Bimetallic nanoparticles for biomedical applications: a review

Bimetallic nanoparticles, or BMNPs, are nanosized structures that are of growing interest in biomedical applications. Although their production shares aspects with physicochemical approaches for the synthesis of their monometallic counterparts, they can show a large variety of new properties and applications as a consequence of the synergetic effect between the two components. These applications can be as diverse as antibacterial treatments or anticancer or biological imaging approaches, as well as drug delivery. Nevertheless, utilization of BMNPs in such fields has received limited attention because of the severe lack of knowledge and concerns regarding the use of other nanomaterials, such as stability and biodegradability over time, tendency to form clusters, chemical reactivity, and biocompatibility. In this review, a close look at bimetallic systems is presented, focusing on their biomedical applications as antibacterial, anticancer, drug delivery, and imaging agents, showing significant enhancement of their features compared to their monometallic counterparts and other current used nanomaterials for biomedical applications.Peer reviewe

The emerging role of ADAM metalloproteinases in immunity

Proteolysis is an irreversible physiological process that can result in the termination or activation of protein function. Many transmembrane proteins that are involved in the cellular communication between immune cells and structural cells-for example, Notch, CD23, CD44, and membrane-anchored cytokines and their receptors-are cleaved by the ADAM (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase) family of enzymes. Here, we review recent insights into the molecular activation, substrate specificity and function of ADAM proteins in the development and regulation of the immune system, with a particular focus on the roles of ADAM10 and ADAM17