Frontiers in Preparations and Promising Applications of Mesoporous Polydopamine for Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment

Nanoparticles targeting OPN loaded with BY1 inhibits vascular restenosis by inducing FTH1-dependent ferroptosis in vascular smooth muscle cells

Vascular restenosis following angioplasty continues to pose a significant challenge. The heterocyclic trioxirane compound [1, 3, 5-tris((oxiran-2-yl)methyl)-1, 3, 5-triazinane-2, 4, 6-trione (TGIC)], known for its anticancer activity, was utilized as the parent ring to conjugate with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, resulting in the creation of the spliced conjugated compound BY1. We found that BY1 induced ferroptosis in VSMCs as well as in neointima hyperplasia. Furthermore, ferroptosis inducers amplified BY1-induced cell death, while inhibitors mitigated it, indicating the contribution of ferroptosis to BY1-induced cell death. Additionally, we established that ferritin heavy chain1 (FTH1) played a pivotal role in BY1-induced ferroptosis, as evidenced by the fact that FTH1 overexpression abrogated BY1-induced ferroptosis, while FTH1 knockdown exacerbated it. Further study found that BY1 induced ferroptosis by enhancing the NCOA4-FTH1 interaction and increasing the amount of intracellular ferrous. We compared the effectiveness of various administration routes for BY1, including BY1-coated balloons, hydrogel-based BY1 delivery, and nanoparticles targeting OPN loaded with BY1 (TOP@MPDA@BY1) for targeting proliferated VSMCs, for prevention and treatment of the restenosis. Our results indicated that TOP@MPDA@BY1 was the most effective among the three administration routes, positioning BY1 as a highly promising candidate for the development of drug-eluting stents or treatments for restenosis.

Hydrogels in Gene Delivery Techniques for Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering

Hydrogels are 3D networks swollen with water. They are biocompatible, strong, and moldable and are emerging as a promising biomedical material for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering to deliver therapeutic genes. The excellent natural extracellular matrix simulation properties of hydrogels enable them to be co-cultured with cells or enhance the expression of viral or non-viral vectors. Its biocompatibility, high strength, and degradation performance also make the action process of carriers in tissues more ideal, making it an ideal biomedical material. It has been shown that hydrogel-based gene delivery technologies have the potential to play therapy-relevant roles in organs such as bone, cartilage, nerve, skin, reproductive organs, and liver in animal experiments and preclinical trials. This paper reviews recent articles on hydrogels in gene delivery and explains the manufacture, applications, developmental timeline, limitations, and future directions of hydrogel-based gene delivery techniques.

Polydopamine-containing nano-systems for cancer multi-mode diagnoses and therapies: A review

Polydopamine (PDA) has fascinating properties such as inherent biocompatibility, simple preparation, strong near-infrared absorption, high photothermal conversion efficiency, and strong metal ion chelation, which have catalyzed extensive research in PDA-containing multifunctional nano-systems particularly for biomedical applications. Thus, it is imperative to overview synthetic strategies of various PDA-containing nanoparticles (NPs) for state-of-the-art cancer multi-mode diagnoses and therapies applications, and offer a timely and comprehensive summary. In this review, we will focus on the synthetic approaches of PDA NPs, and summarize the construction strategies of PDA-containing NPs with different structure forms. Additionally, the application of PDA-containing NPs in bioimaging such as photoacoustic imaging, fluorescence imaging, magnetic resonance imaging and other imaging modalities will be reviewed. We will especially offer an overview of their therapeutic applications in tumor chemotherapy, photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, photocatalytic therapy, sonodynamic therapy, radionuclide therapy, gene therapy, immunotherapy and combination therapy. At the end, the current trends, limitations and future prospects of PDA-containing nano-systems will be discussed. This review aims to provide guidelines for new scientists in the field of how to design PDA-containing NPs and what has been achieved in this area, while offering comprehensive insights into the potential of PDA-containing nano-systems used in cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Hollow-polydopamine-nanocarrier-based near-infrared-light/pH-responsive drug delivery system for diffuse alveolar hemorrhage treatment

Introduction: Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) is a serious complication caused by systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Tissue damage and changes in immune response are all associated with excessive free radical production. Therefore, removing excess reactive oxygen species are considered a feasible scheme for diffuse alveolar hemorrhage treatment. Cyclophosphamide is often used as the main therapeutic drug in clinics. However, CTX carries a high risk of dose-increasing toxicity, treatment intolerance, and high recurrence rate. The combination of therapeutic drugs and functional nanocarriers may provide an effective solution. PDA is rich in phenolic groups, which can remove the reactive oxygen species generated in inflammatory reactions, and can serve as excellent free radical scavengers. Methods: We developed a hollow polydopamine (HPDA) nanocarrier loaded with CTX by ionization to prepare the novel nanoplatform, CTX@HPDA, for DAH treatment. The monodisperse silica nanoparticles were acquired by reference to the typical Stober method. PDA was coated on the surface of SiO₂ by oxidation self-polymerization method to obtain SiO₂@PDA NPs. Then, HPDA NPs were obtained by HF etching. Then HPDA was loaded with CTX by ionization to prepare CTX@HPDA. Then we tested the photothermal effect, animal model therapeutics effect, and biosafety of CTX@HPDA. Results: Material tests showed that the CTX@ HPDA nanoplatform had a uniform diameter and could release CTX in acidic environments. The vitro experiments demonstrated that CTX@HPDA has good photothermal conversion ability and photothermal stability. Animal experiments demonstrated that the CTX@HPDA nanoplatform had good biocompatibility. The nanoplatform can dissociate in acidic SLE environment and trigger CTX release through photothermal conversion. Combining HPDA, which scavenges oxygen free radicals, and CTX, which has immunosuppressive effect, can treat pulmonary hemorrhage in SLE. Micro-CT can be used to continuously analyze DAH severity and lung changes in mice after treatment. The pulmonary exudation in the various treatment groups improved to varying degrees. Discussion: In this study, we report a photothermal/PH-triggered nanocarrier (CTX@HPDA) for the precise treatment of SLE-DAH. CTX@HPDA is a simple and efficient nanocarrier system for DAH therapy. This work provides valuable insights into SLE treatment.

Enzyme functionalized PEOz modified magnetic polydopamine with enhanced penetration for cascade-augmented synergistic tumor therapy

In recent years, reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated cancer therapies have been widely recognized for their high selectivity and good biological safety. However, due to the difficulties of endogenous tumor microenvironment (TME), penetration of tumor tissues and integration of multimodal tumor ablation, the treatment with traditional therapies could not achieve satisfactory tumor inhibition effects. Here, a doxorubicin (DOX)-glucose oxidase (GOx) dual-loaded and poly (2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PEOz) decorated magnetic polydopamine nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄-DOX@PDA-GOx@PEOz, FDPGP) were constructed for tumor ablation. GOx-mediated cascade enzyme reactions could amplify oxidative stress damage and further synergistically inhibit breast cancer. Its pH-responsive charge reversal, drug-controlled release, photothermal, and cascade reactions were evaluated through extracellular experiments. Cellular uptake, cell cytotoxicity, tumor penetration and therapeutic efficacy of FDPGP were investigated through intracellular experiments. Finally, in vivo distribution, photothermal, synergistic antitumor therapeutic effect and biosafety were evaluated comprehensively by in vivo experiments. Excitingly, outstanding tumor enrichment and penetration, superior anticancer effects and biosafety were achieved by the combination of photothermal therapy (PTT)/starvation therapy (ST)/chemodynamic therapy (CDT)/chemotherapy (CT). As such, the FDPGP nanoplatform provides a new insight into the development of collaboratively multimodal enhanced tumor therapy.