An injectable and pH-responsive hyaluronic acid hydrogel as metformin carrier for prevention of breast cancer recurrence

Chitosan and hyaluronic acid based injectable dual network hydrogels - Mediating antimicrobial and inflammatory modulation to promote healing of infected bone defects

In bone defects, infections lead to excessive inflammation, increased bacterial, and bone lysis, resulting in irregular wounds that hinder new bone regeneration. Injectable bioactive materials with adequate antimicrobial activity and strong osteogenic potential are urgently required to remedy irregular defects, eradicate bacteria, and facilitate the generation of new bone tissue. In this research, injectable dual-network composite hydrogels consisting of sulfated chitosan, oxidized hyaluronic acid, β-sodium glycerophosphate, and CuSr doped mesoporous bioactive glass loaded with bone morphogenetic protein (CuSrMBGBMP-2) were utilized for the first time to treat infectious bone defects. Initially, the hydrogel was injected into the wound at 37 °C with minimal invasion to establish a stable state and prevent hydrogel loss. Subsequently, sulfated chitosan eliminated bacteria at the wound site and facilitated cell proliferation with oxidized hyaluronic acid. Additionally, CuSrMBGBMP-2 strengthened antibacterial properties, regulated inflammatory reactions, promoted angiogenesis and osteogenic differentiation, addressing the deficiency in late-stage osteogenesis. Specifically, the injectable dual-network hydrogel based on chitosan and hyaluronic acid is minimally invasive, offering antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, pro-angiogenic, and bone regeneration properties. Therefore, this hydrogel with injectable dual network properties holds great promise for the treatment of bone infections in the future.

Recent advancements of hydrogels in immunotherapy: Breast cancer treatment

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among women and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in this population. Recent advances in Immunotherapy, or combined immunotherapy, offering a more targeted and less toxic approach, expand the survival rate of patients more than conventional treatment. Notably, hydrogels, a versatile platform provided promising avenues to combat breast cancer in preclinical studies and extended to clinical practices. With advantages such as the alternation of tumor microenvironment, immunomodulation, targeted delivery of therapeutic agents, and their sustained release at specific sites of interest, hydrogels can potentially be used for the treatment of breast cancer. This review highlights the advantages, mechanisms of action, stimuli-responsiveness properties, and recent advancements of hydrogels for treating breast cancer immunotherapy. Moreover, post-treatment and its clinical translations are discussed in this review. The integration of hydrogels in immunotherapy strategies may pave the way for more effective, personalized, and patient-friendly approaches to combat breast cancer, ultimately contributing to a brighter future for breast cancer patients.

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.

Micro-environment triple-responsive hyaluronic acid hydrogel dressings to promote antibacterial activity, collagen deposition, and angiogenesis for diabetic wound healing

The clinical treatment of chronic diabetic wounds is a long-standing thorny issue. Strategies targeting the diabetic micro-environment have been developed to promote wound healing. However, it remains challenging to reverse the adverse conditions and re-activate tissue regeneration and angiogenesis. In this work, we develop injectable hydrogels that are responsive to acidic conditions, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and high glucose levels in a diabetic wound micro-environment to sustainably deliver tannic acid (TA) to augment antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidative activities. This triple-responsive mechanism is designed by introducing dynamic acylhydrazone and phenylboronic ester bonds to crosslink modified hyaluronic acid (HA) chains. At a diabetic wound, the acylhydrazone bonds may be hydrolyzed at low pH. Meanwhile, glucose may compete with TA, and ROS may oxidize the C-B bond to release TA. Thus, sustained release of TA is triggered by the diabetic micro-environment. The released TA effectively scavenges ROS and kills bacteria. In vivo experiments on diabetic mice demonstrate that the hydrogel dressing highly promotes angiogenesis and extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition, leading to eventual full healing of diabetic skin wounds. This micro-environment-triggered triple-responsive drug release provides a promising method for chronic diabetic wound healing.

In situ generation of copper(Ⅱ)/diethyldithiocarbamate complex through tannic acid/copper(Ⅱ) network coated hollow mesoporous silica for enhanced cancer chemodynamic therapy

The Cu2+ complex formed by the coordination of disulfiram (DSF) metabolite diethyldithiocarbamate (DTC), Cu(DTC)2, can effectively inhibit tumor growth. However, insufficient Cu2+ levels in the tumor microenvironment can impact tumor-suppressive effects of DTC. In this study, we proposed a Cu2+ and DSF tumor microenvironment-targeted delivery system. This system utilizes hollow mesoporous silica (HMSN) as a carrier, after loading with DSF, encases it using a complex of tannic acid (TA) and Cu2+ on the outer layer. In the slightly acidic tumor microenvironment, TA/Cu undergoes hydrolysis, releasing Cu2+ and DSF, which further form Cu(DTC)2 to inhibit tumor growth. Additionally, Cu2+ can engage in a Fenton-like reaction with H2O2 in the tumor microenvironment to form OH, therefore, chemodynamic therapy (CDT) and Cu(DTC)2 are used in combination for tumor therapy. In vivo tumor treatment results demonstrated that AHD@TA/Cu could accumulate at the tumor site, achieving a tumor inhibition rate of up to 77.6 %. This study offers a novel approach, circumventing the use of traditional chemotherapy drugs, and provides valuable insights into the development of in situ tumor drug therapies.

Thermo-sensitive PLGA-PEG-PLGA hydrogel for sustained release of EGF to inhibit cervical cancer recurrence

Overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in cancer is a key cause of recurrence of cervical cancer (CC). Although the EGF-EGFR pathway has been studied for decades, preventing tumor growth and recurrence caused by peripheral EGF remains a great challenge. In this work, a strategy is proposed to reduce the stimulation of high concentration EGF on tumor growth by using a thermo-sensitive hydrogel. The hydrogel is a triblock copolymer composed of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and poly (lactide glycolide) (PLGA). Based on the excellent temperature sensitivity, carrier capacity, swelling property and biocompatibility, the hydrogel can absorb the liquid around the tumor by injection and release EGF continuously at low concentration. The inhibitory effect of hydrogel on tumor growth is fully confirmed by an implanted tumor mouse model with human cervical cancer cell lines (HeLa) using triple-immunodeficient NCG mice. Compared with free EGF, the EGF-loaded hydrogel can hardly induce surface plasmon resonance (SPR) response, which proves that hydrogel can effectively weaken cytoskeleton rearrangement and inhibit cell migration by continuously releasing low concentration EGF. In addition, the EGF-loaded hydrogel can reduce cell proliferation by delaying the progress of cell cycle progression. Taken together, the hydrogel can effectively protect tumor microenvironment from the stimulation of high concentration EGF, delay cancer cellular processes and tumor growth, and thus providing an approach for inhibiting tumor recurrence of CC.

pH-responsive nanogels with enhanced antioxidant and antitumor activities on drug delivery and smart drug release

pH-responsive nanogels have played an increasingly momentous role in tumor treatment. The focus of this study is to design and develop pH-responsive benzimidazole-chitosan quaternary ammonium salt (BIMIXHAC) nanogels for the controlled release of doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) while enhancing its hydrophilicity. BIMIXHAC is crosslinked with carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC), hyaluronic acid sodium salt (HA), and sodium alginates (SA) using an ion crosslinking method. The chemical structure of chitosan derivatives was verified by 1H NMR and FT-IR techniques. Compared to hydroxypropyl trimethyl ammonium chloride chitosan (HACC)-based nanogels, BIMIXHAC-based nanogels exhibit better drug encapsulation efficiency and loading capacity (BIMIXHAC-D-HA 91.76 %, and 32.23 %), with pH-responsive release profiles and accelerated release in vitro. The series of nanogels formed by crosslinking with three different polyanionic crosslinkers have different particle size potentials and antioxidant properties. BIMIXHAC-HA, BIMIXHAC-SA and BIMIXHAC-CMC demonstrate favorable antioxidant capability. In addition, cytotoxicity tests showed that BIMIXHAC-based nanogels have high biocompatibility. BIMIXHAC-based nanogels exhibit preferable anticancer effects on MCF-7 and A549 cells. Furthermore, the BIMIXHAC-D-HA nanogel was 2.62 times less toxic than DOX to L929 cells. These results suggest that BIMIXHAC-based nanogels can serve as pH-responsive nanoplatforms for the delivery of anticancer drugs.

In situ injectable thermoresponsive nanocomposite hydrogel based on hydroxypropyl chitosan for precise synergistic calcium-overload, photodynamic and photothermal tumor therapy

Traditional therapies have poor accuracy and significant toxic side effects in the process of tumor treatment. The non-traditional treatment methods with high accuracy and efficacy are worth exploring and investigating. Herein, a strategy that enables precise and synergistic therapies of calcium-overload, photodynamic, and photothermal through facile near infrared (NIR) irradiation was carried out base on the injectable and self-healable hydrogel encapsulating indocyanine green (ICG)-loaded and bovine serum albumin (BSA)-modified calcium peroxide (CaO2) nanoparticles (ICG@CaO2-BSA NPs) and bismuth sulfide (Bi2S3) nanorods. The hydrogel fabricated through the dynamic Schiff-base bonds between hydroxypropyl chitosan (HPCS) and aldehyde-modified Pluronic F127 (F127-CHO) as the delivery substrate for functional substances could adhere and grip tumor tissues due to the adhesion of hydroxyl groups in HPCS and the hydrophobic aggregation caused by thermoresponsiveness of F127-CHO. CaO2 in ICG@CaO2-BSA NPs decomposed in the tumor micro-acidic environment to produce calcium ions (Ca2+) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), while ICG generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) under NIR irradiation, the photothermal effect of Bi2S3 nanorods and ICG under NIR irradiation could increase the temperature of tumor tissues and ultimately achieve precise tumor cell destruction. Therefore, this strategy will provide promising prospects for precise and efficient treatment of tumors.

Tannic acid-coated cellulose nanocrystal-reinforced transparent multifunctional hydrogels with UV-filtering for wearable flexible sensors

Ionically conductive hydrogels are an ideal alternative material for applications in wearable flexible sensors to monitor human health. However, producing hydrogels with both high sensitivity and excellent versatility is difficult, and their transparency and UV-blocking properties are significantly limited. Here, with mussel- and gecko-inspired biomimicry, all-biomass-based hydrogels (OGTCGs) with self-adhesive, self-healing, transparent, UV-filtering, frost-resistant, environmentally stable, antibacterial, and biocompatible properties were designed and constructed via a simple one-step approach with a water/glycerol system and borax added without any crosslinker using synergistic dynamic covalent and noncovalent chemistry. The transparency of the OGTCG hydrogel reached 81.06 %, while the added tannic acid-coated cellulose nanocrystal (TA@CNC) induced a UV-blocking effect. The OGTCG hydrogel exhibited a high toughness (218.67 kPa) and modulus (100.32 kPa) reinforced by TA@CNC. The OGTCG hydrogel showed good self-healing abilities with an efficiency of over 90 % after 6 h. In a binary solvent system, the OGTCG hydrogel had environmental stability, as illustrated by density functional theory (DFT), greatly broadening its application range. Moreover, it had an electrical conductivity of 2.3 mS cm-1 and a sensitivity of 3.97. Therefore, with its rapid response and real-time monitoring capabilities, the OGTCG hydrogel shows great potential for applications in monitoring human health.

Box Behnken optimization of cubosomes for enhancing the anticancer activity of metformin: Design, characterization, and in-vitro cell proliferation assay on MDA-MB-231 breast and LOVO colon cancer cell lines

This study aimed to formulate and statistically optimize cubosomal formulations of metformin (MTF) to enhance its breast anticancer activity. A Box Behnken design was employed using Design-Expert® software. The formulation variables were glyceryl monooleate concentration (GMO) w/w%, Pluronic F-127 concentration (PF127) w/w% and Tween 80 concentration w/w% whereas Entrapment efficiency (EE%), Vesicles' size (VS) and Zeta potential (ZP) were set as the dependent responses. The design expert software was used to perform the process of optimization numerically. X ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscope (TEM), in-vitro release study, short-term stability study, and in in-vitro cell proliferation assay on the MDA-MB-231 breast cancer and LOVO cancer cell lines were used to validate the optimized cubosomal formulation. The optimized formulation had a composition of 4.35616 (w/w%) GMO, 5 (w/w%) PF127 and 7.444E-6 (w/w%) Tween 80 with a desirability of 0.733. The predicted values for EE%, VS and ZP were 78.0592%, 307.273 nm and - 26.8275 mV, respectively. The validation process carried out on the optimized formula revealed that there were less than a 5% variance from the predicted responses. The XRD thermograms showed that MTF was encapsulated inside the cubosomal vesicles. TEM images of the optimized MTF cubosomal formulation showed spherical non-aggregated nanovesicles. Moreover, it revealed a sustained release profile of MTF in comparison to the MTF solution. Stability studies indicated that optimum cubosomal formulation was stable for thirty days. Cytotoxicity of the optimized cubosomal formulation was enhanced on the MDA-MB-231 breast and LOVO cancer cell lines compared to MTF solution even at lower concentrations. However, it showed superior cytotoxic effect on breast cancer cell line. So, cubosomes could be considered a promising carrier of MTF to treat breast and colon cancers.

Hyaluronic acid-empowered nanotheranostics in breast and lung cancers therapy

Nanomedicine application in cancer therapy is an urgency because of inability of current biological therapies for complete removal of tumor cells. The development of smart and novel nanoplatforms for treatment of cancer can provide new insight in tumor suppression. Hyaluronic acid is a biopolymer that can be employed for synthesis of smart nanostructures capable of selective targeting CD44-overexpressing tumor cells. The breast and lung cancers are among the most malignant and common tumors in both females and males that environmental factors, lifestyle and genomic alterations are among the risk factors for their pathogenesis and development. Since etiology of breast and lung tumors is not certain and multiple factors participate in their development, preventative measures have not been completely successful and studies have focused on developing new treatment strategies for them. The aim of current review is to provide a comprehensive discussion about application of hyaluronic acid-based nanostructures for treatment of breast and lung cancers. The main reason of using hyaluronic acid-based nanoparticles is their ability in targeting breast and lung cancers in a selective way due to upregulation of CD44 receptor on their surface. Moreover, nanocarriers developed from hyaluronic acid or functionalized with hyaluronic acid have high biocompatibility and their safety is appreciated. The drugs and genes used for treatment of breast and lung cancers lack specific accumulation at cancer site and their cytotoxicity is low, but hyaluronic acid-based nanostructures provide their targeted delivery to tumor site and by increasing internalization of drugs and genes in breast and lung tumor cells, they improve their therapeutic index. Furthermore, hyaluronic acid-based nanostructures can be used for phototherapy-mediated breast and lung cancers ablation. The stimuli-responsive and smart kinds of hyaluronic acid-based nanostructures such as pH- and light-responsive can increase selective targeting of breast and lung cancers.

Fabrication of an Injectable Star-polylactide/Thiolated Hyaluronate Hydrogel as a Double Drug-Delivery System for Cancer Treatment

Unsatisfactory solid-tumor penetration or rapid metabolism of nanomaterials limits their therapeutic efficacy. Here, we designed an injectable thiolated hyaluronate (HA-SH) hydrogel as a stable drug-releasing platform for in situ tumor treatment. Biodegradable star-shaped polylactide (S-PLLA) was first synthesized and fabricated to porous microspheres to encapsulate hydrophobic curcumin (Cur@S-PLLA), which was then blended with hydrophilic doxorubicin (Dox) and the HA-SH precursor to form composite in situ formable hydrogels [Cur@S-PLLA/(Dox)HA-SH]. The results showed that adding the microspheres improved the performance of the hydrogel, such as decreasing the gelation time from 1080 s to 960 s and also the swelling ratio. The mechanical strength increased from 27 to 45 kPa. In addition, the double drug system guaranteed a sustained release of drugs, releasing Dox at the early stage, with the continuous later release of Cur after gel swelling or S-PLLA degradation to achieve long-lasting tumor suppression, which inhibits the survival of cancer cells. The inhibitory effects of the hydrogels on MCF-7 were studied. The cell activity in the double-loaded hydrogel was significantly lower than that of the control groups, and apparent dead cells appeared in 2 days and fewer living cells with time. Flow cytometry revealed that the Cur@S-PLLA/(Dox)HA-SH group had the highest apoptosis ratio of 86.60% at 12 h, and the drugs caused the cell cycle to be blocked in phase M to reduce cell division. In summary, the innovative release platform is expected to be used in long-lasting tumor suppression and provides more ideas for the design of drug carriers.