Development of 6-Thioguanine conjugated PLGA nanoparticles through thioester bond formation: Benefits of electrospray mediated drug encapsulation and sustained release in cancer therapeutic applications.

Polymeric nanoparticle-based successful delivery of hydrophobic drugs is highly desirable for its controlled and sustained release at the disease site, which is a challenge with the current synthesis methods. In the present study, an electrospray mediated facile one-step synthesis approach is explored in which a solution mixture of a hydrophobic drug, 6-thioguanine (Tg) and a biocompatible FDA approved polymer, Poly (d, l-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) is injected in an applied electric field of suitable intensity to prepare drug encapsulated PLGA nanoparticles, PLGA-Tg with high yield. In order to explore the effect of external electric field on Tg loading and delivery applications, the nanoparticles are characterized using EDX, AFM, FESEM, TEM, FTIR, Raman, fluorescence, and mass spectroscopy techniques.

Gold nanoparticle-assisted enhancement in the anti-cancer properties of theaflavin against human ovarian cancer cells.

Redox-active quinones have been reported to show good potential for biological activities, while efforts are directed to explore the usefulness of these materials further in cancer management. Our previous study demonstrated that theaflavin and theaflavin-gallates (tea-extracted polyphenols) selectively induce apoptosis of tumour cells in vitro, but its concentration for showing half-maximal therapeutic response remains a matter of concern. In this report, we demonstrated that if theaflavin is conjugated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to form a nanoconjugate AuNP@TfQ, its apoptotic ability increases significantly in comparison to the bare theaflavin (Tf).

Ethylenediamine assisted functionalization of self-organized poly (d, l-lactide-co-glycolide) patterned surface to enhance cancer cell isolation.

Protein functionalized micro-scale patterned structures are developed using a biocompatible polymer PLGA (poly (d, l-lactide-co-glycolide)) via thin film dewetting and by step-wise chemical conjugations with EDA (ethylenediamine) and anti-EpCAM (Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule) antibodies to target the epithelial cell adhesion molecules of cancer cells. The effectiveness of such protein functionalized patterned surface is checked through cell isolation process using blood samples spiked with different cancer cells such as MCF-7, A549, MDA-MB-231. An efficient capture yield of 92% is obtained with MCF-7 cells over a two hour incubation time.

A novel approach to fabricate dye-encapsulated polymeric micro- and nanoparticles by thin film dewetting technique.

A new method is reported for fabrication of polymeric micro- and nanoparticles from an intermediate patterned surface originated by dewetting of a polymeric thin film. Poly (d, l-lactide-co-glycolide) or PLGA, a biocompatible polymer is used to develop a thin film over a clean glass substrate which dewets spontaneously in the micro-/nano-patterned surface of size range 50nm to 3.5µm.