Exploiting Natural Niches with Neuroprotective Properties: A Comprehensive Review

Natural products from mushrooms, plants, microalgae, and cyanobacteria have been intensively explored and studied for their preventive or therapeutic potential. Among age-related pathologies, neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases) represent a worldwide health and social problem. Since several pathological mechanisms are associated with neurodegeneration, promising strategies against neurodegenerative diseases are aimed to target multiple processes. These approaches usually avoid premature cell death and the loss of function of damaged neurons. This review focuses attention on the preventive and therapeutic potential of several compounds derived from natural sources, which could be exploited for their neuroprotective effect. Curcumin, resveratrol, ergothioneine, and phycocyanin are presented as examples of successful approaches, with a special focus on possible strategies to improve their delivery to the brain.

Breaking genetic shackles: The advance of base editing in genetic disorder treatment

The rapid evolution of gene editing technology has markedly improved the outlook for treating genetic diseases. Base editing, recognized as an exceptionally precise genetic modification tool, is emerging as a focus in the realm of genetic disease therapy. We provide a comprehensive overview of the fundamental principles and delivery methods of cytosine base editors (CBE), adenine base editors (ABE), and RNA base editors, with a particular focus on their applications and recent research advances in the treatment of genetic diseases. We have also explored the potential challenges faced by base editing technology in treatment, including aspects such as targeting specificity, safety, and efficacy, and have enumerated a series of possible solutions to propel the clinical translation of base editing technology. In conclusion, this article not only underscores the present state of base editing technology but also envisions its tremendous potential in the future, providing a novel perspective on the treatment of genetic diseases. It underscores the vast potential of base editing technology in the realm of genetic medicine, providing support for the progression of gene medicine and the development of innovative approaches to genetic disease therapy.

mRNA vaccines and their delivery strategies: A journey from infectious diseases to cancer

mRNA vaccines have evolved as promising cancer therapies. These vaccines can encode tumor-allied antigens, thus enabling personalized treatment approaches. They can also target cancer-specific mutations and overcome immune evasion mechanisms. They manipulate the body's cellular functions to produce antigens, elicit immune responses, and suppress tumors by overcoming limitations associated with specific histocompatibility leukocyte antigen molecules. However, successfully delivering mRNA into target cells destroys a crucial challenge. Viral and nonviral vectors (lipid nanoparticles and cationic liposomes) have shown great capacity in protecting mRNA from deterioration and assisting in cellular uptake. Cell-penetrating peptides, hydrogels, polymer-based nanoparticles, and dendrimers have been investigated to increase the delivery efficacy and immunogenicity of mRNA. This comprehensive review explores the landscape of mRNA vaccines and their delivery platforms for cancer, addressing design considerations, diverse delivery strategies, and recent advancements. Overall, this review contributes to the progress of mRNA vaccines as an innovative strategy for effective cancer treatment.

Progress and challenges of plant-derived nucleic acids as therapeutics in macrophage-mediated RNA therapy

Plant-derived nucleic acids, especially small RNAs have been proved by increasing evidence in the pharmacological activities and disease treatment values in macrophage meditated anti-tumor performance, immune regulating functions and antiviral activities. But the uptake, application and delivery strategies of RNAs as biodrugs are different from the small molecules and recombinant protein drugs. This article summarizes the reported evidence for cross-kingdom regulation by plant derived functional mRNAs and miRNAs. Based on that, their involvement and potentials in macrophage-mediated anti-tumor/inflammatory therapies are mainly discussed, as well as the load prospect of plant RNAs in viruses and natural exosome vehicles, and their delivery to mammalian cells through macrophage were also summarized. This review is to provide evidence and views for the plant derived RNAs as next generation of drugs with application potential in nucleic acid-based bio-therapy.

Co-creation of human papillomavirus self-sampling delivery strategies for cervical cancer screening in rural Zimbabwe: nominal group technique

Background

Human papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling is recommended for cervical cancer screening, particularly among women who do not participate in or have access to current screening methods offered in Zimbabwe. Key stakeholder involvement is critical in co-creating acceptable delivery strategies for implementing HPV self-sampling to ensure demand and facilitate uptake by the target population. The main objective of this study was to engage key stakeholders in co-creating acceptable HPV self-sampling delivery strategies for cervical cancer screening in rural Zimbabwe.

Methods

We invited key stakeholders and employed a nominal group technique (NGT) for data collection. We employed the NGT to (1) identify barriers to access and utilisation of available cervical cancer screening services and (2) co-create delivery strategies for HPV self-sampling. The workshop included 8 participants (women n = 4, health workers n = 2 and policymakers n = 2). Quantitative data was gathered by ranking ideas and qualitative data were collected from participant group discussions and analysed thematically. The results of the ranking exercise were fed back to the participants for comments.

Results

The most significant barriers to accessing and utilising current cervical cancer screening services by women were: Inadequate information and education on cervical cancer, lack of resources and funding for cervical cancer programmes, long distances to nearest health facilities, and low perceived personal risk of cervical cancer. Key stakeholders recommended enhanced education and awareness, results notification, linkage to care, community-based self-sampling, and the choice of sampling devices as potential HPV self-sampling delivery strategies.

Conclusion

Our study demonstrated the utility of the NGT for reaching a consensus. Using the NGT, we established priority delivery strategies for HPV self-sampling cervical cancer screening. Adequate education and awareness, early results notification, choice of sampling device and community-based self-sampling were crucial to HPV self-sampling screening in rural Zimbabwe. The proposed delivery strategies can guide the development of guidelines for designing and implementing an HPV self-sampling intervention. We recommend a study to determine women's most preferred HPV self-sampling delivery strategies before implementing the intervention.

Advanced Therapies for Traumatic Central Nervous System Injury: Delivery Strategy Reinforced Efficient Microglial Manipulation

Traumatic central nervous system (CNS) injuries, including spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury, are challenging enemies of human health. Microglia, the main component of the innate immune system in CNS, can be activated postinjury and are key participants in the pathological procedure and development of CNS trauma. Activated microglia can be typically classified into pro-inflammatory (M1) and anti-inflammatory (M2) phenotypes. Reducing M1 polarization while promoting M2 polarization is thought to be promising for CNS injury treatment. However, obstacles such as the low permeability of the blood-brain barrier and short retention time in circulation limit the therapeutic outcomes of administrated drugs, and rational delivery strategies are necessary for efficient microglial regulation. To this end, proper administration methods and delivery systems like nano/microcarriers and scaffolds are investigated to augment the therapeutic effects of drugs, while some of these delivery systems have self-efficacies in microglial manipulation. Besides, systems based on cell and cell-derived exosomes also show impressive effects, and some underlying targeting mechanisms of these delivery systems have been discovered. In this review, we introduce the roles of microglia play in traumatic CNS injuries, discuss the potential targets for the polarization regulation of microglial phenotype, and summarize recent studies and clinical trials about delivery strategies on enhancing the effect of microglial regulation and therapeutic outcome, as well as targeting mechanisms post CNS trauma.

A model system for antiviral siRNA therapeutics using exosome-based delivery

Emerging viral diseases, such as Ebola, SARS, MERS, and the pathogen causing COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, present a challenge for the development of therapeutics because of strict biosafety handling procedures and rapid mutation of their genomes. To facilitate the development of an adaptable and testable therapeutic model system, a colostrum exosome-based nanoparticle delivery system, EPM (exosome-PEI matrix), that overcomes stringent biosafety containment, was used to mimic the expression of viral proteins. This system would greatly expand the number of laboratories actively participating in the screening of potential therapeutics. EPM technology can deliver both plasmid DNA and siRNA to both simulate viral gene expression and screen potential antiviral siRNA therapeutics. Using this nanoplatform, three key SARS-CoV-2 proteins (the spike glycoprotein, nucleocapsid, and replicase) were expressed in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, several viral gene-targeting siRNAs were screened to determine knockdown efficiency, with some siRNA duplexes resulting in 80%-95% knockdown of corresponding protein expression. Moreover, in vivo experiments introducing the spike protein and nucleocapsid by EPM resulted in the production of antibodies against the viral antigen, measured up to 45 d after target delivery. Together, these findings support the efficacy of the EPM delivery system to establish a model for screening antiviral therapeutics-reduced biosafety level.

Growth factors: avenues for the treatment of myocardial infarction and potential delivery strategies

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Despite recent advances in clinical management, reoccurence of heart failure after AMI remains high, in part because of the limited capacity of cardiac tissue to repair after AMI-induced cell death. Growth factor-based therapy has emerged as an alternative AMI treatment strategy. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of growth factor cardioprotective and regenerative actions is important. This review focuses on the function of different growth factors at each stage of the cardiac repair process. Recent evidence for growth factor therapy in preclinical and clinical trials is included. Finally, different delivery strategies are reviewed with a view to providing workable strategies for clinical translation.

Advances in the Genetically Engineered KillerRed for Photodynamic Therapy Applications

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a clinical treatment for cancer or non-neoplastic diseases, and the photosensitizers (PSs) are crucial for PDT efficiency. The commonly used chemical PSs, generally produce ROS through the type II reaction that highly relies on the local oxygen concentration. However, the hypoxic tumor microenvironment and unavoidable dark toxicity of PSs greatly restrain the wide application of PDT. The genetically encoded PSs, unlike chemical PSs, can be modified using genetic engineering techniques and targeted to unique cellular compartments, even within a single cell. KillerRed, as a dimeric red fluorescent protein, can be activated by visible light or upconversion luminescence to execute the Type I reaction of PDT, which does not need too much oxygen and surely attract the researchers’ focus. In particular, nanotechnology provides new opportunities for various modifications of KillerRed and versatile delivery strategies. This review more comprehensively outlines the applications of KillerRed, highlighting the fascinating features of KillerRed genes and proteins in the photodynamic systems. Furthermore, the advantages and defects of KillerRed are also discussed, either alone or in combination with other therapies. These overviews may facilitate understanding KillerRed progress in PDT and suggest some emerging potentials to circumvent challenges to improve the efficiency and accuracy of PDT.

Engineered biomaterial strategies for controlling growth factors in tissue engineering

Growth factors are multi-functional signaling molecules that coordinate multi-stage process of wound healing. During wound healing, growth factors are transmitted to wound environment in a positive and physiologically related way, therefore, there is a broad prospect for studying the mediated healing process through growth factors. However, growth factors (GFs) themselves have disadvantages of instability, short life, rapid inactivation of physiological conditions, low safety and easy degradation, which hinder the clinical use of GFs. Rapid development of delivery strategies for GFs has been trying to solve the instability and insecurity of GFs. Particularly, in recent years, GFs delivered by scaffolds based on biomaterials have become a hotspot in this filed. This review introduces various delivery strategies for growth factors based on new biodegradable materials, especially polysaccharides, which could provide guidance for the development of the delivery strategies for growth factors in clinic.

Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) in cancer therapy: a nano-based approach

Cancer is one of the most complex diseases that has resulted in multiple genetic disorders and cellular abnormalities. Globally, cancer is the most common health concern disease that is affecting human beings. Great efforts have been made over the past decades in biology with the aim of searching novel and more efficient tools in therapy. Thus, small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) have been considered one of the most noteworthy developments which are able to regulate gene expression following a process known as RNA interference (RNAi). RNAi is a post-transcriptional mechanism that involves the inhibition of gene expression through promoting cleavage on a specific area of a target messenger RNA (mRNA). This technology has shown promising therapeutic results for a good number of diseases, especially in cancer. However, siRNA therapeutics have to face important drawbacks in therapy including stability and successful siRNA delivery in vivo. In this regard, the development of effective siRNA delivery systems has helped addressing these issues by opening novel therapeutic windows which have allowed to build up important advances in Nanomedicine. In this review, we discuss the progress of siRNA therapy as well as its medical application via nanoparticle-mediated delivery for cancer treatment.

Regulation of Vaginal Microbiome by Nitric Oxide

In this review, the composition and regulation of vaginal microbiome that displays an apparent microbial diversity and interacts with other microbiota in the body are presented. The role of nitric oxide (NO) in the regulation of vaginal microflora in which lactobacillus species typically dominate has been delineated from the perspective of maintaining gynecologic ecosystem and prevention of onset of bacteriostatic vaginosis (BV) and/or sexually transmitted diseases (STD) including HIV-1 transmission. The interactions between NO and vaginal microbiome and its influence on the levels of Lactobacillus, hormones and other components are described. The recent progress, such as NO drugs, probiotic Lactobacilli and Lactobacillus microbots, that can be explored to alleviate abnormality of vagina microbiome, is also discussed. An identification of Oral-GI-Vagina axis, as well as the relationship between NO and Lactobacillus regulation in the healthy or pathological status of vagina microbiome, surely offers the advanced drug delivery option against BV or STD including AIDS.

Review of implementation processes for integrated nutrition and psychosocial stimulation interventions

This article reviews the implementation processes for interventions that integrate nutrition and psychosocial stimulation for children under 5 years of age in low- and middle-income countries. We examine the content of these programs, the delivery strategy, intensity and duration, personnel training and supervision, compliance, and fidelity. A systematic search of the Global Health Ovid database yielded 1020 articles, of which 29 fit the criteria, and two further studies recently completed were reported by author communication. Some of these articles describe efficacy or effectiveness studies where nutritional supplements or education along with psychosocial stimulation experiences or education were delivered directly to children or their caregivers. Other papers describe large-scale programs, such as conditional cash transfers in Latin America, Integrated Child Development Services preschools in India, and World Bank collaborations with national governments in Africa. A summary table of the implementation processes of the 31 programs is included. We conclude with a set of recommendations summarizing what we know so far regarding best practices for integrative programs.

Nanoparticle-based delivery of small interfering RNA: challenges for cancer therapy

During recent decades there have been remarkable advances and profound changes in cancer therapy. Many therapeutic strategies learned at the bench, including monoclonal antibodies and small molecule inhibitors, have been used at the bedside, leading to important successes. One of the most important advances in biology has been the discovery that small interfering RNA (siRNA) is able to regulate the expression of genes, by a phenomenon known as RNA interference (RNAi). RNAi is one of the most rapidly growing fields of research in biology and therapeutics. Much research effort has gone into the application of this new discovery in the treatment of various diseases, including cancer. However, even though these molecules may have potential and strong utility, some limitations make their clinical application difficult, including delivery problems, side effects due to off-target actions, disturbance of physiological functions of the cellular machinery involved in gene silencing, and induction of the innate immune response. Many researchers have attempted to overcome these limitations and to improve the safety of potential RNAi-based therapeutics. Nanoparticles, which are nanostructured entities with tunable size, shape, and surface, as well as biological behavior, provide an ideal opportunity to modify current treatment regimens in a substantial way. These nanoparticles could be designed to surmount one or more of the barriers encountered by siRNA. Nanoparticle drug formulations afford the chance to improve drug bioavailability, exploiting superior tissue permeability, payload protection, and the “stealth” features of these entities. The main aims of this review are: to explain the siRNA mechanism with regard to potential applications in siRNA-based cancer therapy; to discuss the possible usefulness of nanoparticle-based delivery of certain molecules for overcoming present therapeutic limitations; to review the ongoing relevant clinical research with its pitfalls and promises; and to evaluate critically future perspectives and challenges in siRNA-based cancer therapy.