Gefitinib-loaded starch nanoparticles for battling lung cancer: Optimization by full factorial design and in vitro cytotoxicity evaluation

Lung cancer is the number one killer among all cancer types. For decades, clinicians have been using conventional chemotherapeutics, but they can't rely on them alone anymore, because they poison bad cells and good cells as well. Researchers exploited nanotechnology as a potential tool to develop a platform for drug delivery to improve therapeutic efficiency. A quality by design synthesis of gefitinib-loaded starch nanoparticles (Gef-StNPs) has emerged as an essential tool to study and optimize the factors included in their synthesis. Therefore, we applied design of experiment (DOE) tools to attain the essential knowledge for the synthesis of high-quality Gef-StNPs that can deliver and concentrate the gefitinib (Gef) at A549 cells, thereby improving therapeutic efficacy and minimizing adverse effects. The in vitro cytotoxicity after exposing the A549 human lung cancer cells to the optimized Gef-StNPs was found to be much higher than that of the pure Gef (IC₅₀ = 6.037 ± 0.24 and 21.65 ± 0.32 μg/mL, respectively). The optimized Gef-StNPs formula showed superiority over the pure Gef regarding the cellular uptake in A549 human cell line (3.976 ± 0.14 and 1.777 ± 0.1 μg/mL) and apoptotic population (77.14 ± 1.43 and 29.38 ± 1.11 %), respectively. The results elucidate why researchers have a voracious appetite for using natural biopolymers to combat lung cancer and paint an optimistic picture of their potential to be a promising tool in battling lung cancer.

Prediction of Antiphospholipid syndrome using Annexin A5 competition assay in patients with SLE

A significantly high correlation between reduced activity of Annexin A5 by the flow cytometric assay (FCA) and the diagnosis of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) has been reported. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical and laboratory significance of the Annexin A5 competition assay among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The FCA competition assay was performed on blood samples from 57 consecutive SLE patients. The FCA was performed according to a previously validated method. Forty-seven patients (82.5 %) had SLE without APS and ten (17.5 %) had SLE with APS. Twenty-four (42 %) of the patients had mean levels of AnxA5 fluorescence below the mean and standard deviation of the controls and were considered positive. SLE patients with a positive FCA were found to have an increased risk for a hypercoagulable or vascular state (86 % of the patients had cerebrovascular disease, 89 % had Raynaud's phenomenon, and 80 % had deep vein thrombosis). The risk for any hypercoagulable or vascular state was significantly increased (P = 0.012, RR-2.3, 95 % CI 1.4-3.8). A positive FCA assay was found in 90 % of the patients with APS (P < 0.001), with a sensitivity of 90 % and a specificity of 68 % for this diagnosis. The positive and negative predictive values were 0.4 and 0.97, respectively. Correlations were found between positive FCA and positive Anti-Cardiolipin antibody (P < 0.001), and Anti-β2 glycoprotein I levels (P = 0.013). Our findings suggest that the FCA is a practical assay for the detection of clinically relevant APS among patients with SLE.

Early diagnosis of Danon disease: Flow cytometric detection of lysosome-associated membrane protein-2-negative leukocytes

INTRODUCTION

Danon disease is an extremely rare X-linked dominant disorder characterized by progressive cardiomyopathy, muscle weakness, and mild mental retardation. Most cases harbor nonsense, frameshift, or splice-site mutations in LAMP2 that result in lysosome-associated membrane protein-2 (LAMP-2) deficiency and lysosomal defects. The identification of LAMP2 mutations makes it possible to detect female carriers with significant cardiomyopathy. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to develop useful carrier detection methods.

METHODS

To screen for diminished LAMP-2 expression among female patients with progressive cardiomyopathy, we developed a flow cytometric method to detect LAMP-2-deficient leukocytes.

RESULTS

In healthy controls, all circulating leukocyte populations, including granulocytes, monocytes, and lymphocytes, expressed significant levels of LAMP-2. In contrast, cells from a male patient with Danon disease lacked detectable LAMP-2. His younger twin sisters showed reduced levels of LAMP-2 expression with characteristic bimodal fluorescence intensity patterns. The percentage of LAMP-2-negative cells in the asymptomatic sibling was nearly the same as that in the symptomatic sibling.

CONCLUSION

We developed a flow cytometric assay for LAMP-2 expression that can serve as a rapid primary screening method to detect carriers of LAMP-2 deficiencies. This assay will narrow the target population before subjecting patients to more laborious and expensive gene mutation analysis.

The evaluation of leukocytes in response to the in vitro testing of ventricular assist devices

Infection is a clinically relevant adverse event in patients with ventricular assist device (VAD) support. The risk of infection could be linked to a reduced immune response resulting from damage to leukocytes during VAD support. The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of leukocyte responses during the in vitro testing of VADs by analyzing the changes to their morphology and biochemistry. The VentrAssist implantable rotary blood pump (IRBP) and RotaFlow centrifugal pump (CP) were tested in vitro under constant hemodynamic conditions. Automated hematology analysis of samples collected regularly over 25-h tests was undertaken. A new flow cytometric assay was employed to measure biochemical alteration, necrosis (7-AAD) and morphological alteration (CD45 expression) of the circulating leukocytes during the pumping process. The results of hematology analysis show the total leukocyte number and subset counts decreased over the period of in vitro tests dependent on different blood pumps. The percentage of leukocytes damaged during 6-h tests was 40.8 ± 5.7% for the VentrAssist IRBP, 17.6 ± 5.4% for the RotaFlow CP, and 2.7 ± 1.8% for the static control (all n=5). Flow cytometric monitoring of CD45 expression and forward/side scatter characteristics revealed leukocytes that were fragmented into smaller pieces (microparticles). Scanning electron microscopy and imaging flow cytometry were used to confirm this. Device developers could use these robust cellular assays to gain a better understanding of leukocyte-specific VAD performance.