Stepwise implementation of a low-cost and portable radiofrequency hyperthermia system for in vitro/in vivo cancer studies

Proanthocyanidins (PCs) are naturally occurring polyphenolic compounds abundant in many vegetables, plant skins (rind/bark), seeds, flowers, fruits, and nuts. Numerousin vitroandin vivostudies have demonstrated myriad effects potentially beneficial to human health, such as antioxidation, anti-inflammation, immunomodulation, DNA repair, and antitumor activity. Accumulation of prooxidants such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) exceeding cellular antioxidant capacity results in oxidative stress (OS), which can damage macromolecules (DNA, lipids, and proteins), organelles (membranes and mitochondria), and whole tissues. OS is implicated in the pathogenesis and exacerbation of many cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, dermatological, and metabolic diseases, both through direct molecular damage and secondary activation of stress-associated signaling pathways. PCs are promising natural agents to safely prevent acute damage and control chronic diseases at relatively low cost. In this review, we summarize the molecules and signaling pathways involved in OS and the corresponding therapeutic mechanisms of PCs.

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Development of Natural Bioactive Alkaloids: Anticancer perspective

Mini-Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry ◽

10.2174/1389557521666210712111331 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 ◽

Author(s):

Ashish Patel ◽

Ravi Vanecha ◽

Jay Patel ◽

Divy Patel ◽

Umang Shah ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Anticancer Agents ◽

Low Cost ◽

Chemical Compounds ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Drug Discovery And Development ◽

Anticancer Properties ◽

Antimetastatic Activity ◽

New Chemical Entities

: Cancer is a frightful disease that still poses a 'nightmare' worldwide, causing millions of casualties annually due to one of the human race's most significant healthcare challenges that requires a pragmatic treatment strategy. However, plants and plant-derived products revolutionize the field as they are quick, cleaner, eco-friendly, low-cost, effective, and less toxic than conventional treatment methods. Plants are repositories for new chemical entities and have a promising cancer research path, supplying 60% of the anticancer agents currently used. Alkaloids are important chemical compounds that serve as a rich reservoir for drug discovery and development. However, some alkaloids derived from natural herbs display anti-proliferation and antimetastatic activity on different forms of cancer, both in vitro and in vivo. Alkaloids have also been widely formulated as anticancer medications, such as camptothecin and vinblastine. Still, more research and clinical trials are required before final recommendations can be made on specific alkaloids. This review focuses on the naturally-derived bioactive alkaloids with prospective anticancer properties based on the information in the literature.

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xMD-miRNA-seq to generate near in vivo miRNA expression estimates in colon epithelial cells

10.1101/333658 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Avi Z. Rosenberg ◽

Carrie Wright ◽

Karen Fox-Talbot ◽

Anandita Rajpurohit ◽

Courtney Williams ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Epithelial Cells ◽

Small Rna ◽

Mirna Expression ◽

Low Cost ◽

Expression Patterns ◽

Small Rna Sequencing ◽

Rna Seq ◽

Cell Type

AbstractAccurate, RNA-seq based, microRNA (miRNA) expression estimates from primary cells have recently been described. However, this in vitro data is mainly obtained from cell culture, which is known to alter cell maturity/differentiation status, significantly changing miRNA levels. What is needed is a robust method to obtain in vivo miRNA expression values directly from cells. We introduce expression microdissection miRNA small RNA sequencing (xMD-miRNA-seq), a method to isolate cells directly from formalin fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues. xMD-miRNA-seq is a low-cost, high-throughput, immunohistochemistry-based method to capture any cell type of interest. As a proof-of-concept, we isolated colon epithelial cells from two specimens and performed low-input small RNA-seq. We generated up to 600,000 miRNA reads from the samples. Isolated epithelial cells, had abundant epithelial-enriched miRNA expression (miR-192; miR-194; miR-200b; miR-200c; miR-215; miR-375) and overall similar miRNA expression patterns to other epithelial cell populations (colonic enteroids and flow-isolated colon epithelium). xMD-derived epithelial cells were generally not contaminated by other adjacent cells of the colon as noted by t-SNE analysis. xMD-miRNA-seq allows for simple, economical, and efficient identification of cell-specific miRNA expression estimates. Further development will enhance rapid identification of cell-specific miRNA expression estimates in health and disease for nearly any cell type using archival FFPE material.

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Sustainable, Rapid Synthesis of Bright-Luminescent CuInS2-ZnS Alloyed Nanocrystals: Multistage Nano-xenotoxicity Assessment and Intravital Fluorescence Bioimaging in Zebrafish-Embryos

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/srep26078 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

S. Shashank Chetty ◽

S. Praneetha ◽

Sandeep Basu ◽

Chetana Sachidanandan ◽

A. Vadivel Murugan

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Organic Dyes ◽

Low Cost ◽

Fluorescence Emission ◽

Zebrafish Embryos ◽

Fluorescence Bioimaging ◽

Rapid Labeling

Abstract Near-infrared (NIR) luminescent CuInS2-ZnS alloyed nanocrystals (CIZS-NCs) for highly fluorescence bioimaging have received considerable interest in recent years. Owing, they became a desirable alternative to heavy-metal based-NCs and organic dyes with unique optical properties and low-toxicity for bioimaging and optoelectronic applications. In the present study, bright and robust CIZS-NCs have been synthesized within 5 min, as-high-as 230 °C without requiring any inert-gas atmosphere via microwave-solvothermal (MW-ST) method. Subsequently, the in vitro and in vivo nano-xenotoxicity and cellular uptake of the MUA-functionalized CIZS-NCs were investigated in L929, Vero, MCF7 cell lines and zebrafish-embryos. We observed minimal toxicity and acute teratogenic consequences upto 62.5 μg/ml of the CIZS-NCs in zebrafish-embryos. We also observed spontaneous uptake of the MUA-functionalized CIZS-NCs by 3 dpf older zebrafish-embryos that are evident through bright red fluorescence-emission at a low concentration of 7.8 μg/mL. Hence, we propose that the rapid, low-cost, large-scale “sustainable” MW-ST synthesis of CIZS-NCs, is an ideal bio-nanoprobe with good temporal and spatial resolution for rapid labeling, long-term in vivo tracking and intravital-fluorescence-bioimaging (IVBI).

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Phytochemicals as Potential Inhibitors of Advanced Glycation End Products: Health Aspects and Patent Survey

Recent Patents on Food Nutrition & Agriculturee ◽

10.2174/2212798412666210528130001 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Annayara C. F. Fernandes ◽

Jeane B. Melo ◽

Vanize M. Genova ◽

Ádina L. Santana ◽

Gabriela Macedo

Keyword(s):

Phenolic Compounds ◽

Inflammatory Responses ◽

Low Cost ◽

Advanced Glycation Endproducts ◽

Advanced Glycation ◽

Glycation Endproducts ◽

Synthetic Drugs ◽

Peanut Skins

Background: Glycation is a chemical reaction that synthesize advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs). The AGEs irreversibly damage macromolecules present in tissues and organs, leading to the impairment of biological functions. For instance, the accumulation of AGEs induces oxidative stress and consequently inflammatory responses in human body, leading to the on set/worsening of diseases, including obesity, asthma, cognitive impairment, and cancer. There is a current demand on natural and low-cost sources of antiglycant agents. As a result, food phytochemicals presented promising results to inhibit glycation and consequently, the formation of AGEs. Objective: Here, we describe the mechanism of glycation on the worsening of diseases, the methods os detection, and the current findings on the use of phytochemicals (phenolic compounds, phytosterols, carotenoids, terpenes and vitamins) as natural therapeuticals to inhibit health damages via inhibition of AGEs in vitro and in vivo. Methods: This manuscript reviewed publications available in the PubMed and Science Direct databases dated from the last 20 years on the uses of phytochemicals to inhibit the AGEs in vitro and in vivo. Also, recent patents on the use of anti-glycant drugs were reviewed using the Google Advanced Patents database. Results and Discussion: Phenolic compounds have been mostly studied to inhibit AGEs. Food phytochemicals derived from agroindustry wastes, including peanut skins, and the bagasses derived from citrus and grapes are promising antiglycant agents via scavenging of free radicals, metal ions, the suppression of metabolic pathways that induces inflammation, the activation of pathways that promote antioxidant defense, the blocking of AGE connection with the receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE). Conclusion: Phytochemicals derived from agroindustry are promising anti-glycants, which can be included to replace synthetic drugs for AGE inhibition, and consequently to act as a therapeutical strategy to prevent and treat diseases caused by AGEs, including diabetes, ovarian cancer, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s disease.

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Smart delivery of lethal poly-peptide composite for effective cancer therapy

Biomedical Materials ◽

10.1088/1748-605x/ac494c ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Xin Yuan ◽

Yingzhou Qin ◽

Qingmei Tian ◽

Cuijuan Liu ◽

Xiangzhou Meng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Half Life ◽

Low Cost ◽

Drug Loading ◽

Nsclc Cell Line ◽

Peptide Drug ◽

Loading System ◽

Penetration Ability ◽

Cleavable Peptide

Abstract In the past decade, multifunctional peptides have attracted increasing attention in the biomedical field. Peptides possess many impressive advantages, such as high penetration ability, low cost, and etc. However, the short half-life and instability of peptides limit their application. In this study, a poly-peptide drug loading system (called HKMA composite) was designed based on the different functionalities of four peptides. The peptide compositions of HKMA composite from N-terminal to C-terminal were HCBP1, KLA, MMP-2-cleavable peptide and ABD. The targeting and lethality of HKMA to NSCLC cell line H460 sphere cells and the half-life of the system were measured in vivo. The results showed that the HKMA composite had a long half-life and specific killing effect on H460 sphere cells in vitro and in vivo. Our result proposed smart peptide drug loading system and provided a potential methodology for effective cancer treatment.

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A Simple Three-Dimensional In Vitro Culture Mimicking the In Vivo-Like Cell Behavior of Bladder Patient-Derived Xenograft Models

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers12051304 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (5) ◽

pp. 1304

Author(s):

Robson Amaral ◽

Maike Zimmermann ◽

Ai-Hong Ma ◽

Hongyong Zhang ◽

Kamilla Swiech ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drug Resistance ◽

In Vitro Culture ◽

Cancer Cells ◽

Low Cost ◽

Maintenance Cost ◽

Tumor Spheroids ◽

Patient Derived Xenograft ◽

Pdx Models

Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models allow for personalized drug selection and the identification of drug resistance mechanisms in cancer cells. However, PDX models present technical disadvantages, such as long engraftment time, low success rate, and high maintenance cost. On the other hand, tumor spheroids are emerging as an in vitro alternative model that can maintain the phenotype of cancer cells long enough to perform all assays and predict a patient’s outcome. The present work aimed to describe a simple, reproducible, and low-cost 3D in vitro culture method to generate bladder tumor spheroids using human cells from PDX mice. Cancer cells from PDX BL0293 and BL0808 models, previously established from advanced bladder cancer, were cultured in 96-well round-bottom ultra-low attachment (ULA) plates with 5% Matrigel and generated regular and round-shaped spheroids (roundness > 0.8) with a diameter larger than 400 μm and a hypoxic core (a feature related to drug resistance in solid tumors). The responses of the tumor spheroids to the antineoplastic drugs cisplatin, gemcitabine, and their combination were similar to tumor responses in in vivo studies with PDX BL0293 and BL0808 mice. Therefore, the in vitro 3D model using PDX tumor spheroids appears as a valuable tool that may predict the outcome of in vivo drug-screening assays and represents a low-cost strategy for such purpose.

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Power spectral density-based nearinfrared sub-band detection for noninvasive blood glucose prediction in both in-vitro and in-vivo studies

Journal of Innovative Optical Health Sciences ◽

10.1142/s1793545818500359 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (06) ◽

pp. 1850035

Author(s):

Ibrahim Akkaya ◽

Erman Selim ◽

Mert Altintas ◽

Mehmet Engin

Keyword(s):

Blood Glucose ◽

Spectral Density ◽

Power Spectral Density ◽

Optical System ◽

Low Cost ◽

Linear Regression Analysis ◽

In Vivo Studies ◽

Power Spectral

Diabetes is a widespread and serious disease and noninvasive measurement has been in high demand. To address this problem, a power spectral density-based method was offered for determining glucose sensitive sub-bands in the nearinfrared (NIR) spectrum. The experiments were conducted using phantoms of different optical properties in-vitro conditions. The optical bands 1200–1300[Formula: see text]nm and 2100–2200[Formula: see text]nm were found feasible for measuring blood glucose. After that, a photoplethysmography (PPG)-based low cost and portable optical system was designed. It has six different NIR wavelength LEDs for illumination and an InGaAs photodiode for detection. Optical density values were calculated through the system and used as independent variables for multiple linear regression analysis. The results of blood glucose levels for 24 known healthy subjects showed that the optical system prediction was nearly 80% in the A zone and 20% in the B zone according to the Clarke Error Grid analysis. It was shown that a promising easy-use, continuous, and compact optical system had been designed.

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Three-Dimensional Spheroids as In Vitro Preclinical Models for Cancer Research

Pharmaceutics ◽

10.3390/pharmaceutics12121186 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (12) ◽

pp. 1186

Author(s):

Bárbara Pinto ◽

Ana C. Henriques ◽

Patrícia M. A. Silva ◽

Hassan Bousbaa

Keyword(s):

Cancer Research ◽

Low Cost ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

3D Culture ◽

Comprehensive Overview ◽

Culture Techniques ◽

Drug Candidates ◽

In Vivo Testing

Most cancer biologists still rely on conventional two-dimensional (2D) monolayer culture techniques to test in vitro anti-tumor drugs prior to in vivo testing. However, the vast majority of promising preclinical drugs have no or weak efficacy in real patients with tumors, thereby delaying the discovery of successful therapeutics. This is because 2D culture lacks cell–cell contacts and natural tumor microenvironment, important in tumor signaling and drug response, thereby resulting in a reduced malignant phenotype compared to the real tumor. In this sense, three-dimensional (3D) cultures of cancer cells that better recapitulate in vivo cell environments emerged as scientifically accurate and low cost cancer models for preclinical screening and testing of new drug candidates before moving to expensive and time-consuming animal models. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview of 3D tumor systems and highlight the strategies for spheroid construction and evaluation tools of targeted therapies, focusing on their applicability in cancer research. Examples of the applicability of 3D culture for the evaluation of the therapeutic efficacy of nanomedicines are discussed.

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Real-Time Wireless Platform for In Vivo Monitoring of Bone Regeneration

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s20164591 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (16) ◽

pp. 4591 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Pablo Blázquez-Carmona ◽

Manuel Sanchez-Raya ◽

Juan Mora-Macías ◽

Juan Antonio Gómez-Galán ◽

Jaime Domínguez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bone Regeneration ◽

Real Time ◽

Ex Vivo ◽

Low Cost ◽

Bone Lengthening ◽

Bone Callus ◽

Reliable Solution ◽

Regeneration Processes

For the monitoring of bone regeneration processes, the instrumentation of the fixation is an increasingly common technique to indirectly measure the evolution of bone formation instead of ex vivo measurements or traditional in vivo techniques, such as X-ray or visual review. A versatile instrumented external fixator capable of adapting to multiple bone regeneration processes was designed, as well as a wireless acquisition system for the data collection. The design and implementation of the overall architecture of such a system is described in this work, including the hardware, firmware, and mechanical components. The measurements are conditioned and subsequently sent to a PC via wireless communication to be in vivo displayed and analyzed using a developed real-time monitoring application. Moreover, a model for the in vivo estimation of the bone callus stiffness from collected data was defined. This model was validated in vitro using elastic springs, reporting promising results with respect to previous equipment, with average errors and uncertainties below 6.7% and 14.04%. The devices were also validated in vivo performing a bone lengthening treatment on a sheep metatarsus. The resulting system allowed the in vivo mechanical characterization of the bone callus during experimentation, providing a low-cost, simple, and highly reliable solution.

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