Non-invasive transdermal delivery of biomacromolecules with fluorocarbon-modified chitosan for melanoma immunotherapy and viral vaccines.

Transdermal drug delivery has been regarded as an alternative to oral delivery and subcutaneous injection. However, needleless transdermal delivery of biomacromolecules remains a challenge. Herein, a transdermal delivery platform based on biocompatible fluorocarbon modified chitosan (FCS) is developed to achieve highly efficient non-invasive delivery of biomacromolecules including antibodies and antigens.

Oral Delivery of Therapeutic Antibodies with a Transmucosal Polymeric Carrier.

Therapeutic proteins are playing increasingly important roles in treating numerous types of diseases. However, oral administration of proteins, especially large ones (e.g.

[Effects of Sulfamethazine in Soil on Rice Growth].

For the sake of investigating the effects of residual antibiotics in soil on plant growth, sulfamethazine, which is commonly detected in soil, was selected in this project. In general, the growth index of rice at the seedling and mature stages, physiological/biochemical characteristics of roots and leaves, antibiotic residues, enrichment factors, and transport coefficients in various rice organs were respectively tested and analyzed to evaluate the ecological effects of sulfamethazine residues on rice. The results revealed that the inhibitory effect of sulfamethazine on plant height and biomass was maintained during the whole growth cycle.

Inhalable nanocatchers for SARS-CoV-2 inhibition.

The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), presents an urgent health crisis. More recently, an increasing number of mutated strains of SARS-CoV-2 have been identified globally. Such mutations, especially those on the spike glycoprotein to render its higher binding affinity to human angiotensin-converting enzyme II (hACE2) receptors, not only resulted in higher transmission of SARS-CoV-2 but also raised serious concerns regarding the efficacies of vaccines against mutated viruses.

Nanoparticle-Mediated Delivery of Inhaled Immunotherapeutics for Treating Lung Metastasis.

Despite the critical breakthrough achieved by immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), the clinical benefits are usually restricted by inefficient infiltration of immune cells and immune-associated adverse effects. Noninvasive aerosol inhalation, as a definitive procedure for treatment of respiratory diseases, for ICB immunotherapy against lung metastasis, has not been realized to the best knowledge. Herein, an inhaled immunotherapeutic chitosan (CS)-antibody complex is developed for immunotherapy against lung cancer.

Injectable Reactive Oxygen Species-Responsive SN38 Prodrug Scaffold with Checkpoint Inhibitors for Combined Chemoimmunotherapy.

Chemotherapeutic agents have been widely used for cancer treatment in clinics. Aside from their direct cytotoxicity to cancer cells, some of them could activate the immune system of the host, contributing to the enhanced antitumor activity. Here, the reactive oxygen species (ROS)-responsive hydrogel, covalently cross-linked by phenylboronic acid-modified 7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin (SN38-SA-BA) with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), is fabricated for topical delivery of anti-programmed cell death protein ligand 1 antibodies (aPDL1).

Controlled release of immunotherapeutics for enhanced cancer immunotherapy after local delivery.

Cancer immunotherapy has been demonstrated as a promising therapeutic strategy in clinic owing to its unique advantages. However, although more and more immunotherapeutic agents have been approved for clinical use to activate the immune system, they also could interfere with the homeostatic role of immune system at non-target sites after systemic administration, which may be associated with fatal side effects such as lifelong autoimmune diseases. Thus, it is desirable to develop local delivery systems that could be applied at the targeted sides and engineered to locally control the pharmacokinetics of various immunotherapeutics, including small molecules, macromolecules or even cells.

Injectable Anti-inflammatory Nanofiber Hydrogel to Achieve Systemic Immunotherapy Post Local Administration.

Despite the great promise achieved by immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy in harnessing the immune system to combat different tumors, limitations such as low objective response rates and adverse effects remain to be resolved. Here, an anti-inflammatory nanofiber hydrogel self-assembled by steroid drugs is developed for local delivery of antiprogrammed cell death protein ligand 1 (αPDL1). Interestingly, on the one hand this carrier-free system based on steroid drugs can reprogram the pro-tumoral immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) to antitumoral TME; on the other hand, it would serve as a reservoir for sustained release of αPDL1 so as to synergistically boost the immune system.

Localized cocktail chemoimmunotherapy after in situ gelation to trigger robust systemic antitumor immune responses.

Currently, there is a huge demand to develop chemoimmunotherapy with reduced systemic toxicity and potent efficacy to combat late-stage cancers with spreading metastases. Here, we report several "cocktail" therapeutic formulations by mixing immunogenic cell death (ICD)-inducing chemotherapeutics and immune adjuvants together with alginate (ALG) for localized chemoimmunotherapy. Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) antibody may be either included into this cocktail for local injection or used via conventional intravenous injection.

Ultrasmall Pyropheophorbidea Nanodots for Nearinfrared Fluorescence/Photoacoustic Imaging-guided Photodynamic Therapy.

: Nanoparticles (NPs) that are rapidly eliminated from the body offer great potential in clinical test. Renal excretion of small particles is preferable over other clearance pathways to minimize potential toxicity. Thus, there is a significant demand to prepare ultra-small theranostic agents with renal clearance behaviors.

Renal Clearable Ru-based Coordination Polymer Nanodots for Photoacoustic Imaging Guided Cancer Therapy.

: Despite the promises of applying theranostic nanoagents for imaging-guided cancer therapy, the chronic retention of these nanoagents may cause safety concerns that hinder their future clinical applications. The metabolizable nanoagents with rapid renal excretion to avoid long-term toxicity is a possible solution for this issue. : Herein, we synthesize ultra-small metal-organic coordination polymer nanodots based on ruthenium ion (Ru) / phenanthroline (Phen) (Ru-Phen CPNs) with superior near-infrared (NIR) absorption.

Self-Supplied Tumor Oxygenation through Separated Liposomal Delivery of HO and Catalase for Enhanced Radio-Immunotherapy of Cancer.

The recent years have witnessed the blooming of cancer immunotherapy, as well as their combinational use together with other existing cancer treatment techniques including radiotherapy. However, hypoxia is one of several causes of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Herein, we develop an innovative strategy to relieve tumor hypoxia by delivering exogenous HO into tumors and the subsequent catalase-triggered HO decomposition.

Bimetallic Oxide MnMoO Nanorods for in Vivo Photoacoustic Imaging of GSH and Tumor-Specific Photothermal Therapy.

Accurate imaging of glutathione (GSH) in vivo is able to provide real-time visualization of physiological and pathological conditions. Herein, we successfully synthesize bimetallic oxide MnMoO nanorods as an intelligent nanoprobe for in vivo GSH detection via photoacoustic (PA) imaging. The obtained MnMoO nanoprobe with no near-infrared (NIR) absorption in the absence of GSH would exhibit strong GSH-responsive NIR absorbance, endowing PA imaging detection of GSH.

Albumin-Assisted Synthesis of Ultrasmall FeS Nanodots for Imaging-Guided Photothermal Enhanced Photodynamic Therapy.

Current mainstream cancer treatment methods have their limitations. New approaches are thus desired to assist our battle against cancer. Herein, multifunctional ultrasmall FeS nanodots with the size of 7 nm are synthesized by biomineralization and used for imaging-guided combined tumor therapy.

Chelator-Free Labeling of Metal Oxide Nanostructures with Zirconium-89 for Positron Emission Tomography Imaging.

Radiolabeling of molecules or nanoparticles to form imaging probes is critical for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, which, with high sensitivity and the ability for quantitative imaging, has been widely used in the clinic. While conventional radiolabeling often employs chelator molecules, a general method for chelator-free radiolabeling of a wide range of materials remains to be developed. Herein, we determined that 10 different types of metal oxide (MO M = Gd, Ti, Te, Eu, Ta, Er, Y, Yb, Ce, or Mo, x = 1-2, y = 2-5) nanomaterials with polyethylene glycol (PEG) modification could be labeled with Zr, a PET tracer, via a simple yet general chelator-free radiolabeling method upon simple mixing.

Ultra-small iron-gallic acid coordination polymer nanoparticles for chelator-free labeling of Cu and multimodal imaging-guided photothermal therapy.

Cancer nanotechnology has become the hot topic nowadays. While various kinds of nanomaterials have been widely explored for innovative cancer imaging and therapy applications, safe multifunctional nano-agents without long-term retention and toxicity are still demanded. Herein, iron-gallic acid coordination nanoparticles (Fe-GA CPNs) with ultra-small sizes are successfully synthesized by a simple method for multimodal imaging-guided cancer therapy.

Erythrocyte-Membrane-Enveloped Perfluorocarbon as Nanoscale Artificial Red Blood Cells to Relieve Tumor Hypoxia and Enhance Cancer Radiotherapy.

Hypoxia, a common feature within many types of solid tumors, is known to be closely associated with limited efficacy for cancer therapies, including radiotherapy (RT) in which oxygen is essential to promote radiation-induced cell damage. Here, an artificial nanoscale red-blood-cell system is designed by encapsulating perfluorocarbon (PFC), a commonly used artificial blood substitute, within biocompatible poly(d,l-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA), obtaining PFC@PLGA nanoparticles, which are further coated with a red-blood-cell membrane (RBCM). The developed PFC@PLGA-RBCM nanoparticles with the PFC core show rather efficient loading of oxygen, as well as greatly prolonged blood circulation time owing to the coating of RBCM.