Multifunctional titanium phosphate nanoparticles for site-specific drug delivery and real-time therapeutic efficacy evaluation

Nanoparticles in Clinical Translation for Cancer Therapy

The advent of cancer therapeutics brought a paradigm shift from conventional therapy to precision medicine. The new therapeutic modalities accomplished through the properties of nanomaterials have extended their scope in cancer therapy beyond conventional drug delivery. Nanoparticles can be channeled in cancer therapy to encapsulate active pharmaceutical ingredients and deliver them to the tumor site in a more efficient manner. This review enumerates various types of nanoparticles that have entered clinical trials for cancer treatment. The obstacles in the journey of nanodrug from clinic to market are reviewed. Furthermore, the latest developments in using nanoparticles in cancer therapy are also highlighted.

Multifunctional titanium phosphate carriers for enhancing drug delivery and evaluating real-time therapeutic efficacy of a hydrophobic drug component in Euphorbia kansui

Nanoparticles are often used to serve as drug delivery systems to improve the therapeutic efficacy of some hydrophobic drugs. In this work, PEG and peptide-modified titanium phosphate nanoparticles (TiP-PEG/peptide) were synthesized to enhance the drug delivery efficacy of tirucalla-8,24-diene-3β,11β-diol-7-one (KS-01), a major bioactive and hydrophobic component extracted from Euphorbia kansui. This drug delivery system with a loading efficiency of about 29.8 mg KS-01/1 g TiP-PEG/peptide exerted a significantly lower cell viability rate of MCF-7 than free KS-01, indicating that these carriers can effectively increase the therapeutic efficacy by improving its water solubility. Moreover, according to the fluorescence intensity of FAM which can be generated by caspase-3 cleaving DEVD-embedded peptide, the caspase-3 level could be determined and the therapeutic efficacy could be visualized in real time.

Insights into Theranostic Properties of Titanium Dioxide for Nanomedicine

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanostructures exhibit a broad range of theranostic properties that make them attractive for biomedical applications. TiO2 nanostructures promise to improve current theranostic strategies by leveraging the enhanced quantum confinement, thermal conversion, specific surface area, and surface activity. This review highlights certain important aspects of fabrication strategies, which are employed to generate multifunctional TiO2 nanostructures, while outlining post-fabrication techniques with an emphasis on their suitability for nanomedicine. The biodistribution, toxicity, biocompatibility, cellular adhesion, and endocytosis of these nanostructures, when exposed to biological microenvironments, are examined in regard to their geometry, size, and surface chemistry. The final section focuses on recent biomedical applications of TiO2 nanostructures, specifically evaluating therapeutic delivery, photodynamic and sonodynamic therapy, bioimaging, biosensing, tissue regeneration, as well as chronic wound healing.