Longitudinal Imaging of Liver Cancer Using MicroCT and Nanoparticle Contrast Agents in CRISPR/Cas9-Induced Liver Cancer Mouse Model

Inhibition of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma growth by melatonin: Studies with micro-CT

Melatonin is a versatile indolamine synthesized and secreted by the pineal gland in response to the photoperiodic information received by the retinohypothalamic signaling pathway. Melatonin has many benefits, such as organizing circadian rhythms and acting as a powerful hormone. We aimed to show the antitumor effects of melatonin in both in vivo and in vitro models through the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway and the Argyrophilic Nucleolar Regulatory Region (AgNOR), using the Microcomputed Tomography (Micro CT). Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) cells were administered into the mice by subcutaneous injection. Animals with solid tumors were injected intraperitoneally with 50 and 100 mg/kg melatonin for 14 days. Volumetric measurements for the taken tumors were made with micro-CT imaging, immunohistochemistry (IHC), real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and AgNOR. Statistically, the tumor tissue volume in the Tumor+100 mg/kg melatonin group was significantly lower than that in the other groups in the data obtained from micro-CT images. In the IHC analysis, the groups treated with Tumor+100 mg/kg melatonin were compared when the mTOR signaling pathway and factor 8 (F8) expression were compared with the control group. It was determined that there was a significant decrease (p < 0.05). Significant differences were found in the total AgNOR area/nuclear area (TAA/NA) ratio in the treatment groups (p < 0.05). Furthermore, there were significant differences between the amount of mTOR mRNA for the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), AKT Serine/Threonine Kinase (PKB/AKT) genes (p < 0.05). Cell apoptosis was evaluated with Annexin V in an in vitro study with different doses of melatonin; It was observed that 100 µg/mL melatonin dose caused an increase in the apoptotic cell death. In this study, we have reported anti-tumor effects of melatonin in cell culture studies as well as in mice models. Comprehensive characterization of the melatonin-mediated cancer inhibitory effects will be valuable in advancing our fundamental molecular understanding and translatability of pre-clinical findings to earlier phases of clinical trials.

Research trends and hot spots in global nanotechnology applications in liver cancer: a bibliometric and visual analysis (2000-2022)

Background

Liver cancer (LC) is one of the most common malignancies. Currently, nanotechnology has made great progress in LC research, and many studies on LC nanotechnology have been published. This study aims to discuss the current status, hot spots, and research trends in this field through bibliometric analysis.

Methods

The Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database was searched for papers related to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) included from January 2000 to November 2022, and its research hotspots and trends were visualized and analyzed with the help of VOSviewer. In addition, a search was conducted to find LC papers related to nanotechnology. Then we used the visual analysis software VOSviewer and CiteSpace to evaluate the contributions of countries/regions, authors, and journals related to the topic and analyze keywords to understand the research priorities and hot spots in the field as well as the development direction.

Results

There are 1908 papers in the highly cited literature on LC, and its research hotspots are pathogenesis, risk factors, and survival rate. The literature on the application of nanotechnology in LC had 921 papers. Among them, China (n=560, 60.8%) and the United States (n=170, 18.5%) were the countries with the highest number of published papers. Wang Yan (n=11) and Llovet JM (n=131) were the first authors and co-cited authors, respectively. The International Journal of Nanomedicine was the most prolific academic journal (n=41). In addition to "hepatocellular carcinoma" and "nanoparticles", the most frequent keyword was "drug delivery". In recent years, "metastasis" and "diagnosis" appeared in the keyword bursts. This indicates that the application of nanoparticles in the early diagnosis and drug delivery of LC (including liver metastasis) has a good prospect.

Conclusion

Nanotechnology has received more and more attention in the medical field in recent years. As nanoparticles are easily localized in organelles and cells, they can increase drug permeability in tumor tissues, improve drug delivery efficiency and reduce drug toxicity. Our research results were the first scientific evaluation of the application of nanotechnology in LC, providing scholars with research hotspots and development trends.

Strategies to overcome the main challenges of the use of CRISPR/Cas9 as a replacement for cancer therapy

CRISPR/Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-associated protein 9) shows the opportunity to treat a diverse array of untreated various genetic and complicated disorders. Therapeutic genome editing processes that target disease-causing genes or mutant genes have been greatly accelerated in recent years as a consequence of improvements in sequence-specific nuclease technology. However, the therapeutic promise of genome editing has yet to be explored entirely, many challenges persist that increase the risk of further mutations. Here, we highlighted the main challenges facing CRISPR/Cas9-based treatments and proposed strategies to overcome these limitations, for further enhancing this revolutionary novel therapeutics to improve long-term treatment outcome human health.