Evaluation of polylactic acid nanoparticles safety using Drosophila model.

Cytotoxicity of nanoparticles and their sub-lethal effect on cell behavior and cell fate are a high topic of studies in the nanomaterial field. With an explosion of nanoparticle types (size, shape, polarity, stiffness, composition, etc.), Drosophila has become an attractive animal model for high throughput analysis of these nanocarriers in the drug delivery field with applications in cancer therapy, or simply to generate a fast and complete cytotoxic study of a peculiar nanoparticle.

A purified truncated form of yeast Gal4 expressed in Escherichia coli and used to functionalize poly(lactic acid) nanoparticle surface is transcriptionally active in cellulo.

Gal4/UAS system is a powerful tool for the analysis of numerous biological processes. Gal4 is a large yeast transcription factor that activates genes including UAS sequences in their promoter. Here, we have synthesized a minimal form of Gal4 DNA sequence coding for the binding and dimerization regions, but also part of the transcriptional activation domain.

Poly(lactic acid) and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) particles as versatile carrier platforms for vaccine delivery.

The development of safe and effective vaccines for cancer and infectious diseases remains a major goal in public health. Over the last two decades, controlled release of vaccine antigens and immunostimulant molecules has been achieved using nanometer or micron-sized delivery vehicles synthesized using biodegradable polymers. In addition to achieving a depot effect, enhanced vaccine efficacy using such delivery vehicles has been attributed to efficient targeting of antigen presenting cells such as dendritic cells.