Advanced 2D Nanomaterials for Phototheranostics of Breast Cancer: A Paradigm Shift.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of women's deaths and associated comorbidities. The advanced and targeted strategies against breast cancer have gained considerable attention due to their potential enhanced therapeutic efficacy over conventional therapies. In this context, phototherapies like photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) have shown promise as an effective and alternative strategy due to reduced side effects, noninvasiveness, and spatiotemporal specificity.

Ethnomedicinal Uses, Phytochemistry, and Anticancer Potentials of African Medicinal Fruits: A Comprehensive Review.

Africa is home to diverse medicinal plants that have been used for generations for the treatment of several different cancers and, presently, they are gaining interest from researchers as promising approaches to cancer treatment. This review aims to provide a comprehensive review of dietary and medicinal African fruits including their traditional uses, botanical description, ethnobotanical uses, bioactive phytochemical compositions, and anticancer properties investigated to date in vitro, in vivo, and in clinical studies. Data on recent updates concerning the traditional uses and anticancer properties of these fruits were collected from a myriad of available publications in electronic databases, such as Web of Science, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, SpringerLink, and Google Scholar.

Understanding the Photodynamic Therapy Induced Bystander and Abscopal Effects: A Review.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a clinically approved minimally/non-invasive treatment modality that has been used to treat various conditions, including cancer. The bystander and abscopal effects are two well-documented significant reactions involved in imparting long-term systemic effects in the field of radiobiology. The PDT-induced generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species and immune responses is majorly involved in eliciting the bystander and abscopal effects.

Paradigm shift in future biophotonics for imaging and therapy: Miniature living lasers to cellular scale optoelectronics.

Advancements in light technology, devices and its applications have tremendously changed the facets of biomedical science and engineering to provide powerful diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities ranging from basic research to clinics. Recent novel innovations and concepts in the field of material science, biomedical optics, processing technology and nanotechnology have enabled increasingly sophisticated technologies such as cellular scale, wireless, remotely controlled micro device for integrations. This review deals with such futuristic applications of biophotonics like miniature living lasers, wireless remotely controlled implantable and cellular optoelectronics for novel imaging, diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

Multi-Target Potential of Berberine as an Antineoplastic and Antimetastatic Agent: A Special Focus on Lung Cancer Treatment.

Despite therapeutic advancements, lung cancer remains the principal cause of cancer mortality in a global scenario. The increased incidence of tumor reoccurrence and progression and the highly metastatic nature of lung cancer are of great concern and hence require the investigation of novel therapies and/or medications. Naturally occurring compounds from plants serve as important resources for novel drugs for cancer therapy.

A Review on Traditionally Used African Medicinal Plant , Its Phytochemistry, and Anticancer Potential.

Setten & P.J.Maas belongs to the Annonaceae family and is a multi-purpose medicinal plant, which has been extensively used for the traditional treatment option for malaria in western and central Africa.

Fundamentals and applications of metal nanoparticle- enhanced singlet oxygen generation for improved cancer photodynamic therapy.

The introduction of nanotechnology in the field of Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) has proven to have great potential to overcome some of the challenges associated with traditional organic photosensitizers (PS) with respect to their solubility, drug delivery, distribution and site-specific targeting. Other focused areas in PDT involve high singlet oxygen production capability and excitability of PS by deep tissue penetrating light wavelengths. Owing to their very promising optical and surface plasmon resonance properties, combination of traditional PSs with plasmonic metallic nanoparticles like gold and silver nanoparticles results in remarkably high singlet oxygen production and extended excitation property from visible and near-infrared lights.

Potential Application of Photosensitizers With High-Z Elements for Synergic Cancer Therapy.

The presence of heavy elements in photosensitizers (PS) strongly influences their electronic and photophysical properties, and hence, conjugation of PS with a suitable element is regarded as a potential strategy to improve their photodynamic properties. Moreover, PS conjugated to metal ion or metal complex and heavy atoms such as halogen have attracted considerable attention as promising agents for multimodal or synergistic cancer therapy. These tetrapyrrole compounds depending on the type and nature of the inorganic elements have been explored for photodynamic therapy (PDT), chemotherapy, X-ray photon activation therapy (PAT), and radiotherapy.

Inhibitory Role of Berberine, an Isoquinoline Alkaloid, on NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation for the Treatment of Inflammatory Diseases.

The pyrin domain-containing multiprotein complex NLRP3 inflammasome, consisting of the NLRP3 protein, ASC adaptor, and procaspase-1, plays a vital role in the pathophysiology of several inflammatory disorders, including neurological and metabolic disorders, chronic inflammatory diseases, and cancer. Several phytochemicals act as promising anti-inflammatory agents and are usually regarded to have potential applications as complementary or alternative therapeutic agents against chronic inflammatory disorders. Various in vitro and in vivo studies have reported the anti-inflammatory role of berberine (BRB), an organic heteropentacyclic phytochemical and natural isoquinoline, in inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome-dependent inflammation against many disorders.

Recent Advances in Photosensitizers as Multifunctional Theranostic Agents for Imaging-Guided Photodynamic Therapy of Cancer.

In recent years tremendous effort has been invested in the field of cancer diagnosis and treatment with an overall goal of improving cancer management, therapeutic outcome, patient survival, and quality of life. Photodynamic Therapy (PDT), which works on the principle of light-induced activation of photosensitizers (PS) leading to Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) mediated cancer cell killing has received increased attention as a promising alternative to overcome several limitations of conventional cancer therapies. Compared to conventional therapies, PDT offers the advantages of selectivity, minimal invasiveness, localized treatment, and spatio-temporal control which minimizes the overall therapeutic side effects and can be repeated as needed without interfering with other treatments and inducing treatment resistance.

Enhancement of radiosensitivity of oral carcinoma cells by iodinated chlorin p copper complex in combination with synchrotron X-ray radiation.

The combination of synchrotron X-ray radiation and metal-based radiosensitizer is a novel form of photon activation therapy which offers the advantage of treating malignant tumors with greater efficacy and higher precision than conventional radiation therapy. In this study the anticancer cytotoxic efficacy of a new chlorophyll derivative, iodinated chlorin p copper complex (ICp-Cu), combined with synchrotron X-ray radiation (8-10 keV) in two human oral cancer cell lines is explored. Pre-treatment of cells with 20 µM and 30 µM ICp-Cu for 3 h was found to enhance the X-ray-induced cytotoxicity with sensitization enhancement ratios of 1.

Iodinated chlorin p copper complex induces anti-proliferative effect in oral cancer cells through elevation of intracellular reactive oxygen species.

We investigated the anticancer chemotoxicity of previously reported iodinated chlorin p copper complex (ICp-Cu), a novel chlorophyll derivative in which copper is attached to the side chain carboxylate groups via coordination. Human oral carcinoma cells NT8e, 4451 and the non-cancerous keratinocyte HaCaT cells were treated with ICp-Cu for 48 h in dark and cell viability, proliferation and morphological alterations were examined. ICp-Cu showed pronounced cytotoxicity in cancer cells with IC ∼40 μM, whereas, the viability of HaCaT cells was not affected.