Effects of platinum-based anticancer drugs on the trace element profile of liver and kidney tissue from mice

Acetylshikonin induces necroptosis via the RIPK1/RIPK3-dependent pathway in lung cancer

Despite advances in therapeutic strategies, lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Acetylshikonin is a derivative of the traditional Chinese medicine Zicao and presents a variety of anticancer properties. However, the effects of acetylshikonin on lung cancer have not been fully understood yet. This study explored the mechanisms underlying acetylshikonin-induced cell death in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Treating NSCLC cells with acetylshikonin significantly reduced cell viability, as evidenced by chromatin condensation and the appearance of cell debris. Acetylshikonin has also been shown to increase cell membrane permeability and induce cell swelling, leading to an increase in the population of necrotic cells. When investigating the mechanisms underlying acetylshikonin-induced cell death, we discovered that acetylshikonin promoted oxidative stress, decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, and promoted G2/M phase arrest in lung cancer cells. The damage to NSCLC cells induced by acetylshikonin resembled results involving alterations in the cell membrane and mitochondrial morphology. Our analysis of oxidative stress revealed that acetylshikonin induced lipid oxidation and down-regulated the expression of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), which has been associated with necroptosis. We also determined that acetylshikonin induces the phosphorylation of receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 1 (RIPK1)/RIPK3 and mixed lineage kinase domain-like kinase (MLKL). Treatment with RIPK1 inhibitors (necrostatin-1 or 7-Cl-O-Nec-1) significantly reversed acetylshikonin-induced MLKL phosphorylation and NSCLC cell death. These results indicate that acetylshikonin activated the RIPK1/RIPK3/MLKL cascade, leading to necroptosis in NSCLC cells. Our findings indicate that acetylshikonin reduces lung cancer cells by promoting G2/M phase arrest and necroptosis.

Disruption of Iron Homeostasis to Induce Ferroptosis with Albumin-Encapsulated Pt(IV) Nanodrug for the Treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common pathological type of lung cancer , accounting for approximately 85% of lung cancers. For more than 40 years, platinum (Pt)-based drugs are still one of the most widely used anticancer drugs even in the era of precision medicine and immunotherapy. However, the clinical limitations of Pt-based drugs, such as serious side effects and drug resistance, have not been well solved. This study constructs a new albumin-encapsulated Pt(IV) nanodrug (HSA@Pt(IV)) based on the Pt(IV) drug and nanodelivery system. The characterization of nanodrug and biological experiments demonstrate its excellent drug delivery and antitumor effects. The multi-omics analysis of the transcriptome and the ionome reveals that nanodrug can activate ferroptosis by affecting intracellular iron homeostasis in NSCLC. This study provides experimental evidence to suggest the potential of HSA@Pt(IV) as a nanodrug with clinical application.

The future opportunities and remaining challenges in the application of nanoparticle-mediated hyperthermia combined with chemo-radiotherapy in cancer

A pivotal cause of death in the modern world, cancer is an insidious pathology that should be diagnosed at an early stage for successful treatment. Development of therapeutic interventions with minimal invasiveness and high efficacy that can discriminate between tumor and normal cells is of particular interest to the clinical science, as they can enhance patient survival. Nanoparticles are an invaluable asset that can be adopted for development of such diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, since they come in very small sizes with modifiable surface, are highly safe and stable, and can be synthesized in a controlled fashion. To date, different nanoparticles have been incorporated into numerous modalities such as tumor-targeted therapy, thermal therapy, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. This review article seeks to deliver a brief account of recent advances in research and application of nanoparticles in hyperthermia-based cancer therapies. The most recent investigations are summarized to highlight the latest advances in the development of combined thermo-chemo-radiotherapy, along with the challenges associated with the application of nanoparticles in cancer therapy. This article is categorized under: Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease.

Effect of curcumin on lipid profile, fibrosis, and apoptosis in liver tissue in abemaciclib-administered rats

Abemaciclib (ABEM) is an important antitumor agent for breast cancer treatment. However, the side-effects of ABEM are unclear in the liver. This study investigated the protective effect of curcumin (CURC) on liver damage caused by ABEM. The rats were divided into five groups with eight animals in each group; Control, DMSO (150 µL for per rats), CURC, 30 mg/kg/day), ABE (26 mg/kg/day), and ABE + CURC (26 mg/kg/day ABE, 30 mg/kg/day) groups. Injections were administered daily for 28 days. The levels of AST, LDH, HDL, LDL, triglyceride, and total cholesterol in serum, and hepatic tissue fibrosis, caspase-3, Bax, and TNF-α expression were higher in the ABE group compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Also, these parameters in the ABEM + CURC group were lower than in the ABE group (p < 0.05). The results showed that ABE administration could cause liver damage and increase fibrosis in the liver. In addition, it was shown that co-administration of CURC with ABE could suppress the levels of AST, LDH, HDL, LDL, triglyceride, and total cholesterol in serum, and fibrosis, caspase-3, Bax, and TNF-α expressions in the liver. These data are the first in the literature. Therefore, the administration of CURC following ABE may be a therapeutic agent in preventing liver damage.

Recent Advances in the Biomedical Applications of Functionalized Nanogels

Nanomaterials have been extensively used in several applications in the past few decades related to biomedicine and healthcare. Among them, nanogels (NGs) have emerged as an important nanoplatform with the properties of both hydrogels and nanoparticles for the controlled/sustained delivery of chemo drugs, nucleic acids, or other bioactive molecules for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes. In the recent past, significant research efforts have been invested in synthesizing NGs through various synthetic methodologies such as free radical polymerization, reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer method (RAFT) and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), as well as emulsion techniques. With further polymeric functionalizations using activated esters, thiol-ene/yne processes, imines/oximes formation, cycloadditions, nucleophilic addition reactions of isocyanates, ring-opening, and multicomponent reactions were used to obtain functionalized NGs for targeted delivery of drug and other compounds. NGs are particularly intriguing for use in the areas of diagnosis, analytics, and biomedicine due to their nanodimensionality, material characteristics, physiological stability, tunable multi-functionality, and biocompatibility. Numerous NGs with a wide range of functionalities and various external/internal stimuli-responsive modalities have been possible with novel synthetic reliable methodologies. Such continuous development of innovative, intelligent materials with novel characteristics is crucial for nanomedicine for next-generation biomedical applications. This paper reviews the synthesis and various functionalization strategies of NGs with a focus on the recent advances in different biomedical applications of these surface modified/functionalized single-/dual-/multi-responsive NGs, with various active targeting moieties, in the fields of cancer theranostics, immunotherapy, antimicrobial/antiviral, antigen presentation for the vaccine, sensing, wound healing, thrombolysis, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine.

Finding the combination of multiple biomarkers to diagnose oral squamous cell carcinoma - A data mining approach

Data mining has proven to be a reliable method to analyze and discover useful knowledge about various diseases, including cancer research. In particular, data mining and machine learning algorithms to study oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), the most common form of oral cancer, is a new area of research. This malignant neoplasm can be studied using saliva samples. Saliva is an important biofluid that must be used to verify potential biomarkers associated with oral cancer. In this study, first, we provide an overview of OSSC diagnoses based on machine learning and salivary metabolites. To our knowledge, this is the first study to apply advanced data mining techniques to diagnose OSCC. Then, we give new results of classification and feature selection algorithms used to identify potential salivary biomarkers of OSCC. To accomplish this task, we used the filter feature selection random forest importance algorithm and a wrapper methodology to evaluate the importance of metabolites obtained from gas chromatography mass-spectrometry (GC-MS) in the context of differentiation of OSCC and the control group. Salivary samples (n = 68) were collected for the control group, and the OSCC group were from patients matched for gender, age, and smoking habit. The classification process occurred based on Random Forest (RF) classification algorithm along with 10-cross validation. The results showed that glucuronic acid, maleic acid, and batyl alcohol can classify the samples with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.91 versus an AUC of 0.76 using all 51 metabolites analyzed. The methodology used in this study can assist healthcare professionals and be adopted to discover diagnostic biomarkers for other diseases.

Characterization of Alpinia officinarum Hance polysaccharide and its immune modulatory activity in mice

This study aimed to verify the regulating effect of a novel water-soluble polysaccharide (AOHP) extracted from Alpinia officinarum Hance on mouse immunity and to characterize its structure feature. The cellulose...