Hyaluronidase-trigger nanocarriers for targeted delivery of anti-liver cancer compound

Chemotherapy is recognized as one of the significant treatment methods for liver cancer. The compound celastrol (CSL) could effectively inhibit the proliferation, migration, and invasion of liver cancer cells, which is regarded as a promising candidate to become a mainstream anti-liver cancer drug. However, the application of CSL in liver cancer chemotherapy is limited due to its systemic toxicity, poor water solubility, multidrug resistance, premature degradation, and lack of tumor targeting. Meanwhile, in order to comply with the current concept of precision medicine, precisely targeted delivery of the anti-liver compound CSL was desired. This paper takes into account that liver cancer cells were equipped with hyaluronic acid (HA) receptors (CD44) on their surface and overexpressed. Hyaluronidase (HAase) capable of degrading HA, HAase-responsive nanocarriers (NCs), named HA/(MI)₇-β-CD NCs, were prepared based on the electrostatic interaction between HA and imidazole moieties modified β-cyclodextrin (MI)₇-β-CD. HA/(MI)₇-β-CD NCs showed disassembly properties under HAase stimuli, which was utilized to trap, deliver, and the controllable release of the anti-liver cancer compound CSL. Furthermore, cytotoxicity assay experiments revealed that CSL-trapped HA/(MI)₇-β-CD NCs not only reduced cytotoxicity for normal cells but also effectively inhibited the survival for five tumor cells, and even the apoptotic effect of CSL-trapped NCs with a concentration of 5 μg mL^-1 on tumor cells (SMMC-7721) was consistent with free CSL. Cell uptake experiments demonstrated HA/(MI)₇-β-CD NCs possessed the capability of targeted drug delivery to cancerous cells. HA/(MI)₇-β-CD NCs exhibited site-specific and controllable release performance, which is anticipated to proceed further in precision-targeted drug delivery systems.

Fe3O4/Au/porous Au nanohybrid for efficient delivery of doxorubicin as a model drug

Fe₃O₄/Au/porous Au nanohybrids being bi-functional nanoparticles with magnetic properties and high porosity, were synthesized and used for drug delivery. To achieve this purpose, after Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles synthesis, a gold layer coats them to increase their stability. Then, to improve the loading capacity of Fe₃O₄/Au nanoparticles, a shell of porous gold was synthesized on the Fe₃O₄/Au surface by creating an Ag-Au nanohybrid layer on Fe₃O₄/Au and dissolving the metallic silver atoms in HNO₃ (0.01 M). The DLS results show that the synthesized nanohybrid has an average size of 68.0 ± 7.7 nm and a zeta potential of - 28.1 ± 0.2 mV. Finally, doxorubicin (DOX), as a pharmaceutical agent, was loaded onto the Fe₃O₄/Au/porous Au nanohybrids. The prepared nano-drug enhanced the therapeutic efficacy of DOX on MCF-7 cancer cells compared to the free DOX. These results confirmed a 1.5 times improvement in the antitumor activity of DOX-loaded Fe₃O₄/Au/porous Au nanohybrids.

Recent Advances of Magnetic Gold Hybrids and Nanocomposites, and Their Potential Biological Applications

Magnetic gold nanoparticles (mGNP) have become a great interest of research for nanomaterial scientists because of their significant magnetic and plasmonic properties applicable in biomedical applications. Various synthetic approaches and surface modification techniques have been used for mGNP including the most common being the coprecipitation, thermal decomposition, and microemulsion methods in addition to the Brust Schiffrin technique, which involves the reduction of metal precursors in a two-phase system (water and toluene) in the presence of alkanethiol. The hybrid magnetic–plasmonic nanoparticles based on iron core and gold shell are being considered as potential theranostic agents. In this critical review, in addition to future works, we have summarized recent developments for synthesis and surface modification of mGNP with their applications in modern biomedical science such as drug and gene delivery, bioimaging, biosensing, and neuro-regeneration, neuro-degenerative and arthritic disorders. This review includes techniques and biological applications of mGNP majorly based on research from the previous six years.