Polysaccharide-Hydrophobic Nanoparticle Hybrid Nanoclusters for Enhanced Performance in Magnetic Resonance/Photoacoustic Imaging

Boosting nutrient starvation-dominated cancer therapy through curcumin-augmented mitochondrial Ca2+ overload and obatoclax-mediated autophagy inhibition as supported by a novel nano-modulator GO-Alg@CaP/CO

BACKGROUND

By hindering energy supply pathway for cancer cells, an alternative therapeutic strategy modality is put forward: tumor starvation therapy. And yet only in this blockade of glucose supply which is far from enough to result in sheer apoptosis of cancer cells.

RESULTS

In an effort to boost nutrient starvation-dominated cancer therapy, here a novel mitochondrial Ca²⁺ modulator Alg@CaP were tailor-made for the immobilization of Glucose oxidase for depriving the intra-tumoral glucose, followed by the loading of Curcumin to augment mitochondrial Ca²⁺ overload to maximize the therapeutic efficiency of cancer starvation therapy via mitochondrial dysfunctions. Also, autophagy inhibitors Obatoclax were synchronously incorporated in this nano-modulator to highlight autophagy inhibition.

CONCLUSION

Here, a promising complementary modality for the trebling additive efficacy of starvation therapy was described for cutting off the existing energy sources in starvation therapy through Curcumin-augmented mitochondrial Ca²⁺ overload and Obatoclax-mediated autophagy inhibition.

Electrohydrodynamic Sprayable Amphiphilic Polysaccharide-Clasped Nanoscale Self-Assembly for In Vivo Imaging

The work presented in this report demonstrates that amphiphilic polysaccharide-clasped self-assembly (Amp-SA) with nanometer size, encapsulating hydrophobic nanoparticles (NPs) can be generated via electrohydrodynamic spraying. It is observed that the formation of hydrophobic NP-encapsulated Amp-SA is dependent on the surface chemistry of NPs. The citrate-coated magnetic NPs (MNPs-Cit) were also prepared and compared. The hydrophobic magnetic NP-encapsulated Amp-SA (Amp-SA-M) exhibited around 2.7-2.8-fold higher values in r₂ relaxivity than that of MNPs-Cit. In addition, the resulting Amp-SA-M achieved ∼17.2-fold higher values in r₂/r₁ ratios than MNPs-Cit. The enhanced performances in magnetic transverse (r₂) relaxivity and r₂/r₁ ratio as well as the in vivo behavior of Amp-SA-M suggest the potential of Amp-SA-M as a promising MRI nanoprobe. This approach based on the nature-originated amphiphilic biopolymers may provide a novel insight into electrohydrodynamic techniques that have the ability to create various nanostructures, encapsulating high-quality hydrophobic nanomaterials for applications in diverse biotechnology.