Biocompatibility and cytotoxicity evaluation of hybrid nanocrystals for cancer therapy

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

Improving dispersal of therapeutic nanoparticles in the human body

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Development of in vitro 3D culture system to mimic lung cancer tissue

A 3D culture system based on a photocurable matrix has been developed. The aim is to create a 3D printable platform mimicking lung cancer tissue, to study tumor microenvironment evolution, in terms of structural (architecture) and molecular (signalling) components

Smart Shockwave Responsive Titania-Based Nanoparticles for Cancer Treatment

Nanomedicine is an emerging treatment approach for many cancers, characterized by having high sensitivity and selectivity for tumor cells and minimal toxic effects induced by the conventional chemotherapeutics. In these context, smart nanoparticles (NPs) are getting increasingly relevant in the development of new therapies. NPs with specific chemical composition and/or structure and being stimuli-responsive to magnetic, light or ultrasound waves are new promising tools. In the present work, amorphous-titania propyl-amine functionalized (a-TiO2-NH2) NPs, coated with bovine serum albumin (BSA), are stimulated with high energy shock waves to induce cytotoxic effects in cancer cells. First, a new method to coat a-TiO2-NH2 NPs with BSA (a-TiO2-NH2/BSA) was proposed, allowing for a high dispersion and colloidal stability in a cell culture media. The a-TiO2-NH2/BSA NPs showed no cancer cell cytotoxicity. In a second step, the use of shock waves to stimulate a-TiO2-NH2/BSA NPs, was evaluated and optimized. A systematic study was performed in in vitro cell culture aiming to impair the cancer cell viability: NP concentrations, time steps and single versus multiple shock waves treatments were studied. The obtained results highlighted the relevance of NPs design and administration time point with respect to the shock wave treatment and allow to hypothesize mechanical damages to cells

3D printable acrylate polydimethylsiloxane resins for cell culture and drug testing

Nowadays, most of the microfluidic devices for biological applications are fabricated with only few wellestablished materials. Among these, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is the most used and known. However, it has many limitations, like the operator dependent and time-consuming manufacturing technique and the high molecule retention. TEGORad or Acrylate PDMS is an acrylate polydimethylsiloxane copolymer that can be 3D printed through Digital Light Processing (DLP), a technology that can boast reduction of waste products and the possibility of low cost and rapid manufacturing of complex components. Here, we developed 3D printed Acrylate PDMS-based devices for cell culture and drug testing. Our in vitro study shows that Acrylate PDMS can sustain cell growth of lung and skin epithelium, both of great interest for in vitro drug testing, without causing any genotoxic effect. Moreover, flow experiments with a druglike solution (Rhodamine 6G) show that Acrylate PDMS drug retention is negligible unlike the high signal shown by PDMS. In conclusion, the study demonstrates that this acrylate resin can be an excellent alternative to PDMS to design stretchable platforms for cell culture and drug testing

Nanoparticle-assisted ultrasound: a special focus on sonodynamic therapy against cancer

At present, ultrasound radiation is broadly employed in medicine for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes at various frequencies and intensities. In this review article, we focus on therapeutically-active nanoparticles (NPs) when stimulated by ultrasound. We first introduce the different ultrasound-based therapies with special attention to the techniques involved in oncological field, then we summarize the different NPs used, ranging from soft materials, like liposomes or micro/nano-bubbles, to metal and metal oxide NPs. We therefore focus on the sonodynamic therapy and on the possible working mechanisms under debate of NPs-assisted sonodynamic treatments. We support the idea that various, complex and synergistics physical-chemical processes take place during acoustic cavitation and NP activation. Different mechanisms are therefore responsible for the final cancer cell death and strongly depends on not only the type and structure of NPs or nanocarriers, but also on the way they interact with the ultrasonic pressure waves. We conclude with a brief overview of the clinical applications of the various ultrasound therapies and the related use of NPs-assisted ultrasound in clinics, showing that this very innovative and promising approach is however still at its infancy in the clinical cancer treatment

BIOMIMETIC NON - IMMUNOGENIC NANOASSEMBLY FOR THE ANTITUMOR THERAPY

Nanoassembly ( 1 ) for inducing apoptosis in cancer cells comprising : a core ( 2 ) comprising at least a nanoparticle of a nano structured and semiconductor metal oxide , said nanoparticle being monocrystalline or polycrystalline ; a shell ( 3 ) formed by a double phospholipid layer and proteins derived from an extracellular biovesicole chosen between an exosome , an ectosome , a connectosome , an oncosome and an apoptotic body , and an oncosome , said core ( 2 ) being enclosed inside said shell ( 3 ) ; and a plurality of targeting molecules ( 4 , 4 ' , 4 " ) of said cancer cells , preferably mono clonal antibodies ( 4 , 4 ' , 4 " ) , said molecules ( 4 , 4 , 4 " ) being anchored to the external surface of said biovesicole