Nanomedicine-mediated optimization of immunotherapeutic approaches in cervical cancer

Advancements in nano-immunotherapy for gynecological cancers: A new frontier

Gynecological cancers rank among the leading causes of death for women worldwide. Traditional treatment methods, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, are commonly employed in patients with these tumors. However, the effectiveness of these approaches remains suboptimal due to issues like treatment resistance and challenges in early detection. As an alternative, immunotherapy has shown promise by offering improved anti-tumor responses and fewer side effects. In recent years, there have been significant advances in nanoparticle (NP) and nanoengineering technologies, paving the way for the development of nano-immunotherapy-an approach designed to enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy. Thanks to the flexibility, adaptability, small size, and responsiveness of NP platforms to the tumor microenvironment (TME), nano-immunotherapy has demonstrated improved anti-tumor activity and safety. This is achieved through enhanced tumor targeting, better delivery of immune agents, and reduced toxicity and side effects. Recently, researchers have explored the application of nano-immunotherapy in treating gynecological cancers, aiming to slow tumor progression and improve patient outcomes. In this review, we provide an overview of the latest advances in nano-immunotherapy for gynecological cancers, including ovarian, cervical, and endometrial cancers. Additionally, we discuss the challenges facing the clinical translation of nano-immunotherapy from the lab to real-world applications.

Regenerative medicine improve neurodegenerative diseases

Regenerative medicine is a subdivision of medicine that improves methods to regrow, repair or replace unhealthy cells and tissues to return to normal function. Cell therapy, gene therapy, nanomedicine as choices used to cure neurodegenerative disease. Recently, studies related to the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders have been focused on stem cell therapy and Nano-drugs beyond other than regenerative medicine. Hence, by data from experimental models and clinical trials, we review the impact of stem cell therapy, gene therapy, and nanomedicine on the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Indeed, improved knowledge and continued research on gene therapy and nanomedicine in treating Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis lead to advancements in effective and practical treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.

Analysis of WSI Images by Hybrid Systems with Fusion Features for Early Diagnosis of Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer is one of the most common types of malignant tumors in women. In addition, it causes death in the latter stages. Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common and aggressive form of cervical cancer and must be diagnosed early before it progresses to a dangerous stage. Liquid-based cytology (LBC) swabs are best and most commonly used for cervical cancer screening and are converted from glass slides to whole-slide images (WSIs) for computer-assisted analysis. Manual diagnosis by microscopes is limited and prone to manual errors, and tracking all cells is difficult. Therefore, the development of computational techniques is important as diagnosing many samples can be done automatically, quickly, and efficiently, which is beneficial for medical laboratories and medical professionals. This study aims to develop automated WSI image analysis models for early diagnosis of a cervical squamous cell dataset. Several systems have been designed to analyze WSI images and accurately distinguish cervical cancer progression. For all proposed systems, the WSI images were optimized to show the contrast of edges of the low-contrast cells. Then, the cells to be analyzed were segmented and isolated from the rest of the image using the Active Contour Algorithm (ACA). WSI images were diagnosed by a hybrid method between deep learning (ResNet50, VGG19 and GoogLeNet), Random Forest (RF), and Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithms based on the ACA algorithm. Another hybrid method for diagnosing WSI images by RF and SVM algorithms is based on fused features of deep-learning (DL) models (ResNet50-VGG19, VGG19-GoogLeNet, and ResNet50-GoogLeNet). It is concluded from the systems' performance that the DL models' combined features help significantly improve the performance of the RF and SVM networks. The novelty of this research is the hybrid method that combines the features extracted from deep-learning models (ResNet50-VGG19, VGG19-GoogLeNet, and ResNet50-GoogLeNet) with RF and SVM algorithms for diagnosing WSI images. The results demonstrate that the combined features from deep-learning models significantly improve the performance of RF and SVM. The RF network with fused features of ResNet50-VGG19 achieved an AUC of 98.75%, a sensitivity of 97.4%, an accuracy of 99%, a precision of 99.6%, and a specificity of 99.2%.

The application of nanomedicine in clinical settings

As nanotechnology develops in the fields of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, information and communication, and medical care, it has shown great promises. In recent years, medical nanorobots have made significant progress in terms of the selection of materials, fabrication methods, driving force sources, and clinical applications, such as nanomedicine. It involves bypassing biological tissues and delivering drugs directly to lesions and target cells using nanorobots, thus increasing concentration. It has also proved useful for monitoring disease progression, complementary diagnosis, and minimally invasive surgery. Also, we examine the development of nanomedicine and its applications in medicine, focusing on the use of nanomedicine in the treatment of various major diseases, including how they are generalized and how they are modified. The purpose of this review is to provide a summary and discussion of current research for the future development in nanomedicine.

Curcumin-reduced gold nanoparticles facilitate IL-12 delivery to a cervical cancer in vitro cell model

Aim: To synthesize curcumin-reduced gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) for the efficient delivery to and expression of the IL-12 gene in cervical cancer (HeLa) cells in vitro. Methods: Curcumin-reduced AuNPs were synthesized, stabilized with poly-L-lysine and PEG, conjugated to IL-12 DNA and physicochemically characterized. Cytotoxicity and IL-12 expression were accessed in vitro. Results & discussion: Stable, spherical AuNPs effectively compacted and protected the IL-12 DNA and tolerated well in vitro. Real-time quantitative PCR and ELISA confirmed the successful delivery and expression of the IL-12 gene in HeLa cells. Conclusion: The favorable attributes of this AuNP-delivery system and the significant IL-12 expression obtained augur well for cytokine-based therapy or immunotherapy in cervical cancer.

The Potential of Curcumin-Capped Nanoparticle Synthesis in Cancer Therapy: A Green Synthesis Approach

Cancer nanotherapeutics is an important field of research which utilizes nanomaterials as an approach to cancer therapy. Nano-mediated therapeutic delivery systems overcome the adverse side effects of traditional cancer treatment methods. Nanoparticles (NPs) are considered excellent tumor-targeting vehicles due to their compact and variable size, large surface area, ability to load several genes and drugs, and mediation of increased therapeutic payload uptake. Despite the rapid development of nanotechnology, there is growing concern regarding the possible long-term side effects of NPs on the environment and human health. Green chemistry using plant materials, such as curcumin, is a sustainable alternative to conventional reduction methods and confers dual reducing and capping properties. Curcumin is a bioactive compound isolated from the rhizome of the Curcuma longa plant, which exhibits various medicinal properties. Curcumin-capped NPs exhibit increased solubility, bioavailability, therapeutic indices, and antitumor properties. This review highlights the potential and antitumor properties of economical, simple, and eco-friendly curcumin-synthesized and capped NPs for the localized delivery of therapeutic genes and drugs to the cancer tumor microenvironment with fewer adverse side effects.

Lipid Nanoparticles: Promising Treatment Approach for Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disorder, is a life-altering, debilitating disease exhibiting a severe physical, psychological, and financial burden on patients. Globally, approximately 7–10 million people are afflicted with this disease, with the number of cases estimated to increase to 12.9 million by 2040. PD is a progressive movement disorder with nonmotor symptoms, including insomnia, depression, anxiety, and anosmia. While current therapeutics are available to PD patients, this treatment remains palliative, necessitating alternative treatment approaches. A major hurdle in treating PD is the protective nature of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and its ability to limit access to foreign molecules, including therapeutics. Drugs utilized presently are nonspecific and administered at dosages that result in numerous adverse side effects. Nanomedicine has emerged as a potential strategy for treating many diseases. From the array of nanomaterials available, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) possess various advantages, including enhanced permeability to the brain via passive diffusion and specific and nonspecific transporters. Their bioavailability, nontoxic nature, ability to be conjugated to drugs, and targeting moieties catapult LNPs as a promising therapeutic nanocarriers for PD. While PD-related studies are limited, their potential as therapeutics is evident in their formulations as vaccines. This review is aimed at examining the roles and properties of LNPs that make them efficient therapeutic nanodelivery vehicles for the treatment of PD, including therapeutic advances made to date.

Nanomedicine for Neurodegenerative Disorders: Focus on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases

Neurodegenerative disorders involve the slow and gradual degeneration of axons and neurons in the central nervous system (CNS), resulting in abnormalities in cellular function and eventual cellular demise. Patients with these disorders succumb to the high medical costs and the disruption of their normal lives. Current therapeutics employed for treating these diseases are deemed palliative. Hence, a treatment strategy that targets the disease's cause, not just the symptoms exhibited, is desired. The synergistic use of nanomedicine and gene therapy to effectively target the causative mutated gene/s in the CNS disease progression could provide the much-needed impetus in this battle against these diseases. This review focuses on Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, the gene/s and proteins responsible for the damage and death of neurons, and the importance of nanomedicine as a potential treatment strategy. Multiple genes were identified in this regard, each presenting with various mutations. Hence, genome-wide sequencing is essential for specific treatment in patients. While a cure is yet to be achieved, genomic studies form the basis for creating a highly efficacious nanotherapeutic that can eradicate these dreaded diseases. Thus, nanomedicine can lead the way in helping millions of people worldwide to eventually lead a better life.