Gene therapy of prostate cancer using liposomes containing perforin expression vector driven by the promoter of prostate-specific antigen gene

Advancing breast cancer diagnosis with a near-infrared fluorescence imaging smart sensor for estrogen/progesterone receptor detection

Molecular-genetic imaging has greatly advanced clinical diagnosis and prognosis monitoring. However, the specific visualization of intracellular proteins such as estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) remains an elusive goal. Here, we highlight a novel method for selectively detecting ER/PR positive tumors using genetically engineered responsive elements. Our study demonstrates that the double responsive elements of ER/PR exhibit the most sensitivity to the steroid receptors in breast cancers. By utilizing a cationic polymer vector, we constructed a responsive element-fluorescence protein system that can selectively image ER/PR positive breast cancers in murine models under a near-infrared laser. This non-invasive imaging achieved high-resolution detection without death or serious anaphylactic activity in the animals. Our findings suggest that the reporter system consisting of steroid receptor response elements and near-infrared proteins provides a practical system for identifying biomarkers and advancing cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Exosomes as an Emerging Plasmid Delivery Vehicle for Gene Therapy

Despite its introduction more than three decades ago, gene therapy has fallen short of its expected potential for the treatment of a broad spectrum of diseases and continues to lack widespread clinical use. The fundamental limitation in clinical translatability of this therapeutic modality has always been an effective delivery system that circumvents degradation of the therapeutic nucleic acids, ensuring they reach the intended disease target. Plasmid DNA (pDNA) for the purpose of introducing exogenous genes presents an additional challenge due to its size and potential immunogenicity. Current pDNA methods include naked pDNA accompanied by electroporation or ultrasound, liposomes, other nanoparticles, and cell-penetrating peptides, to name a few. While the topic of numerous reviews, each of these methods has its own unique set of limitations, side effects, and efficacy concerns. In this review, we highlight emerging uses of exosomes for the delivery of pDNA for gene therapy. We specifically focus on bovine milk and colostrum-derived exosomes as a nano-delivery "platform". Milk/colostrum represents an abundant, scalable, and cost-effective natural source of exosomes that can be loaded with nucleic acids for targeted delivery to a variety of tissue types in the body. These nanoparticles can be functionalized and loaded with pDNA for the exogenous expression of genes to target a wide variety of disease phenotypes, overcoming many of the limitations of current gene therapy delivery techniques.

Microfluidic Formulation of Curcumin-Loaded Multiresponsive Gelatin Nanoparticles for Anticancer Therapy

Current anticancer research shows that a combination of multiple treatment methods can greatly improve the killing of tumor cells. Using the latest microfluidic swirl mixer technology, combined with chemotherapy and photothermal-ablation therapy, we developed multiresponsive targeted antitumor nanoparticles (NPs) made of folate-functionalized gelatin NPs under 200 nm in size and with encapsulated CuS NPs, Fe₃O₄ NPs, and curcumin (Cur). By exploring gelatin's structure, adjusting its concentration and pH, and fine-tuning the fluid dynamics in the microfluidic device, the best preparation conditions were obtained for gelatin NPs with an average particle size of 90 ± 7 nm. The comparative targeting of the drug delivery system (DDS) was demonstrated on lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells (low level of folate receptors) and breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cells (high level of folate receptors). Folic acid helps achieve targeting and accurate delivery of NPs to the MCF-7 tumor cells. The synergistic photothermal ablation and curcumin's anticancer activity are achieved through infrared light irradiation (980 nm), while Fe₃O₄ is guided with an external magnetic field to target gelatin NPs and accelerate the uptake of drugs, thus efficiently killing tumor cells. The method described in this work is simple, easy to repeat, and has great potential to be scaled up for industrial production and subsequent clinical use.

Applications of tissue-specific and cancer-selective gene promoters for cancer diagnosis and therapy

Current treatment of solid tumors with standard of care chemotherapies, radiation therapy and/or immunotherapies are often limited by severe adverse toxic effects, resulting in a narrow therapeutic index. Cancer gene therapy represents a targeted approach that in principle could significantly reduce undesirable side effects in normal tissues while significantly inhibiting tumor growth and progression. To be effective, this strategy requires a clear understanding of the molecular biology of cancer development and evolution and developing biological vectors that can serve as vehicles to target cancer cells. The advent and fine tuning of omics technologies that permit the collective and spatial recognition of genes (genomics), mRNAs (transcriptomics), proteins (proteomics), metabolites (metabolomics), epiomics (epigenomics, epitranscriptomics, and epiproteomics), and their interactomics in defined complex biological samples provide a roadmap for identifying crucial targets of relevance to the cancer paradigm. Combining these strategies with identified genetic elements that control target gene expression uncovers significant opportunities for developing guided gene-based therapeutics for cancer. The purpose of this review is to overview the current state and potential limitations in developing gene promoter-directed targeted expression of key genes and highlights their potential applications in cancer gene therapy.

Plasmid DNA for Therapeutic Applications in Cancer

Recently, the interest in using nucleic acids for therapeutic applications has been increasing. DNA molecules can be manipulated to express a gene of interest for gene therapy applications or vaccine development. Plasmid DNA can be developed to treat different diseases, such as infections and cancer. In most cancers, the immune system is limited or suppressed, allowing cancer cells to grow. DNA vaccination has demonstrated its capacity to stimulate the immune system to fight against cancer cells. Furthermore, plasmids for cancer gene therapy can direct the expression of proteins with different functions, such as enzymes, toxins, and cytotoxic or proapoptotic proteins, to directly kill cancer cells. The progress and promising results reported in animal models in recent years have led to interesting clinical results. These DNA strategies are expected to be approved for cancer treatment in the near future. This review discusses the main strategies, challenges, and future perspectives of using plasmid DNA for cancer treatment.