Bioorthogonal Janus microparticles for photothermal and chemo-therapy.

Bioorthogonal chemistry, recognized as a highly efficient tool in chemical biology, has shown significant value in cancer treatment. The primary objective is to develop efficient delivery strategies to achieve enhanced bioorthogonal drug treatment for tumors. Here, Janus microparticles (JMs) loaded with cyclooctene-modified doxorubicin prodrug (TCO-DOX) and tetrazine-modified indocyanine green (Tz-ICG) triggers are reported.

Dimensional effect of graphene nanostructures on cytoskeleton-coupled anti-tumor metastasis.

Interactions between inorganic materials and living systems can be strongly influenced by the dimensional property of the materials, which can in turn impact biological activities. Although the role of biomaterials at the molecular and cellular scales has been studied, research investigating the effects of biomaterials across multiple dimensional scales is relatively scarce. Herein, comparing the effectiveness of two-dimensional graphene oxide nanosheets (GOs) and three-dimensional graphene oxide quantum dots (GOQDs) (though not zero-dimensional because of their significant surface area) in cancer therapies, we have discovered that GOs, with the same mass concentration, exhibit stronger anti-cancer and anti-tumor metastasis properties than GOQDs.

Engineered CARD11-PIK3R3 T-cell therapies as weapons of cancer mass destruction.

Garcia et al. discover a novel immunotherapy approach by engineering naturally occurring mutations in therapeutic T cells to strongly elevate anti-tumor activity. The authors identify a gene fusion, CARD11-PIK3R3, to increase activator protein 1 and nuclear factor-κB signaling, interleukin-2 production, and tumor death in vitro and in vivo .

Stimuli-responsive silk fibroin for on-demand drug delivery.

Stimuli-responsive "smart" hydrogel biomaterials have attracted great attention in the biomedical field, especially in designing novel on-demand drug delivery systems. As a handful natural biomaterial approved by US Food and Drug Administration, silk fibroin (SF) has unique high temperature resistance as well as tunable structural composition. These properties make it one of the most ideal candidates for on-demand drug delivery.

Freezing biological organisms for biomedical applications.

Biological organisms play important roles in human health, either in a commensal or pathogenic manner. Harnessing inactivated organisms or living organisms is a promising way to treat diseases. As two types of freezing, cryoablation makes it simple to inactivate organisms that must be in a non-pathogenic state when needed, while cryopreservation is a facile way to address the problem of long-term storage challenged by living organism-based therapy.