An enzyme-responsive and NIR-triggered lipid-polymer hybrid nanoplatform for synergistic photothermal/chemo cancer therapy

A Nano-Strategy for Advanced Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Therapy by Regulating Intratumoral Microbiota

Intratumoral microbiota have been identified as a component of the tumor microenvironment that regulates the metastatic behavior of tumors. They serve not only as indicators of tumor pathology but also as potential drug targets in cancer therapy. Herein, a multifunctional nanoplatform (DD@FEL) is prepared by combining antibiotic doxycycline (DOXY) that can combat intratumoral microbiota and the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin (DOX) in ergosterol-originated liposome. Specially, ergosterol is utilized as a substitute for cholesterol in liposomes to exert pharmacological activity. Mechanistically, DD@FEL leveraged DOXY to inhibit cancer metastasis based on the regulation of intratumoral microbiota, which synergizes with the chemotherapeutic effect of DOX, eventually inhibiting the progression of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Verified both in vitro and in vivo, DD@FEL effectively exerts a cytotoxic effect on TNBC cells, delays the growth of primary TNBC, and attenuates the development of its lung metastasis, providing a promising therapeutic strategy to control both orthotopic and metastatic TNBC.

Controlled lipid digestion in the development of functional and personalized foods for a tailored delivery of dietary fats

In recent decades, obesity and its associated health issues have risen dramatically. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated this trend, underscoring the pressing need for new strategies to manage weight. Functional foods designed to modulate lipid digestion and absorption rates and thereby reduce the assimilation of dietary fats have gained increasing attention in food science as a potentially safer alternative to weight-loss medications. This review provides insights into controlled lipid digestion and customized delivery of fats. The first section introduces basic concepts of lipid digestion and absorption in the human gastrointestinal tract. The second section discusses factors regulating lipid digestion and absorption rates, as well as strategies for modulating lipid assimilation from food. The third section focuses on applications of controlled lipid digestion in developing personalized foods designed for specific consumer groups, with particular emphasis on two target populations: overweight individuals and infants.

Multi-pathway oxidative stress amplification via controllably targeted nanomaterials for photoimmunotherapy of tumors

Photoimmunotherapy, which combines phototherapy with immunotherapy, exhibits significantly improved therapeutic effects compared with mono-treatment regimens. However, its use is associated with drawbacks, such as insufficient reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and uneven photosensitizer distribution. To address these issues, we developed a controllable, targeted nanosystem that enhances oxidative stress through multiple pathways, achieving synergistic photothermal, photodynamic, and immunotherapy effects for tumor treatment. These nanoparticles (D/I@HST NPs) accurately target overexpressed transferrin receptors (TfRs) on the surface of tumor cells through surface-modified transferrin (Tf). After endocytosis, D/I@HST NPs generate ROS under 808-nm laser irradiation, breaking the ROS-responsive crosslinking agent and increasing drug release and utilization. Tf also carries Fe3+, which is reduced to Fe2+ by iron reductase in the acidic tumor microenvironment (TME). Consequently, the endoperoxide bridge structure in dihydroartemisinin is cleaved, causing additional ROS generation. Furthermore, the released IR-780 exerts both photodynamic and photothermal effects, enhancing tumor cell death. This multi-pathway oxidative stress amplification and photothermal effect can trigger immunogenic cell death in tumors, promoting the release of relevant antigens and damage-associated molecular patterns, thereby increasing dendritic cell maturation and sensitivity of tumor cells to immunotherapy. Mature dendritic cells transmit signals to T cells, increasing T cells infiltration and activation, facilitating tumor growth inhibition and the suppression of lung metastasis. Furthermore, the myeloid-derived suppressor cells in the tumor decreases significantly after treatment. In summary, this multi-pathway oxidative stress-amplified targeted nanosystem effectively inhibits tumors, reverses the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, and provides new insights into tumor immunotherapy combined with phototherapy.

Review of NIR-responsive ''Smart'' carriers for photothermal chemotherapy

This review focuses on the versatile applications of near-infrared (NIR)-responsive smart carriers in biomedical applications, particularly drug delivery and photothermal chemotherapy. These carriers demonstrate multi-responsive theranostics capabilities, including pH-dependent drug release, targeted delivery of chemotherapeutics, heat-mediated drug release, and photothermal tumor damage. Biological samples are transparent to NIR light with a suitable wavelength, and therefore, NIR light is advantageous for deep-tissue penetration. It also generates sufficient heat in tissue samples, which is beneficial for on-demand NIR-responsive drug delivery in vivo systems. The development of biocompatible materials with sufficient NIR light absorption properties and drug-carrying functionality has shown tremendous growth in the last five years. Thus, this review offers insights into the current research development of NIR-responsive materials with therapeutic potential and prospects aimed at overcoming challenges to improve the therapeutic efficacy and safety in the dynamic field of NIR-responsive drug delivery.

Advancements and prospects of lipid-based nanoparticles: dual frontiers in cancer treatment and vaccine development

Cancer is a complex heterogeneous disease that poses a significant public health challenge. In recent years, lipid-based nanoparticles (LBNPs) have expanded drug delivery and vaccine development options owing to their adaptable, non-toxic, tuneable physicochemical properties, versatile surface functionalisation, and biocompatibility. LBNPs are tiny artificial structures composed of lipid-like materials that can be engineered to encapsulate and deliver therapeutic agents with pinpoint accuracy. They have been widely explored in oncology; however, our understanding of their pharmacological mechanisms, effects of their composition, charge, and size on cellular uptake, tumour penetration, and how they can be utilised to develop cancer vaccines is still limited. Hence, we reviewed LBNPs' unique characteristics, biochemical features, and tumour-targeting mechanisms. Furthermore, we examined their ability to enhance cancer therapies and their potential contribution in developing anticancer vaccines. We critically analysed their advantages and challenges impeding swift advancements in oncology and highlighted promising avenues for future research.

Polymer-Based Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Therapeutics

Chemotherapy together with surgery and/or radiotherapy are the most common therapeutic methods for treating cancer. However, the off-target effects of chemotherapy are known to produce side effects and dose-limiting toxicities. Novel delivery platforms based on natural and synthetic polymers with enhanced pharmacokinetic and therapeutic potential for the treatment of cancer have grown tremendously over the past 10 years. Polymers can facilitate selective targeting, enhance and prolong circulation, improve delivery, and provide the controlled release of cargos through various mechanisms, including physical adsorption, chemical conjugation, and/or internal loading. Notably, polymers that are biodegradable, biocompatible, and physicochemically stable are considered to be ideal delivery carriers. This biomimetic and bio-inspired system offers a bright future for effective drug delivery with the potential to overcome the obstacles encountered. This review focuses on the barriers that impact the success of chemotherapy drug delivery as well as the recent developments based on natural and synthetic polymers as platforms for improving drug delivery for treating cancer.

Research progress of organic photothermal agents delivery and synergistic therapy systems

Cancer is currently one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Due to the inevitable shortcomings of conventional treatments, photothermal therapy (PTT) has attracted great attention as an emerging and non-invasive cancer treatment method. Photothermal agents (PTAs) is a necessary component of PTT to play its role. It accumulates at the tumor site through appropriate methods and converts the absorbed light energy into heat energy effectively under near-infrared light irradiation, thus increasing the temperature of the tumor area and facilitating ablation of the tumor cells. Compared to inorganic photothermal agents, which have limitations such as non-degradability and potential long-term toxicity in vivo, organic photothermal agents exhibit excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability, thus showing promising prospects for the application of PTT in cancer treatment. And these organic photothermal agents can also be engineered into nanoparticles to improve their water solubility, extend their circulation time in vivo, and specifically target tumors. Moreover, further combination of PTT with other treatment methods can effectively enhance the efficacy of cancer treatment and alleviate the side effects associated with single treatments. This article briefly introduces several common types of organic photothermal agents and their nanoparticles, and reviews the applications of PTT based on organic photothermal agents in combination with chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, chemodynamic therapy, immunotherapy, and multimodal combination therapy for tumor treatment, which expands the ideas and methods in the field of tumor treatment.

Stimuli-responsive (nano)architectures for phytochemical delivery in cancer therapy

The use of phytochemicals for purpose of cancer therapy has been accelerated due to resistance of tumor cells to conventional chemotherapy drugs and therefore, monotherapy does not cause significant improvement in the prognosis and survival of patients. Therefore, administration of natural products alone or in combination with chemotherapy drugs due to various mechanisms of action has been suggested. However, cancer therapy using phytochemicals requires more attention because of poor bioavailability of compounds and lack of specific accumulation at tumor site. Hence, nanocarriers for specific delivery of phytochemicals in tumor therapy has been suggested. The pharmacokinetic profile of natural products and their therapeutic indices can be improved. The nanocarriers can improve potential of natural products in crossing over BBB and also, promote internalization in cancer cells through endocytosis. Moreover, (nano)platforms can deliver both natural and synthetic anti-cancer drugs in combination cancer therapy. The surface functionalization of nanostructures with ligands improves ability in internalization in tumor cells and improving cytotoxicity of natural compounds. Interestingly, stimuli-responsive nanostructures that respond to endogenous and exogenous stimuli have been employed for delivery of natural compounds in cancer therapy. The decrease in pH in tumor microenvironment causes degradation of bonds in nanostructures to release cargo and when changes in GSH levels occur, it also mediates drug release from nanocarriers. Moreover, enzymes in the tumor microenvironment such as MMP-2 can mediate drug release from nanocarriers and more progresses in targeted drug delivery obtained by application of nanoparticles that are responsive to exogenous stimulus including light.

Near-Infrared Light-Activated Oxygen Generator a Multidynamic Photo-Nanoplatform for Effective Anti-Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma Treatment

Introduction

Nanophototherapy has emerged as a novel and promising therapeutic strategy for cancer treatment; however, its efficacy in dermatological tumors and precancerous lesions remains severely limited. This study aimed to use the gas-liquid injection technique to fully utilize the synergistic photodynamic therapy (PDT)/photothermal therapy (PTT) of nanomaterials to enhance the antitumor effect.

Methods

A novel oxygen-generating nanocomposite (TSL-IR820-CAT) was synthesized by encapsulating the photosensitizer IR820 and catalase (CAT) using a matrix encapsulation method based on thermosensitive liposomes (TSL).-The liquid injection technology enhances the treatment of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC). The combined PDT/PTT therapeutic effect of TSL-IR820-CAT on cSCC was investigated using in vivo and in vitro experiments.

Results

TSL-IR820-CAT, with good stability, efficient drug release, and photothermal conversion ability, was successfully developed. Nanoparticles injected through a needle-free syringe efficiently accumulate in the tumor tissue. As TSL-IR820-CAT was consumed by A431 cells, some of it localized to the mitochondria and produced oxygen to relieve hypoxia, thereby enhancing the efficacy of PDT. PDT/PTT combination therapy resulted in irreversible apoptosis and inhibited cSCC growth. TSL-IR820-CAT coupled with gas-liquid injection was free from apparent systemic side effects.

Conclusion

This article discusses new strategies and ideas for treating skin tumors and has significant application value.