Application of capsaicin and calcium phosphate-loaded MOF system for tumor therapy involving calcium overload.

Calcium overload therapy refers to the condition of intracellular Ca overload, which causes mitochondrial damage and leads to the uncontrolled release of apoptotic factors into the cytoplasm through the open mitochondrial permeability pore. Based on this, it is playing an increasingly important role in the field of oncology due to its good efficacy and small side effects. However, the regulation of calcium homeostasis by cancer cells themselves, insufficient calcium ions (Ca) in tumor sites and low efficiency of calcium entering tumor have limited its efficacy, resulting in unsatisfactory therapeutic effect.

Photothermal/photodynamic synergistic antibacterial study of MOF nanoplatform with SnFeO as the core.

Drug-resistant bacterial infections cause significant harm to public life, health, and property. Biofilm is characterized by overexpression of glutathione (GSH), hypoxia, and slight acidity, which is one of the main factors for the formation of bacterial resistance. Traditional antibiotic therapy gradually loses its efficacy against multi-drug-resistant (MDR) bacteria.

Polydopamine Nanocarriers with Cascade-Activated Nitric Oxide Release Combined Photothermal Activity for the Therapy of Drug-Resistant Bacterial Infections.

Antibiotic abuse leads to increased bacterial resistance, and the surviving planktonic bacteria aggregate and secrete extracellular polymers to form biofilms. Conventional antibacterial agents find it difficult to penetrate the biofilm, remove the bacteria wrapped in it, and produce an excellent therapeutic effect. In this study, a dual pH- and NIR-responsive nanocomposite (A-Ca@PDA) was developed to remove drug-resistant bacteria through a cascade of catalytic nitric oxide (NO) release and photothermal clearance.

Establishment of bone-targeted nano-platform and the study of its combination with 2-deoxy-d-glucose enhanced photodynamic therapy to inhibit bone metastasis.

At present, simple anti-tumor drugs are ineffective at targeting bone tissue and are not purposed to treat patients with bone metastasis. In this study, zoledronic acid (ZOL) demonstrated excellent bone-targeting properties as a bone-targeting ligand. The metal-organic framework (MOF) known as ZIF-90 was modified with ZOL to construct a bone-targeting-based drug delivery system.

Nanozyme-Coated Bacteria Hitchhike on CD11b Immune Cells to Boost Tumor Radioimmunotherapy.

Bacterial-based delivery strategies have recently emerged as a unique research direction in the field of drug delivery. However, bacterial vectors are quickly phagocytosed by immune cells after entering the bloodstream. Taking advantage of this phenomenon, herein, this work seeks to harness the potential of immune cells to delivery micron-sized bacterial vectors, and find that inactivated bacterial can accumulate at tumor-site after intravenous injection through CD11b cells hitchhiking.

Development of the Cu/ZIF-8 MOF Acid-Sensitive Nanocatalytic Platform Capable of Chemo/Chemodynamic Therapy with Improved Anti-Tumor Efficacy.

Recently, the combination of chemotherapy and chemodynamic therapy (CDT) has become a desirable strategy in the treatment of cancer. However, a satisfactory therapeutic outcome is often difficult to achieve due to the deficiency of endogenous HO and O in the tumor microenvironment. In this study, a CaO@DOX@Cu/ZIF-8 nanocomposite was prepared as a novel nanocatalytic platform to enable the combination of chemotherapy and CDT in cancer cells.

Preparation of an amphiphilic peptide (P13) with proton sponge effect and analysis of its antitumor activity.

In order to prevent drugs from being captured and degraded by the acidic environment of organelles, such as lysosomes, after entering cells, this study designed and synthesized a novel carrier amphiphilic polypeptide (DGRHHHLLLAAAA), designated P13, for use as a tumor-targeting drug delivery vehicle. The P13 peptide was synthesized by the solid phase synthesis method, and its self-assembly behavior and drug-loading capacity in aqueous solution were studied and characterized. Doxorubicin (DOX) was loaded by dialysis method, and P13 and DOX were mixed at a mass ratio of 6:1 to form regular rounded globules.

Biofilm Microenvironment-Mediated MoS Nanoplatform with Its Photothermal/Photodynamic Synergistic Antibacterial Molecular Mechanism and Wound Healing Study.

Drug-resistant bacterial infections pose a serious threat to human public health. Biofilm formation is one of the main factors contributing to the development of bacterial resistance, characterized by a hypoxic and microacidic microenvironment. Traditional antibiotic treatments have been ineffective against multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria.

Synthesis of a Two-Dimensional Molybdenum Disulfide Nanosheet and Ultrasensitive Trapping of for Enhanced Photothermal and Antibacterial Wound-Healing Therapy.

Photothermal therapy has been widely used in the treatment of bacterial infections. However, the short photothermal effective radius of conventional nano-photothermal agents makes it difficult to achieve effective photothermal antibacterial activity. Therefore, improving composite targeting can significantly inhibit bacterial growth.

Tumor microenvironment-responsive BSA nanocarriers for combined chemo/chemodynamic cancer therapy.

Tumor microenvironment (TME), characterized by high glutathione (GSH), high hydrogen peroxide (HO) and acidic pH levels, is favorable for the growth, invasion and metastasis of cancer cells. Taking advantage of the specific characteristics of tumors, TME-responsive GCBD NPs are designed to deliver nanoscale coordination polymers (NCPs, GA-Cu) and chemotherapy drugs (doxorubicin, DOX) based on bovine serum albumin (BSA) nanocarriers into cancer cells for combined chemodynamic therapy (CDT) and chemotherapy. In an acidic environment, GCBD NPs could release approximately 90% copper ions, which can not only consume overexpressed GSH to modulate the TME but can also react with endogenous HO in a Fenton-like reaction to achieve the CDT effect.

Acid-Sensitive Nanoparticles Based on Molybdenum Disulfide for Photothermal-Chemo Therapy.

The combination of multiple treatments has recently been investigated for tumor treatment. In this study, molybdenum disulfide (MoS) with excellent photothermal conversion performance was used as the core, and manganese dioxide (MnO), which responds to the tumor microenvironment, was loaded on its surface by liquid deposition to form a mesoporous core-shell structure. Then, the chemotherapeutic drug Adriamycin (DOX) was loaded into the hole.

A bone-targeting drug delivery vehicle of a metal-organic framework conjugate with zoledronate combined with photothermal therapy for tumor inhibition in cancer bone metastasis.

Chemotherapy is a conventional treatment method for metastatic bone cancer, but it has limitations, such as lower drug-targeting of bone tissues and serious side effects. Bone metastasis almost always occurs in advanced cancer, and most patients in this period have strong drug resistance, which further worsens the curative effect. To address the above-mentioned difficulties, a drug delivery platform is proposed in this paper that accomplishes the bone-targeting of drugs to efficiently inhibit tumors.

Gold nanorod-loaded thermosensitive liposomes facilitate the targeted release of ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complexes with anti-tumor activity.

Ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complexes (Ru) show high anti-tumor activity, but their poor solubility and low biocompatibility impede their use in anti-tumor therapy. Here,we circumvented the problem of low solubility by encapsulating the Ru in thermosensitive liposomes (LTSLs) and used gold nanorods (Au NRs) modified on the surface of the liposomes to permit the precise release of Ru at the tumor site. A facile and simple method was developed to synthesize Ru-loaded Au NR-decorated LTSL (Au@LTSL-Ru NPs).

synthesis of pH-responsive, self-assembled, and targeted polypeptide nano-micelles for enhanced delivery of doxorubicin.

Doxorubicin (DOX) is a commonly used anticancer drug, but it is inefficient as a therapeutic due to a lack of targeting. Peptide-tuned self-assembly of DOX offers a strategy to improve targeting for greater efficacy. In this work, we designed and prepared an amphiphilic tumor cell-targeting peptide, P14 (AAAAFFFHHHGRGD), able to encapsulate DOX by self-assembly to form tumor cell-targeting and pH-sensitive nano-micelles.

The Effects of Luminescent CdSe Quantum Dot-Functionalized Antimicrobial Peptides Nanoparticles on Antibacterial Activity and Molecular Mechanism.

Background: With the development of bacterial resistance, the range of effective antibiotics is increasingly becoming more limited. The effective use of nanoscale antimicrobial peptides (AP) in therapeutic and diagnostic methods is a strategy for new antibiotics.

Methods: Combining both AP and cadmium selenide (CdSe) into a composite material may result in a reagent with novel properties, such as enhanced antibacterial activity, fluorescence and favorable stability in aqueous solution.

Versatile labeling of multiple radionuclides onto a nanoscale metal-organic framework for tumor imaging and radioisotope therapy.

Radionuclides for cancer theranostic have confronted problems such as limitation in real-time visualization and unsatisfactory therapeutic effect sacrificed by the nonspecific distribution. Nanoscale metal-organic frameworks (nMOFs) have been widely used in biomedical applications including cancer imaging and drug delivery. However, there have been rare reports utilizing nMOFs as a single nanoplatform to label various radionuclides for tumor imaging and radioisotope therapy (RIT).

Investigation into isomerization reaction of phenylalanine aminomutase from Pantoea agglomerans.

Phenylalanine aminomutase (PaPAM) from Pantoea agglomerans is a member of the MIO (4-methylene-imidazol-5-one) family of enzymes, which isomerizes α-phenylalanine to β-phenylalanine, and could be used to synthesize unnatural β-arylalanine. However, the mechanism of isomerization reaction is not clear. To investigate the mechanism, the gene (pam), which encodes PaPAM, was first expressed in E.

Preparation of a tumor-targeted drug-loading material, amphiphilic peptide P10, and analysis of its anti-tumor activity.

A new tumor-targeted drug-loading material, the amphiphilic peptide DGRGGGAAAA (P10) was designed and synthesized, and its self-assembly behavior, drug-loading effects and in vitro characteristics were studied. P10 was synthesized by solid-state synthesis and doxorubicin (DOX) was loaded via dialysis. P10 and DOX were mixed with a mass ratio of 6:1 to form regular round spheres.

The Soluble and Particulate Form of Alginates Positively Regulate Immune Response.

Background: Alginate materials have been widely employed for biomedical applications ranging from wound healing to cancer treatment. However, how alginate materials affect the immune system is largely unknown.

Objective: To explore the impact of alginate materials on immune system.

One-Pot Enzymatic Synthesis of D-Arylalanines Using Phenylalanine Ammonia Lyase and L-Amino Acid Deaminase.

The phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (AvPAL) from Anabaena variabilis catalyzes the amination of substituent trans-cinnamic acid (t-CA) to produce racemic D,L-enantiomer arylalanine mixture owing to its low stereoselectivity. To produce high optically pure D-arylalanine, a modified AvPAL with high D-selectivity is expected. Based on the analyses of catalytic mechanism and structure, the Asn347 residue in the active site was proposed to control stereoselectivity.

One step synthesis of unnatural β-arylalanines using mutant phenylalanine aminomutase from Taxus chinensis with high β-regioselectivity.

Phenylalanine aminomutase (TcPAM) from Taxus chinensis catalyzes the regioselective hydroamination of trans-cinnamic acid (t-CA) to yield β-phe. However, the final product mixture consists of both α- and β-phe owing to low regioselectivity, which is still a challenge to synthesize highly pure β-phe. Therefore, a modified TcPAM with high β-selectivity is expected.

Nano-graphene oxide-manganese dioxide nanocomposites for overcoming tumor hypoxia and enhancing cancer radioisotope therapy.

While radiotherapy (RT) is commonly used in clinics for cancer treatment, the therapeutic efficiency is not satisfactory owing to the existence of the hypoxic tumor microenvironment which seriously affects the efficiency of RT. Herein, we design polyethylene glycol (PEG)-modified reduced nano-graphene oxide-manganese dioxide (rGO-MnO-PEG) nanocomposites to trigger oxygen generation from HO to reduce the tumor hypoxic microenvironments. We use the radioisotope, I labeled rGO-MnO-PEG nanocomposites as therapeutic agents for in vivo tumor radioisotope therapy (RIT), achieving excellent tumor killing and further enhancing the therapeutic efficiency of RIT.

Recent advances in enhanced enzyme activity, thermostability and secretion by N-glycosylation regulation in yeast.

Yeast has been increasingly used as a host for the expression of enzymes. Compared to other expression systems, the yeast expression system has many advantages including its suitability for large-scale fermentation and its ability to modify enzymes. When expressed in yeast, many recombinant enzymes are N-glycosylated, and this may play an important role in their activity, thermostability and secretion.

Alginate Particles with Ovalbumin (OVA) Peptide Can Serve as a Carrier and Adjuvant for Immune Therapy in B16-OVA Cancer Model.

BACKGROUND Alginate is a natural polysaccharide obtained from brown algae and has been shown to have numerous applications in biomedical science, such as wound healing, delivery of bioactive agents, and cell transplantation. Ovalbumin (OVA) peptide 323-339 has been reported to be involved in immune response.  MATERIAL AND METHODS This work investigated the use of alginate particles as a carrier and adjuvant for the immune therapy of cancer.

Removal of Pb(II) from aqueous solution on chitosan/TiO(2) hybrid film.

This paper presents the adsorption of Pb(II) from aqueous solution using chitosan/TiO(2) hybrid film (CTF) adsorbent. Batch experiments were carried out as a function of solution pH, adsorption time, Pb(II) concentration and temperature. The equilibrium data fitted well with the linear Freundlich model.