Liposomes for Cancer Theranostics

Fabrication and characterization of TPGS-modified chlorogenic acid liposomes and its bioavailability in rats

Chlorogenic acid (CGA), a polyphenol compound, exhibits excellent anti-oxidative, anti-hypoxic, antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory activities, however the bioactivity of it has not been fully utilized in vivo due to its instability and low bioavailability. To address these issues, we prepared and characterized CGA-TPGS-LP, which is a TPGS-modified liposome loaded with CGA. The pharmacokinetics of CGA-TPGS-LP were studied in rats after oral administration. CGA-TPGS-LP was fabricated using a combination of thin film dispersion and ion-driven methods. The liposomes were observed to be uniformly small and spherical in shape. Their membranes were composed of lecithin, cholesterol, and TPGS lipophilic head with a TPGS hydrophilic tail chain coating on its surface. The loading efficiency and encapsulation efficiency were found to be 11.21% and 83.22%, respectively. The physicochemical characterisation demonstrated that the CGA was present in an amorphous form and retained its original structural state within the liposomal formulation. The stability of CGA was significantly improved by fabricating TPGS-LP. CGA-TPGS-LP exhibited good sustained-release properties in both simulated gastric and intestinal fluids. Following oral administration, ten metabolites were identified in rat plasma using UPLC-QTOF-MS. UPLC-QqQ-MS/MS quantitative analysis demonstrated that the oral bioavailability of CGA encapsulated in TPGS-modified liposomes was enhanced by 1.52 times. In addition, the three main metabolites of CGA had higher plasma concentrations and slower degradation rate. These results demonstrate that TPGS-modified liposomes could be a feasible strategy to further enhance the oral bioavailability of CGA, facilitating its clinical use.

Hawthorn with "homology of medicine and food": a review of anticancer effects and mechanisms

Over the past few years, there has been a gradual increase in the incidence of cancer, affecting individuals at younger ages. With its refractory nature and substantial fatality rate, cancer presents a notable peril to human existence and wellbeing. Hawthorn, a medicinal food homology plant belonging to the Crataegus genus in the Rosaceae family, holds great value in various applications. Due to its long history of medicinal use, notable effects, and high safety profile, hawthorn has garnered considerable attention and plays a crucial role in cancer treatment. Through the integration of modern network pharmacology technology and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), a range of anticancer active ingredients in hawthorn have been predicted, identified, and analyzed. Studies have shown that ingredients such as vitexin, isoorientin, ursolic acid, and maslinic acid, along with hawthorn extracts, can effectively modulate cancer-related signaling pathways and manifest anticancer properties via diverse mechanisms. This review employs network pharmacology to excavate the potential anticancer properties of hawthorn. By systematically integrating literature across databases such as PubMed and CNKI, the review explores the bioactive ingredients with anticancer effects, underlying mechanisms and pathways, the synergistic effects of drug combinations, advancements in novel drug delivery systems, and ongoing clinical trials concerning hawthorn's anticancer properties. Furthermore, the review highlights the preventive health benefits of hawthorn in cancer prevention, offering valuable insights for clinical cancer treatment and the development of TCM with anticancer properties that can be used for both medicinal and edible purposes.

Research Progress of Polysaccharide-Gold Nanocomplexes in Drug Delivery

Clinical drug administration aims to deliver drugs efficiently and safely to target tissues, organs, and cells, with the objective of enabling their therapeutic effects. Currently, the main approach to enhance a drug's effectiveness is ensuring its efficient delivery to the intended site. Due to the fact that there are still various drawbacks of traditional drug delivery methods, such as high toxicity and side effects, insufficient drug specificity, poor targeting, and poor pharmacokinetic performance, nanocarriers have emerged as a promising alternative. Nanocarriers possess significant advantages in drug delivery due to their size tunability and surface modifiability. Moreover, nano-drug delivery systems have demonstrated strong potential in terms of prolonging drug circulation time, improving bioavailability, increasing drug retention at the tumor site, decreasing drug resistance, as well as reducing the undesirable side effects of anticancer drugs. Numerous studies have focused on utilizing polysaccharides as nanodelivery carriers, developing delivery systems based on polysaccharides, or exploiting polysaccharides as tumor-targeting ligands to enhance the precision of nanoparticle delivery. These types of investigations have become commonplace in the academic literature. This review aims to elucidate the preparation methods and principles of polysaccharide gold nanocarriers. It also provides an overview of the factors that affect the loading of polysaccharide gold nanocarriers with different kinds of drugs. Additionally, it outlines the strategies employed by polysaccharide gold nanocarriers to improve the delivery efficiency of various drugs. The objective is to provide a reference for further development of research on polysaccharide gold nanodelivery systems.