Tumor-targeting and imaging micelles for pH-triggered anticancer drug release and combined photodynamic therapy

Nanocarriers for intracellular delivery of proteins in biomedical applications: strategies and recent advances

Protein drugs are of great importance in maintaining the normal functioning of living organisms. Indeed, they have been instrumental in combating tumors and genetic diseases for decades. Among these pharmaceutical agents, those that target intracellular components necessitate the use of therapeutic proteins to exert their effects within the targeted cells. However, the use of protein drugs is limited by their short half-life and potential adverse effects in the physiological environment. The advent of nanoparticles offers a promising avenue for prolonging the half-life of protein drugs. This is achieved by encapsulating proteins, thereby safeguarding their biological activity and ensuring precise delivery into cells. This nanomaterial-based intracellular protein drug delivery system mitigates the rapid hydrolysis and unwarranted diffusion of proteins, thereby minimizing potential side effects and circumventing the limitations inherent in traditional techniques like electroporation. This review examines established protein drug delivery systems, including those based on polymers, liposomes, and protein nanoparticles. We delve into the operational principles and transport mechanisms of nanocarriers, discussing the various considerations essential for designing cutting-edge delivery platforms. Additionally, we investigate innovative designs and applications of traditional cytosolic protein delivery systems in medical research and clinical practice, particularly in areas like tumor treatment, gene editing and fluorescence imaging. This review sheds light on the current restrictions of protein delivery systems and anticipates future research avenues, aiming to foster the continued advancement in this field.

Recent Applications of Amphiphilic Copolymers in Drug Release Systems for Skin Treatment

Amphiphilic copolymers (ACs) are versatile systems with self-assembling and aggregating properties, enabling the formation of nanomaterials (NMs) such as micelles, vesicles, nanocapsules, and nanogels. These materials have been extensively explored for the delivery of various drugs and active compounds, enhancing the solubility and permeation of poorly water-soluble drugs into skin tissue. This improvement facilitates the treatment of skin diseases, including chronic conditions like cancer, as well as infections caused by bacteria, fungi, and viruses. This review summarizes recent applications of ACs in skin treatment, with a particular focus on their use in anti-cancer drug therapy. It covers the synthesis, classification, and characterization of ACs using various experimental techniques. Additionally, it discusses recent research on different drug delivery pathways using ACs, including encapsulation efficiency, release behavior, characteristics, applications, and responses to various chemical and physical stimuli (both in vivo and in vitro). Furthermore, this review provides a comprehensive analysis of the effects of ACs NMs on several skin diseases, highlighting their potential as alternative treatments.

'Passive' nanoparticles for organ-selective systemic delivery: design, mechanism and perspective

Nanotechnology has shown tremendous success in the drug delivery field for more effective and safer therapy, and has recently enabled the clinical approval of RNA medicine, a new class of therapeutics. Various nanoparticle strategies have been developed to improve the systemic delivery of therapeutics, among which surface modification of targeting ligands on nanoparticles has been widely explored for 'active' delivery to a specific organ or diseased tissue. Meanwhile, compelling evidence has recently been reported that organ-selective targeting may also be achievable by systemic administration of nanoparticles without surface ligand modification. In this Review, we highlight this unique set of 'passive' nanoparticles and their compositions and mechanisms for organ-selective delivery. In particular, the lipid-based, polymer-based, and biomimetic nanoparticles with tropism to different specific organs after intravenous administration are summarized. The underlying mechanisms (e.g., protein corona and size effect) of these nanosystems for organ selectivity are also extensively discussed. We further provide perspectives on the opportunities and challenges in this exciting area of organ-selective systemic nanoparticle delivery.

Using host-guest interactions at the interface of quantum dots to load drug molecules for biocompatible, safe, and effective chemo-photodynamic therapy against cancer

Combining photodynamic therapy (PDT) and chemotherapy (CHT) by loading an anti-cancer drug and a photosensitizer (PS) into the same delivery nanosystem has been proposed as an effective approach to achieve synergistic effects for a safe cancer treatment. However, exploring an ideal delivery nanosystem has been challenging, because the noncovalent interactions must be maintained between the multiple components to produce a stable yet responsive nanostructure that takes into account the encapsulation of drug molecules. We addressed this issue by engineering the interfacial interaction between Ag₂S quantum dots (QDs) using a pillararene derivative to direct the co-self-assembly of the entire system. The high surface area-to-volume ratio of the Ag₂S QDs provided ample hydrophobic space to accommodate the anti-drug molecule doxrubicine. Moreover, Ag₂S QDs served as PSs triggered by 808 nm near-infrared (NIR) light and also as carriers for high-efficiency delivery of drug molecules to the tumor site. Drug release experiments showed smart drug release under the acidic microenvironments (pH 5.5) in tumor cells. Additionally, the Ag₂S QDs demonstrated outstanding PDT ability under NIR light, as confirmed by extracellular and intracellular reactive oxygen species generation. Significant treatment efficacy of the chemo-photodynamic synergistic therapy for cancer using the co-delivery system was demonstrated via in vitro and in vivo studies. These findings suggest that our system offers intelligent control of CHT and PDT, which will provide a promising strategy for constructing hybrid systems with synergistic effects for advanced applications in biomedicine, catalysis, and optoelectronics.

Peptides to Overcome the Limitations of Current Anticancer and Antimicrobial Nanotherapies

Biomedical research devotes a huge effort to the development of efficient non-viral nanovectors (NV) to improve the effectiveness of standard therapies. NVs should be stable, sustainable and biocompatible and enable controlled and targeted delivery of drugs. With the aim to foster the advancements of such devices, this review reports some recent results applicable to treat two types of pathologies, cancer and microbial infections, aiming to provide guidance in the overall design of personalized nanomedicines and highlight the key role played by peptides in this field. Additionally, future challenges and potential perspectives are illustrated, in the hope of accelerating the translational advances of nanomedicine.

Advanced Devices for Tumor Diagnosis and Therapy

At present, tumor diagnosis is performed using common procedures, which are slow, costly, and still presenting difficulties in diagnosing tumors at their early stage. Tumor therapeutic methods also mainly rely on large-scale equipment or non-intelligent treatment approaches. Thus, an early and accurate tumor diagnosis and personalized treatment may represent the best treatment option for a successful result, and the efforts in finding them are still in progress and mainly focusing on non-destructive, integrated, and multiple technologies. These objectives can be achieved with the development of advanced devices and smart technology that represent the topic of the current investigations. Therefore, this review summarizes the progress in tumor diagnosis and therapy and briefly explains the advantages and disadvantages of the described microdevices, finally proposing advanced micro smart devices as the future development trend for tumor diagnosis and therapy.