Self-Assembled Polysaccharide-Diphenylalanine/Au Nanospheres for Photothermal Therapy and Photoacoustic Imaging

Biodegradable chitin nanofiber-alginate dialdehyde hydrogel: An injectable, self-healing scaffold for anti-tumor drug delivery

Injectable hydrogels fabricated from natural polymers have attracted increasing attentions for their potential in biomedical application owing to the biocompatibility and biodegradability. A new class of natural polymer based self-healing hydrogel is constructed through dynamic covalent bonds. The injectable self-healing hydrogels are fabricated by introducing alginate aldehyde to form Schiff base bonds with the chitin nanofibers. These hydrogels demonstrate excellent self-healing properties, injectability, and pH-responsive sol-gel transition behaviors. As a result, they can serve as carriers to allow an effective encapsulation of doxorubicin (DOX) for drug delivery. Furthermore, these hydrogels exhibit excellent biocompatibility and degradability in vitro and in vivo. The sustained release of DOX from the hydrogels effectively suppresses tumor growth in animal models without causing significant systemic toxicity, suggesting their potential application in anti-tumor therapies.

Polysaccharide-based gold nanomaterials: Synthesis mechanism, polysaccharide structure-effect, and anticancer activity

Polysaccharide-based gold nanomaterials have attracted great interest in biomedical fields such as cancer therapy and immunomodulation due to their prolonged residence time in vivo and enhanced immune response. This review aims to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive summary of polysaccharide-based Au NMs synthesis, including mechanisms, polysaccharide structure-effects, and anticancer activity. Firstly, research progress on the synthesis mechanism of polysaccharide-based Au NMs was addressed, which included three types based on the variety of polysaccharides and reaction environment: breaking of glycosidic bonds via Au (III) or base-mediated production of highly reduced intermediates, reduction of free hydroxyl groups in polysaccharide molecules, and reduction of free amino groups in polysaccharide molecules. Then, the potential effects of polysaccharide structure characteristics (molecular weight, composition of monosaccharides, functional groups, glycosidic bonds, and chain conformation) and reaction conditions (the reaction temperature, reaction time, pH, concentration of gold precursor and polysaccharides) on the size and shape of Au NMs were explored. Finally, the current status of polysaccharide-based Au NMs cancer therapy was summarized before reaching our conclusions and perspectives.

Iron-Rich Semiconducting Polymer Dots for the Combination of Ferroptosis-Starvation and Phototherapeutic Cancer Therapy

Chemodynamic therapy (CDT) has emerged as an outstanding antitumor therapeutic method due to its selectivity and utilization of tumor microenvironment. However, there are still unmet requirements to achieve a high antitumor efficiency, including the tumor accumulation of catalyst and enrichment of reactants of Fenton reaction. Here, an iron-loaded semiconducting polymer dot modified with glucose oxidase (Pdot@Fe@GOx) is reported to deliver iron ions into tumor tissues and in situ generation of hydrogen peroxide in tumors. On one hand, Pdot@Fe@GOx converts glucose to gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) in tumor, which not only consumes glucose of tumor cells, but also provides the H2 O2 for the following Fenton reaction. On the other hand, the Pdot@Fe@GOx delivers active iron ions in tumor to perform CDT with the combination of the generated H2 O2 . In addition, the Pdot@Fe@GOx has both photothermal and photodynamic effects under the irradiation of near-infrared laser, which can improve and compensate the CDT effect to kill cancer cells. This Pdot@Fe@GOx-based multiple-mode therapeutic strategy has successfully achieved a synergistic anticancer effect with minimal side effects and has the potential to be translated into preclinical setting for tumor therapy.

Polyphenol-Based Nanoparticles: A Promising Frontier for Enhanced Colorectal Cancer Treatment

Colorectal cancer (CRC) poses a significant challenge in healthcare, necessitating the exploration of novel therapeutic strategies. Natural compounds such as polyphenols with inherent anticancer properties have gained attention as potential therapeutic agents. This review highlights the need for novel therapeutic approaches in CRC, followed by a discussion on the synthesis of polyphenols-based nanoparticles. Various synthesis techniques, including dynamic covalent bonding, non-covalent bonding, polymerization, chemical conjugation, reduction, and metal-polyphenol networks, are explored. The mechanisms of action of these nanoparticles, encompassing passive and active targeting mechanisms, are also discussed. The review further examines the intrinsic anticancer activity of polyphenols and their enhancement through nano-based delivery systems. This section explores the natural anticancer properties of polyphenols and investigates different nano-based delivery systems, such as micelles, nanogels, liposomes, nanoemulsions, gold nanoparticles, mesoporous silica nanoparticles, and metal-organic frameworks. The review concludes by emphasizing the potential of nanoparticle-based strategies utilizing polyphenols for CRC treatment and highlights the need for future research to optimize their efficacy and safety. Overall, this review provides valuable insights into the synthesis, mechanisms of action, intrinsic anticancer activity, and enhancement of polyphenols-based nanoparticles for CRC treatment.

Application of Metal-Based Nanomaterials in In Vitro Diagnosis of Tumor Markers: Summary and Prospect

Cancer, which presents with high incidence and mortality rates, has become a significant health threat worldwide. However, there is currently no effective solution for rapid screening and high-quality treatment of early-stage cancer patients. Metal-based nanoparticles (MNPs), as a new type of compound with stable properties, convenient synthesis, high efficiency, and few adverse reactions, have become highly competitive tools for early cancer diagnosis. Nevertheless, challenges such as the difference between the microenvironment of detected markers and the real-life body fluids remain in achieving widespread clinical application of MNPs. This review provides a comprehensive review of the research progress made in the field of in vitro cancer diagnosis using metal-based nanoparticles. By delving into the characteristics and advantages of these materials, this paper aims to inspire and guide researchers towards fully exploiting the potential of metal-based nanoparticles in the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Polysaccharide-based nanocomposites for biomedical applications: a critical review

Polysaccharides (PSA) have taken specific position among biomaterials for advanced applications in medicine. Nevertheless, poor mechanical properties are known as the main drawback of PSA, which highlights the need for PSA modification. Nanocomposites PSA (NPSA) are a class of biomaterials widely used as biomedical platforms, but despite their importance and worldwide use, they have not been reviewed. Herein, we critically reviewed the application of NPSA by categorizing them into generic and advanced application realms. First, the application of NPSA as drug and gene delivery systems, along with their role in the field as an antibacterial platform and hemostasis agent is discussed. Then, applications of NPSA for skin, bone, nerve, and cartilage tissue engineering are highlighted, followed by cell encapsulation and more critically cancer diagnosis and treatment potentials. In particular, three features of investigations are devoted to cancer therapy, i.e., radiotherapy, immunotherapy, and photothermal therapy, are comprehensively reviewed and discussed. Since this field is at an early stage of maturity, some other aspects such as bioimaging and biosensing are reviewed in order to give an idea of potential applications of NPSA for future developments, providing support for clinical applications. It is well-documented that using nanoparticles/nanomaterials above a critical concentration brings about concerns of toxicity; thus, their effect on cellular interactions would become critical. We compared nanoparticles used in the fabrication of NPSA in terms of toxicity mechanism to shed more light on future challenging aspects of NPSA development. Indeed, the neutralization mechanisms underlying the cytotoxicity of nanomaterials, which are expected to be induced by PSA introduction, should be taken into account for future investigations.

Biomedical Photoacoustic Imaging for Molecular Detection and Disease Diagnosis: "Always-On" and "Turn-On" Probes

Photoacoustic (PA) imaging is a nonionizing, noninvasive imaging technique that combines optical and ultrasonic imaging modalities to provide images with excellent contrast, spatial resolution, and penetration depth. Exogenous PA contrast agents are created to increase the sensitivity and specificity of PA imaging and to offer diagnostic information for illnesses. The existing PA contrast agents are categorized into two groups in this review: "always-on" and "turn-on," based on their ability to be triggered by target molecules. The present state of these probes, their merits and limitations, and their future development, is explored.

Sodium Alginate/Chitosan Scaffolds for Cardiac Tissue Engineering: The Influence of Its Three-Dimensional Material Preparation and the Use of Gold Nanoparticles

Natural biopolymer scaffolds and conductive nanomaterials have been widely used in cardiac tissue engineering; however, there are still challenges in the scaffold fabrication, which include enhancing nutrient delivery, biocompatibility and properties that favor the growth, maturation and functionality of the generated tissue for therapeutic application. In the present work, different scaffolds prepared with sodium alginate and chitosan (alginate/chitosan) were fabricated with and without the addition of metal nanoparticles and how their fabrication affects cardiomyocyte growth was evaluated. The scaffolds (hydrogels) were dried by freeze drying using calcium gluconate as a crosslinking agent, and two types of metal nanoparticles were incorporated, gold (AuNp) and gold plus sodium alginate (AuNp+Alg). A physicochemical characterization of the scaffolds was carried out by swelling, degradation, permeability and infrared spectroscopy studies. The results show that the scaffolds obtained were highly porous (>90%) and hydrophilic, with swelling percentages of around 3000% and permeability of the order of 1 × 10−8 m2. In addition, the scaffolds proposed favored adhesion and spheroid formation, with cardiac markers expression such as tropomyosin, troponin I and cardiac myosin. The incorporation of AuNp+Alg increased cardiac protein expression and cell proliferation, thus demonstrating their potential use in cardiac tissue engineering.

Synergistic photothermal-photodynamic-chemotherapy toward breast cancer based on a liposome-coated core-shell AuNS@NMOFs nanocomposite encapsulated with gambogic acid

A multifunctional nanoplatform with core–shell structure was constructed in one-pot for the synergistic photothermal, photodynamic, and chemotherapy against breast cancer. In the presence of gambogic acid (GA) as the heat-shock protein 90 (HSP90) inhibitor and the gold nanostars (AuNS) as the photothermal reagent, the assembly of Zr⁴⁺ with tetrakis (4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin (TCPP) gave rise to the nanocomposite AuNS@ZrTCPP-GA (AZG), which in turn, further coated with PEGylated liposome (LP) to enhance the stability and biocompatibility, and consequently the antitumor effect of the particle. Upon cellular uptake, the nanoscale metal − organic framework (NMOF) of ZrTCPP in the resulted AuNS@ZrTCPP-GA@LP (AZGL) could be slowly degraded in the weak acidic tumor microenvironment to release AuNS, Zr⁴⁺, TCPP, and GA to exert the synergistic treatment of tumors via the combination of AuNS-mediated mild photothermal therapy (PTT) and TCPP-mediated photodynamic therapy (PDT). The introduction of GA serves to reduce the thermal resistance of the cell to re-sensitize PTT and the constructed nanoplatform demonstrated remarkable anti-tumor activity in vitro and in vivo. Our work highlights a facile strategy to prepare a pH-dissociable nanoplatform for the effective synergistic treatment of breast cancer.

Ultra-high thermally stable gold nanorods/radial mesoporous silica and their application in enhanced chemo-photothermal therapy

In this work, gold nanorods embedded in ultra-thick silica shells with radial mesopores (AuNR/R-SiO₂) were successfully synthesized in an ethanol/water solution. By optimizing the concentration of CTAB and the volume of ethanol, a shell thickness up to 83 nm was realized. Taking advantage of the ultra-thick silica shell, AuNR/R-SiO₂ exhibited ultra-high thermal stability—could retain the integrity and photothermal effects even after 800 °C thermal annealing, providing inspiring sights into the application under some extreme conditions. After continuous irradiation for twenty times, the photothermal effects of AuNRs coated with R-SiO₂ still remained perfect without performance degradation and shape change. Besides, abundant mesopores could effectively improve the photothermal conversion efficiency of AuNRs. AuNR/R-SiO₂ exhibited an outstanding loading capacity up to 2178 mg g⁻¹ with doxorubicin (DOX) as the model drug, and the release behaviors could be nicely controlled by acidity and near-infrared (NIR) laser to achieve the “On-demand” mode. In vitro experiments showed that AuNR/R-SiO₂ were biocompatible and easy to be internalized by HeLa cells. In addition, due to the ultra-thick silica shell, the effect of the combined chemo-photothermal therapy using AuNR/R-SiO₂/DOX was significantly enhanced, showing a higher therapeutic efficiency than single chem- or photothermal therapy. It was worth noting that AuNR/R-SiO₂ are effective and promising for drug delivery and tumor therapy.

AuNRs coated with ultra-thick SiO₂ shells exhibited ultra-high thermal stability (800 °C), excellent photothermal conversion efficiency (70%) and outstanding loading capacity. The drug release could be nicely controlled by acidity and NIR laser to achieve the “On-demand” mode.

Curcumin-gold-polyethylene glycol nanoparticles as a nanosensitizer for photothermal and sonodynamic therapies: In vitro and animal model studies

Photothermal and ultrasound therapies are novel non-invasive strategies for tumor treatment which are equipped with a photosensitizer and sonosensitizer subsequent activation by laser irradiation and ultrasound exposure. In this study, curcumin-gold-polyethylene glycol nanoparticles (Cur-Au NPs-PEG) were synthesized, and the dual role in photothermal (PTT) and sonodynamic (SDT) therapies of melanoma cancer was evaluated. The toxicity effect of Cur-Au NPs-PEG against a mouse malignant melanoma cell line C540 (B16/F10) was firstly inspected in vitro. Cur-Au NPs-PEG provided a hyperthermal microenvironment and generated reactive oxygen species upon PTT and STD, respectively, with representing synergism effects. Studies in vivo in a tumor-bearing animal also demonstrate the superiority of PTT and SDT in destroying melanoma tumor.

Sustainable dialdehyde polysaccharides as versatile building blocks for fabricating functional materials: An overview

Dialdehyde polysaccharide (DAP), containing multiple aldehyde groups, can react with materials having amino groups via Schiff base crosslinking. Besides, it can also react with materials having carbonyl/hydroxyl groups via aldol reactions. Based on these intriguing properties, DAPs can be employed as versatile building blocks to fabricate functional materials used in biomedical field, wastewater treatment, leather manufacture, and electrochemistry field. This review aims to provide an overview of the recent advances in fabricating biomaterials, adsorbents, leather tanning agents, and electrochemical materials based on DAPs. The basic fabricating strategy and principle of these materials and their performances are overall summarized, along with a discussion of associated scalability challenges, technological strategies to overcome them, and the prospect for commercial translations of this versatile material. Blending the versatility of DAP with material science and technological advances can provide a powerful tool to develop more DAP-based functional materials in a scalable way.