A Snapshot of photoresponsive liposomes in cancer chemotherapy and immunotherapy: opportunities and challenges

© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives CC BY-NC-ND licence, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0To provide precise medical regimens, photonics technologies have been involved in the field of nanomedicine. Phototriggered liposomes have been cast as promising nanosystems that achieve controlled release of payloads in several pathological conditions such as cancer, autoimmune, and infectious diseases. In contrast to the conventional liposomes, this photoresponsive element greatly improves therapeutic efficacy and reduces the adverse effects of gene/drug therapy during treatment. Recently, cancer immunotherpay has been one of the hot topics in the field of oncology due to the great success and therapeutic benefits that were well-recognized by the patients. However, several side effects have been encountered due to the unmonitored augmentation of the immune system. This Review highlights the most recent advancements in the development of photoresponsive liposome nanosystems in the field of oncology, with a specific emphasis on challenges and opportunities in the field of cancer immunotherapy.Peer reviewe

Lipid-Based Nanoparticles: Application and Recent Advances in Cancer Treatment

Many therapeutically active molecules are non-soluble in aqueous systems, chemically and biologically fragile or present severe side effects. Lipid-based nanoparticle (LBNP) systems represent one of the most promising colloidal carriers for bioactive organic molecules. Their current application in oncology has revolutionized cancer treatment by improving the antitumor activity of several chemotherapeutic agents. LBNPs advantages include high temporal and thermal stability, high loading capacity, ease of preparation, low production costs, and large-scale industrial production since they can be prepared from natural sources. Moreover, the association of chemotherapeutic agents with lipid nanoparticles reduces active therapeutic dose and toxicity, decreases drug resistance and increases drug levels in tumor tissue by decreasing them in healthy tissue. LBNPs have been extensively assayed in in vitro cancer therapy but also in vivo, with promising results in some clinical trials. This review summarizes the types of LBNPs that have been developed in recent years and the main results when applied in cancer treatment, including essential assays in patients.This work was supported by Consejería de Salud de la Junta de Andalucía (project PI-0476-2016 and PI-0102-2017), by CICYT, Spain (project CTQ16-76311) and by FPU16/01716 (B. Garcia-Pinel) from Ministerio Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades

Cancer Nanomedicine

This special issue brings together cutting edge research and insightful commentary on the currentl state of the Cancer Nanomedicine field

Palladium nanoparticles encapsulated with resveratrol-derived phenols and polyphenols for targeted prostate cancer therapy

Includes vitaThe main goal of this dissertation was to explore the development of a new generation of green nanoformulations through the production of biocompatible palladium nanoparticles using resveratrol to treat, image and evaluate the efficacy of the formulations in prostate cancer cells with minimal toxicity to surrounding normal tissues. This dissertation is classified into three parts with three main objectives of the producing and characterizing resveratrol-derived phenols and polyphenols encapsulated palladium nanoparticles (Res-PdNPs) for the imaging and treatment of prostate cancer. Rigorous studies were performed for the optimization of the synthesis to achieve increased resveratrol-derived phenols and polyphenols corona loading on the palladium nanoparticle surface capable of providing adjuvant therapeutic benefits through delivering potent doses of both resveratrol phenols and nanoparticles directly to prostate cancer cells. A total of four formulations were produced Res-PdNP-1 (resveratrol-palladium nanoparticles), Res-PdNP-2 (increased resveratrol corona loaded palladium nanoparticles), Res-PdNP-3 (resveratrol-gum arabic stabilized palladium nanoparticles) and Res-PdNP-4 (increased resveratrol corona loaded and compacted with gum arabic stabilized palladium nanoparticles), respectively. Electron microscopic (TEM) results revealed that role of gum arabic was not limited to the stability of the nanoparticles but also facilitated the crystallization of the produced palladium nanoparticles (Res-PdNP-3 and Res-PdNP-4) and subsequently provided a supportive matrix for increased resveratrol phenols loading capacity. In vitro evaluation of the Res-PdNPs showed that Res-PdNP-1 and Res-PdNP-2, were not stable in serum while Res-PdNP-3 and Res-PdNP-4 maintained superior stability, thus ruling out further analysis using Res-PdNP-1 and Res-PdNP-2. The LC-MS/MRM results confirmed increased resveratrol phenols loading in Res-PdNP-4 when compared to Res-PdNP-3; consequently Res-PdNP-4 nanoparticles were confirmed as the ideal nanoformulation to improve the bioavailability, biodistribution and emblematize as an adjuvant therapy to induce selective and specific tumor-cell-death. The prostate tumor selective and specific affinity of Res-PdNP-4 nanoparticles through numerous cellular internalization studies undoubtedly revealed that Res-PdNP-4 nanoparticles can be internalized into prostate cancer cells via laminin receptor-mediated endocytosis which are receptors overexpressed on prostate cancer cells compared to normal cells. The Res-PdNP-4 nanoparticles were evaluated to investigate in vitro cellular toxicity against both prostate cancer (PC-3) cells and normal human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC). Results indicated that Res-PdNP-4 exhibited comparable anticancer efficacy against prostate cancer cells as chemotherapeutic drugs (cisplatin and etoposide). However, the results showed that cisplatin and etoposide treatments were highly toxic to normal cells while Res-PdNP-4 nanoparticles presented no toxicity further corroborating laminin receptor-mediated delivery, making Res-PdNP-4 nanoparticles selective and specific to prostate cancer cells. Res-PdNP-4 nanoparticles were investigated in vivo using a human prostate tumor-bearing severely combined immunodeficient (SCID) male mice as the animal model to evaluate Res-PdNP-4 nanoparticles ability to control or reduce prostate tumor size. The in vivo results of Res-PdNP-4 showed a good dose response which was well tolerated by the animals, as no animal health problems and discomfort was observed as evidenced by body weight/eating habits of animals. Although further studies are required to determine a better dose to see increased efficacy. This study was performed through intravenous (IV) administration of the Res-PdNP-4, intraperitoneal (IP) delivery and direct injection into the tumor may show a better response as has been the case with many different types of nanoparticles. In conclusion, the therapeutic efficacy results showed that Res-PdNP-4 have significant therapeutic effect and are able to control the tumor size in comparison to the saline control and free resveratrol treated groups. This was due to the high corona of resveratrol-derived phenols and polyphenols on the PdNPs facilitating effectively enhanced delivery of resveratrol with high bioavailability, giving an advantage in tumor therapy.Includes bibliographical reference

Functional Polymers as Innovative Tools in the Delivery of Antimicrobial Agents

This Special Issue explored different topics concerning recent progress in the synthesis and characterization of suitable innovative macromolecular systems, proposed as carriers of specific antimicrobial molecules, to be employed in the biomedical and pharmaceutical fields. Many infectious diseases are induced by omnipresent micro-organisms, including bacteria, viruses, protozoa, fungi, and algae, and, consequently, are very common, accounting for a significant share of the global disease burden. Unfortunately, antimicrobial resistance, adverse effects, and the high cost of antimicrobials are crucial health challenges worldwide. One of the common efforts in addressing this issue lies in improving the existing antimicrobial delivery systems. In this regard, nanoparticles as well as three-dimensional hydrophilic systems represent valuable tools able to ensure excellent performances. Biocompatible polymeric particles, entrapping these bioactive molecules, are capable of releasing them over a desired period of time, thereby decreasing the frequency of their administration. At the same time, these systems are able to protect antimicrobial drugs from degradation, enhancing their bioavailability. This Special Issue serves to highlight and capture the contemporary progress recorded in this field