Combination Chemical and Mechanical Tumor Immunomodulation Using Cavitating Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles.

Combinatorial methods to repolarize tumor-associated macrophages from anti-inflammatory to pro-inflammatory phenotypes offers a promising route for cancer immunotherapy. However, most studies examine biochemical combinations alone. Therefore, we studied simultaneous chemical and mechanical stimuli as orthogonal cues for enhanced immunomodulation.

Silica-coated gold nanorods with hydrophobic modification show both enhanced two-photon fluorescence and ultrasound drug release.

Hydrophobically-modified silica-coated gold nanorods are presented here as multifunctional theranostic agents. A single modification both increases two-photon fluorescence and promotes cavitation-based acoustic signal for imaging. A two-fold greater release of small molecule drugs was observed under ultrasound-mediated conditions as compared to passive release without ultrasound.

Effects of Biotin-Avidin Interactions on Hydrogel Swelling.

Affinity interactions between the small molecule biotin and the protein avidin have been used extensively to functionalize biomaterials. More recently, researchers have leveraged the changes in biotin-avidin affinity that occur upon biotin conjugation to larger molecules to control the release of biotinylated drugs and proteins. However, the effects of biotin-avidin interactions on hydrogel properties have not been thoroughly investigated.