Selective antileukemia effect of stabilized nanohybrid vesicles based on cholesteryl succinyl silane

Advancing the Pharmaceutical Potential of Bioinorganic Hybrid Lipid-Based Assemblies

Bioinspired lipid assemblies that mimic the elaborate architecture of natural membranes have fascinated researchers for a long time. These lipid assemblies have gone from being just an imperative platform for biophysical research to a pharmaceutical delivery system for biomedical applications. Despite success, these organized nanosystems are often subject to the mechanical instability and limited theranostic capability without adding any inconvenient modifications. To reach their advanced pharmaceutical potential, various bioinorganic hybrid lipid-based assembles, which provide new opportunities to synergistically complement and improve therapeutic/diagnostic potential of existing lipid-based nanomedicine with distinct mechanisms containing inorganic embedded surfactants, have recently been developed.

Localized delivery of curcumin into brain with polysorbate 80-modified cerasomes by ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction for improved Parkinson's disease therapy

Rationale: Treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD) is challenged by the presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) that significantly limits the effective drug concentration in a patient's brain for therapeutic response throughout various stages of PD. Curcumin holds the potential for α-synuclein clearance to treat PD; however, its applications are still limited due to its low bioavailability and poor permeability through the BBB in a free form.

Methods: Herein, this paper fabricated curcumin-loaded polysorbate 80-modified cerasome (CPC) nanoparticles (NPs) with a mean diameter of ~110 nm for enhancing the localized curcumin delivery into the targeted brain nuclei via effective BBB opening in combination with ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD).

Results: The liposomal nanohybrid cerasome exhibited superior stability towards PS 80 surfactant solubilization and longer circulation lifetime (t_1/2 = 6.22 h), much longer than free curcumin (t_1/2 = 0.76 h). The permeation was found to be 1.7-fold higher than that of CPC treatment only at 6 h after the systemic administration of CPC NPs. Notably, motor behaviors, dopamine (DA) level and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) expression all returned to normal, thanks to α-synuclein (AS) removal mediated by efficient curcumin delivery to the striatum. Most importantly, the animal experiment demonstrated that the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced PD mice had notably improved behavior disorder and dopamine depletion during two-week post-observation after treatment with CPC NPs (15 mg curcumin/kg) coupled with UTMD.

Conclusion: This novel CPC-UTMD formulation approach could be an effective, safe and amenable choice with higher therapeutic relevance and fewer unwanted complications than conventional chemotherapeutics delivery systems for PD treatment in the near future.

Enhanced diabetic wound healing by electrospun core–sheath fibers loaded with dimethyloxalylglycine

DMOG-loaded nanofibrous wound dressings enhanced diabetic wound healing by stabilizing HIF-1α.

Facile synthesis of Prussian blue nanoparticles as pH-responsive drug carriers for combined photothermal-chemo treatment of cancer

Multifunctional PEGylated PB-DOX NPs with a lipid-PEG shell were developed as a gram-scale manner and used as novel pH-responsive drug delivery vehicles for combined photothermal-chemo treatment of cancer cells with high efficacy.

Cryptotanshinone-Loaded Cerasomes Formulation: In Vitro Drug Release, in Vivo Pharmacokinetics, and in Vivo Efficacy for Topical Therapy of Acne

Cerasomes (CS), evolved from liposomes, are novel drug-delivery systems that have potential medical application as carriers for drugs or active ingredients. Although many studies have been conducted on the pharmaceutical and physicochemical properties of CS, the role of CS in influencing the in vivo plasma and topical pharmacokinetics and efficacy of topical drug delivery remain unclear. In this context, we chose cryptotanshinone (CTS) as a model drug for the preparation of CTS-CS by means of the ethanol injection method to investigate their in vitro/in vivo drug-release behavior and in vivo efficacy. (1) In in vitro studies, CTS-CS gel was proven to be capable of achieving a higher permeation rate and significant accumulation in the dermis of isolated rat skin using Franz diffusion cells. (2) In in vivo studies, microdialysis experiments used to measure the plasma and topical pharmacokinetics demonstrated that the CS had a high drug concentration, short peak time, and slow elimination. Meanwhile, the plasma area under the concentration-time curve of CTS-CS gel was less than half that for the CTS gel in 12 h, which indicates that the drug bioavailability dramatically increased in the experiments. (3) In in vivo efficacy studies, we duplicated a rat acne model and performed antiacne efficacy experiments. The CTS-CS gel improved the antiacne efficacy compared to that of ordinary CTS gel. Moreover, it inhibited the expression of interleukin-1α and androgen receptors effectively. All of these results show that CTS-CS gel has significant potential for the treatment of acne induced by inflammation and excessive secretion of androgen, suggesting that CS formulations were designed as a good therapeutic option for skin disease.

Lipid-mediated protein functionalization of electrospun polycaprolactone fibers

In this study, electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) fibers are plasma-treated and chemically conjugated with cholesteryl succinyl silane (CSS). In addition to Raman spectroscopy, an immobilization study of DiO as a fluorescent probe of lipid membranes provides evidence supporting the CSS coating of plasma-treated PCL fibers. Further, anti-CD20 antibodies are used as a model protein to evaluate the potential of lipid-mediated protein immobilization as a mechanism to functionalize the CSS-PCL fiber scaffolds. Upon anti-CD20 functionalization, the CSS-PCL fiber scaffolds capture Granta-22 cells 2.4 times more than the PCL control does, although the two fiber scaffolds immobilize a comparable amount of anti-CD20. Taken together, results from the present study demonstrate that the CSS coating and CSS-mediated antibody immobilization offers an appealing strategy to functionalize electrospun synthetic polymer fibers and confer cell-specific functions on the fiber scaffolds, which can be mechanically robust but often lack biological functions.

A novel legumain protease-activated micelle cargo enhances anticancer activity and cellular internalization of doxorubicin

Legumain is the only acidic asparaginly-endopeptidase in mammals that is highly up-regulated in tumor tissue and tumor associated cells. In this study, a novel legumain protease-activated micelle was successfully synthesized and prepared by loading with doxorubicin (DOX). The prepared micelle exhibited a spherical morphology and possessed a low critical micelle concentration of 1.21 × 10^-3 mg mL^-1 with a DOX loading capacity and entrapment efficiency of 4.05% and 60.6% respectively. The release profile of DOX from this micelle formulation was observed to be legumain concentration dependent. The micelle encapsulation of DOX highly enhanced the cellular uptake of DOX by tumor cell lines of DAOY, Y79, MCF-7, and MCF-7/DOX. Furthermore, encapsulation of DOX boosts the cytotoxicity against the tumor cells while reducing cytotoxicity against RPE and HEK293 cells. In addition, blank micelles did not exhibit any biological effects on tumor or RPE or HEK293 cells at the concentration range of 0-300 μg mL^-1, indicating good biocompatibility. The results suggest that this micelle formulation has potential applications in sustained drug delivery for legumain up-regulated tumors.

Polysaccharide nano-vesicular multidrug carriers for synergistic killing of cancer cells

Multi-drug delivery based on polymer nano-scaffolds is an essential protocol to be developed for better administration of anticancer drugs to enhance their therapeutic efficacies against cancer cells. Here, we report dual delivery polysaccharide nano-vesicles that are capable of loading and delivering both water soluble and water insoluble drugs together in a single polymer scaffold. The selective rupture of the nano-vesicular assembly under intracellular enzyme conditions allowed the simultaneous delivery of a hydrophobic drug camptothecin (CPT) and hydrophilic drug doxorubicin (DOX) supporting their synergistic killing of breast and colon cancer cells. The polysaccharide nano-vesicles have allowed us to address a few important questions regarding the need for multiple drug administration in cancer cells including (a) the role of simultaneous drug release, (b) antagonistic versus synergistic effects of drug combinations and (c) how these are affected by the ratio of drugs. Further, evaluation of the role of caveolae in endocytosis of these polymer scaffolds was also made. The vesicular scaffolds were found to preserve and deliver DOX resulting in 50-60% better killing of cancer cells than the free drug. Additionally, dual loaded nano-vesicles when compared to drug cocktails with individual drugs in separate nano-vesicles (at comparable molar ratios) suggest the relative drug concentration following release and mode of delivery to be both important in cancer cell killing. Results from these experiments have revealed newly developed polysaccharide nano-vesicles loaded with DOX and CPT drugs as potential candidates for improved breast cancer cell killing. Thus, these custom-designed polysaccharide nano-vesicles provide a new perspective on multi-anticancer drug delivery systems and their efficacy.

Recent advances in liposomal nanohybrid cerasomes as promising drug nanocarriers

Liposomes have been extensively investigated as possible carriers for diagnostic or therapeutic agents due to their unique properties. However, liposomes still have not attained their full potential as drug and gene delivery vehicles because of their insufficient morphological stability. Recently, a super-stable and freestanding hybrid liposomal cerasome (partially ceramic- or silica-coated liposome) has drawn much attention as a novel drug delivery system because its atomic layer of polyorganosiloxane surface imparts higher morphological stability than conventional liposomes and its liposomal bilayer structure reduces the overall rigidity and density greatly compared to silica nanoparticles. Cerasomes are more biocompatible than silica nanoparticles due to the incorporation of the liposomal architecture into cerasomes. Cerasomes combine the advantages of both liposomes and silica nanoparticles but overcome their disadvantages so cerasomes are ideal drug delivery systems. The present review will first highlights some of the key advances of the past decade in the technology of cerasome production and then review current biomedical applications of cerasomes, with a view to stimulating further research in this area of study.

Polypyrrole hollow microspheres as echogenic photothermal agent for ultrasound imaging guided tumor ablation

Ultrasound (US) imaging provides a valuable opportunity to administer photothermal therapy (PTT) of cancer with real-time guidance to ensure proper targeting, but only a few theranostic agents were developed by physically grafting near infrared (NIR)-absorbing inorganic nanomaterials to ready-made ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs) for US imaging guided PTT. In this paper, NIR absorbing hollow microspheres were generated from polypyrrole merely using a facile one-step microemulsion method. It was found that the obtained polypyrrole hollow microspheres (PPyHMs) can act as an efficient theranostic agent not only to enhance US imaging greatly, but also exhibit excellent photohyperthermic effects. The contrast consistently sustained the echo signals for no less than 5 min and the NIR laser light ablated the tumor completely within two weeks in the presence of PPyHMs. More importantly, no use of additional NIR absorber substantially minimizes an onetime dose of the theranostic agent.

Cerasomal doxorubicin with long-term storage stability and controllable sustained release

Liposomal nanohybrid cerasomes display a remarkable ability to maintain their size and retain encapsulated doxorubicin (DOX) over a period of 90days under storage conditions in solution compared with liposomes and liposils. Cerasomes retained 92.1±2.9% of the drug payload after 90days storage, much more than liposomes (35.2±2.5%) and liposils (53.2±5.5%). Under physiologically relevant conditions cerasomes exhibit a low initial burst in the first 5h and subsequent sustained release of DOX over the next 150h. Moreover, the magnitude of the initial burst and the rate of sustained release of DOX from cerasomes can be modulated by incorporating dipalmitoylphosphatidylglycerol (DPPG) in the cerasome structure and altering the ratios of the cerasome-forming lipid and phospholipids. Consequently, a wide range of release profiles can be achieved by altering the vesicle composition. Finally, human ovarian cancer cells are effectively killed by DOX released from cerasomes. Together these results suggest that cerasomes may be a promising drug delivery system for the long-term storage and controllable sustained release of the anticancer drug DOX.