Bone-Targeted Calcium Phosphate-Polymer Hybrid Nanoparticle Co-Deliver Zoledronate and Docetaxel to Treat Bone Metastasis of Prostate Cancer

Controlled Drug Release Systems for Cerebrovascular Diseases

This review offers a comprehensive exploration of optimized drug delivery systems tailored for controlled release and their crucial role in addressing cerebrovascular diseases. Through an in‐depth analysis, various controlled release methods, including nanoparticles, liposomes, hydrogels, and other emerging technologies are examined. Highlighting the importance of precise drug targeting, it is delved into the underlying mechanisms of these delivery systems and their potential to improve therapeutic outcomes while minimizing adverse effects. Additionally, the specific applications of these optimized drug delivery systems in treating cerebrovascular disorders such as ischemic stroke, cerebral aneurysms, and intracranial hemorrhage are discussed. By shedding light on the advancements in drug delivery techniques and their implications in cerebrovascular medicine, this review offers valuable insights into the future of therapeutic interventions in neurology.

Calcium phosphate hybrid micelles inhibit orthotopic bone metastasis from triple negative breast cancer by simultaneously killing cancer cells and reprogramming the microenvironment of bone resorption and immunosuppression

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is prone to develop drug resistance and metastasis. Bone is the most common distant metastasis site of breast cancer cell. Patients with bone metastasis from TNBC suffer from unbearable pain due to the growth of bone metastasis and bone destruction. Simultaneously blocking the growth of bone metastasis and reprogramming the microenvironment of bone resorption and immunosuppression is a promising strategy to treat bone metastasis from TNBC. Herein, we prepared a pH and redox responsive drug delivery system, named DZ@CPH, by encapsulating docetaxel (DTX) with hyaluronic acid-polylactic acid micelle then reinforcing with calcium phosphate and zoledronate for targeting to bone metastasis from TNBC. DZ@CPH reduced the activation of osteoclast and inhibited bone resorption by decreasing the expression of nuclear factor κB receptor ligand and increasing the expression of osteoprotegerin in drug-resistant bone metastasis tissue. At the same time, DZ@CPH inhibited the invasion of bone metastatic TNBC cells by regulating the apoptosis-related and invasion-related protein expression. It also increased the sensitivity of orthotopic drug-resistant bone metastasis to DTX by inhibiting the expression of P-glycoprotein, Bcl-2 and transforming growth factor-β in tissue of drug-resistant bone metastasis. Moreover, the ratio between M1 type macrophage to M2 type macrophage in bone metastasis tissue was increased by DZ@CPH. In a word, DZ@CPH blocked the growth of bone metastasis from drug-resistant TNBC through inducing the apoptosis of drug-resistant TNBC cells and reprogramming the microenvironment of bone resorption and immunosuppression. DZ@CPH has a great potential in clinical application for the treatment of bone metastasis from drug-resistant TNBC. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is prone to develop bone metastasis. Now bone metastasis is still an intractable disease. In this study, docetaxel and zoledronate co-loaded calcium phosphate hybrid micelles (DZ@CPH) were prepared. DZ@CPH reduced the activation of osteoclasts and inhibited bone resorption. At the same time, DZ@CPH inhibited the invasion of bone metastatic TNBC cells by regulating the expression of apoptosis and invasion related protein in bone metastasis tissue. Moreover, the ratio between M1 type macrophages to M2 type macrophages in bone metastases tissue was increased by DZ@CPH. In a word, DZ@CPH blocked vicious cycle between the growth of bone metastasis and bone resorption, which greatly improved the therapeutic effect on bone metastasis from drug-resistant TNBC.

Advanced Strategies for Overcoming Endosomal/Lysosomal Barrier in Nanodrug Delivery

Nanocarriers have therapeutic potential to facilitate drug delivery, including biological agents, small-molecule drugs, and nucleic acids. However, their efficiency is limited by several factors; among which, endosomal/lysosomal degradation after endocytosis is the most important. This review summarizes advanced strategies for overcoming endosomal/lysosomal barriers to efficient nanodrug delivery based on the perspective of cellular uptake and intracellular transport mechanisms. These strategies include promoting endosomal/lysosomal escape, using non-endocytic methods of delivery to directly cross the cell membrane to evade endosomes/lysosomes and making a detour pathway to evade endosomes/lysosomes. On the basis of the findings of this review, we proposed several promising strategies for overcoming endosomal/lysosomal barriers through the smarter and more efficient design of nanodrug delivery systems for future clinical applications.

Combinatorial approaches of nanotherapeutics for inflammatory pathway targeted therapy of prostate cancer

Prostate cancer (PC) is the most prevalent male urogenital cancer worldwide. PC patients presenting an advanced or metastatic cancer succumb to the disease, even after therapeutic interventions including radiotherapy, surgery, androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), and chemotherapy. One of the hallmarks of PC is evading immune surveillance and chronic inflammation, which is a major challenge towards designing effective therapeutic formulations against PC. Chronic inflammation in PC is often characterized by tumor microenvironment alterations, epithelial-mesenchymal transition and extracellular matrix modifications. The inflammatory events are modulated by reactive nitrogen and oxygen species, inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Major signaling pathways in PC includes androgen receptor, PI3K and NF-κB pathways and targeting these inter-linked pathways poses a major therapeutic challenge. Notably, many conventional treatments are clinically unsuccessful, due to lack of targetability and poor bioavailability of the therapeutics, untoward toxicity and multidrug resistance. The past decade witnessed an advancement of nanotechnology as an excellent therapeutic paradigm for PC therapy. Modern nanovectorization strategies such as stimuli-responsive and active PC targeting carriers offer controlled release patterns and superior anti-cancer effects. The current review initially describes the classification, inflammatory triggers and major inflammatory pathways of PC, various PC treatment strategies and their limitations. Subsequently, recent advancement in combinatorial nanotherapeutic approaches, which target PC inflammatory pathways, and the mechanism of action are discussed. Besides, the current clinical status and prospects of PC homing nanovectorization, and major challenges to be addressed towards the advancement PC therapy are also addressed.

Nanoparticles Loaded with Docetaxel and Resveratrol as an Advanced Tool for Cancer Therapy

A growing interest in the use of a combination of chemosensitizers and cytostatics for overcoming cancer resistance to treatment and the development of their delivery systems has been observed. Resveratrol (Res) presents antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and chemopreventive properties but also limits multidrug resistance against docetaxel (Dtx), which is one of the main causes of failure in cancer therapy with this drug. However, the use of both drugs presents challenges, including poor bioavailability, the unfavourable pharmacokinetics and chemical instability of Res and the poor water solubility and dose-limiting toxicity of Dtx. In order to overcome these difficulties, attempts have been made to create different forms of delivery for both agents. This review is focused on the latest developments in nanoparticles for the delivery of Dtx, Res and for the combined delivery of those two drugs. The aim of this review was also to summarize the synergistic mechanism of action of Dtx and Res on cancer cells. According to recent reports, Dtx and Res loaded in a nano-delivery system exhibit better efficiency in cancer treatment compared to free drugs. Also, the co-delivery of Dtx and Res in one actively targeted delivery system providing the simultaneous release of both drugs in cancer cells has a chance to fulfil the requirements of effective anticancer therapy and reduce limitations in therapy caused by multidrug resistance (MDR).

A bone-targeting drug delivery vehicle of a metal-organic framework conjugate with zoledronate combined with photothermal therapy for tumor inhibition in cancer bone metastasis

Chemotherapy is a conventional treatment method for metastatic bone cancer, but it has limitations, such as lower drug-targeting of bone tissues and serious side effects. Bone metastasis almost always occurs in advanced cancer, and most patients in this period have strong drug resistance, which further worsens the curative effect. To address the above-mentioned difficulties, a drug delivery platform is proposed in this paper that accomplishes the bone-targeting of drugs to efficiently inhibit tumors. First, the anti-cancer drugs 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) and indocyanine green (ICG) were loaded into a zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-90) to form 5-Fu/ICG@ZIF-90. Polyethylene glycol with zoledronic acid (ZOL) was encapsulated using 5-Fu/ICG@ZIF-90 to synthesize 5-Fu/ICG@ZIF-90-PEG-ZOL nanoparticles, which showed dimensional stability, good thermal stability, and bone-targeting ability. Second, the in vitro anti-cancer activity of the designed platform was investigated using cytotoxicity, apoptosis, live-dead staining, cell cycle, and cell ultrathin section analysis. The results indicated that the nanoparticles inhibited MCF-7 cell activity when chemotherapy was combined with PTT. Finally, H&E staining and TUNEL detection were performed in mouse organs and tumors. The nanoparticles combined with photothermal therapy (PTT) and triggered by near-infrared irradiation induce apoptosis of tumor cells in vivo, displaying a better efficacy of combined chemotherapy and photothermal therapy. Experiments conducted on the 5-Fu/ICG@ZIF-90-PEG-ZOL nanoparticles demonstrated their promising performance for cancer bone metastasis inhibition.

Recent Progress in Nanostructured Smart Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Therapy: A Review

Traditional treatment approaches for cancer involve intravenous chemotherapy or other forms of drug delivery. These therapeutic measures suffer from several limitations such as nonspecific targeting, poor biodistribution, and buildup of drug resistances. However, significant technological advancements have been made in terms of superior modes of drug delivery over the last few decades. Technical capability in analyzing the molecular mechanisms of tumor biology, nanotechnology─particularly the development of biocompatible nanoparticles, surface modification techniques, microelectronics, and material sciences─has increased. As a result, a significant number of nanostructured carriers that can deliver drugs to specific cancerous sites with high efficiency have been developed. This particular maneuver that enables the introduction of a therapeutic nanostructured substance in the body by controlling the rate, time, and place is defined as the nanostructured drug delivery system (NDDS). Because of their versatility and ability to incorporate features such as specific targeting, water solubility, stability, biocompatibility, degradability, and ability to reverse drug resistance, they have attracted the interest of the scientific community, in general, and nanotechnologists as well as biomedical scientists. To keep pace with the rapid advancement of nanotechnology, specific technical aspects of the recent NDDSs and their prospects need to be reported coherently. To address these ongoing issues, this review article provides an overview of different NDDSs such as lipids, polymers, and inorganic nanoparticles. In addition, this review also reports the challenges of current NDDSs and points out the prospective research directions of these nanocarriers. From our focused review, we conclude that still now the most advanced and potent field of application for NDDSs is lipid-based, while other significantly potential fields include polymer-based and inorganic NDDSs. However, despite the promises, challenges remain in practical implementations of such NDDSs in terms of dosage and stability, and caution should be exercised regarding biocompatibility of materials. Considering these aspects objectively, this review on NDDSs will be particularly of interest for small-to-large scale industrial researchers and academicians with expertise in drug delivery, cancer research, and nanotechnology.

MCP mediated active targeting calcium phosphate hybrid nanoparticles for the treatment of orthotopic drug-resistant colon cancer

BACKGROUND

Colon cancer is a most common malignant cancer in digestive system, and it is prone to develop resistance to the commonly used chemotherapy drugs, leading to local recurrence and metastasis. Paris saponin VII (PSVII) could not only inhibit the proliferation of colon cancer cells but also effectively induce apoptosis of drug-resistant colon cancer cells and reduce the metastasis of drug-resistant colon cancer cells as well. However, PSVII was insoluble in water and fat. It displayed no selective distribution in body and could cause severe hemolysis. Herein, colon cancer targeting calcium phosphate nanoparticles were developed to carry PSVII to treat drug-resistant colon cancer.

RESULTS

PSVII carboxymethyl-β-cyclodextrin inclusion compound was successfully encapsulated in colon cancer targeting calcium phosphate nanoparticles (PSVII@MCP-CaP) by using modified citrus pectin as stabilizer agent and colon cancer cell targeting moiety. PSVII@MCP-CaP significantly reduced the hemolysis of PSVII. Moreover, by specific accumulating in orthotopic drug-resistant colon cancer tissue, PSVII@MCP-CaP markedly inhibited the growth of orthotopic drug-resistant colon cancer in nude mice. PSVII@MCP-CaP promoted the apoptosis of drug-resistant colon cancer cells through mitochondria-mediated apoptosis pathway. Moreover, PSVII@MCP-CaP significantly inhibited the invasion and migration of drug-resistant colon cancer cells by increasing E-cadherin protein expression and reducing N-cadherin and MMP-9 protein expression.

CONCLUSION

PSVII@MCP-CaP has great potential in the treatment of drug-resistant colon cancer. This study also explores a new method to prepare active targeting calcium phosphate nanoparticles loaded with a fat and water insoluble compound in water.

Bone-targeted erythrocyte-cancer hybrid membrane-camouflaged nanoparticles for enhancing photothermal and hypoxia-activated chemotherapy of bone invasion by OSCC

Background

Jaw bones are the most common organs to be invaded by oral malignancies, such as oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), because of their special anatomical relationship. Various serious complications, such as pathological fractures and bone pain can significantly decrease the quality of life or even survival outcomes for a patient. Although chemotherapy is a promising strategy for bone invasion treatment, its clinical applications are limited by the lack of tumor-specific targeting and poor permeability in bone tissue. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a smart bone and cancer dual targeting drug delivery platform.

Results

We designed a dual targeting nano-biomimetic drug delivery vehicle Asp8[H40-TPZ/IR780@(RBC-H)] that has excellent bone and cancer targeting as well as immune escape abilities to treat malignancies in jaw bones. These nanoparticles were camouflaged with a head and neck squamous cell carcinoma WSU-HN6 cell (H) and red blood cell (RBC) hybrid membrane, which were modified by an oligopeptide of eight aspartate acid (Asp8). The spherical morphology and typical core-shell structure of biomimetic nanoparticles were observed by transmission electron microscopy. These nanoparticles exhibited the same surface proteins as those of WSU-HN6 and RBC. Flow cytometry and confocal microscopy showed a greater uptake of the biomimetic nanoparticles when compared to bare H40-PEG nanoparticles. Biodistribution of the nanoparticles in vivo revealed that they were mainly localized in the area of bone invasion by WSU-HN6 cells. Moreover, the Asp8[H40-TPZ/IR780@(RBC-H)] nanoparticles exhibited effective cancer growth inhibition properties when compared to other TPZ or IR780 formulations.

Conclusions

Asp8[H40-TPZ/IR780@(RBC-H)] has bone targeting, tumor-homing and immune escape abilities, therefore, it is an efficient multi-targeting drug delivery platform for achieving precise anti-cancer therapy during bone invasion.

Graphical Abstract

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12951-021-01088-9.

Dual anticancer drug-loaded self-assembled nanomaterials delivery system for the treatment of prostate cancer

This study explains the engineering of polylactide-polyethylene succinate glycol nanomaterials (NMs), to achieve superior anticancer effectiveness in prostate cancer therapy as a carriers of crizotinib (CZT) and marizomib (MAR). We have shown that the block polymers and hydrophobic drugs can be self-assembled to construct a highly stable nanocarrier with highly adaptable to support the use of cancer medicines. The Drug Release analysis revealed that the interference in the hydrophobic cores of micelles was a continuous release series. In both PC3pip and LNCAP prostate cancer cells, CZT@MAR NMs demonstrated noticeable cytotoxic effects in a dose-responsive method. In addition, morphology analysis and the AO-EB and nuclear staining assay showed a higher effectiveness in prostate cancer for nanomaterials. The polymeric nanomaterials displayed a prominent existence in the cytoplasmic cell regions, which shows a characteristic cell uptake by endocytosis. A significant apoptosis, compared to free CZT@MAR apoptosis, was found in the FITC-Annexin V/PI staining-based apoptosis analysis. In this juncture, the alternative drug delivery mechanism for the improvement of CZT@MAR chemotherapeutic effectiveness in prostate cancer chemotherapy modification PLA nanoparticles.

Functionalized Selenium Nanotherapeutics Synergizes With Zoledronic Acid to Suppress Prostate Cancer Cell Growth Through Induction of Mitochondria-Mediated Apoptosis and Cell Cycle S Phase Arrest

The use of established drugs in new therapeutic applications has great potential for the treatment of cancers. Nanomedicine has the advantages of efficient cellular uptake and specific cell targeting. In this study, we investigate using lentinan-functionalized selenium nanoparticles (LET-SeNPs) for the treatment of prostate cancer (PCa). We used assays to demonstrate that a combination of LET-SeNPs and zoledronic acid (ZOL) can reduce PCa cell viability in vitro. Stability and hemocompatibility assays were used to determine the safety of the combination of LET-SeNPs and ZOL. The localization of LET-SeNPs was confirmed using fluorescence microscopy. JC-1 was used to measure the mitochondrial membrane potential, while the cellular uptake, cell cycle and apoptosis were evaluated by flow cytometry. Finally, cell migration and invasion assays were used to evaluate the effects of the combination treatment on cell migration and invasion. Under optimized conditions, we found that LET-SeNPs has good stability. The combination of LET-SeNPs and ZOL can effectively inhibit metastatic PCa cells in a concentration-dependent manner, as evidenced by cytotoxicity testing, flow cytometric analysis, and mitochondria functional test. The enhanced anti-cancer effect of LET-SeNPs and ZOL may be related to the regulation of BCL2 family proteins that could result in the release of cytochrome C from the inner membranes of mitochondria into the cytosol, accompanied by induction of cell cycle arrest at the S phase, leading to irreversible DNA damage and killing of PCa cells. Collectively, the results of this study suggest that the combination of SeNPs and ZOL can successfully inhibit the growth of PCa cells.