LHRH-Conjugated Drugs as Targeted Therapeutic Agents for the Specific Targeting and Localized Treatment of Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Bulk chemotherapy and drug release strategies for cancer treatment have been associated with lack of specificity and high drug concentrations that often result in toxic side effects. This work presents the results of an experimental study of cancer drugs (prodigiosin or paclitaxel) conjugated to Luteinizing Hormone-Releasing Hormone (LHRH) for the specific targeting and treatment of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Injections of LHRH-conjugated drugs (LHRH-prodigiosin or LHRH-paclitaxel) into groups of 4-week-old athymic female nude mice (induced with subcutaneous triple negative xenograft breast tumors) were found to specifically target, eliminate or shrink tumors at early, mid and late stages without any apparent cytotoxicity, as revealed by in vivo toxicity and ex vivo histopathological tests. Our results show that overexpressed LHRH receptors serve as binding sites on the breast cancer cells/tumor and the LHRH-conjugated drugs inhibited the growth of breast cells/tumor in in vitro and in vivo experiments. The inhibitions are attributed to the respective adhesive interactions between LHRH molecular recognition units on the prodigiosin (PGS) and paclitaxel (PTX) drugs and overexpressed LHRH receptors on the breast cancer cells and tumors. The implications of the results are discussed for the development of ligand-conjugated drugs for the specific targeting and treatment of TNBC

Grain and seed protein functionality

Editado por Jiménez-López, José Carlos (CSIC

Design and Fabrication of a Single Slope Solar Still with Variable Collector Angle

Abstract-This work presents the development of a flexible, efficient, robust and low cost single solar still. Experimental investigations were carried out on two single slope solar stills: a modified solar still with variable collector/inclination angle (still A), and a conventional solar still with rigid angle of collector/inclination (still B). The significance of the design is its ability to be able to optimally function properly by variation of the angle at which solar radiation is optimally incident on the system at different locations and time. Also, the experiment was carried out at latitude of 11º 20 ′ in Samaru, Zaria – Nigeria, during an average period of solar radiation. Experimental results between the hours of 8.00 am and 5.00 pm for a period of 5 days were carefully obtained and analyzed. The results clearly show that distillate peak yield occurred between 2.00 pm and 3.00 pm while minimum yield was obtained between 8.00 am and 9.00 am during the period of experiment. It was observed that, still B had an average yield of 1.366 liter/day/m 2 as compared to still A, (1.407 liter/day/m 2). Furthermore, the results obtained for the two single slope solar stills were analyzed using a statistical model (a paired T-test). The outcomes clearly suggest that, there is no significant difference between the distillate of still A (efficiency of 42%) and still B (efficiency of 39%). Implications of the results from the design are discussed for the development of robust and dynamic single slope solar still systems with variable collector/inclination angle. This has the potential and capacity to produce distilled water for domestic, industrial and commercial purposes irrespective of the geographical location

Gold nanoparticles for cancer detection and treatment: The role of adhesion

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in Oni, Y., K. Hao, S. Dozie-Nwachukwu, J. D. Obayemi, O. S. Odusanya, N. Anuku, and W. O. Soboyejo. "Gold nanoparticles for cancer detection and treatment: The role of adhesion." Journal of Applied Physics 115, no. 8 (2014): 084305. and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4863541This paper presents the results of an experimental study of the effects of adhesion between gold nanoparticles and surfaces that are relevant to the potential applications in cancer detection and treatment. Adhesion is measured using a dip coating/atomic force microscopy (DC/AFM) technique. The adhesion forces are obtained for dip-coated gold nanoparticles that interact with peptide or antibody-based molecular recognition units (MRUs) that attach specifically to breast cancer cells. They include MRUs that attach specifically to receptors on breast cancer cells. Adhesion forces between anti-cancer drugs such as paclitaxel, and the constituents of MRU-conjugated Au nanoparticle clusters, are measured using force microscopy techniques. The implications of the results are then discussed for the design of robust gold nanoparticle clusters and for potential applications in localized drug delivery and hyperthermia

Prodigiosin-loaded electrospun nanofibers scaffold for localized treatment of triple negative breast cancer

For full-text see http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0928493119335192Hybrid composite nanofibers, with the potential to enhance cell adhesion while improving sustained drug release profiles, were fabricated by the blend electrospinning of poly(d,l-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), gelatin, pluronic F127 and prodigiosin (PG). Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images of the nanofibers revealed diameters of 1.031 ± 0.851 μm and 1.349 ± 1.264 μm, corresponding to PLGA/Ge-PG and PLGA/Ge-F127/Ge, respectively. The Young's moduli were also determined to be 1.446 ± 0.496 kPa and 1.290 ± 0.617 kPa, while the ultimate tensile strengths were 0.440 ± 0.117 kPa and 0.185 ± 0.480 kPa for PLGA/Ge-PG and PLGA/Ge-F127/Ge, respectively. In-vitro drug release profiles showed initial (burst) release for a period of 1 h to be 26.000 ± 0.004% and 16.000 ± 0.015% for PLGA/Ge and PLGA/Ge-F127 nanofibers, respectively. This was followed by 12 h of sustained release, and subsequent slow sustained release of PG from the composite nanofibers. The cumulative release of PG (for three days) was determined to be 82.0 ± 0.1% for PLGA/Ge and 49.7 ± 0.1% for PLGA/Ge-F127 nanofibers. The release exponents (n) show that both nanofibers exhibit diffusion-controlled release by non-Fickian (zeroth order) and quasi-Fickian diffusion in the initial and sustained release regimes, respectively. The suitability of the composite nanofibers for supporting cell proliferation and viability, as well as improving sustained release of the drug were explored. The in-vitro effects of cancer drug (PG) release were also studied on breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells). The implications of the results are discussed for the potential applications of drug-nanofiber scaffolds as capsules for localized delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer