Development of a novel microbubble-liposome complex conjugated with peptide ligands targeting IL4R on brain tumor cells

Application of Nanoparticles in the Diagnosis of Gastrointestinal Diseases: A Complete Future Perspective

The diagnosis of gastrointestinal (GI) diseases currently relies primarily on invasive procedures like digestive endoscopy. However, these procedures can cause discomfort, respiratory issues, and bacterial infections in patients, both during and after the examination. In recent years, nanomedicine has emerged as a promising field, providing significant advancements in diagnostic techniques. Nanoprobes, in particular, offer distinct advantages, such as high specificity and sensitivity in detecting GI diseases. Integration of nanoprobes with advanced imaging techniques, such as nuclear magnetic resonance, optical fluorescence imaging, tomography, and optical correlation tomography, has significantly enhanced the detection capabilities for GI tumors and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This synergy enables early diagnosis and precise staging of GI disorders. Among the nanoparticles investigated for clinical applications, superparamagnetic iron oxide, quantum dots, single carbon nanotubes, and nanocages have emerged as extensively studied and utilized agents. This review aimed to provide insights into the potential applications of nanoparticles in modern imaging techniques, with a specific focus on their role in facilitating early and specific diagnosis of a range of GI disorders, including IBD and colorectal cancer (CRC). Additionally, we discussed the challenges associated with the implementation of nanotechnology-based GI diagnostics and explored future prospects for translation in this promising field.

Microbubble Delivery Platform for Ultrasound-Mediated Therapy in Brain Cancers

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is one of the most selective endothelial barriers that protect the brain and maintains homeostasis in neural microenvironments. This barrier restricts the passage of molecules into the brain, except for gaseous or extremely small hydrophobic molecules. Thus, the BBB hinders the delivery of drugs with large molecular weights for the treatment of brain cancers. Various methods have been used to deliver drugs to the brain by circumventing the BBB; however, they have limitations such as drug diversity and low delivery efficiency. To overcome this challenge, microbubbles (MBs)-based drug delivery systems have garnered a lot of interest in recent years. MBs are widely used as contrast agents and are recently being researched as a vehicle for delivering drugs, proteins, and gene complexes. The MBs are 1-10 μm in size and consist of a gas core and an organic shell, which cause physical changes, such as bubble expansion, contraction, vibration, and collapse, in response to ultrasound. The physical changes in the MBs and the resulting energy lead to biological changes in the BBB and cause the drug to penetrate it, thus enhancing the therapeutic effect. Particularly, this review describes a state-of-the-art strategy for fabricating MB-based delivery platforms and their use with ultrasound in brain cancer therapy.

Microbubble–Nanoparticle Complexes for Ultrasound-Enhanced Cargo Delivery

Targeted delivery of therapeutics to specific tissues is critically important for reducing systemic toxicity and optimizing therapeutic efficacy, especially in the case of cytotoxic drugs. Many strategies currently exist for targeting systemically administered drugs, and ultrasound-controlled targeting is a rapidly advancing strategy for externally-stimulated drug delivery. In this non-invasive method, ultrasound waves penetrate through tissue and stimulate gas-filled microbubbles, resulting in bubble rupture and biophysical effects that power delivery of attached cargo to surrounding cells. Drug delivery capabilities from ultrasound-sensitive microbubbles are greatly expanded when nanocarrier particles are attached to the bubble surface, and cargo loading is determined by the physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles. This review serves to highlight and discuss current microbubble–nanoparticle complex component materials and designs for ultrasound-mediated drug delivery. Nanocarriers that have been complexed with microbubbles for drug delivery include lipid-based, polymeric, lipid–polymer hybrid, protein, and inorganic nanoparticles. Several schemes exist for linking nanoparticles to microbubbles for efficient nanoparticle delivery, including biotin–avidin bridging, electrostatic bonding, and covalent linkages. When compared to unstimulated delivery, ultrasound-mediated cargo delivery enables enhanced cell uptake and accumulation of cargo in target organs and can result in improved therapeutic outcomes. These ultrasound-responsive delivery complexes can also be designed to facilitate other methods of targeting, including bioactive targeting ligands and responsivity to light or magnetic fields, and multi-level targeting can enhance therapeutic efficacy. Microbubble–nanoparticle complexes present a versatile platform for controlled drug delivery via ultrasound, allowing for enhanced tissue penetration and minimally invasive therapy. Future perspectives for application of this platform are also discussed in this review.

Recent Advances in Glioma Cancer Treatment: Conventional and Epigenetic Realms

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most typical and aggressive form of primary brain tumor in adults, with a poor prognosis. Successful glioma treatment is hampered by ineffective medication distribution across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the emergence of drug resistance. Although a few FDA-approved multimodal treatments are available for glioblastoma, most patients still have poor prognoses. Targeting epigenetic variables, immunotherapy, gene therapy, and different vaccine- and peptide-based treatments are some innovative approaches to improve anti-glioma treatment efficacy. Following the identification of lymphatics in the central nervous system, immunotherapy offers a potential method with the potency to permeate the blood-brain barrier. This review will discuss the rationale, tactics, benefits, and drawbacks of current glioma therapy options in clinical and preclinical investigations.

Anti-cancer peptide-based therapeutic strategies in solid tumors

Background

Nowadays, conventional medical treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy cannot cure all types of cancer. A promising approach to treat solid tumors is the use of tumor-targeting peptides to deliver drugs or active agents selectively.

Result

Introducing beneficial therapeutic approaches, such as therapeutic peptides and their varied methods of action against tumor cells, can aid researchers in the discovery of novel peptides for cancer treatment. The biomedical applications of therapeutic peptides are highly interesting. These peptides, owing to their high selectivity, specificity, small dimensions, high biocompatibility, and easy modification, provide good opportunities for targeted drug delivery. In recent years, peptides have shown considerable promise as therapeutics or targeting ligands in cancer research and nanotechnology.

Conclusion

 This study reviews a variety of therapeutic peptides and targeting ligands in cancer therapy. Initially, three types of tumor-homing and cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are described, and then their applications in breast, glioma, colorectal, and melanoma cancer research are discussed.

Nanomaterial Probes for Nuclear Imaging

Nuclear imaging is a powerful non-invasive imaging technique that is rapidly developing in medical theranostics. Nuclear imaging requires radiolabeling isotopes for non-invasive imaging through the radioactive decay emission of the radionuclide. Nuclear imaging probes, commonly known as radiotracers, are radioisotope-labeled small molecules. Nanomaterials have shown potential as nuclear imaging probes for theranostic applications. By modifying the surface of nanomaterials, multifunctional radio-labeled nanomaterials can be obtained for in vivo biodistribution and targeting in initial animal imaging studies. Various surface modification strategies have been developed, and targeting moieties have been attached to the nanomaterials to render biocompatibility and enable specific targeting. Through integration of complementary imaging probes to a single nanoparticulate, multimodal molecular imaging can be performed as images with high sensitivity, resolution, and specificity. In this review, nanomaterial nuclear imaging probes including inorganic nanomaterials such as quantum dots (QDs), organic nanomaterials such as liposomes, and exosomes are summarized. These new developments in nanomaterials are expected to introduce a paradigm shift in nuclear imaging, thereby creating new opportunities for theranostic medical imaging tools.

Recent approaches and success of liposome-based nanodrug carriers for the treatment of brain tumor

Brain tumors are nothing but a collection of neoplasms originated either from areas within the brain or from systemic metastasized tumors of other organs that have spread to the brain. It is a leading cause of death worldwide. The presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), blood-brain tumor barrier (BBTB), and some other factors may limit the entry of many potential therapeutics into the brain tissues in tumor area at the therapeutic concentration required for satisfying effectiveness. Liposomes are taking an active role in delivering many drugs through the BBB into the tumor due to their nanosize and their physiological compatibility. Further, this colloidal carrier can encapsulate both lipophilic and hydrophilic drugs due to its unique structure. The surface of the liposomes can be modified with various ligands that are very specific to the numerous receptors overexpressed onto the BBB as well as onto the diseased tumor surface site (i.e., BBTB) to deliver selective drugs into the tumor site. Moreover, the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect can be an added advantage for nanosize liposomes to concentrate into the tumor microenvironment through relatively leaky vasculature of solid tumor in the brain where no restriction of penetration applies compared to normal BBB. Here in this review, we have tried to compilethe recent advancement along with the associated challenges of liposomes containing different anticancer chemotherapeutics across the BBB/BBTB for the treatment of gliomas that will be very helpful for the readers for better understanding of different trends of brain tumor targeted liposomes-based drug delivery and for pursuing fruitful research on the similar research domain.

Applications of Ultrasound-Mediated Drug Delivery and Gene Therapy

Gene therapy has continuously evolved throughout the years since its first proposal to develop more specific and effective transfection, capable of treating a myriad of health conditions. Viral vectors are some of the most common and most efficient vehicles for gene transfer. However, the safe and effective delivery of gene therapy remains a major obstacle. Ultrasound contrast agents in the form of microbubbles have provided a unique solution to fulfill the need to shield the vectors from the host immune system and the need for site specific targeted therapy. Since the discovery of the biophysical and biological effects of microbubble sonification, multiple developments have been made to enhance its applicability in targeted drug delivery. The concurrent development of viral vectors and recent research on dual vector strategies have shown promising results. This review will explore the mechanisms and recent advancements in the knowledge of ultrasound-mediated microbubbles in targeting gene and drug therapy.

Ultrasound-triggered imaging and drug delivery using microbubble-self-aggregate complexes

Co-delivery of microbubbles (MBs) with anticancer drugs is a promising theranostic approach that can enhance both the ultrasound contrast and local extravasation of drugs with the sonoporation effect. The simultaneous administration of MBs and hydrophobic drugs, however, is still challenging due to the limitations in drug loading or undesirable stabilization of MBs. In this research, MB-self-aggregate complexes (MB-SAs) were newly fabricated for the encapsulation of hydrophobic drugs, and their theranostic properties are investigated in vitro and in vivo. Glycol chitosan self-aggregates (GC-SAs) loaded with hydrophobic drugs or dyes were chemically conjugated on the surface MBs. Their conjugation ratio was determined to be 73.9%, and GC-SAs on MBs did not affect the stability of MBs. GC-SA attached MBs (GC@MBs) were successfully visualized with low-intensity insonation and showed enhanced cellular uptake via the sonoporation effect. In vivo biodistribution of GC@MBs was examined with tumor-bearing mice, confirming that their accumulation at the tumor site increased by 1.85 times after ultrasound irradiation. The anticancer drug-loaded GC@MBs also exhibited 10% higher cytotoxicity under ultrasound flash. In conclusion, it was expected that GC@MBs could be used both as an ultrasound contrast agent and a drug carrier even with conventional ultrasonic devices.

Current Status of Brain Tumor in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Application of Nanobiotechnology for Its Treatment: A Comprehensive Review

OBJECTIVE

Brain tumors are the most challenging of all tumors and accounts for about 3% of all cancer allied deaths. The aim of the present review is to examine the brain tumor prevalence and treatment modalities available in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It also provides a comprehensive analysis of the application of various nanotechnology-based products for brain cancer treatments along with their prospective future advancements.

METHODS

A literature review was performed to identify and summarize the current status of brain cancer in Saudi Arabia and the scope of nanobiotechnology in its treatment.

RESULTS

Depending upon the study population data analysis, gliomas, astrocytoma, meningioma, and metastatic cancer have a higher incidence rate in Saudi Arabia than in other countries, and are mostly treated in accordance with conventional treatment modalities for brain cancer. Due to the poor prognosis of cancer, it has an average survival rate of 2 years. Conventional therapy includes surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and a combination thereof, but these do not control the disease's recurrence. Among the various nanomaterials discussed, liposomes and polymeric nanoformulations have demonstrated encouraging outcomes for facilitated brain cancer treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

Nanomaterials possess the capacity to overcome the shortcomings of conventional therapies. Polymer-based nanomaterials have shown encouraging outcomes against brain cancer when amalgamated with other nano-based therapies. Nonetheless, nanomaterials could be devised that possess minimal toxicity towards normal cells or that specifically target tumor cells. In addition, rigorous clinical investigations are warranted to prepare them as an efficient and safe modality for brain cancer therapy.

Peptide-Based Strategies for Targeted Tumor Treatment and Imaging

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The development of cancer-specific diagnostic agents and anticancer toxins would improve patient survival. The current and standard types of medical care for cancer patients, including surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, are not able to treat all cancers. A new treatment strategy utilizing tumor targeting peptides to selectively deliver drugs or applicable active agents to solid tumors is becoming a promising approach. In this review, we discuss the different tumor-homing peptides discovered through combinatorial library screening, as well as native active peptides. The different structure–function relationship data that have been used to improve the peptide’s activity and conjugation strategies are highlighted.

Recent Progress in Bioconjugation Strategies for Liposome-Mediated Drug Delivery

In nanoparticle (NP)-mediated drug delivery, liposomes are the most widely used drug carrier, and the only NP system currently approved by the FDA for clinical use, owing to their advantageous physicochemical properties and excellent biocompatibility. Recent advances in liposome technology have been focused on bioconjugation strategies to improve drug loading, targeting, and overall efficacy. In this review, we highlight recent literature reports (covering the last five years) focused on bioconjugation strategies for the enhancement of liposome-mediated drug delivery. These advances encompass the improvement of drug loading/incorporation and the specific targeting of liposomes to the site of interest/drug action. We conclude with a section highlighting the role of bioconjugation strategies in liposome systems currently being evaluated for clinical use and a forward-looking discussion of the field of liposomal drug delivery.

Ultrasound-activated particles as CRISPR/Cas9 delivery system for androgenic alopecia therapy

Compared to a plasmid, viral, and other delivery systems, direct Cas9/sgRNA protein delivery has several advantages such as low off-targeting effects and non-integration, but it still has limitations due to low transfer efficiency. As such, the CRISPR/Cas9 system is being developed in combination with nano-carrier technology to enhance delivery efficiency and biocompatibility. We designed a microbubble-nanoliposomal particle as a Cas9/sgRNA riboprotein complex carrier, which effectively facilitates local delivery to a specific site when agitated by ultrasound activation. In practice, we successfully transferred the protein constructs into dermal papilla cells in the hair follicle of androgenic alopecia animals by microbubble cavitation induced sonoporation of our particle. The delivered Cas9/sgRNA recognized and edited specifically the target gene with high efficiency in vitro and in vivo, thus recovering hair growth. We demonstrated the topical application of ultrasound-activated nanoparticles for androgenic alopecia therapy through the suppression of SRD5A2 protein production by CRISPR-based genomic editing.

Interleukin4Rα (IL4Rα) and IL13Rα1 Are Associated with the Progress of Renal Cell Carcinoma through Janus Kinase 2 (JAK2)/Forkhead Box O3 (FOXO3) Pathways

Specific kinds of interleukin (IL) receptors are known to mediate lymphocyte proliferation and survival. However, recent reports have suggested that the high expression of IL4Rα and IL13Rα1 in tumor tissue might be associated with tumorigenesis in several kinds of tumor. We found that a significant association between mRNA level of IL4Rα or IL13Rα1 and the poor prognosis of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) from the public database (http://www.oncolnc.org/). Then, we evaluated the clinicopathological significance of the immunohistochemical expression of IL4Rα and IL13Rα1 in 199 clear cell RCC (CCRCC) patients. The individual and co-expression patterns of IL4Rα and IL13Rα1 were significantly associated with cancer-specific survival (CSS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) in univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis indicated IL4Rα-positivity and co-expression of IL4Rα and IL13Rα1 as the independent indicators of shorter CSS and RFS of CCRCC patients. For the in vitro evaluation of the oncogenic role of IL4Rα and IL13Rα1 in RCC, we knock-downed IL4Rα or IL13Rα1 and observed that the cell proliferation rate was decreased, and the apoptosis rate was increased in A498 and ACHN cells. Furthermore, we examined the possible role of Janus kinase 2 (JAK2), well-known down-stream tyrosine kinase under the heterodimeric receptor complex of IL4Rα and IL13Rα1. Interestingly, JAK2 interacted with Forkhead box O3 (FOXO3) to cause tyrosine-phosphorylation of FOXO3. Silencing IL4Rα or JAK2 in A498 and ACHN cells reduced the interaction between JAK2 and FOXO3. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of JAK2 induced the nuclear localization of FOXO3, leading to increase apoptosis and decrease cell proliferation rate in A498 and ACHN cells. Taken together, these results suggest that IL4Rα and IL13Rα1 might be involved in the progression of RCC through JAK2/FOXO3 pathway, and their expression might be used as the novel prognostic factor and therapeutic target for RCC patients.

Applications of nanoparticles in biomedical imaging

An urgent need for early detection and diagnosis of diseases continuously pushes the advancements of imaging modalities and contrast agents. Current challenges remain for fast and detailed imaging of tissue microstructures and lesion characterization that could be achieved via development of nontoxic contrast agents with longer circulation time. Nanoparticle technology offers this possibility. Here, we review nanoparticle-based contrast agents employed in most common biomedical imaging modalities, including fluorescence imaging, MRI, CT, US, PET and SPECT, addressing their structure related features, advantages and limitations. Furthermore, their applications in each imaging modality are also reviewed using commonly studied examples. Future research will investigate multifunctional nanoplatforms to address safety, efficacy and theranostic capabilities. Nanoparticles as imaging contrast agents have promise to greatly benefit clinical practice.