Effects of tamoxifen-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles on the estrogen receptor-α (ER-α) and vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) genes expression in the endometrial tissue of ovariectomized female Sprague-Dawley rats

Oral nano-formulations for endocrine therapy of endometrioid adenocarcinomas

Endometrial cancer is one of the three major malignant tumors of the reproductive system that threaten women's lives and health. The incidence of this disease is on the rise globally. Most cases of endometrial cancer comprise endometrioid adenocarcinomas, whose treatment is challenged by factors such as their high recurrence rate and the need to preserve fertility among young patients. Thus, oral endocrine therapy has become the main treatment modality. The main drugs used in oral endocrine therapy are progestins, selective estrogen receptor antagonists, and aromatase inhibitors. However, their clinical use is hindered by their low solubility and low oral utilization. The rapid development of nanotechnology allows the combination of these drugs with oral nano-formulations to create a good carrier. Such nanocarriers, including nanospheres, nanocapsules, and micelles can protect the drug against clearance and increase the site specificity of drug delivery. This paper reviews the pathogenesis of endometrioid endometrial cancer (EEC) and oral nano-formulations for endocrine therapy.

Cancer treatment therapies: traditional to modern approaches to combat cancers

As far as health issues are concerned, cancer causes one out of every six deaths around the globe. As potent therapeutics are still awaited for the successful treatment of cancer, some unconventional treatments like radiotherapy, surgery, and chemotherapy and some advanced technologies like gene therapy, stem cell therapy, natural antioxidants, targeted therapy, photodynamic therapy, nanoparticles, and precision medicine are available to diagnose and treat cancer. In the present scenario, the prime focus is on developing efficient nanomedicines to treat cancer. Although stem cell therapy has the capability to target primary as well as metastatic cancer foci, it also has the ability to repair and regenerate injured tissues. However, nanoparticles are designed to have such novel therapeutic capabilities. Targeted therapy is also now available to arrest the growth and development of cancer cells without damaging healthy tissues. Another alternative approach in this direction is photodynamic therapy (PDT), which has more potential to treat cancer as it does minimal damage and does not limit other technologies, as in the case of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The best possible way to treat cancer is by developing novel therapeutics through translational research. In the present scenario, an important event in modern oncology therapy is the shift from an organ-centric paradigm guiding therapy to complete molecular investigations. The lacunae in anticancer therapy may be addressed through the creation of contemporary and pertinent cancer therapeutic techniques. In the meantime, the growth of nanotechnology, material sciences, and biomedical sciences has revealed a wide range of contemporary therapies with intelligent features, adaptable functions, and modification potential. The development of numerous therapeutic techniques for the treatment of cancer is summarized in this article. Additionally, it can serve as a resource for oncology and immunology researchers.

Receptor-Mediated Targeting in Breast Cancer through Solid Lipid Nanoparticles and Its Mechanism

Nanoparticles have gained prominence in many areas and domains worldwide, such as metallic NP, carbon dots, quantum dots, polymeric NP, nano-suspension, nanocrystals, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN), etc. and have been applied in the field of medicine as nanomedicine with promising results. Rise in cancer mortality rate has been an issue for a long time with female breast cancer as one of the most detected cancers. No permanent treatment has been developed till date could combat breast cancer with minimum side effects that are not long-lasting as there is no proper technique through which the anticancer drugs can recognize benign or malignant or normal cells that causes systematic toxicity. Advancement in technology has led to the discovery of many biological pathways and mechanisms. Tumor cells or cancer cells overexpress some high-affinity receptors that can be targeted to deliver the anticancer drugs at specific site using these pathways and mechanisms. Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) are among some of the excellent drug delivery systems, especially stealth SLN (sSLN). SLN, when conjugated with a ligand (called as sSLN), has affinity and specificity towards a specific receptor, and can deliver the drug in breast cancer cells overexpressing the receptors. Using this technique, various investigations have reported better anti-breast cancer activity than simple SLN (non-conjugated to ligand or no receptor targeting). This review includes the investigations and data on receptor-mediated targeting in breast cancer from 2010 to 2021 by searching different databases. Overall, information on SLN in different cancers is reviewed. In vivo investigations, pharmacokinetics, biodistribution, and stability are discussed to describe the efficacy of sSLN. Investigations included in this review demonstrate that sSLN delivers the drug by overcoming the biological barriers and shows enhanced and better activity than non-conjugated SLN which also verifies that a lesser concentration of drug can show anti-breast cancer activity. The efficacy of medicines could be increased with lower cancer deaths through stealth-SLN. Due to the low cost of synthesis, biocompatibility and easy to formulate, more study is needed in vitro and in vivo so that this novel technique could be utilized in the treatment of human breast cancer.

Tamoxifen and oxidative stress: an overlooked connection

Tamoxifen is the gold standard drug for the treatment of breast cancer in pre and post-menopausal women. Its journey from a failing contraceptive to a blockbuster is an example of pharmaceutical innovation challenges. Tamoxifen has a wide range of pharmacological activities; a drug that was initially thought to work via a simple Estrogen receptor (ER) mechanism was proven to mediate its activity through several non-ER mechanisms. Here in we review the previous literature describing ER and non-ER targets of tamoxifen, we highlighted the overlooked connection between tamoxifen, tamoxifen apoptotic effects and oxidative stress.

Nanoparticles and cancer therapy: Perspectives for application of nanoparticles in the treatment of cancers

Rapid growth in nanotechnology toward the development of nanomedicine agents holds massive promise to improve therapeutic approaches against cancer. Nanomedicine products represent an opportunity to achieve sophisticated targeting strategies and multifunctionality. Nowadays, nanoparticles (NPs) have multiple applications in different branches of science. In recent years, NPs have repetitively been reported to play a significant role in modern medicine. They have been analyzed for different clinical applications, such as drug carriers, gene delivery to tumors, and contrast agents in imaging. A wide range of nanomaterials based on organic, inorganic, lipid, or glycan compounds, as well as on synthetic polymers has been utilized for the development and improvement of new cancer therapeutics. In this study, we discuss the role of NPs in treating cancer among different drug delivery methods for cancer therapy.

Oral Administration of Resveratrol-Loaded Solid Lipid Nanoparticle Improves Insulin Resistance Through Targeting Expression of SNARE Proteins in Adipose and Muscle Tissue in Rats with Type 2 Diabetes

In the current study, we developed resveratrol (RES)-loaded solid lipid nanoparticle (SLN-RES) in order to improve insulin resistance through the upregulation of SNARE protein complex in rats with type 2 diabetes. The SLN-RES characteristics include the following: the average size of 248 nm, the zeta potential of - 16.5 mV, and 79.9% RES entrapment efficiency. The release profile of SLN-RES showed an initial burst followed by a sustained release in natural condition. Infrared spectroscopy results revealed good incorporation of RES into core SLN. Spherical nanoparticle with less aggregation was observed under electronic microscopic examination. Oral administration of SLN-RES prevented weight loss and showed better hypoglycemic effect than RES. Serum oxidative stress status was restored to the normal level by SLN-RES. Furthermore, expression of synaptosomal-associated protein 23 (Snap23), syntaxin-4 (Stx4), and vesicle-associated membrane protein 2 (Vamp2) as the major elements of SNARE protein complex were reduced by SLN-RES more significantly than RES treatment in muscle tissue. However, SLN-RES has a similar effect to RES treatment in adipose tissue. Taken together, our results revealed SLN-RES could be a modern and interestingly therapeutic approach for the improvement of insulin resistance through targeting the expression of Snap23, Stx4, and Vamp2 in adipose and muscle tissues.

Study of telomerase reverse transcriptase and uterine-ovarian-specific genes expression in the endometrial tissue of ovariectomized female Sprague-Dawley rats

BACKGROUND

An in vivo study was carried out to study of telomerase reverse transcriptase and Uterine-Ovarian-specific genes expression in the endometrial tissue of ovariectomized female Sprague-Dawley rats.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Twenty-four female Sprague-Dawley rats divided into 4 groups of six rats. The first and second groups were ovariectomized and given tamoxifen and tamoxifen-loaded SLN respectively for six days continuously. Group 3 served as the untreated ovariectomized control group and group 4 was made up of untreated normal healthy rats. At the end of the study, the rats were sacrificed and study of the genes expression and serum zinc and copper were carried out.

RESULTS

The results showed that the expression of TERT in the group treated with tamoxifen, and tamoxifen-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles, significantly decreased (p<0.001) compared with ovariectomized control group. The results also revealed that the treatment with tamoxifen-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles increased expression of UO-44 gene compared to ovariectomized control group, while there was no difference between tamoxifen treated and control group.

CONCLUSIONS

Encapsulation of tamoxifen in solid lipid nanoparticles increased its targeting efficiency and improved the impact of the drug on the serum levels of some trace elements.

Liver Genes Expression Induced by Tamoxifen Loaded Solid Lipid Nanoparticles in Wistar Female Rats

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of free tamoxifen and tamoxifen-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) on cytochrome P450 (CYP3A2) and flavin-containing monooxygenase1 (FMO1) genes expression in the liver of female Wistar rats. Thirty female Wistar rats aged 7-8 weeks, were divided into six groups of six rats each. The first, second, third, and fourth groups were ovariectomized and received tamoxifen (2  mg/kg of body weight dissolved in 1  ml olive oil), tamoxifen-loaded SLN (2  mg/kg of body weight dispersed in 1  ml olive oil), SLN (10  mg/kg of body weight dispersed in 1  ml olive oil), and 1  ml olive oil, respectively. The fifth group comprised untreated ovariectomized control group and the sixth group served as unovariectomized healthy group. The treatments were given orally to the animals on 21 consecutive days using gastric intubations. At the end of the study, the rats were scarified and studied for some serum biochemical profile and two liver genes expression. The group treated with tamoxifen-loaded SLN showed significantly increased gene expression of CYP3A2 in comparison with the control, healthy, and group treated with free tamoxifen. The gene expression of FMO1 in the group that received tamoxifen-loaded SLN was significantly lower than that in the group treated with free tamoxifen. In addition, the group treated with free tamoxifen showed significantly increased gene expression of FMO1 as compared to the control and healthy groups. Encapsulation of tamoxifen inside solid lipid nanoparticles increased the gene expression of CYP3A2 and decreased the gene expression of FMO1.

Fabrication of all-trans-retinoic acid-loaded biocompatible precirol: A strategy for escaping dose-dependent side effects of doxorubicin

BACKGROUND

Drug delivery-based nanoparticles have been emerged to be an alternative and efficient approach to cancer therapy compared to conventional systems. Here, we investigated the role of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) formulated with precirol in increasing doxorubicin (Dox) induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells.

METHODS

ATRA-loaded Nano structured lipid carriers (NLCs) were evaluated in terms of particle size, zeta potential, Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), cell internalization, and scanning electron microscope (SEM). To understand molecular mechanism of apoptosis and cell cycle progression flow cytometric assay, MTT and DAPI staining was applied. Real time (RT)-PCR analysis was employed to investigate the expression of apoptosis related genes, including Survivin, Bcl-2 and Bax.

RESULTS

The optimized ATRA formulation exhibited average particle size of 95±5nm with nearly narrow size distribution. The IC50 values for ATRA and doxorubicin were 48±0.4μM and 0.81±0.02μM, respectively. ATRA-loaded NLCs decreased percentage of cell proliferation from 51±7.2% to 36±4.1% (p <0.05). Co-treatment of the MDA-MB-231 cells with ATRA formulation and doxorubicin caused two-fold increase in the percentage of apoptosis (p<0.05). The results from gene expression exhibited a significant decrease in survivin along with increase at Bax mRNA levels accompanied by a slight increase in Bax/Bcl-2 ratio.

CONCLUSION

Our results propose that ATRA encapsulated in precirol as a biocompatible compound augments the efficacy of Dox in cancer therapy.