DNA Functional Nanomaterials for Controlled Delivery of Nucleic Acid-Based Drugs

Nano revolution of DNA nanostructures redefining cancer therapeutics-A comprehensive review

DNA nanostructures are a promising tool in cancer treatment, offering an innovative way to improve the effectiveness of therapies. These nanostructures can be made solely from DNA or combined with other materials to overcome the limitations of traditional single-drug treatments. There is growing interest in developing nanosystems capable of delivering multiple drugs simultaneously, addressing challenges such as drug resistance. Engineered DNA nanostructures are designed to precisely deliver different drugs to specific locations, enhancing therapeutic effects. By attaching targeting molecules, these nanostructures can recognize and bind to cancer cells, increasing treatment precision. This approach offers tailored solutions for targeted drug delivery, enabling the delivery of multiple drugs in a coordinated manner. This review explores the advancements and applications of DNA nanostructures in cancer treatment, with a focus on targeted drug delivery and multi-drug therapy. It discusses the benefits and current limitations of nanoscale formulations in cancer therapy, categorizing DNA nanostructures into pure forms and hybrid versions optimized for drug delivery. Furthermore, the review examines ongoing research efforts and translational possibilities, along with challenges in clinical integration. By highlighting the advancements in DNA nanostructures, this review aims to underscore their potential in improving cancer treatment outcomes.

Template-Assisted Assembly of Hybrid DNA/RNA Nanostructures Using Branched Oligodeoxy- and Oligoribonucleotides

A template-assisted assembly approach to a C24 fullerene-like double-stranded DNA polyhedral shell is proposed. The assembly employed a supramolecular oligonucleotide dendrimer as a 3D template that was obtained via the hybridization of siRNA strands and a single-stranded DNA oligonucleotide joined to three- or four-way branched junctions. A four-way branched oligonucleotide building block (a starlet) was designed for the assembly of the shell composed of three identical self-complementary DNA single strands and a single RNA strand for hybridization to the DNA oligonucleotides of the template. To prevent premature auto-hybridization of the self-complementary oligonucleotides in the starlet, a photolabile protecting group was introduced via the N3-substituted thymidine phosphoramidite. Cleavable linkers such as a disulfide linkage, RNase A sensitive triribonucleotides, and di- and trideoxynucleotides were incorporated into the starlet and template at specific points to guide the post-assembly disconnection of the shell from the template, and enzymatic disassembly of the template and the shell in biological media. At the same time, siRNA strands were modified with 2'-OMe ribonucleotides and phosphorothioate groups in certain positions to stabilize toward enzymatic digestion. We report herein a solid-phase synthesis of branched oligodeoxy and oligoribonucleotide building blocks for the DNA/RNA dendritic template and the branched DNA starlet for a template-assisted construction of a C24 fullerene-like DNA shell after initial molecular modeling, followed by the assembly of the shell around the DNA-coated RNA dendritic template, and visualization of the resulting nanostructure by transmission electron microscopy.

Recent advancements in design of nucleic acid nanocarriers for controlled drug delivery

Research of nanoscale nucleic acid carriers has garnered attention in recent years due to their distinctive and controllable properties. However, current knowledge is limited in how we can efficiently utilize these systems for clinical applications. Several researchers have pioneered new and innovative nanocarrier drug delivery systems, but understanding physiochemical properties and behavior in vivo is vital to implementing them as clinical drug delivery platforms. In this review, we outline the most significant innovations in the synthesis, physical properties, and utilization of nucleic acid nanocarriers in the past 5 years, addressing the crucial properties which improve nanocarrier characteristics, delivery, and drug release. The challenges of controlling the transport of nucleic acid nanocarriers and therapeutic release for biological applications are outlined. Barriers which inhibit effective transport into tissue are discussed with emphasis on the modifications needed to overcome such obstacles. The novel strategies discussed in this work summarize the pivotal features of modern nucleic nanocarriers and postulate where future developments could revolutionize the translation of these tools into a clinical setting.

Bio-Tailored Sensing at the Nanoscale: Biochemical Aspects and Applications

The demonstration of the first enzyme-based electrode to detect glucose, published in 1967 by S. J. Updike and G. P. Hicks, kicked off huge efforts in building sensors where biomolecules are exploited as native or modified to achieve new or improved sensing performances. In this growing area, bionanotechnology has become prominent in demonstrating how nanomaterials can be tailored into responsive nanostructures using biomolecules and integrated into sensors to detect different analytes, e.g., biomarkers, antibiotics, toxins and organic compounds as well as whole cells and microorganisms with very high sensitivity. Accounting for the natural affinity between biomolecules and almost every type of nanomaterials and taking advantage of well-known crosslinking strategies to stabilize the resulting hybrid nanostructures, biosensors with broad applications and with unprecedented low detection limits have been realized. This review depicts a comprehensive collection of the most recent biochemical and biophysical strategies for building hybrid devices based on bioconjugated nanomaterials and their applications in label-free detection for diagnostics, food and environmental analysis.

Facile preparation of toluidine blue-loaded DNA nanogels for anticancer photodynamic therapy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) provides an effective therapeutic option for different types of cancer in addition to surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. The treatment outcome of PDT is largely determined by both the light and dark toxicity of photosensitizers (PSs), which can be technically improved with the assistance of a drug delivery system, especially the nanocarriers. Toluidine blue (TB) is a representative PS that demonstrates high PDT efficacy; however, its application is largely limited by the associated dark toxicity. Inspired by TB's noncovalent binding with nucleic acids, in this study, we demonstrated that DNA nanogel (NG) could serve as an effective TB delivery vehicle to facilitate anticancer PDT. The DNA/TB NG was constructed by the simple self-assembly between TB and short DNA segments using cisplatin as a crosslinker. Compared with TB alone, DNA/TB NG displayed a controlled TB-releasing behavior, effective cellular uptake, and phototoxicity while reducing the dark toxicity in breast cancer cells MCF-7. This DNA/TB NG represented a promising strategy to improve TB-mediated PDT for cancer treatments.

Application Perspectives of Nanomedicine in Cancer Treatment

Cancer is a disease that seriously threatens human health. Based on the improvement of traditional treatment methods and the development of new treatment modes, the pattern of cancer treatment is constantly being optimized. Nanomedicine plays an important role in these evolving tumor treatment modalities. In this article, we outline the applications of nanomedicine in three important tumor-related fields: chemotherapy, gene therapy, and immunotherapy. According to the current common problems, such as poor targeting of first-line chemotherapy drugs, easy destruction of nucleic acid drugs, and common immune-related adverse events in immunotherapy, we discuss how nanomedicine can be combined with these treatment modalities, provide typical examples, and summarize the advantages brought by the application of nanomedicine.

Progress of Nanomaterials in Photodynamic Therapy Against Tumor

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an advanced therapeutic strategy with light-triggered, minimally invasive, high spatiotemporal selective and low systemic toxicity properties, which has been widely used in the clinical treatment of many solid tumors in recent years. Any strategies that improve the three elements of PDT (light, oxygen, and photosensitizers) can improve the efficacy of PDT. However, traditional PDT is confronted some challenges of poor solubility of photosensitizers and tumor suppressive microenvironment. To overcome the related obstacles of PDT, various strategies have been investigated in terms of improving photosensitizers (PSs) delivery, penetration of excitation light sources, and hypoxic tumor microenvironment. In addition, compared with a single treatment mode, the synergistic treatment of multiple treatment modalities such as photothermal therapy, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy can improve the efficacy of PDT. This review summarizes recent advances in nanomaterials, including metal nanoparticles, liposomes, hydrogels and polymers, to enhance the efficiency of PDT against malignant tumor.

Rationale utilization of phospholipid excipients: a distinctive tool for progressing state of the art in research of emerging drug carriers

Phospholipids have a high degree of biocompatibility and are deemed ideal pharmaceutical excipients in the development of lipid-based drug delivery systems, because of their unique features (permeation, solubility enhancer, emulsion stabilizer, micelle forming agent, and the key excipients in solid dispersions) they can be used in a variety of pharmaceutical drug delivery systems, such as liposomes, phytosomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, etc. The primary usage of phospholipids in a colloidal pharmaceutical formulation is to enhance the drug's bioavailability with low aqueous solubility [i.e. Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BCS) Class II drugs], Membrane penetration (i.e. BCS Class III drugs), drug uptake and release enhancement or modification, protection of sensitive active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) from gastrointestinal degradation, a decrease of gastrointestinal adverse effects, and even masking of the bitter taste of orally delivered drugs are other uses. Phospholipid-based colloidal drug products can be tailored to address a wide variety of product requirements, including administration methods, cost, product stability, toxicity, and efficacy. Such formulations that are also a cost-effective method for developing medications for topical, oral, pulmonary, or parenteral administration. The originality of this review work is that we comprehensively evaluated the unique properties and special aspects of phospholipids and summarized how the individual phospholipids can be utilized in various types of lipid-based drug delivery systems, as well as listing newly marketed lipid-based products, patents, and continuing clinical trials of phospholipid-based therapeutic products. This review would be helpful for researchers responsible for formulation development and research into novel colloidal phospholipid-based drug delivery systems.

Tailored Nucleic Acid Architectures at Gold Surfaces for Controlled Therapeutic Release

Nucleic acids are versatile materials capable of forming smart nanocarriers with highly controllable therapeutic delivery. DNA-gated release is a mechanism by which DNA oligonucleotides physically block the release of encapsulated drugs from porous nanoparticles. We extend this mechanism to be used with drugs bound to the surface of DNA-capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). We investigated DNA monolayers of different thicknesses and hybridization states to determine how DNA surface architecture can affect the release of a template drug bound to the gold surface. DNA layers are investigated on the planar gold surface via quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation and on AuNPs via dynamic light scattering. The resultant layer architectures were studied for their effect on the release rate of drugs. We observed that varying DNA architectures on AuNPs result in different release rates of the drug. The rate of drug release can be slowed using either folded or randomly coiled DNA sequences, which act as a physical barrier to diffusion. DNA monolayers with upright orientation release drugs more quickly. When the longer single-stranded DNA is used, the drug release is slowed even further. However, even upright DNA layers provide a barrier to drug diffusion at longer sequence lengths. We hypothesize that it is the architecture of the DNA layer, influenced by the folded or upright orientation of individual DNA molecules, that affects the free diffusion of the drug away from the AuNP surface. This mechanism may improve the biological availability of many surface-bound drugs on solid, DNA-capped nanoparticles.