DNA-Mediated Carbon Nanotubes Heterojunction Assembly.

Herein, we present a strategy for the controlled assembly of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) linear junctions mediated by DNA as a functional linker. We demonstrate this by employing SWCNTs of two different chiralities via the specific design of DNA sequences and chiral selection. Streptavidin and AuNP labeling of the SWCNT sidewalls demonstrate the presence of two different chirality within each individual CNT-DNA-CNT junction.

Cancer Cell Preferential Penetration and pH-Responsive Drug Delivery of Oligorutin.

We report herein a novel delivery system, derived from the facile enzymatic synthesis of oligorutin (OR), for cancer cell targeting and pH-responsive drug delivery. In this study, we demonstrate that OR could preferentially penetrate cancer cells via the lipid raft-mediated endocytosis pathway, and cell membrane cholesterol was critical to the internalization of OR. The accumulation of OR in the tumor region was further confirmed by an in vivo biodistribution study.

Glucose oxidase and polydopamine functionalized iron oxide nanoparticles: combination of the photothermal effect and reactive oxygen species generation for dual-modality selective cancer therapy.

Cancer cells possess some inherent characteristics, such as glucose-dependence and intolerance to heat and exogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this study, a strategy has been developed to target these vulnerable weaknesses of cancer cells using glucose oxidase (GOx) and polydopamine (PDA) functionalized iron oxide nanoparticles (FeO@PDA/GOx NPs). PDA is first deposited on the surfaces of iron oxide NPs through self-polymerization, and then GOx is covalently linked with PDA upon mixing the enzyme and FeO@PDA under alkaline conditions.

Photothermally triggered cytosolic drug delivery of glucose functionalized polydopamine nanoparticles in response to tumor microenvironment for the GLUT1-targeting chemo-phototherapy.

The success in the application of nanomedicines for tumor therapy is largely dependent on the development of efficient tumor targeting, specific and effective drug delivery systems. Here, through a simple synthetic process, we developed a type of novel glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1)-targeting, tumor microenvironment responsive and near infrared irradiation (NIR) induced cytosolic drug delivery nanoparticles (NPs). Our design was based on polydopamine (PDA) NPs as the photothermal agent and drug delivery carrier, glucosyl functional ligands as the GLUT1 targeting agents, and the conjugation of anticancer drug bortezomib (BTZ) to the catechol groups of PDA NPs in a pH-dependent manner.