Oxime Linked Doxorubicin Glycoconjugates Improve the Specific Targeting of Glioblastoma in High-Grade Glioma Therapy.

The treatment of glioblastoma (GBM) represents an urgent challenge for public health due to the inability to effectively deliver anticancer agents, such as doxorubicin (DOX), through the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Herein we report the synthesis of two novel DOX glycoconjugates using an oxime linkage that maintained the intercalation capability of the planar anthracycline ring of DOX, as demonstrated by UV-vis and fluorescence experiments in the presence of DNA. The biological effect of DOX glycoconjugates was evaluated in GBM cell lines, showing an enhanced cytotoxic and pro-apoptotic effect of as compared to and to conventional DOX.

Hybrid lipid-AuNP clusters as highly efficient SERS substrates for biomedical applications.

Although Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) is widely applied for ultrasensitive diagnostics and imaging, its potential is largely limited by the difficult preparation of SERS tags, typically metallic nanoparticles (NPs) functionalized with Raman-active molecules (RRs), whose production often involves complex synthetic approaches, low colloidal stability and poor reproducibility. Here, we introduce LipoGold Tags, a simple platform where gold NPs (AuNPs) clusters form via self-assembly on lipid vesicle. RRs embedded in the lipid bilayer experience enhanced electromagnetic field, significantly increasing their Raman signals.

Gold-Hydrogel Nanocomposites for High-Resolution Laser-Based 3D Printing of Scaffolds with SERS-Sensing Properties.

Although visible light-based stereolithography (SLA) represents an affordable technology for the rapid prototyping of 3D scaffolds for in vitro support of cells, its potential could be limited by the lack of functional photocurable biomaterials that can be SLA-structured at micrometric resolution. Even if innovative photocomposites showing biomimetic, bioactive, or biosensing properties have been engineered by loading inorganic particles into photopolymer matrices, main examples rely on UV-assisted extrusion-based low-resolution processes. Here, SLA-printable composites were obtained by mixing a polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogel with multibranched gold nanoparticles (NPs).

Multilayered Bioorthogonal SERS Nanoprobes Selectively Aggregating in Human Fluids: A Smart Optical Assay for β-Amyloid Peptide Quantification.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a debilitating neurological condition characterized by cognitive decline, memory loss, and behavioral skill impairment, features that worsen with time. Early diagnosis will likely be the most effective therapy for Alzheimer's disease since it can ensure timely pharmacological treatments that can reduce the irreversible progression and delay the symptoms. Amyloid β-peptide 1-42 (Aβ (1-42)) is considered one of the key pathological AD biomarkers that is present in different biological fluids.

Fiber-Based SERS-Fluidic Polymeric Platforms for Improved Optical Analysis of Liquids.

Downsizing surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) within microfluidic devices has opened interesting perspectives for the development of low-cost and portable (bio)sensors for the optical analysis of liquid samples. Despite the research efforts, SERS-fluidic devices still rely either on the use of expensive bulky set-ups or on polymeric devices giving spurious background signals fabricated via expensive manufacturing processes. Here, polymeric platforms integrating fluidics and optics were fabricated with versatile designs allowing easy coupling with fiber-based Raman systems.

Design and Synthesis of Novel Raman Reporters for Bioorthogonal SERS Nanoprobes Engineering.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) exploiting Raman reporter-labeled nanoparticles (RR@NPs) represents a powerful tool for the improvement of optical bio-assays due to RRs’ narrow peaks, SERS high sensitivity, and potential for multiplexing. In the present work, starting from low-cost and highly available raw materials such as cysteamine and substituted benzoic acids, novel bioorthogonal RRs, characterized by strong signal (103 counts with FWHM < 15 cm−1) in the biological Raman-silent region (>2000 cm−1), RRs are synthesized by implementing a versatile, modular, and straightforward method with high yields and requiring three steps lasting 18 h, thus overcoming the limitations of current reported procedures. The resulting RRs’ chemical structure has SH-pendant groups exploited for covalent conjugation to high anisotropic gold-NPs.

Design, synthesis and evaluation of RGD peptidomimetic - Gold nanostar conjugates as M21 cell adhesion inhibitors.

Effective targeting of αβ integrin is of high relevance in cancer research as this protein is overexpressed on several types of tumor cells, making such receptor ideal for the development of therapeutics and of diagnostic imaging agents. In this paper, the synthesis of a novel functionalized triazole-based RGD peptidomimetic and its covalent conjugation on pegylated gold nanostars is reported. These highly stable nanoconstructs showed a multivalent effect in binding αβ integrin receptors and proved to inhibit M21 cell adhesion at 25 pM concentration.

Gold Nanostars Bioconjugation for Selective Targeting and SERS Detection of Biofluids.

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) show physicochemical and optical functionalities that are of great interest for spectroscopy-based detection techniques, and especially for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), which is capable of providing detailed information on the molecular content of analysed samples. Moreover, the introduction of different moieties combines the interesting plasmonic properties of the AuNPs with the specific and selective recognition capabilities of the antibodies (Ab) towards antigens. The conjugation of biomolecules to gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) has received considerable attention for analysis of liquid samples and in particular biological fluids (biofluids) in clinical diagnostic and therapeutic field.

Fiber-cap biosensors for SERS analysis of liquid samples.

Optical detection techniques based on surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) are a powerful tool for biosensing applications. Meanwhile, due to technological advances, different approaches have been investigated to integrate SERS substrates on the tip of optical fibres for molecular probing in liquids. To further demonstrate the perspectives offered by SERS-on-fiber technology for diagnostic purposes, in this study, novel cap-shaped SERS sensors for reversible coupling with customized multimodal probes were prototyped via low-cost polymer casting of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and further assembly of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) of varied sizes and shapes.