Lipid-Based Nanomaterials for Drug Delivery Systems in Breast Cancer Therapy

Emerging Applications of Nanoparticles in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Breast Cancer

Breast cancer remains the most prevalent cancer among women worldwide, driving the urgent need for innovative approaches to diagnosis and treatment. This review highlights the pivotal role of nanoparticles in revolutionizing breast cancer management through advancements of interconnected approaches including targeted therapy, imaging, and personalized medicine. Nanoparticles, with their unique physicochemical properties, have shown significant promise in addressing current treatment limitations such as drug resistance and nonspecific systemic distribution. Applications range from enhancing drug delivery systems for targeted and sustained release to developing innovative diagnostic tools for early and precise detection of metastases. Moreover, the integration of nanoparticles into photothermal therapy and their synergistic use with existing treatments, such as immunotherapy, illustrate their transformative potential in cancer care. However, the journey towards clinical adoption is fraught with challenges, including the chemical feasibility, biodistribution, efficacy, safety concerns, scalability, and regulatory hurdles. This review delves into the current state of nanoparticle research, their applications in breast cancer therapy and diagnosis, and the obstacles that must be overcome for clinical integration.

The biological response of pH-switch-based gold nanoparticle-composite polyamino acid embolic material

With continuous advances in medical technology, non-invasive embolization has emerged as a minimally invasive treatment, offering new possibilities in cancer therapy. Fluorescent labeling can achieve visualization of therapeutic agents in vivo, providing technical support for precise treatment. This paper introduces a novel in situ non-invasive embolization composite material, Au NPs@(mPEG-PLGTs), created through the electrostatic combination of L-cysteine-modified gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) and methoxy polyethylene glycol amine-poly[(L-glutamic acid)-(L-tyrosine)] (mPEG-PLGTs). Experiments were undertaken to confirm the biocompatibility, degradability, stability and performance of this tumor therapy. The research results demonstrated a reduction in tumor size as early as the fifth day after the initial injection, with a significant 90% shrinkage in tumor volume observed after a 20-day treatment cycle, successfully inhibiting tumor growth and exhibiting excellent anti-tumor effects. Utilizing near-infrared in vivo imaging, Au NPs@(mPEG-PLGTs) displayed effective fluorescence tracking within the bodies of nude BALB-c mice. This study provides a novel direction for the further development and innovation of in situ non-invasive embolization in the field, highlighting its potential for rapid, significant therapeutic effects with minimal invasiveness and enhanced safety.

Enhanced drug resistance suppression by serum-stable micelles from multi-arm amphiphilic block copolymers and tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate

Aim: To develop a robust drug-delivery system using multi-arm amphiphilic block copolymers for enhanced efficacy in cancer therapy. Materials & methods: Two series of amphiphilic polymer micelles, PEG-b-PCLm and PEG-b-PCLm/TPGS, were synthesized. Doxorubicin (DOX) loading into the micelles was achieved via solvent dialysis. Results: The micelles displayed excellent biocompatibility, narrow size distribution, and uniform morphology. DOX-loaded micelles exhibited enhanced antitumor efficacy and increased drug accumulation at tumor sites compared with free DOX. Additionally, 4A-PEG47-b-PCL21/TPGS micelles effectively suppressed drug-resistant MCF-7/ADR cells. Conclusion: This study introduces a novel micelle formulation with exceptional serum stability and efficacy against drug resistance, promising for cancer therapy. It highlights innovative strategies for refining clinical translation and ensuring sustained efficacy and safety in vivo.

Progress in the Treatment of Central Nervous System Diseases Based on Nanosized Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is widely used in clinical practice to treat diseases related to central nervous system (CNS) damage. However, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) constitutes a significant impediment to the effective delivery of TCM, thus substantially diminishing its efficacy. Advances in nanotechnology and its applications in TCM (also known as nano-TCM) can deliver active ingredients or components of TCM across the BBB to the targeted brain region. This review provides an overview of the physiological and pathological mechanisms of the BBB and systematically classifies the common TCM used to treat CNS diseases and types of nanocarriers that effectively deliver TCM to the brain. Additionally, drug delivery strategies for nano-TCMs that utilize in vivo physiological properties or in vitro devices to bypass or cross the BBB are discussed. This review further focuses on the application of nano-TCMs in the treatment of various CNS diseases. Finally, this article anticipates a design strategy for nano-TCMs with higher delivery efficiency and probes their application potential in treating a wider range of CNS diseases.

Recent Progress in Nanotechnology Improving the Therapeutic Potential of Polyphenols for Cancer

Polyphenols derived from fruits, vegetables, and plants are bioactive compounds potentially beneficial to human health. Notably, compounds such as quercetin, curcumin, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), and resveratrol have been highlighted as antiproliferative agents for cancer. Due to their low solubility and limited bioavailability, some alternative nanotechnologies have been applied to encapsulate these compounds, aiming to improve their efficacy against cancer. In this comprehensive review, we evaluate the main nanotechnology approaches to improve the therapeutic potential of polyphenols against cancer using in vitro studies and in vivo preclinical models, highlighting recent advancements in the field. It was found that polymeric nanomaterials, lipid-based nanomaterials, inorganic nanomaterials, and carbon-based nanomaterials are the most used classes of nanocarriers for encapsulating polyphenols. These delivery systems exhibit enhanced antitumor activity and pro-apoptotic effects, particularly against breast, lung, prostate, cervical, and colorectal cancer cells, surpassing the performance of free bioactive compounds. Preclinical trials in xenograft animal models have revealed decreased tumor growth after treatment with polyphenol-loaded delivery systems. Moreover, the interaction of polyphenol co-delivery systems and polyphenol-drug delivery systems is a promising approach to increase anticancer activity and decrease chemotherapy side effects. These innovative approaches hold significant implications for the advancement of clinical cancer research.

Nanomaterials in tumor immunotherapy: new strategies and challenges

Tumor immunotherapy exerts its anti-tumor effects by stimulating and enhancing immune responses of the body. It has become another important modality of anti-tumor therapy with significant clinical efficacy and advantages compared to chemotherapy, radiotherapy and targeted therapy. Although various kinds of tumor immunotherapeutic drugs have emerged, the challenges faced in the delivery of these drugs, such as poor tumor permeability and low tumor cell uptake rate, had prevented their widespread application. Recently, nanomaterials had emerged as a means for treatment of different diseases due to their targeting properties, biocompatibility and functionalities. Moreover, nanomaterials possess various characteristics that overcome the defects of traditional tumor immunotherapy, such as large drug loading capacity, precise tumor targeting and easy modification, thus leading to their wide application in tumor immunotherapy. There are two main classes of novel nanoparticles mentioned in this review: organic (polymeric nanomaterials, liposomes and lipid nanoparticles) and inorganic (non-metallic nanomaterials and metallic nanomaterials). Besides, the fabrication method for nanoparticles, Nanoemulsions, was also introduced. In summary, this review article mainly discussed the research progress of tumor immunotherapy based on nanomaterials in the past few years and offers a theoretical basis for exploring novel tumor immunotherapy strategies in the future.

Nanomaterials: Breaking through the bottleneck of tumor immunotherapy

Immunotherapy exerts its excellent anti-tumor effects by stimulating and enhancing the immune response of the body, and has become another important class of anti-tumor therapy besides chemotherapy, targeted therapy and radiotherapy. Various types of immunotherapeutic drugs have gained their clinical values, but the in vivo delivery of drugs still faces many challenges, such as poor tumor permeability and low tumor cell uptake rate. In recent years, owing to highly targeting properties, better biocompatibility, and easy functionalization, nanomaterials have been widely applicated in tumor treatment, especially in tumor immunotherapy. Furthermore, nanomaterials have large drug loading capacity, strong tumor targeting and easy modification, which can effectively overcome the drawbacks of traditional immunotherapy. This paper reviews the progress of nanomaterial-based tumor immunotherapy in recent years and provides a theoretical basis for exploring new nanomaterial-based tumor immunotherapy strategies.

Exosomes as Novel Delivery Systems for Application in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Exosomes, as gifts of nature derived from various cell types with a size range from ~40 to 160 nm in diameter, have gained attention recently. They are composed of a lipid membrane bilayer structure containing different constituents, such as surface ligands and receptors, from the parental cells. Originating from a variety of sources, exosomes have the ability to participate in a diverse range of biological processes, including the regulation of cellular communication. On account of their ideal native structure and characteristics, exosomes are taken into account as drug delivery systems (DDSs). They can provide profound effects on conveying therapeutic agents with great advantages, including specific targeting, high biocompatibility, and non-toxicity. Further, they can also be considered to ameliorate natural compounds, the main constituents of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which are usually ignored due to the complexity of their structures, poor stability, and unclear mechanisms of action. This review summarizes the classification of exosomes as well as the research progress on exosome-based DDSs for the treatment of different diseases in TCM. Furthermore, this review discusses the advantages and challenges faced by exosomes to contribute to their further investigation and application.