Application of Cartilage Extracellular Matrix to Enhance Therapeutic Efficacy of Methotrexate

Advances in drug-loaded microspheres for targeted, controlled, and sustained drug delivery: Potential, applications, and future directions

Drug-loaded microspheres are an innovative technology in drug delivery systems (DDS), addressing many limitations of conventional methods. Their ability to enable controlled release, precise targeting, and broad drug compatibility makes them a versatile platform with significant potential in modern medicine. This review explores the unique properties of microspheres, including their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and customizable architecture, positioning them as promising candidates for therapeutic use in cancer, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis. These characteristics enhance drug stability and bioavailability while reducing systemic side effects, improving patient outcomes. The key findings discussed in this review highlight critical factors influencing microsphere performance, including material selection, particle size, surface modification, and multi-drug loading strategies. Particularly, the integration of nanoscale materials and the combination of microsphere technology with gene therapy and immunotherapy have shown great potential to improve treatment precision and efficacy. However, challenges such as large-scale production, reproducibility, and optimization of drug release profiles remain significant hurdles. Large-scale manufacturing of microspheres with consistent size, efficient drug loading, and predictable release patterns is technically complex, and optimizing release, especially for drugs with narrow therapeutic windows, requires a deeper understanding of the interactions between drugs and polymers. Future advances in microsphere technology are expected to leverage innovations in nanotechnology, gene therapy, and immunotherapy. These advancements may enable more efficient and personalized treatments for diseases that were previously difficult to treat. The findings presented in this review emphasize the transformative potential of microspheres in revolutionizing drug delivery, offering safer, more effective, and patient-specific therapies.

Extracellular Matrix-Mediated Crosslinking of Adhesive Hyaluronic Acid Patch for Treating Volumetric Muscle Injury

The treatment of volumetric muscle loss (VML) is challenging owing to the deficiency of appropriate bioscaffolds and ineffective therapeutic outcomes with conventional approaches. Adhesive hydrogels have emerged as potential tools for promoting tissue regeneration, offering effective integration with damaged tissues. However, technical procedures requiring non-biocompatible crosslinking methods, mechanical mismatches, or the absence of tissue-specific microenvironments in conventional adhesive hydrogels have hindered their successful application in tissue reconstruction. In this study, a patch-type adhesive hydrogel is developed by combining a muscle tissue-derived extracellular matrix (MEM) and catechol-conjugated hyaluronic acid (HA-CA). This MEM-containing HA-CA (HCM) patch hydrogel utilizes MEM as both a biocompatible crosslinker and a therapeutic substance. The HCM patch hydrogel, crosslinked through a combination of covalent and non-covalent interactions via MEM and catechol in the composite, not only provides stable physical support but also develops muscle tissue-specific biochemical cues, mediating the recruitment and maturation of muscular cells. In animal models of VML, the HCM patch hydrogel effectively stimulates satellite cells and supports de novo muscle regeneration with functional restoration. This study emphasizes the efficacy and ready-to-use convenience of HCM patch hydrogels for muscle regeneration.

Free Electron Density Gradients Enhanced Biosensor for Ultrasensitive and Accurate Affinity Assessment of the Immunotherapy Drugs

Accurate affinity assessments play an important role in drug discovery, screening, and efficacy evaluation. Label-free affinity biosensors are recognized as a dependable and standard technology for addressing this challenge. This study constructs a free electron density gradient-enhanced meta-surface plasmon resonance (FED-MSPR) biosensor through a finite-difference time-domain simulation model, the biosensor demonstrates superior detection performance in accurately determining affinity and kinetic rate constants. By controlling the dielectric properties of the metal on the surface of the nanocup arrays, the plasmon resonance effects are easily tuned without changing the nanostructure design. Compared with the single-layer gold chip, the triple-layer FED-MSPR chip demonstrated a four-fold improvement in resolution at the optimal resonance peak. Additionally, the sensitivity and figure of merit (FOM) of the multi-layer chip increased by 3.5 and 7.99 times, respectively. Following modification with high- and low-staggered carboxylation, the noise-signal ratio and baseline stability of the real-time kinetic curves based on these chips are significantly enhanced. The developed carboxylation FED-MSPR platform is successfully used to perform affinity assays for Adalimumab and TNF-α protein, resulting in favorable dynamic curves. These findings validate the proposed FED-MSPR biosensor platform as cost-effective, rapid, sensitive, and label-free, facilitating real-time quality control in drug development.