Study and Preparation of Multifunctional Poly(L-Lysine)@Hyaluronic Acid Nanopolyplexes for the Effective Delivery of Tumor Suppressive MiR-34a into Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells

Surface-functionalised polymeric nanoparticles for breast cancer treatment: processes and advances

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that of all the non-communicable diseases, cancer is considered the second cause of death worldwide. This has driven the big pharma companies to prioritise anticancer products in their pipeline. In addition, research has focused on exploration of new anticancer molecules and design of suitable dosage forms to achieve effective drug delivery to the tumour site. Nanotechnology is a valuable tool to build nano delivery systems with controlled and targeted drug release properties. Nanoparticles can be fabricated by robust, scalable and economic techniques using various polymers. Moreover, specific functional groups can be introduced to the surface of nanoparticles enabling targeting to a specific tissue; besides, they exhibit versatile drug release patterns according to the rate of polymer degradation. This review outlines the processes and advances in surface functionalisation of nanoparticles employed for treatment of breast cancer. The therapeutic molecules, the polymers used to fabricate nanoparticles, the techniques used to prepare the nanoparticles have been reviewed with a focus on the processes employed to functionalise these nanoparticles with suitable ligands to target different types of breast cancer.

Hyaluronic acid-empowered nanotheranostics in breast and lung cancers therapy

Nanomedicine application in cancer therapy is an urgency because of inability of current biological therapies for complete removal of tumor cells. The development of smart and novel nanoplatforms for treatment of cancer can provide new insight in tumor suppression. Hyaluronic acid is a biopolymer that can be employed for synthesis of smart nanostructures capable of selective targeting CD44-overexpressing tumor cells. The breast and lung cancers are among the most malignant and common tumors in both females and males that environmental factors, lifestyle and genomic alterations are among the risk factors for their pathogenesis and development. Since etiology of breast and lung tumors is not certain and multiple factors participate in their development, preventative measures have not been completely successful and studies have focused on developing new treatment strategies for them. The aim of current review is to provide a comprehensive discussion about application of hyaluronic acid-based nanostructures for treatment of breast and lung cancers. The main reason of using hyaluronic acid-based nanoparticles is their ability in targeting breast and lung cancers in a selective way due to upregulation of CD44 receptor on their surface. Moreover, nanocarriers developed from hyaluronic acid or functionalized with hyaluronic acid have high biocompatibility and their safety is appreciated. The drugs and genes used for treatment of breast and lung cancers lack specific accumulation at cancer site and their cytotoxicity is low, but hyaluronic acid-based nanostructures provide their targeted delivery to tumor site and by increasing internalization of drugs and genes in breast and lung tumor cells, they improve their therapeutic index. Furthermore, hyaluronic acid-based nanostructures can be used for phototherapy-mediated breast and lung cancers ablation. The stimuli-responsive and smart kinds of hyaluronic acid-based nanostructures such as pH- and light-responsive can increase selective targeting of breast and lung cancers.

Hyaluronic acid-functionalized lipoplexes and polyplexes as emerging nanocarriers for receptor-targeted cancer therapy

Cancer is an intricate disease that develops as a response to a combination of hereditary and environmental risk factors, which then result in a variety of changes to the genome. The cluster of differentiation (CD44) is a type of transmembrane glycoprotein that serves as a potential biomarker for cancer stem cells (CSC) and viable targets for therapeutic intervention in the context of cancer therapy. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a linear polysaccharide that exhibits a notable affinity for the CD44 receptor. This characteristic renders it a promising candidate for therapeutic interventions aimed at selectively targeting CD44-positive cancer cells. Treating cancer via non-viral vector-based gene delivery has changed the notion of curing illness through the incorporation of therapeutic genes into the organism. The objective of this review is to provide an overview of various hyaluronic acid-modified lipoplexes and polyplexes as potential drug delivery methods for specific forms of cancer by effectively targeting CD44.

The Effect of Concentration, Temperature, and pH on the Formation of Hyaluronic Acid-Surfactant Nanohydrogels

The assembly of colloidal hyaluronic acid (HyA, as a polysaccharide) based hydrogel particles in an aqueous medium is characterized in the present paper, with an emphasis on the particular case of nanohydrogels formed by surfactant-neutralized polysaccharide networks. The structural changes and particle formation process of polysaccharide- and cationic-surfactant-containing systems were induced by the charge neutralization ability and the hydrophobic interactions of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) under different conditions. Based on the rheological, light scattering, ζ-potential, turbidity, and charge titration measurements, it can be concluded that the preparation of the HyA-CTAB particles can be greatly controlled. The results indicate that more available negative charges can be detected on the polymer chain at smaller initial amounts of HyA (c_HyA < 0.10 mg/mL), where a molecular solution can be formed. The change in the pH has a negligible effect on the formation process (particle aggregation appears at n_CTAB/n_HyA,monomer~1.0 in every case), while the temperature dependence of the critical micelle concentration (c.m.c.) of CTAB determines the complete neutralization of the forming nanohydrogels. The results of our measurements confirm that after the appearance of stable colloidal particles, a structural change and aggregation of the polymer particles take place, and finally the complete charge neutralization of the system occurs.

Bone targeted miRNA delivery system for miR-34a with enhanced anti-tumor efficacy to bone-associated metastatic breast cancer

Bone metastatic cancer is the most common occurrence in breast cancer, and the treatment is also facing great challenges. MicroRNA-34a (miRNA-34a) is a promising anti-cancer miRNA for gene therapy to bone metastatic cancer patients. However, the lack of specificity to bone and low accumulation at the site of bone tumor remains the major challenge when used bone-associated tumor. To solve this problem, a bone-targeted vector for delivery of miR-34a to bone metastatic breast cancer was constructed by using the commonly used gene vector branched polyethylenimine 25 k (BPEI 25 k) as the skeleton and linking with alendronate (ALN) moieties for bone targeting group. The constructed gene delivery system PCA/miR-34a can efficiently prevent miR-34a from degradation during blood circulation and enhance the specific bone delivery and distribution. PCA/miR-34a nanoparticles can be uptake into tumor cells through clathrin and caveolae-mediated endocytosis, and directly regulate the expression of oncogenes, thus promoting tumor cell apoptosis and relieving bone tissue erosion. The results of experiments in vitro and in vivo confirmed that the constructed bone-targeted miRNA delivery system PCA/miR-34a can enhance the anti-tumor efficacy in bone metastatic cancer, and provide a potential strategy for gene therapy in bone metastatic cancer.

Colloidal Polyelectrolyte Complexes from Hyaluronic Acid: Preparation and Biomedical Applications

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a naturally occurring polysaccharide which has been extensively exploited in biomedical fields owing to its outstanding biocompatibility. Self-assembly of HA and polycations through electrostatic interactions can generate colloidal polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs), which can offer a wide range of applications while being relatively simple to prepare with rapid and "green" processes. The advantages of colloidal HA-based PECs stem from the combined benefits of nanomedicine, green chemistry, and the inherent properties of HA, namely high biocompatibility, biodegradability, and biological targeting capability. Accordingly, colloidal PECs from HA have received increasing attention in the recent years as high-performance materials for biomedical applications. Considering their potential, this review is aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of colloidal PECs from HA in complex with polycations, from the most fundamental aspects of the preparation process to their various biomedical applications, notably as nanocarriers for delivering small molecule drugs, nucleic acids, peptides, proteins, and bioimaging agents or the construction of multifunctional platforms.

Modulatory role of miRNAs in thyroid and breast cancer progression and insights into their therapeutic manipulation

Over the past few decades, thyroid cancer has become one of the most common types of endocrine cancer, contributing to an increase in prevalence. In the year 2020, there were 586,202 newly diagnosed cases of thyroid cancer around the world. This constituted approximately 3.0% of all patients diagnosed with cancer. The World Health Organization reported that there will be 2.3 million women receiving treatment for breast cancer in 2020, with 685,000. Despite the fact that carcinoma is one of the world's leading causes of death, there is still a paucity of information about its biology. MicroRNAs (miRNAs; miRs) are non-coding RNAs that can reduce gene expression by cleaving the 3' untranslated regions of mRNA. These factors make them a potential protein translation inhibitor. Diverse biological mechanisms implicated in the genesis of cancer are modulated by miRNA. The investigation of global miRNA expression in cancer showed regulatory activity through up regulation and down-regulation in several cancers, including thyroid cancer and breast cancer. In thyroid cancer, miRNA influences several cancers related signaling pathways through modulating MAPK, PI3K, and the RAS pathway. In breast cancer, the regulatory activity of miRNA was played through the cyclin protein family, protein kinases and their inhibitors, and other growth promoters or suppressors, which modulated cell proliferation and cell cycle progression. This article's goal is to discuss key miRNA expressions that are involved in the development of thyroid and breast cancer as well as their therapeutic manipulation for these two specific cancer types.