A new pH/redox dual stimulus-responsive formononetin imprinting material

Dual pH/redox-responsive size-switchable polymeric nano-carrier system for tumor microenvironment DTX release

Innovation chemotherapeutic nano drug delivery systems (NDDSs) with various pharmacological achievement have become one of the hopeful therapeutic strategies in cancer therapy. This study focused on low pH, and high levels of glutathione (GSH) as two prominent characteristics of the tumor microenvironment (TME) to design a novel TME-targeted pH/redox dual-responsive P (AMA-co-DMAEMA)-b-PCL-SS-PCL-b-P (AMA-co-DMAEMA) nanoparticles (NPs) for deep tumor penetration and targeted anti-tumor therapy. The positively charged NPs exhibit strong electrostatic interactions with negatively charged cell membranes, significantly enhancing cellular uptake. Moreover, these NPs possess the unique size-shrinkable property, transitioning from 98.24 ± 27.78 to 45.56 ± 20.62 nm within the TME. This remarkable size change fosters an impressive uptake of approximately 100% by MDA-MB-231 cells within just 30 min, thereby greatly improving drug delivery efficiency. This size switchability enables passive targeting through the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect, facilitating deep penetration into tumors. The NPs also demonstrate improved pH/redox-triggered drug release (∼70% at 24 h) within the TME and exhibit no toxicity in cell viability test. The cell cycle results of treated cells with docetaxel (DTX)-loaded NPs revealed G2/M (84.6 ± 1.16%) arrest. The DTX-loaded NPs showed more apoptosis (62.6 ± 3.7%) than the free DTX (51.8 ± 3.2%) in treated cells. The western blot and RT-PCR assays revealed that apoptotic genes and proteins expression of treated cells were significantly upregulated with the DTX-loaded NPs vs. the free DTX (Pvalue<.001). In conclusion, these findings suggest that this novel-engineered NPs holds promise as a TME-targeted NDDS.

The potential role of formononetin in cancer treatment: An updated review

Currently, cancer is one of the main research topics, due to its high incidence and drug resistance to existing anti-cancer drugs. Formononetin, a natural product with phytoestrogenic properties and diverse biological functions, has attracted the attention of researchers working on anticancer drugs. Formononetin emerges as an intriguing bioactive substance compared to other isoflavones as it exhibits potent chemotherapeutic activity with less toxicity. Formononetin effectively plays a significant role in inhibiting cell proliferation, invasion, and metastatic abilities of cancer cells by targeting major signaling pathways at the junction of interconnected pathways. It also induces apoptosis and cell cycle arrest by modulating mediator proteins. It causes upregulation of key factors such as p-AKT, p38, p21, and p53 and downregulation of NF-κB. Furthermore, formononetin regulates the neoplastic microenvironment by inactivating the ERK1/2 pathway and lamin A/C signaling and has been reported to inactivate JAK/STAT, PKB or AKT, and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways and to suppress cell migration, invasion, and angiogenesis in human cancer cells. To assist researchers in further exploring formononetin as a potential anticancer therapeutic candidate, this review focuses on both in vitro and in vivo proof of concept studies, patents, and clinical trials pertinent to formononetin's anticancer properties. Overall, this review discusses formononetin from a comprehensive perspective to highlight its potential benefits as an anticancer agent.