Titanium dioxide nanoparticle stimulating pro-inflammatory responses in vitro and in vivo for inhibited cancer metastasis

The biomedical application of inorganic metal nanoparticles in aging and aging-associated diseases

Aging and aging-associated diseases (AAD), including neurodegenerative disease, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes, are inevitable process. With the gradual improvement of life style, life expectancy is gradually extended. However, the extended lifespan has not reduced the incidence of disease, and most elderly people are in ill-health state in their later years. Hence, understanding aging and AAD are significant for reducing the burden of the elderly. Inorganic metal nanoparticles (IMNPs) predominantly include gold, silver, iron, zinc, titanium, thallium, platinum, cerium, copper NPs, which has been widely used to prevent and treat aging and AAD due to their superior properties (essential metal ions for human body, easily synthesis and modification, magnetism). Therefore, a systematic review of common morphological alternations of senescent cells, altered genes and signal pathways in aging and AAD, and biomedical applications of IMNPs in aging and AAD is crucial for the further research and development of IMNPs in aging and AAD. This review focus on the existing research on cellular senescence, aging and AAD, as well as the applications of IMNPs in aging and AAD in the past decade. This review aims to provide cutting-edge knowledge involved with aging and AAD, the application of IMNPs in aging and AAD to promote the biomedical application of IMNPs in aging and AAD.

The potential use of bacteria and their derivatives as delivery systems for nanoparticles in the treatment of cancer

Cancer is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Nanomaterials, unique optical, magnetic, and electrical properties at the nanoscale (1-100 nm), have been engineered to improve drug capacity, bioavailability, and specificity in cancer treatment. These advancements address toxicity and lack of selectivity in conventional therapies, enabling precise targeting of cancer cells, the tumour microenvironment, and the immune system. Among emerging approaches, bacterial treatment shows promise due to its natural ability to target cancer and its diverse therapeutic mechanisms, which nanotechnology can further enhance. Bacteria-based drug delivery systems leverage bacteria's adaptability and survival strategies within the human body. Bacterial derivatives, such as bacterial ghosts (BGs), bacterial extracellular vesicles (BEVs), and dietary toxins, are recognised as effective biological nanomaterials capable of carrying nanoparticles (NPs). These systems have attracted increasing attention for their potential in targeted NP delivery for cancer treatment. This study explores the use of various bacteria and their byproducts as NP delivery vehicles, highlighting their potential in treating different types of cancer. By combining the strengths of nanotechnology and bacterial therapy, these innovative approaches aim to revolutionise cancer treatment with improved precision and efficacy.

Orchestrating cancer therapy: Recent advances in nanoplatforms harmonize immunotherapy with multifaceted treatments

Advancements in cancer therapy have increasingly focused on leveraging the synergistic effects of combining immunotherapy with other treatment modalities, facilitated by the use of innovative nanoplatforms. These strategies aim to augment the efficacy of standalone treatments while addressing their inherent limitations. Nanoplatforms enable precise delivery and controlled release of therapeutic agents, which enhances treatment specificity and reduces systemic toxicity. This review highlights the critical role of nanomaterials in enhancing immunotherapy when combined with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, and sonodynamic therapy. Additionally, it addresses current challenges, including limited in vivo studies, difficulties in standardizing and scaling production, complexities of combination therapies, lack of comparative analyses, and the need for personalized treatments. Future directions involve refining nanoplatform engineering for improved targeting and minimizing adverse effects, alongside large animal studies to establish the long-term efficacy and safety of these combined therapeutic strategies. These efforts aim to translate laboratory successes into clinically viable treatments, significantly improving therapeutic outcomes and advancing the field of oncology.

Immunomodulatory nanoparticles activate cytotoxic T cells for enhancement of the effect of cancer immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapy represents a promising targeted treatment by leveraging the patient's immune system or adoptive transfer of active immune cells to selectively eliminate cancer cells. Despite notable clinical successes, conventional immunotherapies face significant challenges stemming from the poor infiltration of endogenous or adoptively transferred cytotoxic T cells in tumors, immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and the immune evasion capability of cancer cells, leading to limited efficacy in many types of solid tumors. Overcoming these hurdles is essential to broaden the applicability of immunotherapies. Recent advances in nanotherapeutics have emerged as an innovative tool to overcome these challenges and enhance the therapeutic potential of tumor immunotherapy. The unique biochemical and biophysical properties of nanomaterials offer advantages in activation of immune cells in vitro for cell therapy, targeted delivery, and controlled release of immunomodulatory agents in vivo. Nanoparticles are excellent carriers for tumor associated antigens or neoantigen peptides for tumor vaccine, empowering activation of tumor specific T cell responses. By precisely delivering immunomodulatory agents to the tumor site, immunoactivating nanoparticles can promote tumor infiltration of endogenous T cells or adoptively transferred T cells into tumors, to overcoming delivery and biological barriers in the tumor microenvironment, augmenting the immune system's ability to recognize and eliminate cancer cells. This review provides an overview of the current advances in immunotherapeutic approaches utilizing nanotechnology. With a focus on discussions concerning strategies to enhance activity and efficacy of cytotoxic T cells and explore the intersection of engineering nanoparticles and immunomodulation aimed at bolstering T cell-mediated immune responses, we introduce various nanoparticle formulations designed to deliver therapeutic payloads, tumor antigens and immunomodulatory agents for T cell activation. Diverse mechanisms through which nanoparticle-based approaches influence T cell responses by improving antigen presentation, promoting immune cell trafficking, and reprogramming immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments to potentiate anti-tumor immunity are examined. Additionally, the synergistic potential of combining nanotherapeutics with existing immunotherapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors and adoptive T cell therapies is explored. In conclusion, this review highlights emerging research advances on activation of cytotoxic T cells using nanoparticle agents to support the promises and potential applications of nanoparticle-based immunomodulatory agents for cancer immunotherapy.

Engineered nanoparticles for precise targeted drug delivery and enhanced therapeutic efficacy in cancer immunotherapy

The advent of cancer immunotherapy has imparted a transformative impact on cancer treatment paradigms by harnessing the power of the immune system. However, the challenge of practical and precise targeting of malignant cells persists. To address this, engineered nanoparticles (NPs) have emerged as a promising solution for enhancing targeted drug delivery in immunotherapeutic interventions, owing to their small size, low immunogenicity, and ease of surface modification. This comprehensive review delves into contemporary research at the nexus of NP engineering and immunotherapy, encompassing an extensive spectrum of NP morphologies and strategies tailored toward optimizing tumor targeting and augmenting therapeutic effectiveness. Moreover, it underscores the mechanisms that NPs leverage to bypass the numerous obstacles encountered in immunotherapeutic regimens and probes into the combined potential of NPs when co-administered with both established and novel immunotherapeutic modalities. Finally, the review evaluates the existing limitations of NPs as drug delivery platforms in immunotherapy, which could shape the path for future advancements in this promising field.

Advances in engineered nanosystems: immunomodulatory interactions for therapeutic applications

Advances in nanotechnology have led to significant progress in the design and fabrication of nanoparticles (NPs) with improved therapeutic properties. NPs have been explored for modulating the immune system, serving as carriers for drug delivery or vaccine adjuvants, or acting as therapeutics themselves against a wide range of deadly diseases. The combination of NPs with immune system-targeting moieties has facilitated the development of improved targeted immune therapies. Targeted delivery of therapeutic agents using NPs specifically to the disease-affected cells, distinguishing them from other host cells, offers the major advantage of concentrating the therapeutic effect and reducing systemic side effects. Furthermore, the properties of NPs, including size, shape, surface charge, and surface modifications, influence their interactions with the targeted biological components. This review aims to provide insights into these diverse emerging and innovative approaches that are being developed and utilized for modulating the immune system using NPs. We reviewed various types of NPs composed of different materials and their specific application for modulating the immune system. Furthermore, we focused on the mechanistic effects of these therapeutic NPs on primary immune components, including T cells, B cells, macrophages, dendritic cells, and complement systems. Additionally, a recent overview of clinically approved immunomodulatory nanomedicines and potential future perspectives, offering new paradigms of this field, is also highlighted.

In vitro review of nanoparticles attacking macrophages: Interaction and cell death

In recent years, the wide application of nanoparticles (NPs) inevitably leads to environmental pollution and human exposure, and its safety has attracted more and more attention. Since macrophages are the cells most directly exposed to multi-pathway invading NPs in the body, it is necessary to assess of toxic effects of NPs in macrophages, clarify the potential mechanisms of NPs toxicity to improve our understanding about the interaction of NPs with macrophages in vivo, and avoid body damage. Currently, studies on the toxicity of NPs to macrophages are rare and mainly focused on in vitro, so this paper integrated the toxic effect of macrophages exposed to NPs and the macrophages cellular changes following the interaction with NPs, including NPs internalization, ROS production, cytokines alterations, DNA damage and cell death, and further explored the involved mechanisms. This review aims to provide some insights into the further toxicological studies of NPs.

Nanoparticle Effects on Stress Response Pathways and Nanoparticle-Protein Interactions

Nanoparticles (NPs) are increasingly used in a wide variety of applications and products; however, NPs may affect stress response pathways and interact with proteins in biological systems. This review article will provide an overview of the beneficial and detrimental effects of NPs on stress response pathways with a focus on NP-protein interactions. Depending upon the particular NP, experimental model system, and dose and exposure conditions, the introduction of NPs may have either positive or negative effects. Cellular processes such as the development of oxidative stress, the initiation of the inflammatory response, mitochondrial function, detoxification, and alterations to signaling pathways are all affected by the introduction of NPs. In terms of tissue-specific effects, the local microenvironment can have a profound effect on whether an NP is beneficial or harmful to cells. Interactions of NPs with metal-binding proteins (zinc, copper, iron and calcium) affect both their structure and function. This review will provide insights into the current knowledge of protein-based nanotoxicology and closely examines the targets of specific NPs.

Detection of Prognostic Biomarkers for Hepatocellular Carcinoma through CircRNA-associated CeRNA Analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

The prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is extremely poor; therefore, there is an urgent need for novel prognostic molecular biomarkers of HCC. The current investigation utilized circular (circ)RNA-associated competing endogenous (ce)RNAs analysis in order to identify significant prognostic biomarkers of HCC.

METHODS

CircRNAs and mRNAs that were differentially expressed between normal and HCC tissues were identified. Their respective functions were predicted with Gene Ontology enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analyses. A nomogram was used for model verification.

RESULTS

A ceRNA network composed of differentially expressed circRNAs and mRNAs was constructed. Significant hub nodes in the ceRNA network were hsa_circ_0004662, hsa_circ_0005735, hsa_circ_0006990, hsa_circ_0018403 and hsa_circ_0100609. By using this information, a prognostic risk assessment tool was developed based on the expressions of seven genes (PLOD2, TARS, RNF19B, CCT2, RAN, C5orf30 and MCM10). Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed risk and T-stage parameters as independent prognostic factors. The nomograms that were constructed from risk and T-stage groups were used to further assess the prediction of HCC patient survival rates. The nomogram, which consisted of risk and T-stage scores assessment models, was found to be an independent factor for predicting prognosis of HCC.

CONCLUSIONS

Five circRNAs, including hsa_circ_0004662, hsa_circ_0005735, hsa_circ_0006990, hsa_circ_0018403 and hsa_circ_0100609, that may play key roles in the progression of HCC were identified. Seven gene signatures were identified, which were associated with the aforementioned circRNAs, including PLOD2, TARS, RNF19B, CCT2, RAN, C5orf30 and MCM10, all of which were significant genes involved in the pathophysiology of HCC. These genes may be used as a prognosticating tool in HCC patients.

An Integrated Approach to Testing and Assessment to Support Grouping and Read-Across of Nanomaterials After Inhalation Exposure

Introduction: Here, we describe the generation of hypotheses for grouping nanoforms (NFs) after inhalation exposure and the tailored Integrated Approaches to Testing and Assessment (IATA) with which each specific hypothesis can be tested. This is part of a state-of-the-art framework to support the hypothesis-driven grouping and read-across of NFs, as developed by the EU-funded Horizon 2020 project GRACIOUS.

Development of Grouping Hypotheses and IATA: Respirable NFs, depending on their physicochemical properties, may dissolve either in lung lining fluid or in acidic lysosomal fluid after uptake by cells. Alternatively, NFs may also persist in particulate form. Dissolution in the lung is, therefore, a decisive factor for the toxicokinetics of NFs. This has led to the development of four hypotheses, broadly grouping NFs as instantaneous, quickly, gradually, and very slowly dissolving NFs. For instantaneously dissolving NFs, hazard information can be derived by read-across from the ions. For quickly dissolving particles, as accumulation of particles is not expected, ion toxicity will drive the toxic profile. However, the particle aspect influences the location of the ion release. For gradually dissolving and very slowly dissolving NFs, particle-driven toxicity is of concern. These NFs may be grouped by their reactivity and inflammation potency. The hypotheses are substantiated by a tailored IATA, which describes the minimum information and laboratory assessments of NFs under investigation required to justify grouping.

Conclusion: The GRACIOUS hypotheses and tailored IATA for respiratory toxicity of inhaled NFs can be used to support decision making regarding Safe(r)-by-Design product development or adoption of precautionary measures to mitigate potential risks. It can also be used to support read-across of adverse effects such as pulmonary inflammation and subsequent downstream effects such as lung fibrosis and lung tumor formation after long-term exposure.

Modulating Repolarization of Tumor-Associated Macrophages with Targeted Therapeutic Nanoparticles as a Potential Strategy for Cancer Therapy

There are always some components in the tumor microenvironment (TME), such as tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), that help tumor cells escape the body's immune surveillance. Therefore, this situation can lead to tumor growth, progression, and metastasis, resulting in low response rates for cancer therapy. Macrophages play an important role with strong plasticity and functional diversity. Facing different microenvironmental stimulations, macrophages undergo a dynamic change in phenotype and function into two major macrophage subpopulations, namely classical activation/inflammation (M1) and alternative activation/regeneration (M2) type. Through various signaling pathways, macrophages polarize into complex groups, which can perform different immune functions. In this review, we emphasize the use of nanopreparations for macrophage related immunotherapy based on the pathological knowledge of TAMs phenotype. These macrophages targeted nanoparticles re-edit and re-educate macrophages by attenuating M2 macrophages and reducing aggregation to the TME, thereby relieving or alleviating immunosuppression. Among them, we describe in detail the cellular mechanisms and regulators of several major signaling pathways involved in the plasticity and polarization functions of macrophages. The advantages and challenges of those nanotherapeutics for these pathways have been elucidated, providing the basis and insights for the diagnosis and treatment strategies of various diseases centered on macrophages.

Modification of PCL Scaffolds by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering: A Possibility for Modulating Macrophage Responses

Direct current (DC) reactive magnetron sputtering is as an efficient method for enhancing the biocompatibility of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) scaffolds. However, the PCL chemical bonding state, the composition of the deposited coating, and their interaction with immune cells remain unknown. Herein, we demonstrated that the DC reactive magnetron sputtering of the titanium target in a nitrogen atmosphere leads to the formation of nitrogen-containing moieties and the titanium dioxide coating on the scaffold surface. We have provided the possible mechanism of PCL fragmentation and coating formation supported by XPS results and DFT calculations. Our preliminary biological studies suggest that DC reactive magnetron sputtering of the titanium target could be an effective tool to control macrophage functional responses toward PCL scaffolds as it allows to inhibit respiratory burst while retaining cell viability and scavenging activity.

Pregabalin inhibits in vivo and in vitro cytokine secretion and attenuates spleen inflammation in Lipopolysaccharide/Concanavalin A -induced murine models of inflammation

Immune system alteration has been implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic pain conditions, epilepsy and generalized anxiety disorder. Targeting cytokines has recently been proposed for the management of such conditions. Pregabalin (PGB) is an antiepileptic agent used for the management of these conditions. However, little is known about its immunomodulatory effects on cytokine secretion in vivo and in vitro. Hence, a mitogen (Lipopolysaccharide [LPS] or Concanavalin A [ConA])-induced murine model of inflammation was used to investigate the effect of PGB on in vivo and in vitro IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and IL-2 cytokine secretion using ELISA. In addition, PGB effect on spleen histology, as a lymphoid organ, was examined. Our results revealed that PGB significantly inhibited the secretion of ConA-induced IL-6 secretion, basal and ConA-induced TNF-α and IL-2 secretion in splenocytes in vitro. In vivo, PGB inhibited basal and LPS/ConA-induced IL-6 and TNF-α secretion in addition to LPS-induced IL-1β and ConA-induced IL-2 secretion. Moreover, PGB attenuated mitogen-induced inflammatory changes in the spleen. These findings provide an evidence of the anti-inflammatory properties of PGB on cytokine secretion and lymphoid organ inflammation. This might give insights into the role of PGB in the management of the inflammatory state in PGB-indicated conditions.

The influence of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on their cellular response to macrophage cells

As the most widely application of nanomaterials in biology and medicine, their interaction with biological system and the afterwards cellular responses would be addressed. Here, the agglomerate states of two kinds of TiO₂ NPs in culture medium were characterized and the cluster specific cellular responses in RAW264.7 cells were investigated. Owing to the smaller aggregates and more positively charged surface, 21 nm TiO₂ NPs exhibited higher cytotoxicity, which correlated with their ability to cause damage to mitochondria. While for 35 nm TiO₂ NPs, higher level of cell autophagy and stronger pro-inflammatory immune response were observed, which are responsible for their lower cytotoxicity. These results suggest that physiochemical properties of TiO₂ NPs in culture medium are important factor affecting their cellular response to RAW264.7 cells.

Up regulation of miR-96-5p is responsible for TiO2 NPs induced invasion dysfunction of human trophoblastic cells via disturbing Ezrin mediated cytoskeletons arrangement

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO₂ NPs) are used extensively in our daily lives, and their toxic effects on the placenta have been reported. Animal studies indicated that placental development is impaired after maternal exposure of TiO₂ NPs, but the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. In the present study, we used a human trophoblast-derived cell, HTR8-SVneo, to determine how TiO₂ NPs affected placental functions, and found out potential reversal targets. TEM was employed for TiO₂ NPs morphology observation and uptake assessment. RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of both mRNA and miRNA, and western blotting was used for protein examination. Cell invasion ability was evaluated by Transwell assay, and cytoskeletons were observed by immunofluorescence combined with confocal microscope examination. We found that TiO₂ NPs disrupted cytoskeletons and impaired cell invasion ability. Further investigations showed that TiO₂ NPs increased the expression of a microRNA (miR-96-5p), which targeted and down-regulated the translation of EZR mRNA, a gene that encodes ezrin protein, and affected the cell cytoskeletons and ultimately cell invasion ability. When the expression of miR-96-5p was down-regulated, the expression level of ezrin protein was also reversed, and cell invasion ability was partially restored. Collectively, we determined how miR-96-5p mediates TiO₂ NP-induced placental dysfunction, and provided a potential rescue target for future therapy.

Developmental neurotoxicity and immunotoxicity induced by graphene oxide in zebrafish embryos

Graphene oxide (GO) has emerged as the worldwide promising candidate for biomedical application, such as for drug delivery, bio-sensing and anti-cancer therapy. This study was focused on the zebrafish and RAW264.7 cell line as in vivo and in vitro models to assess the potential developmental neurotoxicity and immunotoxicity of GO. No obvious acute developmental toxicity was observed upon treatments with 0.01, 0.1, and 1 μg/mL GO for five consecutive days. However, decreased hatching rate, increased malformation rate, heart beat rate and hypoactivity of locomotor behavior were detected when exposed to 10 μg/mL GO. Also, RT-PCR analysis revealed that expressions of genes related to the nervous system were up-regulated. The potential risk of GO for developmental neurotoxicity may be ascribed to the high level of oxidative stress induced by high concentration of GO. Most importantly, the mRNA levels of immune response associated genes, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα), interferon-γ (IFN-γ) were significantly increased under environmental concentration exposure. The activation of pro-inflammatory immune response was also observed in macrophage cell line. Taken together, our results demonstrated that immunotoxicity is a sensitive indicator for assessment of bio-compatibility of GO.

Microfluidics-Prepared Uniform Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles for Photo-Triggered Immune Microenvironment Modulation and Cancer Therapy

Photothermal therapy (PTT) has shown great promise to spatiotemporally ablate cancer cells, and further understanding of the immune system response to PTT treatment would contribute to improvement in therapeutic outcomes. Herein, we utilize microfluidic technology to prepare biocompatible conjugated polymer nanoparticles (CP NPs) as PTT agents and assess the immune response triggered by CP-based PTT treatment in vitro and in vivo. Through careful control of the antisolvent, CP NPs with a uniform diameter of 52 nm were obtained. The c-RGD-functionalized CP NPs exhibit high photothermal conversion efficiency, inducing effective cancer cell death under an 808 nm laser illumination. Using macrophage cells as the model, CP NPs demonstrate effective activation of proinflammatory immune response. Furthermore, in tumor-bearing mice model, a single round of CP NP-assisted PTT could efficiently induce antitumor immunity activation and ultimately inhibit tumor growth. The study provides detailed understanding of both microfluidic technology for CP NP fabrication and photothermal-triggered antitumor immune responses.