot spot in controllable drug delivery systems researches owing to their spatiotemporal controllable properties based on the differences between tumor microenvironment and normal tissue. Herein, iron (III) carboxylate metal-organic framework nanoparticles coated with glycyrrhetinic acid-chitosan conjugate (MIL-101/GA-CS) were successfully fabricated and acted as the pH-responsive and target-selective system to deliver doxorubicin (DOX) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) therapy. The prepared nanocarrier possess the advantages of uniform size, comparable drug loading efficiency (28.89 %), and superior pH-dependent controlled drug release (DOX release of 2.74 % and 89.18 % within 72 h at pH 7.4 and 5.5, respectively). In vitro cytotoxicity assays showed that the drug-loaded nanocarriers exhibited excellent inhibitory effects on HepG2 cells due to the sustained release of DOX, while the nanocarriers showed no significant toxicity. Furthermore, cell uptake experiments demonstrated that MIL-101-DOX/GA-CS could target HepG2 cells based on receptor-dependent internalization of glycyrrhetinic acid-receptors-mediated (GA-receptors). In vitro 3D hepatoma cell microspheres experiments showed that MIL-101-DOX/GA-CS had excellent penetration and tumor killing ability. Therefore, MIL-101-DOX/GA-CS nanoparticles have a prospective application in cancer therapy as a pH-responsive controlled drug delivery system.

CD44-Receptor Targeted Gold-Doxorubicin Nanocomposite for Pulsatile Chemo-Photothermal Therapy of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells

This study reports the CD44 receptor-targeted gold-doxorubicin nanocomposite (TGNC-DOX) for pulsatile chemo-photothermal therapy of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). The developed TGNC-DOX was nanometric, having a particle size of 71.34 ± 3.66 nm. The doxorubicin was loaded by electrostatic interaction with high entrapment and loading efficiency (>75%). TGNC-DOX showed potent photothermal response and reversible photothermal stability following irradiation with 808 nm NIR laser irradiation. Further, TGNC-DOX showed laser-responsive and pH-dependent drug release behavior suggesting its suitability for chemo-photothermal therapy, specifically at the tumor microenvironment site. Cellular viability, cellular uptake, ROS generation, and apoptosis assays suggested selective localization of TGNC-DOX in cancer cells that showed a significant cytotoxic effect against MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Moreover, the developed TGNC-DOX showed ferroptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells. The event of TGNC-DOX-mediated thermal ablation is marked by a significant generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and apoptosis, as affirmed by flow cytometry. NIR-808 laser-responsive photothermal therapy of cancer cells was found to be more effective than without NIR-808 laser-treated cells, suggesting the fundamental role of photothermal ablation. The outcome concludes developed TGNC-DOX is a novel and potential tool to mediate laser-guided chemo-photothermal ablation treatment of cancer cells.

Enhanced photo-hypoxia-activated combination therapy traced by AIE photosensitizer and targeted by hyaluronic acid: Disulphide bond interference of detoxification barrier

The treatment efficacy of anticancer drugs in complex physiological environments is still restricted by multi-drug resistance. To overcome this issue, a nanodrug system of HA-SS@CuS@ZIF-8@TPZ&TBMACN (HSCZTT) that breaks through the detoxification barrier for tirapazamine (TPZ) delivery was developed in this manuscript. In addition to the photothermal effect aroused by CuS in HSCZTT, which can damage tumour cells, TBMACN with photostable fluorescence in the aggregate state can also generate sufficient reactive oxygen species (ROS) to destroy tumour cells. The continuous consumption of oxygen in PDT aggravates the hypoxic environment of tumours, which further activates the TPZ released in the acidic microenvironment of the tumour to achieve apoptosis of the tumour cells. The HSCZTT can not only target the CD44 receptor overexpressed on the surface of the cancer cell, but can also effectively consume a large amount of glutathione (GSH) through the disulphide bond-modified hyaluronic acid, which serves as a targeted disulphide bond, interfering with the detoxification barrier. Our finding presents a rational strategy to overcome multidrug resistance for the improved efficacy of anticancer drugs by the targeting of Hyaluronic acid (HA), release of the drug by the acid response of ZIF-8, breakthrough of the detoxification barrier, precise positioning of the drug release and combined treatment with phototherapy and hypoxia-activated chemotherapy.

Defective Hierarchical Pore Engineering of a Zn-Ni MOF by Labile Coordination Bonding Modulation

The construction and modulation of hierarchical pore structure in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) has become a hot topic owing to the advantages of hierarchical pore MOFs (HP-MOFs) in matter storage and mass transfer related applications. Herein, we report the engineering of crystalline defect in a bimetallic MOF for the construction and tuning of HP-MOF. A microporous MOF system showing metal-center-dependent water stability, namely, {[M₃F(bdc)₃ tpt] (solvents)}_n (M = Zn²⁺ and Ni²⁺, H₂bdc = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid, tpt = 2,4,6-tris(4-pyridyl)triazine), was utilized as a platform for the construction of HP-MOF. By tuning the Zn²⁺/Ni²⁺ ratio in the reactant, a bimetallic MOF with a highly tunable Zn²⁺/Ni²⁺ ratio could be obtained. The relatively labile Zn²⁺-based coordination bonding in the bimetallic MOF could be readily and targeted broken through water treatment for the engineering of crystalline defects-based hierarchical pore structure. The resultant HP-MOF reveals a dramatically increased pore volume with the presence of mesopore and macropore. In addition, the anionic framework of HP-MOF could be utilized for the selective adsorption of a cationic dye methylene blue, and a relatively high capacity (250 mg·g^-1, five times compared with the pristine microporous MOF) could be achieved.