Cancer Nanomedicine

Nanomedicines: intervention in inflammatory pathways of cancer

Inflammation is a complex defense process that maintains tissue homeostasis. However, this complex cascade, if lasts long, may contribute to pathogenesis of several diseases. Chronic inflammation has been exhaustively studied in the last few decades, for its contribution in development and progression of cancer. The intrinsic limitations of conventional anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer therapies triggered the development of nanomedicines for more effective and safer therapies. Targeting inflammation and tumor cells by nanoparticles, encapsulated with active therapeutic agents, offers a promising outcome with patient survival. Considerable technological success has been achieved in this field through exploitation of tumor microenvironment, and recognition of molecules overexpressed on endothelial cells or macrophages, through enhanced vascular permeability, or by rendering biomimetic approach to nanoparticles. This review focusses on the inflammatory pathways in progression of a tumor, and advancement in nanotechnologies targeting these pathways. We also aim to identify the gaps that hinder the successful clinical translation of nanotherapeutics with further clinical studies that will allow oncologist to precisely identify the patients who may be benefited from nanotherapy at time when promotion or progression of tumor initiates. It is postulated that the nanomedicines, in near future, will shift the paradigm of cancer treatment and improve patient survival.

Nanomaterials in anticancer applications and their mechanism of action - A review

The current challenges in cancer treatment using conventional therapies have made the emergence of nanotechnology with more advancements. The exponential growth of nanoscience has drawn to develop nanomaterials (NMs) with therapeutic activities. NMs have enormous potential in cancer treatment by altering the drug toxicity profile. Nanoparticles (NPs) with enhanced surface characteristics can diffuse more easily inside tumor cells, thus delivering an optimal concentration of drugs at tumor site while reducing the toxicity. Cancer cells can be targeted with greater affinity by utilizing NMs with tumor specific constituents. Furthermore, it bypasses the bottlenecks of indiscriminate biodistribution of the antitumor agent and high administration dosage. Here, we focus on the recent advances on the use of various nanomaterials for cancer treatment, including targeting cancer cell surfaces, tumor microenvironment (TME), organelles, and their mechanism of action. The paradigm shift in cancer management is achieved through the implementation of anticancer drug delivery using nano routes.

Re-establishing the comprehension of phytomedicine and nanomedicine in inflammation-mediated cancer signaling

Recent mounting evidence has revealed extensive genetic heterogeneity within tumors that drive phenotypic variation affecting key cancer pathways, making cancer treatment extremely challenging. Diverse cancer types display resistance to treatment and show patterns of relapse following therapy. Therefore, efforts are required to address tumor heterogeneity by developing a broad-spectrum therapeutic approach that combines targeted therapies. Inflammation has been progressively documented as a vital factor in tumor advancement and has consequences in epigenetic variations that support tumor instigation, encouraging all the tumorigenesis phases. Increased DNA damage, disrupted DNA repair mechanisms, cellular proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, and its incursion are a few pro-cancerous outcomes of chronic inflammation. A clear understanding of the cellular and molecular signaling mechanisms of tumor-endorsing inflammation is necessary for further expansion of anti-cancer therapeutics targeting the crosstalk between tumor development and inflammatory processes. Multiple inflammatory signaling pathways, such as the NF-κB signaling pathway, JAK-STAT signaling pathway, MAPK signaling, PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling, Wnt signaling cascade, and TGF-β/Smad signaling, have been found to regulate inflammation, which can be modulated using various factors such as small molecule inhibitors, phytochemicals, recombinant cytokines, and nanoparticles in conjugation to phytochemicals to treat cancer. Researchers have identified multiple targets to specifically alter inflammation in cancer therapy to restrict malignant progression and improve the efficacy of cancer therapy. siRNA-and shRNA-loaded nanoparticles have been observed to downregulate STAT3 signaling pathways and have been employed in studies to target tumor malignancies. This review highlights the pathways involved in the interaction between tumor advancement and inflammatory progression, along with the novel approaches of nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems currently used to target inflammatory signaling pathways to combat cancer.

Ultrasound-Mediated Cavitation Enhances EGFR-Targeting PLGA-PEG Nano-Micelle Delivery for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Treatment

Simple Summary

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) with negative expression of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2) is considered to be associated with poorer outcomes and a higher risk of recurrence or metastasis owing to a lack of effective targeted therapeutic drugs. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) functions is a driver of disease progression in most of TNBC that represents a viable target that can be leveraged to guide the intra-tumoral delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs in TNBC patients. Moreover, ultrasound-mediated cavitation (UMC) strategies increase tissue permeability and extravasation through nuclei-dependent cavitation via sonoporation, thus enabling drugs to better enter target tissues. In this research, a combination of active, targeting nano-micelles and UMC was able to inhibit TNBC tumor growth effectively at lower concentrations while reducing treatment-related toxicity. Thus, this is a very promising treatment strategy in the clinical therapy with TNBC and other cancer types.

Abstract

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is highly recurring and metastatic breast cancer with overexpressing epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Herein, a series of in vitro and in vivo analyses were used to explore the therapeutic effect of EGFR-targeting nano-micelles (PLGA-PEG/DOX@anti-EGFR) combined with ultrasound-mediated cavitation (UMC). The prepared nano-micelle drug carriers have good biocompatibility and can greatly increase the drug accumulation in tumor regions, thereby reducing off-target toxicity while enhancing anti-tumor efficacy. Moreover, an in vivo analysis of the practical utility of this treatment modality was conducted by using SonoVue^TM microbubbles to achieve cavitation under different power intensity levels, with an ultrasonic power intensity of 0.5 W/cm² maximizing the intra-tumoral blood perfusion. Relative to PLGA-PEG@DOX/anti-EGFR nano-micelles treatment alone, the combination with UMC was better able to suppress tumor growth even at low concentrations. As such, combining actively targeted drug-carrier molecules with UMC represents an effective approach to enhancing therapeutic efficacy while reducing the adverse, systemic effects associated with DOX and other chemotherapeutic drugs, and it can be considered as a promising clinical prospect in the treatment of TNBC.

Remote control of magnetic nanocomplexes for delivery and destruction of cancer cells

Although nanotechnology advances have been exploited for a myriad of purposes, including cancer diagnostics and treatment, still there is little discussion about the mechanisms of remote control. Our main aim here is to explain the possibility of a magnetic field control over magnetic nanocomplexes to improve their delivery, controlled release and antitumor activity. In doing so we considered the nonlinear dynamics of magnetomechanical and magnetochemical effects based on free radical mechanisms in cancer development for future pre-clinical studies.