SERRS multiplexing with multivalent nanostructures for the identification and enumeration of epithelial and mesenchymal cells.

Liquid biopsy represents a new frontier of cancer diagnosis and prognosis, which allows the isolation of tumor cells released in the blood stream. The extremely low abundance of these cells needs appropriate methodologies for their identification and enumeration. Herein we present a new protocol based on surface enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS) gold multivalent nanostructures to identify and enumerate tumor cells with epithelial and mesenchimal markers.

Targeted killing of prostate cancer cells using antibody-drug conjugated carbon nanohorns.

The ability of carbon nanohorns (CNHs) to cross biological barriers makes them potential carriers for delivery purposes. In this work, we report the design of a new selective antibody-drug nanosystem based on CNHs for the treatment of prostate cancer (PCa). In particular, cisplatin in a prodrug form and the monoclonal antibody (Ab) D2B, selective for PSMA cancer cells, have been attached to CNHs due to the current application of this antigen in PCa therapy.

Evidencing the mask effect of graphene oxide: a comparative study on primary human and murine phagocytic cells.

Graphene oxide (GO) is attracting an ever-growing interest in different fields and applications. Not much is known about the possible impact of GO sheet lateral dimensions on their effects in vitro, especially on human primary cells. In an attempt to address this issue, we present a study to evaluate, how highly soluble 2-dimensional GO constituted of large or small flakes affects human monocyte derived macrophages (hMDM).