Hesperidin-loaded nanoemulsions improve cytotoxicity, induce apoptosis, and downregulate miR-21 and miR-155 expression in MCF-7

Therapeutic Implications of Dietary Polyphenols-Loaded Nanoemulsions in Cancer Therapy

Cancer is one of the major causes of death worldwide, even the second foremost cause related to non-communicable diseases. Cancer cells typically possess several cellular and biological processes including, persistence, propagation, differentiation, cellular death, and expression of cellular-type specific functions. The molecular picture of carcinogenesis and progression is unwinding, and it appears to be a tangled combination of processes occurring within and between cancer cells and their surrounding tissue matrix. Polyphenols are plant secondary metabolites abundant in fruits, vegetables, cereals, and other natural plant sources. Natural polyphenols have implicated potential anticancer activity by various mechanisms involved in their antitumor action, including modulation of signaling pathways majorly related to cellular proliferation, differentiation, relocation, angiogenesis, metastatic processes, and cell death. The applications of polyphenols have been limited due to the hydrophobic nature and lower oral bioavailability that could be possibly overcome through encapsulating them into nanocarrier-mediated delivery systems, leading to improved anticancer activity. Nanoemulsions (NEs) possess diverse feasible properties, including greater surface area, modifiable surficial charge, higher half-life, site-specific targeting, and formulation imaging capability necessary to create a practical therapeutic impact, and have drawn increased attention in cancer therapy research. This review has summarized and discussed the basic concepts, classification, delivery approaches, and anticancer mechanism of various polyphenols and polyphenols-encapsulated nanoemulsions with improved cancer therapy.

Cytotoxic Impact of Naringenin-Loaded Solid Lipid Nanoparticles on RIN5F Pancreatic β Cells via Autophagy Blockage

BACKGROUND

Autophagy plays a crucial role in modulating the proliferation of cancer diseases. However, the application of Naringenin (Nar), a compound with potential benefits against these diseases, has been limited due to its poor solubility and bioavailability.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to develop solid lipid nanoparticles (Nar-SLNs) loaded with Nar to enhance their therapeutic impact.

METHODS

In vitro experiments using Rin-5F cells exposed to Nar and Nar-SLNs were carried out to investigate the protective effects of Nar and its nanoformulation against the pancreatic cancer cell line of Rin-5F.

RESULTS

Treatment with Nar and Nar-SLN led to an increase in autophagic markers (Akt, LC3, Beclin1, and ATG genes) and a decrease in the level of miR-21. Both Nar and Nar-SLN treatments inhibited cell proliferation and reduced the expression of autophagic markers. Notably, Nar-SLNs exhibited greater efficacy compared to free Nar.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that SLNs effectively enhance the cytotoxic impact of Nar, making Nar-SLNs a promising candidate for suppressing or preventing Rin-5F cell growth.

Lipid-Based Delivery Systems for Flavonoids and Flavonolignans: Liposomes, Nanoemulsions, and Solid Lipid Nanoparticles

Herbal chemicals with a long history in medicine have attracted a lot of attention. Flavonolignans and flavonoids are considered as two classes of the above-mentioned compounds with different functional groups which exhibit several therapeutic capabilities such as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antidiabetic, and anticancer activities. Based on the studies, high hydrophobic properties of the aforementioned compounds limit their bioavailability inside the human body and restrict their wide application. Nanoscale formulations such as solid lipid nanoparticles, liposomes, and other types of lipid-based delivery systems have been introduced to overcome the above-mentioned challenges. This approach allows the aforementioned hydrophobic therapeutic compounds to be encapsulated between hydrophobic structures, resulting in improving their bioavailability. The above-mentioned enhanced delivery system improves delivery to the targeted sites and reduces the daily required dosage. Lowering the required daily dose improves the performance of the drug by diminishing its side effects on non-targeted tissues. The present study aims to highlight the recent improvements in implementing lipid-based nanocarriers to deliver flavonolignans and flavonoids.

Spatial confinement-based Figure-of-Eight nanoknots accelerated simultaneous detection and imaging of intracellular microRNAs

Developing highly efficient and reliable methods for simultaneous imaging of microRNAs in living cells is often appealed to understanding their synergistic functions and guiding the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases, such as cancers. In this work, we rationally engineered a four-arm shaped nanoprobe that can be stimuli-responsively tied into a Figure-of-Eight nanoknot via spatial confinement-based dual-catalytic hairpin assembly (SPACIAL-CHA) reaction and applied for accelerated simultaneous detection and imaging of different miRNAs in living cells. The four-arm nanoprobe was facilely assembled from a cross-shaped DNA scaffold and two pairs of CHA hairpin probes (²¹HP-a and ²¹HP-b for miR-21, while ¹⁵⁵HP-a and ¹⁵⁵HP-b for miR-155) via the "one-pot" annealing method. The DNA scaffold structurally provided a well-known spatial-confinement effect to improve the localized concentration of CHA probes and shorten their physical distance, resulting in an enhanced intramolecular collision probability and accelerating the enzyme-free reaction. The miRNA-mediated strand displacement reactions can rapidly tie numerous four-arm nanoprobes into Figure-of-Eight nanoknots, yielding remarkably dual-channel fluorescence proportional to the different miRNA expression levels. Moreover, benefiting from the nuclease-resistant DNA structure based on the unique arched DNA protrusions makes the system ideal for operating in complicated intracellular environments. We have demonstrated that the four-arm-shaped nanoprobe is superior to the common catalytic hairpin assembly (COM-CHA) in stability, reaction speed, and amplification sensitivity in vitro and living cells. Final applications in cell imaging have also revealed the capacity of the proposed system for reliable identification of cancer cells (e.g., HeLa and MCF-7) from normal cells. The four-arm nanoprobe shows great potential in molecular biology and biomedical imaging with the above advantages.

New therapy strategies in the management of breast cancer

Breast cancer (BC), the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths after lung cancer, is the most common cancer type among women worldwide. BC comprises multiple subtypes based on molecular properties. Depending on the type of BC, hormone therapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy are the current systemic treatment options along with conventional chemotherapy. Several new molecular targets, miRNAs, and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), have been discovered over the past few decades and are powerful potential therapeutic targets. Here, we review advanced therapeutics as new players in BC management.