Drug Nanocarriers Research Articles

Uniqueness of Albumin as a Carrier in Nanodrug Delivery

ABSTRACT In contemporary medicine, albumin nanoparticles have become a powerful and adaptable nanodrug carrier. The ability of human serum albumin to deliver hydrophobic drugs through passive and active targeting mechanisms demonstrates its versatility in treating a variety of disorders. In addition to discussing ongoing clinical trials using albumin-based formulations, this study emphasizes the benefits of albumin-bound Paclitaxel (Abraxane) over solvent-based formulations (Taxol). Future advancements in albumin-based therapeutics are made possible by the emphasis placed on the importance of albumin in improving drug performance and its potential as a drug delivery mechanism. Albumin nanoparticles show promise in the treatment of a variety of illnesses. This study emphasizes their use in the delivery of hydrophobic drugs, their benefits over formulations based on solvents, and their ongoing clinical trials. The medicinal potential of albuminNeutrophils, leveraging their inflammation-targeting capabilities, have emerged as innovative drug delivery carriers. Integrating neutrophils with nanotechnology enhances treatment efficacy and reduces side effects. This review explores neutrophil-based nano-drug delivery systems, including membrane-coated nanoparticles, cell-loaded nanoparticles, and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-neutrophils. These therapies demonstrate superior biocompatibility, targeting, and therapeutic robustness, showing promise in various disease treatments.Neutrophils, combined with nanotechnology, offer innovative drug delivery. This review covers design principles, mechanisms, and applications of neutrophil-based nano-drug delivery systems, highlighting enhanced biocompatibility, targeting, and therapeutic efficacy.

Multistage microfluidic assisted Co-Delivery platform for dual-agent facile sequential encapsulation.

The integration of multiple therapeutic agents within a single nano-drug carrier holds promise for advancing anti-tumor therapies, despite challenges posed by their diverse physicochemical properties. This study introduces a novel multi-stage microfluidic co-encapsulation platform designed to address these challenges. By carefully orchestrating the nano-precipitation process sequence, this platform achieves sequential encapsulation of two drugs with markedly different physicochemical characteristics. Using the multi-stage microfluidic TrH chip, hybrid nanoparticles (HNPs) loaded with paclitaxel (PTX)-simvastatin (SV), PTX-lenvatinib (LV), and SV-LV were synthesized. Unlike conventional Bulk methods and existing commercial microfluidic Tesla and Baffle chips, the HNPs produced here exhibit a core-shell structure and uniform particle size distribution, crucial for enhancing drug delivery efficacy. Notably, this method achieves nearly 100 % encapsulation efficiency for both drugs across a dual-drug feed ratio range from 1:4 to 4:1. Drug loading efficiencies were quantified for PTX-SV/HNPs (14.97 ± 1.19 %), PTX-LV/HNPs (16.58 ± 0.69 %), and SV-LV/HNPs (19.21 ± 2.38 %). PTX-SV/HNPs demonstrated sequential release characteristics of SV and PTX, as confirmed by in vitro drug release experiments. Significantly, PTX-SV/HNPs exhibited superior cytotoxicity against HepG2 cells compared to individual PTX and SV treatments, underscoring their potential in cancer therapy. In conclusion, the developed multi-stage microfluidic platform represents a robust strategy for co-encapsulating drugs with substantial physicochemical disparities, thereby offering a promising avenue for advancing multi-drug delivery in nanomedicine applications.

Enhanced brain delivery and antiproliferative activity of resveratrol using milk-derived exosomes

The polyphenol resveratrol (RSV) undergoes extensive phase II metabolism, which limits its bioavailability and bioactivity, including anticancer effects. Growing preclinical evidence reinforces milk-derived exosomes (EXOs) as promising nanocarrier drugs and bioactives delivery systems. Herein, to overcome the mentioned RSV’s drawbacks, EXOs were loaded with RSV (EXO-RSV) to evaluate its brain delivery in Sprague-Dawley rats and its in vitro antiproliferative effects against human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y and glioblastoma U-87MG cancer cells compared with non-encapsulated RSV. Pharmacokinetic analyses in perfused brains showed RSV detection only after EXO-RSV administration, not after non-encapsulated RSV administration. Encapsulation also resulted in lower concentrations of phase II-derived RSV metabolites in circulation. Additionally, blood-brain barrier (BBB) transport assays using human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMECs) corroborated that encapsulation enhanced RSV transport efficiency and protected it from cellular metabolism. In vitro and in silico analyses of phase-II conjugates, primarily RSV 3-glucuronide, showed lower capacity than RSV to cross the BBB. Finally, EXO-RSV (47−750 nM) showed an increased dose-dependent antiproliferative efficacy on both cancer cell lines compared with the non-encapsulated RSV (10 μM), which was ineffective after 72 h of treatment. Our findings suggest that EXOs protect RSV from phase II metabolism and enhance its brain delivery and antiproliferative activity.

Physical, biochemical, and biological characterization of olive-derived lipid nanovesicles for drug delivery applications

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have shown great promise as drug delivery system (DDS). However, their complex and costly production limit their development for clinical use. Interestingly, the plant kingdom can also produce EV-like nanovesicles that can easily be isolated and purified from a large quantity of raw material at a high yield. In this study, olive-derived nanovesicles (ODNVs) were isolated from raw fruits using serial centrifugations and their physical and biological features characterized to demonstrate their promising potential to be used as a DDS. Nanotracking particle analysis indicated an average size of 109.5 ± 3.0 nm and yield of 1012 ODNVs/mL for the purest fraction. Microscopy imaging, membrane fluidity assay and lipidomics analysis showed the presence of a rich lipid bilayer that significantly varied between different sources of ODNVs but showed a distinct signature compared to human EVs. Moreover, ODNVs were enriched in PEN1 and TET8 compared to raw fruits, suggesting an extracellular origin. Interestingly, ODNVs size and yield stayed unchanged after exposure to high temperature (70 °C for 1 h), wide pH range (5–10), and 50–100 nm extrusion, demonstrating high resistance to physical and chemical stresses. This high resistance allowed ODNVs to stay stable in water at 4 °C for a month, or with the addition of 25 mM trehalose for long-term freezing storage. Finally, ODNVs were internalized by both 2D and 3D cell culture without triggering significant cytotoxicity and immunogenicity. Importantly, the anticancer drug doxorubicin (dox) could be loaded by passive incubation within ODNVs and dox-loaded ODNVs decreased cell viability by 90% compared to only 70% for free dox at the same concentration, indicating a higher efficiency of drug delivery by ODNVs. In addition, this high cytotoxicity effect of dox-loaded ODNVs was shown to be stable after a 2-week storage at 4 °C. Together, these findings suggested that ODNVs represent a promising candidate as drug nanocarrier for various DDS clinical applications, as demonstrated by their biocompatibility, high resistance to stress, good stability in harsh environment, and improvement of anticancer drug efficacy.

Antitumoral action of carvedilol–a repositioning study of the drug incorporated into mesoporous silica MCM-41

We have studied repositioning of carvedilol (an antihypertensive drug) incorporated into MCM-41 mesoporous silica. The repositioning proposes a reduction in the slow pace of discovery of new drugs, as well as toxicological safety and a significant reduction in high research costs, making it an attractive strategy for researchers and large pharmaceutical companies. We obtained MCM-41 bytemplatesynthesis and functionalized it by post-synthesis grafting with aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) only or with folic acid (FA), which gave MCM-41-APTES and MCM-41-APTES-FA, respectively. We characterized the materials by scanning and transmission electron microscopy, zeta potential (ZP) measurements, Fourier transform infrared absorption spectroscopy, x-ray diffractometry, nitrogen gas adsorption, and CHNS elemental analysis. We quantified the percentage of drug that was incorporated into the MCM-41 materials by thermogravimetric analysis and evaluated their cytotoxic activity in non-tumor human lung fibroblasts and the tumor human melanoma and human cervical adenocarcinoma cell lines by XTT salt reduction (2,3-bis-(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-arboxanilide). The x-ray diffractograms of the MCM-41 materials displayed low-angle peaks in the 2θrange between 2° and 3°, and the materials presented type IV nitrogen adsorption isotherms and H2 hysteresis typical of the MCM-41hexagonal network. The infrared spectra, the charge changes revealed by ZP measurements, and the CHN ratios obtained from elemental analysis showed that MCM-41 was amino-functionalized, and that carvedilol was incorporated into it. MCM-41-APTES incorporated 23.80% carvedilol, whereas MCM-41 and MCM-41-APTES-FA incorporated 18.69% and 12.71% carvedilol, respectively. Incorporated carvedilol was less cytotoxic to tumor and non-tumor cells than the pure drug. Carvedilol repositioning proved favorable and encourages further studies aimed at reducing its cytotoxicity to non-tumor cells. Such studies may allow for larger carvedilol incorporation into drug carriers or motivate the search for a new drug nanocarrier to optimize the carvedilol antitumoral activity.

DDEL-09. AS1411 APTAMER-CONJUGATED NANOSPHERES FOR TARGETING GLIOBLASTOMA THERAPY

Abstract Postoperative chemotherapy remains essential for treating glioblastoma (GBM), with nanocarrier-based drug delivery emerging as the most efficient method. However, non-specific delivery across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) can limit drug accumulation in tumors and cause damage to nearby tissues. As cancer progresses, angiogenic processes lead to the formation of an irregular blood-tumor barrier (BTB), necessitating nanodrug platforms for precise targeting and efficient drug delivery to cancer cells. In this study, we aimed to demonstrate targeted cancer therapy by selectively identifying tumor cells overexpressing nucleolin (NCL) protein using Dox-loaded AS1411 aptamer-conjugated nanospheres. Drug nanocarriers were synthesized from small molecules with sizes ranging from 100 to 300 nm to facilitate drug delivery. Selective drug delivery and cellular uptake were demonstrated for NCL-positive GBM cells (U87 and U251) compared to NCL-negative normal human astrocyte (NHA) cells. Flow cytometric analysis using FAM dye-labeled AS1411 aptamer-conjugated nanospheres confirmed that drug delivery to GBM U87 and U251 cells was actively targeted by specific AS1411-NCL interactions. Confocal laser scanning microscopy and cytotoxicity analysis confirmed that inoculation of Dox-loaded AS1411 aptamer-conjugated nanospheres induced selective internalization in GBM U87 and U251 cells. Moreover, to evaluate cytotoxicity and anti-tumor effects after treatment with PBS, Apt-Nanospheres, Free Dox, and Dox-Apt-Nanospheres, the results were analyzed through cell counting kit (CCK-8) analysis, evaluation of differences in 3D tumor sphere radii, and an in vivo GBM xenograft tumor model. The AS1411 aptamer-conjugated nanosphere drug delivery system was developed for dual-target treatment of GBM. AS1411-mediated specific recognition and drug accumulation significantly enhanced binding to NCL-positive U87 and U251 cells and improved cytotoxicity efficiency compared to Free Dox. Additionally, this study demonstrated that the active targeting model using aptamer-mediated drug delivery was more effective in improving drug penetration and retention in tumor cells than non-specific enhanced permeability and retention (EPR)-mediated delivery and passive drug delivery.

A Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics Perspective on the Release of 5-Fluorouracil from Liposomes.

Liposomes, small bilayer phospholipid-containing vesicles, are frequently used to ensure slow drug release for a prolonged and improved therapeutic effect. Nevertheless, current findings on the membrane affinity and permeability of the anticancer agent 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) are confounding, which leads to a lack of a clear understanding of how lipid composition impacts the distribution of 5-FU within liposomal structures and its delivery. In the current work, we report a comprehensive coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CGMD) investigation on the influence of cholesterol (CHOL) and the cationic lipid 1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium-propane (DOTAP) on the partitioning of 5-FU in 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) double-bilayer systems, as well as its in vitro release from liposomes with identical lipid compositions. Our results show that 5-FU tends to accumulate at the water-lipid interface, in the vicinity of polar headgroups, without partitioning in the hydrophobic tail region. At the same time, the presence of CHOL proportionally increases the distribution of this drug in the interbilayer aqueous space, decreasing the drug's affinity toward the membrane polar head region, while DOTAP has only a slight effect on drug distribution. Thus, it is expected that 5-FU will be released slower from CHOL-containing DPPC liposomes but not DOTAP-containing vesicles. However, in vitro release studies showed that the release kinetics of 5-FU from DPPC vesicles is not influenced by the presence of CHOL and that the incorporation of 10 mol % DOTAP leads to the best release profile for 5-FU, highlighting the complexity of nanocarrier drug release kinetics. We hypothesize that the initial rapid release seen in dialysis experiments is not related to drug membrane permeability but rather to 5-FU adsorbed on the outer surface of liposomes.

Res@LDH: A Novel Nanohybrid Therapeutic for Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury with Dual Reactive Oxygen Species Scavenging Efficiency.

Ischemic stroke poses a global health challenge, necessitating effective therapeutic interventions given the limited time window for thrombolytic therapy. Here, we present Res@LDH, a novel nanohybrid therapeutic agent boasting a dual reactive oxygen species scavenging efficiency of approximately 90%. Comprising Ge-containing layered double hydroxide nanosheets (Ge-LDH) as a drug nanocarrier and resveratrol as a neuroprotective agent, Res@LDH demonstrates enhanced permeability across the blood-brain barrier, ensuring high biocompatibility and stability. We explored the potential of Res@LDH in mitigating oxidative stress injury induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion in mice, as well as H2O2-induced cytotoxicity in HT22 cells. Our experiments unveil Res@LDH's capacity to ameliorate neurological deficits, reduce the infarction volume, mitigate blood-brain barrier disruption, exhibit a robust antioxidant activity, and dampen the release of proinflammatory cytokines. Moreover, Res@LDH treatment markedly attenuates microglial and astrocytic activation. Leveraging a pioneering synthetic approach harnessing Ge-LDH and resveratrol, Res@LDH emerges as a promising strategy for addressing ischemia-reperfusion injury, offering a concise solution to current therapeutic challenges.

Supramolecular approach to the design of nanocarriers for antidiabetic drugs: targeted patient-friendly therapy

Diabetes and complications derived are among serious global health concerns that critically deteriorate the quality of patient life and in some cases result in lethal outcome. Herein, general information on the pathogenesis, factors aggravating the course of the disease and drugs used for the treatment of two types of diabetes are briefly discussed. The aim of the review is to introduce supramolecular strategies that are currently being developed for the treatment of diabetes mellitus and are very effective alternative to chemical synthesis, which allows for fabrication of nanocontainers with switchable characteristics answering green chemistry criteria. Particular attention is paid to organic (amphiphilic and polymeric) formulations, including naturally driven compositions due to their biocompatibility, low toxicity, and bioavailability. Advantages and limitations of different nanosystems are discussed, with their adaptivity to noninvasive administration routes emphasized. <br> The bibliography includes 378 references.

Application of Polymers as Drug Nanocarriers in the Oral Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis

AbstractUlcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic non‐specific inflammatory disease of the intestines with a high prevalence. Polymer‐prepared nanoparticles are well‐targeted, highly biocompatible, and have high potential for personalized therapy. Polymer nanoparticles are able to achieve localized therapy through their unique design. First, this review compares the advantages and disadvantages of natural and synthetic polymeric materials as well as describes the application of polymeric nanoparticles in UC therapy. Then, the preparation, characterization methods, and current challenges of common polymer nanoparticles are presented. Next, one‐by‐one examples of polymer nanoparticle‐targeted drug delivery strategies for the treatment of UC are presented. In addition, polymer nanoparticle‐based therapeutic approaches for UC, including anti‐inflammatory therapies, reactive oxygen species scavenging therapies, and intestinal flora modulation therapies, are presented. Finally, future research directions for polymer nanoparticles in UC therapy are discussed and current challenges are identified. The aim of this paper is to provide valuable references and guidance for researchers to design and develop novel UC therapies.

Bioactive dextran-based scaffolds from emulsion templates co-stabilized by poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanocarriers

Porous polymer scaffolds are widely investigated as temporary implants in regenerative medicine to repair damaged tissues. While biocompatibility, degradability, mechanical properties comparable to the native tissues and controlled porosity are prerequisite for these scaffolds, their loading with pharmaceutical or biological active ingredients such as growth factors, in particular proteins, opens up new perspective for tissue engineering applications. This implies the development of scaffold loading strategies that minimize the risk of protein denaturation and allow to control their release profile. This work reports on a straightforward method for preparing bioactive dextran-based scaffolds from high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) templates containing poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) serving both as co-stabilizers for the emulsion and nanocarriers for drug or therapeutic protein models. Scaffold synthesis are achieved by photocuring of methacrylated dextran located in the external phase of a HIPE stabilized by the NPs in combination or not with a non-ionic surfactant. Fluorescent labelling of the NPs highlights their integration in the scaffold. The introduction of NPs, and even more so when combined with a surfactant, increases the stability and mechanical properties of the scaffolds. Cell viability tests demonstrate the non-toxic nature of these NPs-loaded scaffolds. The study of the release of a model protein from the scaffold, namely lysozyme, shows that its encapsulation in nanoparticles decreases the release rate and provides additional control over the release profile.

Dairy: Friend or Foe? Bovine Milk-Derived Extracellular Vesicles and Autoimmune Diseases.

Due to the availability, scalability, and low immunogenicity, bovine milk-derived extracellular vesicles (MEVs) are increasingly considered to be a promising carrier of nanomedicines for future therapy. However, considering that extracellular vesicles (EVs) are of biological origin, different sources of EVs, including the host origin and the specific cells that produce the EVs, may have different effects on the structure and function of EVs. Additionally, MEVs play an important role in immune regulation, due to their evolutionary conserved cargo, such as cytokines and miRNAs. Their potential effects on different organs, as well as their accumulation in the human body, should not be overlooked. In this review, we have summarized current impacts and research progress brought about by utilizing MEVs as nano-drug carriers. Nevertheless, we also aim to explore the possible connections between the molecules involved in cellular immunity, cytokines and miRNAs of MEVs produced under different health conditions, and autoimmune diseases.

Synergistic chemo-photothermal anticancer effect of pH-responsive curcumin loaded mesoporous silica decorated reduced graphene

Synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy is employed to treat cancer. In this work, the curcumin loaded mesoporous silica on reduced graphene oxide (Cur-mSiO2@rGO) is synthesized. The mSiO2@rGO nanocarrier combines rGO to absorb NIR radiations with mSiO2 to load the drug. The mSiO2@rGO thus functions as bimodal photothermal agent and pH-responsive drug nanocarrier. Curcumin loaded onto the nanocarrier possesses antiproliferative, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, pro-apoptotic, and antiangiogenic characteristics. It has anticancer potential against malignancies of stomach, liver, breast, lungs, and prostate. Breast cancer (BCa) is a major health concern worldwide. Curcumin inhibits BCa by mechanisms including apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and modulation of signaling pathways. Moreover, curcumin blocks transcription factor (NF-κB), PI3K/AKT signaling, and STAT3 protein to inhibit liver cancer cell growth and survival. Cur-mSiO2@rGO targets cancer cells with enhanced loading capacity of 92 ± 1.02 % curcumin which is specifically released in the acidic tumor environment. NIR lamp irradiation at 808 nm ablates cancer cells to demonstrate the high photothermal conversion efficiency of rGO. In vitro experiments prove that synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy effectively kills cancer cells (HepG2 and MCF-7) compared to the single chemotherapeutic treatment. The toxicity of Cur-mSiO2@rGO is analyzed in vivo by the serum biochemical analysis, and biosafety by histopathological examination of vital body organs. A 1000 mg/kg specific dose of Cur-mSiO2@rGO shows no toxic effect on mice organs. Additionally, the in vivo studies confirm that Cur-mSiO2@rGO with NIR reduces tumor growth. Therefore, the multifunctional Cur-mSiO2@rGO can be a safe chemopreventive nanocarrier in tumor management and cancer photothermal therapy.

PH responsive and zwitterionic micelle for enhanced cellular uptake and antitumor performance

The side effects of small molecule chemotherapeutic drugs (SMCD) have brought great pain to the cancer patients. Many nanodrug carriers can relieve the shortcomings of SMCD, but they have complex synthesis processes and lack biodegradability. To overcome both problems, we synthesized a pH responsive biodegradable zwitterionic molecules (EK-D) by linking zwitterionic polypeptide (EK7) and dodecyl acrylate through a simple click reaction. Subsequently, doxorubicin (DOX) was physically encapsulated within the EK-D micelles to produce EK-D-DOX micelles, and polyethylene glycol monooleate (POO) employed as a comparative group for the preparation of POO-DOX micelles. The results show that EK-D-DOX micelles have good aqueous stability and anti-protein non-specific adsorption performance at pH 7.4, but EK-D-DOX micelles aggregate under the condition of pH = 5.5 due to the biodegradability of EK-D. The tumor cell uptake rate of EK-D-DOX micelles is higher than that of POO-DOX micelles and free DOX, which makes EK-D-DOX micelles the highest cytotoxic. Additionally, EK-D-DOX micelles release more DOX in a slightly acidic environment than at pH 7.4, and the release of DOX reaches a significant cumulative value of 75.20 % under pH conditions of 5.5. More importantly, EK-D-DOX micelles exhibit superior in vivo tumor inhibitory efficacy compared to free DOX, resulting in a remarkable tumor inhibition rate of 95.7 %. EK-D-DOX micelles not only have lower biological toxicity to normal tissues than free DOX, but also have a longer blood circulation time in mice. The method of EK-D-DOX micelles preparation represents a new method to prepare biodegradable zwitterionic nanodrug.

Progressive cancer targeting by programmable aptamer-tethered nanostructures.

Scientific research in recent decades has affirmed an increase in cancer incidence as a cause of death globally. Cancer can be considered a plurality of various diseases rather than a single disease, which can be a multifaceted problem. Hence, cancer therapy techniques acquired more accelerated and urgent approvals compared to other therapeutic approaches. Radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and surgery have been widely adopted as routine cancer treatment strategies to suppress disease progression and metastasis. These therapeutic approaches have lengthened the longevity of countless cancer patients. Nonetheless, some inherent limitations have restricted their application, including insignificant therapeutic efficacy, toxicity, negligible targeting, non-specific distribution, and multidrug resistance. The development of therapeutic oligomer nanoconstructs with the advantages of chemical solid-phase synthesis, programmable design, and precise adjustment is crucial for advancing smart targeted drug nanocarriers. This review focuses on the significance of the different aptamer-assembled nanoconstructs as multifunctional nucleic acid oligomeric nanoskeletons in efficient drug delivery. We discuss recent advancements in the design and utilization of aptamer-tethered nanostructures to enhance the efficacy of cancer treatment. Valuably, this comprehensive review highlights self-assembled aptamers as the exceptionally intelligent nano-biomaterials for targeted drug delivery based on their superior stability, high specificity, excellent recoverability, inherent biocompatibility, and versatile functions.

Plasmomagnetic hybrid gold nanostructures as multifunctional nanocarriers for drug delivery, MRI contrast, and photothermal therapy of drug-resistant cancer cells

Presenting a simple efficient method, plasmomagnetic hybrid nanostructures (PNIPAM coated gold nanorods-dexpion hybrid nanostructure, PN-GDHNs) capable of serving as dual drug nanocarriers, MRI contrast, and photothermal agents for cancer therapy were synthesized. The cisplatin (CDDP) and doxorubicin (DOX) were loaded on PN-GDHNs and tested for their drug release, cytotoxicity, photothermal, and MRI contrast in vitro. We found that the drug release was controlled by pH and temperature, and the cytotoxicity was enhanced by the combination of chemotherapy and photothermal therapy. We also found that the PN-GDHNs could overcome the drug resistance of MCF7 breast cancer cells and improve the MRI contrast. We achieved a high cancer cell-killing efficiency of 97.3 ± 0.4 % in one dose with low drug concentration and laser power. Our results suggest that PN-GDHNs are promising multifunctional nanocarriers for cancer therapy applications.

Stable Porous Organic Cage Nanocapsules for pH-Responsive Anticancer Drug Delivery for Precise Tumor Therapy.

The search for drug nanocarriers with stimuli-responsive properties and high payloads for targeted drug delivery and precision medicine is currently a focal point of biomedical research, but this endeavor still encounters various challenges. Herein, a porous organic cage (POC) is applied to paclitaxel (PTX) drug delivery for cancer therapy for the first time. Specifically, water-soluble, stable, and biocompatible POC-based nanocapsules (PTX@POC@RH40) with PTX encapsulation efficiency over 98% can be synthesized by simply grafting nonionic surfactant (Polyoxyl 40 hydrogenated castor oil, RH40) on the POC surface. These PTX@POC@RH40 nanocapsules demonstrate remarkable stability for more than a week without aggregation and exhibit pH-responsive behavior under acidic conditions (pH 5.5) and display sustained release behavior at both pH 7.4 and pH 5.5. Intravenous administration of PTX@POC@RH40 led to a 3.5-fold increase in PTX bioavailability compared with the free PTX group in rats. Moreover, in vivo mouse model experiments involving 4T1 subcutaneous breast cancer tumors revealed that PTX@POC@RH40 exhibited enhanced anticancer efficacy with minimal toxicity compared with free PTX. These findings underscore the potential of POCs as promising nanocarriers for stimuli-responsive drug delivery in therapeutic applications.

A nanoscale natural drug delivery system for targeted drug delivery against ovarian cancer: action mechanism, application enlightenment and future potential.

Ovarian cancer (OC) is one of the deadliest gynecological malignancies in the world and is the leading cause of cancer-related death in women. The complexity and difficult-to-treat nature of OC pose a huge challenge to the treatment of the disease, Therefore, it is critical to find green and sustainable drug treatment options. Natural drugs have wide sources, many targets, and high safety, and are currently recognized as ideal drugs for tumor treatment, has previously been found to have a good effect on controlling tumor progression and reducing the burden of metastasis. However, its clinical transformation is often hindered by structural stability, bioavailability, and bioactivity. Emerging technologies for the treatment of OC, such as photodynamic therapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, gene therapy, molecular therapy, and nanotherapy, are developing rapidly, particularly, nanotechnology can play a bridging role between different therapies, synergistically drive the complementary role of differentiated treatment schemes, and has a wide range of clinical application prospects. In this review, nanoscale natural drug delivery systems (NNDDS) for targeted drug delivery against OC were extensively explored. We reviewed the mechanism of action of natural drugs against OC, reviewed the morphological composition and delivery potential of drug nanocarriers based on the application of nanotechnology in the treatment of OC, and discussed the limitations of current NNDDS research. After elucidating these problems, it will provide a theoretical basis for future exploration of novel NNDDS for anti-OC therapy.

A new era of possibilities for dendritic zeolite

A new era of possibilities for dendritic zeolite The ERC Advanced Grant TODENZE project aims to develop a new type of highly accessible zeolites exhibiting a dendritic nanoarchitecture, which could provide remarkable benefits in a wide range of fields. In particular, the project explores the use of dendritic zeolites as catalysts for biomass valorisation and as nanocarriers for combined drug and gene therapies.

Intranasal administration of liposomes: Potential brain delivery with prospective ophthalmic reach

The low efficacy of drug transportation from the bloodstream to specific tissues remains a challenge in drug delivery to the central nervous system (CNS), primarily because of the presence of the blood-brain and blood-retinal barriers. There is a need for non-invasive drug delivery techniques to the CNS given the intrusive nature of and potential patient burden associated with intraventricular, intrathecal, and intravitreal administration. Recently, the focus has shifted towards intranasal (i.e., nose-to-brain) drug delivery. Furthermore, there have been reports indicating that the use of drug nanocarriers, such as liposomes, facilitates efficient drug delivery via the intranasal pathway. This study investigates the brain penetration capabilities of intranasally administered liposomes using the hydrophobic fluorescent molecule, 1,1′-dioctadecyl-3,3,3′,3′-tetramethyl lindodicarbocyanine, 4-chlorobenzene sulfonate salt (DiD), as a model compound. The primary objective of this study was to elucidate the penetration of intranasally administered liposomes into the CNS, including the eyes. An examination of DiD distribution in the dissected brain and ocular tissues showed that DiD concentrations were elevated specifically at the limbus of the ocular tissue when surface-modified liposomes were employed. These findings suggest that intranasal liposome administration can deliver drugs to the posterior ophthalmic region, specifically the optic nerve, in addition to the brain.