Hyaluronic acid-based nanogels derived from multicomponent self-assembly for imaging-guided chemo-photodynamic cancer therapy

Natural polysaccharide-small molecule smart responsive nanogels: Design, synthesis, and synergistic chemoimmunotherapy for tumors

Cancer poses a significant medical challenge worldwide. Research into tumor biology has revealed the prevalence of acidic conditions and abnormally high levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) within the tumor microenvironment. In response to these findings, a ROS-responsive crosslinker, (((oxalylbis(oxy))bis(methylene))bis(4,1-phenylene))diboronic acid (OBA), was designed and synthesized using (4-hydroxymethyl)phenylboronic acid and ethanedioyl chloride as reactants. pH-responsive boronate ester bonds were formed between the diboronic acid groups of the crosslinker and the dihydroxyl groups of the naturally occurring active Astragalus polysaccharide (ASP). This resulted in the successful construction of pH/ROS dual-responsive nanogels (BAI@ASPOBA) loaded with the chemotherapeutic natural small molecule baicalein (BAI). Characterization of BAI@ASPOBA through molecular dynamics simulations and other methods demonstrated that it not only inhibited the proliferation of A549 tumor cells in vitro but also exhibited remarkable anti-tumor activity in vivo, along with excellent safety and biocompatibility. Further mechanistic studies revealed that the anti-tumor activity arises from the synergistic enhancement of the chemotherapeutic effects of BAI and the natural polysaccharide ASP. Specifically, the constructed BAI@ASPOBA nanogels enhanced the anti-tumor efficacy of BAI, while ASP, serving as the carrier for the nanomaterials, played an immunostimulatory role, facilitating tumor immunotherapy. The design and development of the novel BAI@ASPOBA nanogels in this study are anticipated to provide a new and effective treatment strategy for cancer therapy.

Smart Design of Targeted Drug Delivery System for Precise Drug Delivery and Visual Treatment of Brain Gliomas

In the treatment of glioma, which is one of the malignant tumors, although chemotherapy is used as the most common treatment method, it often suffers from low bioavailability. Therefore, improving the precision and efficiency of drugs is crucial in treating gliomas and a great challenge. Here, an advanced drug delivery system is reported for gliomas (CZQD@HA@DOX), which aggregates multiple features such as the susceptible imaging tracer property due to the use of CZQD and the targeting of HA to the receptor cluster 44 (CD44) of glioma cells, which provides the system with the functions of targeted enrichment and precise drug delivery at the tumor site. The pH-responsive drug delivery system has not only an excellent encapsulation rate but also a high drug loading capacity, and the doxorubicin loaded on it can be released centrally at the tumor microenvironment site and causes an increase of reactive oxygen species in the mitochondria and trigger oxidative stress, which leads to high expression of Bax apoptotic proteins, ultimately activating the mitochondrial pathway-mediated apoptotic process in glioma cells. Overall, this drug delivery system has great potential for application in precision targeted therapy and visual tracer imaging of gliomas.

Chitosan- and hyaluronic acid-based nanoarchitectures in phototherapy: Combination cancer chemotherapy, immunotherapy and gene therapy

Cancer phototherapy has been introduced as a new potential modality for tumor suppression. However, the efficacy of phototherapy has been limited due to a lack of targeted delivery of photosensitizers. Therefore, the application of biocompatible and multifunctional nanoparticles in phototherapy is appreciated. Chitosan (CS) as a cationic polymer and hyaluronic acid (HA) as a CD44-targeting agent are two widely utilized polymers in nanoparticle synthesis and functionalization. The current review focuses on the application of HA and CS nanostructures in cancer phototherapy. These nanocarriers can be used in phototherapy to induce hyperthermia and singlet oxygen generation for tumor ablation. CS and HA can be used for the synthesis of nanostructures, or they can functionalize other kinds of nanostructures used for phototherapy, such as gold nanorods. The HA and CS nanostructures can combine chemotherapy or immunotherapy with phototherapy to augment tumor suppression. Moreover, the CS nanostructures can be functionalized with HA for specific cancer phototherapy. The CS and HA nanostructures promote the cellular uptake of genes and photosensitizers to facilitate gene therapy and phototherapy. Such nanostructures specifically stimulate phototherapy at the tumor site, with particle toxic impacts on normal cells. Moreover, CS and HA nanostructures demonstrate high biocompatibility for further clinical applications.

Fabrication of the Rapid Self-Assembly Hydrogels Loaded with Luteolin: Their Structural Characteristics and Protection Effect on Ulcerative Colitis

Luteolin (LUT) is a fat-soluble flavonoid known for its strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Nonetheless, its use in the food industry has been limited due to its low water solubility and bioavailability. In this study, hyaluronic acid, histidine, and luteolin were self-assembled to construct tubular network hydrogels (HHL) to improve the gastrointestinal stability, bioavailability, and stimulation response of LUT. As anticipated, the HHL hydrogel's mechanical strength and adhesion allow it to withstand the challenging gastrointestinal environment and effectively extend the duration of drug presence in the body. In vivo anti-inflammatory experiments showed that HHL hydrogel could successfully alleviate colitis induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) in mice by reducing intestinal inflammation and restoring the integrity of the intestinal barrier. Moreover, HHL hydrogel also regulated the intestinal microorganisms of mice and promoted the production of short-chain fatty acids. The HHL hydrogel group demonstrated a notably superior treatment effect compared to the LUT group alone. The hydrogel delivery system is a novel method to improve the absorption of LUT, increasing its bioavailability and enhancing its pharmaceutical effects.

Hybrid FeWO4-Hyaluronic Acid Nanoparticles as a Targeted Nanotheranostic Agent for Multimodal Imaging-Guided Tumor Photothermal Therapy

Background

Development of versatile nanoplatform still remains a great challenge due to multistep synthesis and complicated compositions. Therefore, it is significant to develop a facile method to synthesize a nanocomposite to achieve multimodal imaging and even imaging-guided cancer therapeutics.

Methods and Results

In our study, hyaluronic acid-functionalized iron (II) tungstate nanoparticles (HA-FeWO4 NPs) were successfully synthesized as a versatile nanoplatform by a facile one-pot hydrothermal procedure. The formed multifunctional HA-FeWO4 NPs were investigated via a series of characterization techniques, which demonstrated good biocompatibility, excellent dispersion, low cytotoxicity, active tumor-targeting ability and high photothermal efficiency. Furthermore, tumor was clearly visualized by HA-FeWO4 NPs with multimodal imaging of infrared thermal imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography imaging in 4T1 tumor bearing mice. More importantly, HA-FeWO4 could achieve multimodal imaging-guided photothermal therapy of 4T1 tumors.

Conclusion

The constructed HA-FeWO4 NPs have great potential as ideal nanotheranostic agents for multimodal imaging and even imaging-guided cancer theranostics in biological systems.

Hyaluronic Acid Nanogels: A Promising Platform for Therapeutic and Theranostic Applications

Hyaluronic acid (HA) nanogels are a versatile class of nanomaterials with specific properties, such as biocompatibility, hygroscopicity, and biodegradability. HA nanogels exhibit excellent colloidal stability and high encapsulation capacity, making them promising tools for a wide range of biomedical applications. HA nanogels can be fabricated using various methods, including polyelectrolyte complexation, self-assembly, and chemical crosslinking. The fabrication parameters can be tailored to control the physicochemical properties of HA nanogels, such as size, shape, surface charge, and porosity, enabling the rational design of HA nanogels for specific applications. Stimulus-responsive nanogels are a type of HA nanogels that can respond to external stimuli, such as pH, temperature, enzyme, and redox potential. This property allows the controlled release of encapsulated therapeutic agents in response to specific physiological conditions. HA nanogels can be engineered to encapsulate a variety of therapeutic agents, such as conventional drugs, genes, and proteins. They can then be delivered to target tissues with high efficiency. HA nanogels are still under development, but they have the potential to become powerful tools for a wide range of theranostic or solely therapeutic applications, including anticancer therapy, gene therapy, drug delivery, and bioimaging.

Smart stimuli-responsive polysaccharide nanohydrogels for drug delivery: a review

Polysaccharides have found extensive utilization as biomaterials in drug delivery systems owing to their remarkable biocompatibility, simple functionalization, and inherent biological properties. Within the array of polysaccharide-based biomaterials, there is a growing fascination for self-assembled polysaccharide nanogels (NG) due to their ease of preparation and enhanced appeal across diverse biomedical appliances. Nanogel (or nanohydrogel), networks of nanoscale dimensions, are created by physically or chemically linking polymers together and have garnered immense interest as potential carriers for delivering drugs due to their favorable attributes. These include biocompatibility, high stability, the ability to adjust particle size, the capacity to load drugs, and their inherent potential to modify their surface to actively target specific cells or tissues via the attachment of ligands that can recognize corresponding receptors. Nanogels can be engineered to respond to specific stimuli, such as pH, temperature, light, or redox conditions, allowing controlled release of the encapsulated drugs. This intelligent targeting capability helps prevent drug accumulation in unintended tissues and reduces the potential side effects. Herein, an overview of nanogels is offered, comprising their methods of preparation and the design of stimulus-responsive nanogels that enable controlled release of drugs in response to specific stimuli.

Multifunctional polysaccharide nanoprobes for biological imaging

Imaging and tracking biological targets or processes play an important role in revealing molecular mechanisms and disease states. Bioimaging via optical, nuclear, or magnetic resonance techniques enables high resolution, high sensitivity, and high depth imaging from the whole animal down to single cells via advanced functional nanoprobes. To overcome the limitations of single-modality imaging, multimodality nanoprobes have been engineered with a variety of imaging modalities and functionalities. Polysaccharides are sugar-containing bioactive polymers with superior biocompatibility, biodegradability, and solubility. The combination of polysaccharides with single or multiple contrast agents facilitates the development of novel nanoprobes with enhanced functions for biological imaging. Nanoprobes constructed with clinically applicable polysaccharides and contrast agents hold great potential for clinical translations. This review briefly introduces the basics of different imaging modalities and polysaccharides, then summarizes the recent progress of polysaccharide-based nanoprobes for biological imaging in various diseases, emphasizing bioimaging with optical, nuclear, and magnetic resonance techniques. The current issues and future directions regarding the development and applications of polysaccharide nanoprobes are further discussed.

Polydopamine-Coated Cu-BTC Nanowires for Effective Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Photothermal Therapy

Herein, we present a one-pot hydrothermal approach for synthesizing metal–organic framework-derived copper (II) benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate (Cu-BTC) nanowires (NWs) using dopamine as the reducing agent and precursor for a polydopamine (PDA) surface coating formation. In addition, PDA can act as a PTT agent and enhance NIR absorption, producing photothermal effects on cancer cells. These NWs displayed a photothermal conversion efficiency of 13.32% after PDA coating and exhibited good photothermal stability. Moreover, NWs with a suitable T1 relaxivity coefficient (r1 = 3.01 mg−1 s−1) can be effectively used as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. By increasing concentrations, cellular uptake studies showed a greater uptake of Cu-BTC@PDA NWs into cancer cells. Further, in vitro studies showed PDA-coated Cu-BTC NWs possess exceptional therapeutic performance by 808 nm laser irradiation, destroying 58% of cancer cells compared with the absence of laser irradiation. This promising performance is anticipated to advance the research and implementation of copper-based NWs as theranostic agents for cancer treatment.

Recent Progress in Carrier-Free Nanomedicine for Tumor Phototherapy

Safe and effective strategies are urgently needed to fight against the life-threatening diseases of various cancers. However, traditional therapeutic modalities, such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery, exhibit suboptimal efficacy for malignant tumors owing to the serious side effects, drug resistance and even relapse. Phototherapies, including photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT), are emerging therapeutic strategies for localized tumor inhibition, which can produce a large amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) or elevate the temperature to initiate cell death by non-invasive irradiation. In consideration of the poor bioavailability of phototherapy agents (PTAs), lots of drug delivery systems have been developed to enhance the tumor targeted delivery. Nevertheless, the carriers of drug delivery systems inevitably bring biosafety concerns on account of their metabolism, degradation, and accumulation. Of note, carrier-free nanomedicine attracts great attention for clinical translation with synergistic antitumor effect, which is characterized by high drug loading, simplified synthetic method and good biocompatibility. In this review, the latest advances of phototherapy with various carrier-free nanomedicines are summarized, which may provide a new paradigm for the future development of nanomedicine and tumor precision therapy.

ROS-generating, pH-responsive and highly tunable reduced graphene oxide-embedded microbeads showing intrinsic anticancer properties and multi-drug co-delivery capacity for combination cancer therapy

The development of effective carriers enabling combination cancer therapy is of practical importance due to its potential to enhance the effectiveness of cancer treatment. However, most of the reported carriers are monofunctional in nature. The carriers that can be applied to concomitantly mediate multiple treatment modalities are highly deficient. This study fills this gap by reporting the design and fabrication of ROS-generating carbohydrate-based pH-responsive beads with intrinsic anticancer therapy and multidrug co-delivery capacity for combination cancer therapy. Sodium alginate (SA) microspheres and reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-embedded chitosan (CS) beads are developed via emulsion-templated ionic gelation for a combination therapy involving co-delivery of curcumin (CUR) and 5-fluororacil (5-FU). Drug-encapsulated microbeads are characterized by FTIR, DSC, TGA, XRD, and SEM. 5-FU and CUR-encapsulated microbeads are subjected to in vitro drug release studies at pH 6.8 and 1.2 at 37 °C. Various release kinetic parameters are evaluated. The results show that the Korsmeyer-Peppas model and non-Fickian release kinetics are best suited. The microspheres and microbeads are found to effectively act against MCF7 cells and show intrinsic anticancer capacity. These results indicate the promising performance of our beads in mediating combination drug therapy to improve the effectiveness of cancer treatment.

Hyaluronic Acid-Based Nanomaterials Applied to Cancer: Where Are We Now?

Cancer cells normally develop the ability to rewire or reprogram themselves to become resistant to treatments that were previously effective. Despite progress in understanding drug resistance, knowledge gaps remain regarding the underlying biological causes of drug resistance and the design of cancer treatments to overcome it. So, resistance acquisition remains a major problem in cancer treatment. Targeted therapeutics are considered the next generation of cancer therapy because they overcome many limitations of traditional treatments. Numerous tumor cells overexpress several receptors that have a high binding affinity for hyaluronic acid (HA), while they are poorly expressed in normal body cells. HA and its derivatives have the advantage of being biocompatible and biodegradable and may be conjugated with a variety of drugs and drug carriers for developing various formulations as anticancer therapies such as micelles, nanogels, and inorganic nanoparticles. Due to their stability in blood circulation and predictable delivery patterns, enhanced tumor-selective drug accumulation, and decreased toxicity to normal tissues, tumor-targeting nanomaterial-based drug delivery systems have been shown to represent an efficacious approach for the treatment of cancer. In this review, we aim to provide an overview of some in vitro and in vivo studies related to the potential of HA as a ligand to develop targeted nanovehicles for future biomedical applications in cancer treatment.

Hyaluronic Acid within Self-Assembling Nanoparticles: Endless Possibilities for Targeted Cancer Therapy

Self-assembling nanoparticles (SANPs) based on hyaluronic acid (HA) represent unique tools in cancer therapy because they combine the HA targeting activity towards cancer cells with the advantageous features of the self-assembling nanosystems, i.e., chemical versatility and ease of preparation and scalability. This review describes the key outcomes arising from the combination of HA and SANPs, focusing on nanomaterials where HA and/or HA-derivatives are inserted within the self-assembling nanostructure. We elucidate the different HA derivatization strategies proposed for this scope, as well as the preparation methods used for the fabrication of the delivery device. After showing the biological results in the employed in vivo and in vitro models, we discussed the pros and cons of each nanosystem, opening a discussion on which approach represents the most promising strategy for further investigation and effective therapeutic protocol development.

Hyaluronic acid coated mesoporous carbon-copper peroxide for H2O2 self-supplying and near-infrared responsive multi-mode breast cancer oncotherapy

It is challenging to develop the synergistic intelligent therapeutic nanoplatform to cure cancer. In the present study, a novel nanotherapeutic platform was constructed for H₂O₂ self-supplying and multimodal breast cancer therapy. In which, copper peroxide nanoparticles (CP NPs) were adsorbed on the surface of mesoporous carbon nanospheres (MCN) through electrostatic attraction, followed by loading doxorubicin (DOX) into the nanocomposite (MCN-CP) and coating hyaluronic acid (HA) on the surface, the DOX/MCN-CP-HA nanoplatform was obtained. In the system, the MCN not only possessed a high DOX loading capacity, but produced excellent photothermal therapy (PTT) effect. Importantly, the ultra-small CP NPs as the Fenton agent not only could selectively self-supplying H₂O₂ in acidic condition, but simultaneously release Cu²⁺ to catalyze the production of ·OH in the presence of H₂O₂. Meantime, the resulting Cu²⁺ possessed GSH-elimination property, which afforded enhanced chemodynamic therapy (CDT). Furthermore, the outer layer HA targeted to CD44 and achieved breast cancer cell targeting. The elevated temperature from PTT and acidic tumor microenvironment accelerated the release of DOX, which enabled DOX/MCN-CP-HA as an intelligent CDT-PTT-chemotherapy synergistic nanoplatform. In vitro and in vivo pharmacodynamic evaluations confirmed the potential of the nanoplatform for CDT-PTT-chemotherapy synergistic oncotherapy of breast cancer.

Synergistic H2O2 self-supplying and NIR-responsive drug delivery nanoplatform for chemodynamic-photothermal-chemotherapy

Developing effectively synergistic multi-mode drug delivery nanoplatform for cancer treatment is of great significance but still challenging. Here, we construct core-shell (CaO₂@Au nanoshells) nanoparticles coated with doxorubicin-loaded hyaluronic acid. The developed platform can be used as synergistic H₂O₂ self-supplying and near-infrared-enhanced reactive oxygen species producer for chemodynamic-photothermal-chemotherapy multi-mode drug delivery. In this platform, the CaO₂ possesses a high capacity of self-supplying H₂O₂ in acidic conditions, while retains desired stability under physiological conditions. The in-situ deposited Au nanoshells not only provide a remarkable photothermal therapy, but function as peroxidase mimics to catalyze H₂O₂ to produce hydroxyl radical to afford highly efficient chemodynamic therapy. Furthermore, the outer layer hyaluronic acid can load doxorubicin and target overexpressed receptor CD44 of cancer cell, meanwhile, trigger release of DOX in photothermal condition and acidic tumor microenvironment. The results of in vitro cell viability and in vivo tumor inhibition indicate that the developed synergistic nanoplatform hold the potential as an efficient strategy for chemodynamic-photothermal-chemotherapy combination therapy of cancer.

Nanomedicine in Clinical Photodynamic Therapy for the Treatment of Brain Tumors

The current treatment for malignant brain tumors includes surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Nevertheless, the survival rate for patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) with a high grade of malignancy is less than one year. From a clinical point of view, effective treatment of GBM is limited by several challenges. First, the anatomical complexity of the brain influences the extent of resection because a fine balance must be struck between maximal removal of malignant tissue and minimal surgical risk. Second, the central nervous system has a distinct microenvironment that is protected by the blood–brain barrier, restricting systemically delivered drugs from accessing the brain. Additionally, GBM is characterized by high intra-tumor and inter-tumor heterogeneity at cellular and histological levels. This peculiarity of GBM-constituent tissues induces different responses to therapeutic agents, leading to failure of targeted therapies. Unlike surgical resection and radiotherapy, photodynamic therapy (PDT) can treat micro-invasive areas while protecting sensitive brain regions. PDT involves photoactivation of photosensitizers (PSs) that are selectively incorporated into tumor cells. Photo-irradiation activates the PS by transfer of energy, resulting in production of reactive oxygen species to induce cell death. Clinical outcomes of PDT-treated GBM can be advanced in terms of nanomedicine. This review discusses clinical PDT applications of nanomedicine for the treatment of GBM.

Enhanced Photothermal Performance by Carbon Dot-Chelated Polydopamine Nanoparticles

Polydopamine (PDA) has been widely used in biomedical applications including imaging contrast agents, antioxidants, UV protection, and photothermal therapy due to its biocompatibility, metal-ion chelation, free-radical scavenging, and wideband absorption, but its low photothermal efficiency still needs to be improved. In this study, we chelated near-infrared (NIR) sensitive carbon quantum dots on the surface of polydopamine (PDA-PEI@N,S-CQDs) to increase its near-infrared absorption. Surprisingly, although only 4% (w/w) of carbon quantum dots was conjugated on the PDA surface, it still increased the photothermal efficiency by 30%. Moreover, PDA-PEI@N,S-CQDs could also be used as the drug carrier for loading 60% (w/w) of the DOX and achieved stimuli-responsive drug release under lysosomal pH (pH 5.0) and 808 nm laser illumination. For in vitro therapeutic experiment, PDA-PEI@N,S-CQDs showed the remarkable therapeutic performance under 808 nm laser irradiation for killing 90% of cancer cells compared with 50% by pure PDA nanoparticles, and the efficacy was even higher after loading DOX owing to the synergistic effect by photothermal therapy and chemotherapy. This intelligent and effective therapeutic nanosystem based on PDA-PEI@N,S-CQDs showed enhanced photothermal behavior after chelating carbon dots and promoted the future development of a nanoplatform for stimuli-responsive photothermal/chemo therapy.