PEGylated lipid bilayer-wrapped nano-graphene oxides for synergistic co-delivery of doxorubicin and rapamycin to prevent drug resistance in cancers

Advancements in Cancer Treatment: Harnessing the Synergistic Potential of Graphene-Based Nanomaterials in Combination Therapy

Combination therapy, which involves using multiple therapeutic modalities simultaneously or sequentially, has become a cornerstone of modern cancer treatment. Graphene-based nanomaterials (GBNs) have emerged as versatile platforms for drug delivery, gene therapy, and photothermal therapy. These materials enable a synergistic approach, improving the efficacy of treatments while reducing side effects. This review explores the roles of graphene, graphene oxide (GO), and graphene quantum dots (GQDs) in combination therapies and highlights their potential to enhance immunotherapy and targeted cancer therapies. The large surface area and high drug-loading capacity of graphene facilitate the codelivery of multiple therapeutic agents, promoting targeted and sustained release. GQDs, with their unique optical properties, offer real-time imaging capabilities, adding another layer of precision to treatment. However, challenges such as biocompatibility, long-term toxicity, and scalability need to be addressed to ensure clinical safety. Preclinical studies show promising results for GBNs, suggesting their potential to revolutionize cancer treatment through innovative combination therapies.

Advanced 2D Nanomaterials for Phototheranostics of Breast Cancer: A Paradigm Shift

Breast cancer is the leading cause of women's deaths and associated comorbidities. The advanced and targeted strategies against breast cancer have gained considerable attention due to their potential enhanced therapeutic efficacy over conventional therapies. In this context, phototherapies like photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) have shown promise as an effective and alternative strategy due to reduced side effects, noninvasiveness, and spatiotemporal specificity. With the advent of nanotechnology, several types of nanomaterials that have shown excellent prospects in increasing the efficacy of photo therapies have been exploited in cancer treatment. In recent years, 2D nanomaterials have stood out promising because of their unique ultrathin planar structure, chemical, physical, tunable characteristics, and corresponding remarkable physiochemical/biological properties. In this review, the potential and the current status of several types of 2D nanomaterials such as graphene-based nanomaterials, Mxenes, Black phosphorous, and Transition Metal Dichalcogenides for photo/thermo and combination-based imaging and therapy of breast cancer have been discussed. The current challenges and prospects in terms of translational potential in future clinical oncology are highlighted.

Guidelines for the role of autophagy in drug delivery vectors uptake pathways

The process of autophagy refers to the intracellular absorption of cytoplasm (such as proteins, nucleic acids, tiny molecules, complete organelles, and so on) into the lysosome, followed by the breakdown of that cytoplasm. The majority of cellular proteins are degraded by a process called autophagy, which is both a naturally occurring activity and one that may be induced by cellular stress. Autophagy is a system that can save cells' integrity in stressful situations by restoring metabolic basics and getting rid of subcellular junk. This happens as a component of an endurance response. This mechanism may have an effect on disease, in addition to its contribution to the homeostasis of individual cells and tissues as well as the control of development in higher species. The main aim of this study is to discuss the guidelines for the role of autophagy in drug delivery vector uptake pathways. In this paper, we discuss the meaning and concept of autophagy, the mechanism of autophagy, the role of autophagy in drug delivery vectors, autophagy-modulating drugs, nanostructures for delivery systems of autophagy modulators, etc. Later in this paper, we talk about how to deliver chemotherapeutics, siRNA, and autophagy inducers and inhibitors. We also talk about how hard it is to make a drug delivery system that takes nanocarriers' roles as autophagy modulators into account.

Graphene Oxide Nanostructures as Nanoplatforms for Delivering Natural Therapeutic Agents: Applications in Cancer Treatment, Bacterial Infections, and Bone Regeneration Medicine

Graphene, fullerenes, diamond, carbon nanotubes, and carbon dots are just a few of the carbon-based nanomaterials that have gained enormous popularity in a variety of scientific disciplines and industrial uses. As a two-dimensional material in the creation of therapeutic delivery systems for many illnesses, nanosized graphene oxide (NGO) is now garnering a large amount of attention among these materials. In addition to other benefits, NGO functions as a drug nanocarrier with remarkable biocompatibility, high pharmaceutical loading capacity, controlled drug release capability, biological imaging efficiency, multifunctional nanoplatform properties, and the power to increase the therapeutic efficacy of loaded agents. Thus, NGO is a perfect nanoplatform for the development of drug delivery systems (DDSs) to both detect and treat a variety of ailments. This review article's main focus is on investigating surface functionality, drug-loading methods, and drug release patterns designed particularly for smart delivery systems. The paper also examines the relevance of using NGOs to build DDSs and considers prospective uses in the treatment of diseases including cancer, infection by bacteria, and bone regeneration medicine. These factors cover the use of naturally occurring medicinal substances produced from plant-based sources.

Nanodelivery systems: An efficient and target-specific approach for drug-resistant cancers

BACKGROUND

Cancer treatment is still a global health challenge. Nowadays, chemotherapy is widely applied for treating cancer and reducing its burden. However, its application might be in accordance with various adverse effects by exposing the healthy tissues and multidrug resistance (MDR), leading to disease relapse or metastasis. In addition, due to tumor heterogeneity and the varied pharmacokinetic features of prescribed drugs, combination therapy has only shown modestly improved results in MDR malignancies. Nanotechnology has been explored as a potential tool for cancer treatment, due to the efficiency of nanoparticles to function as a vehicle for drug delivery.

METHODS

With this viewpoint, functionalized nanosystems have been investigated as a potential strategy to overcome drug resistance.

RESULTS

This approach aims to improve the efficacy of anticancer medicines while decreasing their associated side effects through a range of mechanisms, such as bypassing drug efflux, controlling drug release, and disrupting metabolism. This review discusses the MDR mechanisms contributing to therapeutic failure, the most cutting-edge approaches used in nanomedicine to create and assess nanocarriers, and designed nanomedicine to counteract MDR with emphasis on recent developments, their potential, and limitations.

CONCLUSIONS

Studies have shown that nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery confers distinct benefits over traditional pharmaceuticals, including improved biocompatibility, stability, permeability, retention effect, and targeting capabilities.

PNA-Modified Liposomes Improve the Delivery Efficacy of CAPIRI for the Synergistic Treatment of Colorectal Cancer

Tumor-associated antigen mucin 1 (MUC1) is highly expressed in colorectal cancer and is positively correlated with advanced stage at diagnosis and poor patient outcomes. The combination of irinotecan and capecitabine is standard chemotherapy for metastatic colorectal cancer and is known as XELIRI or CAPIRI, which significantly prolongs the progression-free survival and overall survival of colorectal cancer patients compared to a single drug alone. We previously reported that peanut agglutinin (PNA)-conjugated liposomes showed enhanced drug delivery efficiency to MUC1-positive liver cancer cells. In this study, we prepared irinotecan hydrochloride (IRI) and capecitabine (CAP)-coloaded liposomes modified by peanut agglutinin (IRI/CAP-PNA-Lips) to target MUC1-positive colorectal cancer. The results showed that IRI/CAP-PNA-Lips showed an enhanced ability to target MUC1-positive colorectal cancer cells compared to unmodified liposomes. Treatment with IRI/CAP-PNA-Lips also increased the proportion of apoptotic cells and inhibited the proliferation of colorectal cancer cells. The targeting specificity for tumor cells and the antitumor effects of PNA-modified liposomes were significantly increased in tumor-bearing mice with no severe cytotoxicity to normal tissues. These results suggest that PNA-modified liposomes could provide a new delivery strategy for the synergistic treatment of colorectal cancer with clinical chemotherapeutic agents.

Emerging concepts in designing next-generation multifunctional nanomedicine for cancer treatment

Nanotherapy has emerged as an improved anticancer therapeutic strategy to circumvent the harmful side effects of chemotherapy. It has been proven to be beneficial to offer multiple advantages, including their capacity to carry different therapeutic agents, longer circulation time and increased therapeutic index with reduced toxicity. Over time, nanotherapy evolved in terms of their designing strategies like geometry, size, composition or chemistry to circumvent the biological barriers. Multifunctional nanoscale materials are widely used as molecular transporter for delivering therapeutics and imaging agents. Nanomedicine involving multi-component chemotherapeutic drug-based combination therapy has been found to be an improved promising approach to increase the efficacy of cancer treatment. Next-generation nanomedicine has also utilized and combined immunotherapy to increase its therapeutic efficacy. It helps in targeting tumor immune response sparing the healthy systemic immune function. In this review, we have summarized the progress of nanotechnology in terms of nanoparticle designing and targeting cancer. We have also discussed its further applications in combination therapy and cancer immunotherapy. Integrating patient-specific proteomics and biomarker based information and harnessing clinically safe nanotechnology, the development of precision nanomedicine could revolutionize the effective cancer therapy.

Stimuli-responsive graphene oxide and methotrexate-loaded magnetic nanoparticles for breast cancer-targeted therapy

Aim: Nanocomposites of graphene oxide (GO) loaded with PEGylated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles and grafted with methotrexate and stimuli-responsive linkers (GO-SPION-MTX) were developed for photothermal and chemotherapy of breast cancer. Methods: PEGylated SPIONs were synthesized and conjugated with chemotherapeutic targeting agent MTX, which were then loaded on GO to prepare GO-SPION-MTX nanocomposites. To evaluate the photothermal effect of the nanocomposites, they were examined in breast cancer cell lines with low doses of near-infrared (NIR) laser radiation with/without acetazolamide. Results: The GO-SPION-MTX nanocomposites were found to be internalized by the folate-receptor-positive cancer cells and induce high cytotoxicity on exposure to NIR laser rays. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the GO-SPION-MTX nanocomposite can potentially be used as a multimodal nanomedicine/theranostic against breast cancer.

MOF-Mediated Synthesis of CuO/CeO2 Composite Nanoparticles: Characterization and Estimation of the Cellular Toxicity against Breast Cancer Cell Line (MCF-7)

A copper oxide/cerium oxide nanocomposite (CuO/CeO₂, NC) was synthesized via a novel method using a metal–organic framework as a precursor. This nanomaterial was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering size analysis (DLS), and zeta potential. The PXRD showed the successful synthesis of the CuO/CeO₂ NC, in which the 2theta values of 35.55° (d = 2.52 Å, 100%) and 38.73° (d = 2.32 Å, 96%) revealed the existence of copper (II) oxide. FTIR analysis showed the CeO₂, hydroxyl groups, absorbed water, and some residual peaks. The solid phase analysis by FESEM and TEM images showed mean particle sizes of 49.18 ± 24.50 nm and 30.58 ± 26.40 nm, respectively, which were comparable with crystallite size (38.4 nm) obtained from PXRD, but it appears the CuO/CeO₂ NC was not evenly distributed and in some areas, showed it was highly agglomerated. The hydrodynamic size (750.5 nm) also showed the agglomeration of the CuO/CeO₂ NCs in the solution, which had a negatively charged surface. The CuO/CeO₂ NCs showed anti-proliferative activity against human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) in a dose- and time-dependence way, while affecting normal cells less significantly.

Efficacy and Molecular Effects of a Reduced Graphene Oxide/Fe3O4 Nanocomposite in Photothermal Therapy Against Cancer

PURPOSE

Expanded research on the biomedical applications of graphene has shown promising results, although interactions between cells and graphene are still unclear. The current study aims to dissect the cellular and molecular effects of graphene nanocomposite in photothermal therapy against cancer, and to evaluate its efficacy.

METHODS

In this study, a reduced graphene oxide and iron oxide (rGO-Fe3O4) nanocomposite was obtained by chemical synthesis. The nanocomposite was fully characterized by Raman spectroscopy, TEM, VSM and thermal profiling. Cell-nanocomposite interaction was evaluated by confocal microscopy and viability assays on cancer cell line HeLa. The efficacy of the thermal therapy and changes in gene expression of Bcl-2 and Hsp70 was assessed.

RESULTS

The resulting rGO-Fe3O4 nanocomposite exhibited superparamagnetic properties and the capacity to increase the surrounding temperature by 18-20°C with respect to the initial temperature. The studies of cell-nanocomposite interaction showed that rGO-Fe3O4 attaches to cell membrane but there is a range of concentration at which the nanomaterial preserves cell viability. Photothermal therapy reduced cell viability to 32.6% and 23.7% with 50 and 100 µg/mL of nanomaterial, respectively. The effect of treatment on the molecular mechanism of cell death demonstrated an overexpression of anti-apoptotic proteins Hsp70 and Bcl-2 as an initial response to the therapy and depending on the aggressiveness of the treatment.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study contribute to understanding the interactions between cell and graphene and support its application in photothermal therapy against cancer due to its promising results.

Rationally designed rapamycin-encapsulated ZIF-8 nanosystem for overcoming chemotherapy resistance

Zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) nanoparticles are widely reported as a pH-sensitive drug delivery carrier with high loading capacity for tumor therapy. However, the mechanism of intracellular corrosion of ZIF-8 and the corresponding biological effects especially for autophagy response have been rarely reported. Herein, the as-synthesized ZIF-8 was demonstrated to induce mTOR independent and pro-death autophagy. Interestingly, the autophagic process participated in the corrosion of ZIF-8. Subsequently, zinc ion release and the generation of reactive oxygen species due to its corrosion in the acidic compartments were directly responsible for tumor cell killing. In addition, ZIF-8 could sensitize tumor cells to chemotherapy by switching cytoprotective to death promoting autophagy induced by doxorubicin. The mTOR signaling pathway activation was demonstrated to restrict tumor chemotherapy efficiency. Hence, a combined platform rapamycin encapsulated zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (Rapa@ZIF-8) was constructed and demonstrated a more significant chemo-sensitized effect relative to ZIF-8 nanoparticles or rapamycin treatment alone. Lastly, the combined administration of Rapa@ZIF-8 and doxorubicin exhibited an outstanding synergistic antitumor effect without any obvious toxicity to the major organs of mice. Collectively, the optimized nanoplatform, Rapa@ZIF-8, provides a proof of concept for intentionally interfering mTOR pathway and utilizing the switch of survival-to death-promoting autophagy for adjunct chemotherapy.

Functionalized Carbon Nanostructures Versus Drug Resistance: Promising Scenarios in Cancer Treatment

Carbon nanostructures (CN) are emerging valuable materials for the assembly of highly engineered multifunctional nanovehicles for cancer therapy, in particular for counteracting the insurgence of multi-drug resistance (MDR). In this regard, carbon nanotubes (CNT), graphene oxide (GO), and fullerenes (F) have been proposed as promising materials due to their superior physical, chemical, and biological features. The possibility to easily modify their surface, conferring tailored properties, allows different CN derivatives to be synthesized. Although many studies have explored this topic, a comprehensive review evaluating the beneficial use of functionalized CNT vs G or F is still missing. Within this paper, the most relevant examples of CN-based nanosystems proposed for MDR reversal are reviewed, taking into consideration the functionalization routes, as well as the biological mechanisms involved and the possible toxicity concerns. The main aim is to understand which functional CN represents the most promising strategy to be further investigated for overcoming MDR in cancer.

Lipid-Functionalized Graphene Loaded with hMnSOD for Selective Inhibition of Cancer Cells

Combination therapies utilize multiple mechanisms to target cancer cells to minimize cancer cell survival. Graphene provides an ideal platform for combination therapy due to its photothermal properties and high loading capacity for cancer-fighting molecules. Lipid functionalization of graphene extends its potential as a therapeutic platform by improving its biocompatibility and functionality. Previous studies involving graphene demonstrated its usage as a therapeutic vehicle; however, the effect of bare and engineered graphene structures on oxidative stress has not been comprehensively investigated. Because oxidative stress has been linked to cancer progression, it is vital to examine the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in response to therapeutic platforms. This study functionalizes reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with lipids and the antioxidant enzyme human manganese superoxide dismutase (hMnSOD) and presents a detailed characterization of cellular responses to bare and functionalized rGO nanostructures in tumorigenic and nontumorigenic breast cell lines. Each cell type displayed distinct responses depending on whether they were normal, nonmetastatic, or metastatic cells. Bare rGO significantly reduced cell growth and substantially increased ROS production in all cell lines and instigated necrosis in metastatic breast cancer cells. Cell proliferation decreased in cancerous breast cells upon introduction of lipid-rGO, which correlated with peroxidation of lipids coating the rGO. In contrast, lipid-rGO nanostructures had minimal impact on proliferation and lipid peroxidation for normal breast cells. Lipid-rGO nanostructures with bound hMnSOD inhibited the proliferation of metastatic cancer cells while preventing necrosis and avoiding the negative side effects on normal cells associated with chemotherapeutic agents. Together, the results confirm the importance of functionalizing rGO for therapeutic applications and present an additional modality for the usage of graphene to selectively target cancer cells.

Autophagy Modulators: Mechanistic Aspects and Drug Delivery Systems

Autophagy modulation is considered to be a promising programmed cell death mechanism to prevent and cure a great number of disorders and diseases. The crucial step in designing an effective therapeutic approach is to understand the correct and accurate causes of diseases and to understand whether autophagy plays a cytoprotective or cytotoxic/cytostatic role in the progression and prevention of disease. This knowledge will help scientists find approaches to manipulate tumor and pathologic cells in order to enhance cellular sensitivity to therapeutics and treat them. Although some conventional therapeutics suffer from poor solubility, bioavailability and controlled release mechanisms, it appears that novel nanoplatforms overcome these obstacles and have led to the design of a theranostic-controlled drug release system with high solubility and active targeting and stimuli-responsive potentials. In this review, we discuss autophagy modulators-related signaling pathways and some of the drug delivery strategies that have been applied to the field of therapeutic application of autophagy modulators. Moreover, we describe how therapeutics will target various steps of the autophagic machinery. Furthermore, nano drug delivery platforms for autophagy targeting and co-delivery of autophagy modulators with chemotherapeutics/siRNA, are also discussed.

A Study on Technology Competition of Graphene Biomedical Technology Based on Patent Analysis

Graphene, with high biocompatibility, physiological solubility and stability, has been reported as an emerging material for biomedical applications such as biosensors, drug delivery, and tissue engineering. Recently, identifying the technological competition (TC) of graphene biomedical technology has received worldwide attention from stakeholders. However, few studies have attached great importance to review the TC of this field by the analysis of patents. The main objective of this study is to develop a new and comprehensive method to investigate TC in a given technology field by conducting a patent review and then employing a patent roadmap to dig out the technology opportunity. The effectiveness of the approach is verified with the case study on graphene biomedical technology. Compared to previous research, this study makes the following important contributions. First, this study provides a new and systematic framework for the dynamic analysis of TC in a given technology field. It also extends the research perspectives of TC for industry, assignees, and technology, employs a patent roadmap to dig out technology opportunities, and enables stakeholders to understand TC from a dynamic perspective. Second, this study integrates patent analysis with a patent roadmap that has not appeared in existing methodologies of patent review. Third, it first introduces indicators (e.g., high value patent and competition position of top assignees) to the previous patent roadmap and provides a new methodology for patent roadmaps from a country level and assignee level. Finally, this study provides useful information for stakeholders interested in graphene biomedical technology, helps them to find new technology opportunities in this field, encourages them to determine the direction of future research, and has important significance for its application to diverse other emerging technologies.

Recent advances in graphene-based nanomaterials: properties, toxicity and applications in chemistry, biology and medicine

This review (with 239 refs.) summarizes the progress that has been made in applications of graphene-based nanomaterials (such as plain graphene, graphene oxides, doped graphene oxides, graphene quantums dots) in biosensing, imaging, drug delivery and diagnosis. Following an introduction into the field, a first large section covers the toxicity of graphene and its derivatives (with subsections on bacterial toxicity and tissue toxicity). The use of graphene-based nanomaterials in sensors is reviewed next, with subsections on electrochemical, FET-based, fluorescent, chemiluminescent and colorimetric sensors and probes. The large field of imaging is treated next, with subchapters on optical, PET-based, and magnetic resonance based methods. A concluding section summarizes the current status, addresses current challenges, and gives an outlook on potential future trends. Graphical Abstract Schematic presentation of the potential applications of graphene-based materials in life science and biomedicine, emphatically reflected in some vital areas such as DNA analysis, biological monitoring, drug delivery, in vitro labelling, in vivo imaging, tumor target, etc.

Graphene-Based Smart Platforms for Combined Cancer Therapy

The extensive research of graphene and its derivatives in biomedical applications during the past few years has witnessed its significance in the field of nanomedicine. Starting from simple drug delivery systems, the application of graphene and its derivatives has been extended to a versatile platform of multiple therapeutic modalities, including photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, magnetic hyperthermia therapy, and sonodynamic therapy. In addition to monotherapy, graphene-based materials are widely applied in combined therapies for enhanced anticancer activity and reduced side effects. In particular, graphene-based materials are often designed and fabricated as "smart" platforms for stimuli-responsive nanocarriers, whose therapeutic effects can be activated by the tumor microenvironment, such as acidic pH and elevated glutathione (termed as "endogenous stimuli"), or light, magnetic, or ultrasonic stimuli (termed as "exogenous stimuli"). Herein, the recent advances of smart graphene platforms for combined therapy applications are presented, starting with the principle for the design of graphene-based smart platforms in combined therapy applications. Next, recent advances of combined therapies contributed by graphene-based materials, including chemotherapy-based, photothermal-therapy-based, and ultrasound-therapy-based synergistic therapy, are outlined. In addition, current challenges and future prospects regarding this promising field are discussed.

Synthesis of biologically-active reduced graphene oxide by using fucoidan as a multifunctional agent for combination cancer therapy

A therapeutic reduced graphene oxide (RGO) is synthesized by using fucoidan (Fu) as the reducing and surface functionalizing agent. The synthesized Fu-RGO exhibits promising characteristics for therapeutic applications such as high dispersity in aqueous media, biocompatibility, selective cytotoxicity to cancer cells, high loading capacity of the anticancer drug, and photothermal conversion effect. Therefore, Fu-GO is successfully harnessed as a combinatorial cancer treatment platform through bio-functional (Fu), chemo (doxorubicin (Dox)) and photothermal (RGO with near-infrared irradiation) modalities.

Nanoparticle-Mediated Combination Therapy: Two-in-One Approach for Cancer

Cancer represents a group of heterogeneous diseases characterized by uncontrolledgrowth and spread of abnormal cells, ultimately leading to death. Nanomedicine plays a significantrole in the development of nanodrugs, nanodevices, drug delivery systems and nanocarriers. Someof the major issues in the treatment of cancer are multidrug resistance (MDR), narrow therapeuticwindow and undesired side effects of available anticancer drugs and the limitations of anticancerdrugs. Several nanosystems being utilized for detection, diagnosis and treatment such as theranosticcarriers, liposomes, carbon nanotubes, quantum dots, polymeric micelles, dendrimers and metallicnanoparticles. However, nonbiodegradable nanoparticles causes high tissue accumulation andleads to toxicity. MDR is considered a major impediment to cancer treatment due to metastatictumors that develop resistance to chemotherapy. MDR contributes to the failure of chemotherapiesin various cancers, including breast, ovarian, lung, gastrointestinal and hematological malignancies.Moreover, the therapeutic efficiency of anticancer drugs or nanoparticles (NPs) used alone is lessthan that of the combination of NPs and anticancer drugs. Combination therapy has long beenadopted as the standard first-line treatment of several malignancies to improve the clinical outcome.Combination therapy with anticancer drugs has been shown to generally induce synergistic drugactions and deter the onset of drug resistance. Therefore, this review is designed to report andanalyze the recent progress made to address combination therapy using NPs and anticancer drugs.We first provide a comprehensive overview of the angiogenesis and of the different types of NPscurrently used in treatments of cancer; those emphasized in this review are liposomes, polymericNPs, polymeric micelles (PMs), dendrimers, carbon NPs, nanodiamond (ND), fullerenes, carbonnanotubes (CNTs), graphene oxide (GO), GO nanocomposites and metallic NPs used forcombination therapy with various anticancer agents. Nanotechnology has provided the convenienttools for combination therapy. However, for clinical translation, we need continued improvementsin the field of nanotechnology.

Folate receptor-mediated celastrol and irinotecan combination delivery using liposomes for effective chemotherapy

Drug targeting using functionalized nanoparticles provides a new standard in anticancer therapy. Liposomes, safe and effective drug delivery carriers, can incorporate both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs for combination chemotherapy treatment of cancers. The objectives of the current study were to synthesize and test the effectiveness of a nanotechnology-based strategy utilizing folic acid (FA)-conjugated liposomes that incorporate both celastrol (Cs) and irinotecan (Ir) for targeted breast cancer therapy. Our results revealed the successful preparation of Cs and Ir-loaded folate-targeted liposomes (Lipo/Cs/Ir-FA) with a small particle size (∼190 nm) and polydispersity index (∼0.10). The formulation exhibited higher drug release profiles for both Ir and Cs at pH 5.0 compared to those at physiological pH, favoring cancer cell-targeted release. Furthermore, in vitro cell studies showed high uptake and enhanced apoptosis in folate receptor-positive breast cancer cells (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231), but not in folate receptor-negative lung cancer cells (A549). Moreover, an in vivo study in a mouse tumor model using MDA-MB-231 xenografts supported effective drug delivery behavior of the folate-conjugated liposomes by selective targeting of tumor tissue and minimizing systemic adverse effects. Therefore, our formulation could provide an effective therapy for targeted cancer treatment.

Polymer-Based Nanocarriers for Co-Delivery and Combination of Diverse Therapies against Cancers

Cancer gives rise to an enormous number of deaths worldwide nowadays. Therefore, it is in urgent need to develop new therapies, among which combined therapies including photothermal therapy (PTT) and chemotherapy (CHT) using polymer-based nanocarriers have attracted enormous interest due to the significantly enhanced efficacy and great progress has been made so far. The preparation of such nanocarriers is a comprehensive task involving the cooperation of nanomaterial science and biomedicine science. In this review, we try to introduce and analyze the structure, preparation and synergistic therapeutic effect of various polymer-based nanocarriers composed of anti-tumor drugs, nano-sized photothermal materials and other possible parts. Our effort may bring benefit to future exploration and potential applications of similar nanocarriers.

Lipid-polymer hybrid nanocarriers for delivering cancer therapeutics

Cancer remained a major cause of death providing diversified challenges in terms of treatment including non-specific toxicity, chemoresistance and relapse. Nanotechnology- based delivery systems grabbed tremendous attention for delivering cancer therapeutics as they provide benefits including controlled drug release, improved biological half-life, reduced toxicity and targeted delivery. Majority of the nanocarriers consists of either a polymer or a lipid component along with other excipients to stabilize the colloidal system. Lipid-based systems provide advantages like better entrapment efficiency, scalability and low- cost raw materials, however, suffer from limitations including instability, a burst release of the drug, and limited surface functionalization. On the other hand, polymeric systems provide an excellent diversity of chemical modifications, stability, controlled release, however limited drug loading capacities and scale up limit their use. Hybrid nanocarriers consisting of lipid and polymer were able to overcome some of these disadvantages while retaining the advantages of both the systems. Designing a stable lipid-polymer hybrid system requires a thorough understanding of the material properties and their behavior in in vitro and in vivo environments. This review highlights the current status and future prospects of lipid-polymer hybrid systems with a particular focus on cancer nanotherapeutics.