Publications by authors named "Niccolo' Silvestri"

The recent COVID19 pandemic has remarkably boosted the research on diagnosis assays to detect biomarkers in biological fluids. Specificity and sensitivity are mandatory for diagnostic kits aiming to reach clinical stages. Whilst the modulation of sensitivity can significantly improve the detection of biomarkers in liquids, this has been scarcely explored.

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The application of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) in drug delivery, magnetic resonance imaging, cell tracking, and hyperthermia has been long exploited regarding their inducible magnetic properties. Nevertheless, SPIONs remain rapidly cleared from the circulation by the reticuloendothelial system (RES) or mononuclear phagocyte system, with uptake dependent on several factors such as the hydrodynamic diameter, electrical charge and surface coating. This rapid clearance of SPION-based theranostic agents from circulation is one of the main challenges hampering the medical applications that differ from RES targeting.

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Magnetic nanoparticles are increasingly used in medical applications, including cancer treatment by magnetic hyperthermia. This protocol describes a solvothermal-based process to prepare, at the gram scale, ferrite nanoparticles with well-defined shape, i.e.

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Lead-based halide perovskite nanocrystals are highly luminescent materials, but their sensitivity to humid environments and their biotoxicity are still important challenges to solve. Here, we develop a stepwise approach to encapsulate representative CsPbBr nanocrystals into water-soluble polymer capsules. We show that our protocol can be extended to nanocrystals coated with different ligands, enabling an outstanding high photoluminescence quantum yield of ∼60% that is preserved over two years in capsules dispersed in water.

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Here, the synthesis and proof of exploitation of three-material inorganic heterostructures made of iron oxide-gold-copper sulfide (Fe O @Au@Cu S) are reported. Starting with Fe O -Au dumbbell heterostructure as seeds, a third Cu S domain is selectively grown on the Au domain. The as-synthesized trimers are transferred to water by a two-step ligand exchange procedure exploiting thiol-polyethylene glycol to coordinate Au and Cu S surfaces and polycatechol-polyethylene glycol to bind the Fe O surface.

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Cancer immunotherapies have been approved as standard second-line or in some cases even as first-line treatment for a wide range of cancers. However, immunotherapy has not shown clinically relevant success in glioblastoma (GBM). This is principally due to the brain's "immune-privileged" status and the peculiar tumor microenvironment (TME) of GBM characterized by a lack of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and the establishment of immunosuppressive mechanisms.

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Among the strategies to fight cancer, multi-therapeutic approaches are considered as a wise choice to put in place multiple weapons to suppress tumors. In this work, to combine chemotherapeutic effects to magnetic hyperthermia when using biocompatible scaffolds, we have established an electrospinning method to produce nanofibers of polycaprolactone loaded with magnetic nanoparticles as heat mediators to be selectively activated under alternating magnetic field and doxorubicin as a chemotherapeutic drug. Production of the fibers was investigated with iron oxide nanoparticles of peculiar cubic shape (at 15 and 23 nm in cube edges) as they provide benchmark heat performance under clinical magnetic hyperthermia conditions.

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Spinel ferrite nanocubes (NCs), consisting of pure iron oxide or mixed ferrites, are largely acknowledged for their outstanding performance in magnetic hyperthermia treatment (MHT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications while their magnetic particle imaging (MPI) properties, particularly for this peculiar shape different from the conventional spherical nanoparticles (NPs), are relatively less investigated. In this work, we report on a non-hydrolytic synthesis approach to prepare mixed transition metal ferrite NCs. A series of NCs of mixed zinc-cobalt-ferrite were prepared and their magnetic theranostic properties were compared to those of cobalt ferrite or zinc ferrite NCs of similar sizes.

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Multifunctional imaging nanoprobes continue to garner strong interest for their great potential in the detection and monitoring of cancer. In this study, we investigate a series of spatially arranged iron oxide nanocube-based clusters (i.e.

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Nanoparticle-based magnetic hyperthermia is a well-known thermal therapy platform studied to treat solid tumors, but its use for monotherapy is limited due to incomplete tumor eradication at hyperthermia temperature (45 °C). It is often combined with chemotherapy for obtaining a more effective therapeutic outcome. Cubic-shaped cobalt ferrite nanoparticles (Co-Fe NCs) serve as magnetic hyperthermia agents and as a cytotoxic agent due to the known cobalt ion toxicity, allowing the achievement of both heat and cytotoxic effects from a single platform.

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Here, cation exchange (CE) reactions are exploited to radiolabel ZnSe, ZnS, and CuFeS metal chalcogenide nanocrystals (NCs) with Cu. The CE protocol requires one simple step, to mix the water-soluble NCs with a Cu solution, in the presence of vitamin C used to reduce Cu(II) to Cu(I). Given the quantitative cation replacement on the NCs, a high radiochemical yield, up to 99%, is reached.

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The design of magnetic nanostructures whose magnetic heating efficiency remains unaffected at the tumor site is a fundamental requirement to further advance magnetic hyperthermia in the clinic. This work demonstrates that the confinement of magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) into a sub-micrometer cavity is a key strategy to enable a certain degree of nanoparticle motion and minimize aggregation effects, consequently preserving the magnetic heat loss of iron oxide nanocubes (IONCs) under different conditions, including intracellular environments. We fabricated magnetic layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembled polyelectrolyte sub-micrometer capsules using three different approaches, and we studied their heating efficiency as obtained in aqueous dispersions and after internalization by tumor cells.

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Dual imaging dramatically improves detection and early diagnosis of cancer. In this work we present an oil in water (O/W) nano-emulsion stabilized with lecithin and loaded with cobalt ferrite oxide (CoFeO) nanocubes for photo-acoustic and magnetic resonance dual imaging. The nanocarrier is responsive in in vitro photo-acoustic and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests.

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