P-Glycoprotein-Targeted Photothermal Therapy of Drug-Resistant Cancer Cells Using Antibody-Conjugated Carbon Nanotubes.

P-Glycoprotein (Pgp)-medicated multidrug resistance (MDR) remains a formidable challenge to cancer therapy. As conventional approaches using small-molecule inhibitors failed in clinical development because of the lack of cancer specificity, we develop Pgp-targeted carbon nanotubes to achieve highly cancer-specific therapy through combining antibody-based cancer targeting and locoregional tumor ablation with photothermal therapy. Through a dense coating with phospholipid-poly(ethylene glycol), we have engineered multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) which show minimum nonspecific cell interactions and maximum intercellular diffusion.

Evaluation of multiwalled carbon nanotube cytotoxicity in cultures of human brain microvascular endothelial cells grown on plastic or basement membrane.

There is a growing interest in the use of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) to treat diseases of the brain. Little is known about the effects of MWCNTs on human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMECs), which make up the blood vessels in the brain. In our studies, we evaluate the cytotoxicity of MWCNTs and acid oxidized MWNCTs, with or without a phospholipid-polyethylene glycol coating.

Photothermal therapy of glioblastoma multiforme using multiwalled carbon nanotubes optimized for diffusion in extracellular space.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and most lethal primary brain tumor with a 5 year overall survival rate of approximately 5%. Currently, no therapy is curative and all have significant side effects. Focal thermal ablative therapies are being investigated as a new therapeutic approach.

A Cohesin-Based Partitioning Mechanism Revealed upon Transcriptional Inactivation of Centromere.

Transcriptional inactivation of the budding yeast centromere has been a widely used tool in studies of chromosome segregation and aneuploidy. In haploid cells when an essential chromosome contains a single conditionally inactivated centromere (GAL-CEN), cell growth rate is slowed and segregation fidelity is reduced; but colony formation is nearly 100%. Pedigree analysis revealed that only 30% of the time both mother and daughter cell inherit the GAL-CEN chromosome.