Dextran-b-poly(L-histidine) copolymer nanoparticles for pH-responsive drug delivery to tumor cells

Novel pH-responsive and magnetic-targeting nanocarriers with high drug loading content were developed for pH-triggered targeting drug delivery in tumor cells.

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A pH-Responsive Zwitterionic Polyurethane Prodrug as Drug Delivery System for Enhanced Cancer Therapy

Molecules ◽

10.3390/molecules26175274 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (17) ◽

pp. 5274

Author(s):

Qian He ◽

Rui Yan ◽

Wanting Hou ◽

Haibo Wang ◽

Yali Tian

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Cancer Therapy ◽

Tumor Cells ◽

Drug Delivery System ◽

Cellular Uptake ◽

Delivery System ◽

Antitumor Drug ◽

Control Group ◽

Ph Responsive ◽

Cytotoxicity Studies

Numerous nanocarriers with excellent biocompatibilities have been used to improve cancer therapy. However, nonspecific protein adsorption of nanocarriers may block the modified nanoparticles in tumor cells, which would lead to inefficient cellular internalization. To address this issue, pH-responsive polyurethane prodrug micelles with a zwitterionic segment were designed and prepared. The micelle consisted of a zwitterionic segment as the hydrophilic shell and the drug Adriamycin (DOX) as the hydrophobic inner core. As a pH-responsive antitumor drug delivery system, the prodrug micelles showed high stability in a physiological environment and continuously released the drug under acidic conditions. In addition, the pure polyurethane carrier was demonstrated to be virtually non-cytotoxic by cytotoxicity studies, while the prodrug micelles were more efficient in killing tumor cells compared to PEG-PLGA@DOX. Furthermore, the DOX cellular uptake efficiency of prodrug micelles was proved to be obviously higher than the control group by both flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy. This is mainly due to the modification of a zwitterionic segment with PU. The simple design of zwitterionic prodrug micelles provides a new strategy for designing novel antitumor drug delivery systems with enhanced cellular uptake rates.

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Fabricated porous silk fibroin particles for pH-responsive drug delivery and targeting of tumor cells

Journal of Materials Science ◽

10.1007/s10853-018-3022-9 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 54 (4) ◽

pp. 3319-3330 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Ning Sun ◽

Rong Lei ◽

Jianghui Xu ◽

Subhas C. Kundu ◽

Yurong Cai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Tumor Cells ◽

Silk Fibroin ◽

Ph Responsive

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Tumor Microenvironment Responsive Pepper Mild Mottle Virus-Based Nanotubes for Targeted Delivery and Controlled Release of Paclitaxel

Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology ◽

10.3389/fbioe.2021.763661 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Jiejun Peng ◽

Yueyan Yin ◽

Hongze Liang ◽

Yuwen Lu ◽

Hongying Zheng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Tumor Cells ◽

Targeted Delivery ◽

Plant Virus ◽

Drug Carriers ◽

Cell Uptake ◽

Mottle Virus ◽

Ph Responsive ◽

Pepper Mild Mottle Virus ◽

Strong Candidate

Plant virus nanoparticles (PVNPs) have been widely used for drug delivery, antibody development and medical imaging because of their good biodegradation and biocompatibility. Particles of pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) are elongated and may be useful as drug carriers because their shape favours long circulation, preferential distribution and increased cellular uptake. Moreover, its effective degradation in an acidic microenvironment enables a pH-responsive release of the encapsulated drug. In this study, genetic engineering techniques were used to form rod-shaped structures of nanoparticles (PMMoV) and folated-modified PMMoV nanotubes were prepared by polyethylene glycol (PEG) to provide targeted delivery of paclitaxel (PTX). FA@PMMoV@PTX nanotubes were designed to selectively target tumor cells and to release the encapsulated PTX in response to pH. Efficient cell uptake of FA@PMMoV@PTX nanotubes was observed when incubated with tumor cells, and FA@PMMoV@PTX nanotubes had superior cytotoxicity to free PTX, as reflected by cell survival and apoptosis. This system is a strong candidate for use in developing improved strategies for targeted treatment of tumors.

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Optical Properties of Photodynamic Therapy Drugs in Different Environments: The Paradigmatic Case of Temoporfin

10.26434/chemrxiv.12118917.v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

busenur Aslanoglu ◽

Ilya Yakavets ◽

Vladimir Zorin ◽

Henri-Pierre Lassalle ◽

Francesca Ingrosso ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Optical Properties ◽

Photodynamic Therapy ◽

Minimally Invasive ◽

Visible Light ◽

Cancer Treatment ◽

Singlet Oxygen ◽

Tumor Cells ◽

Molecular Oxygen ◽

Computational Tools

Computational tools have been used to study the photophysical and photochemical features of photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy (PDT) –a minimally invasive, less aggressive alternative for cancer treatment. PDT is mainly based by the activation of molecular oxygen through the action of a photoexcited sensitizer (photosensitizer). Temoporfin, widely known as mTHPC, is a second-generation photosensitizer, which produces the cytotoxic singlet oxygen when irradiated with visible light and hence destroys tumor cells. However, the bioavailability of the mostly hydrophobic photosensitizer, and hence its incorporation into the cells, is fundamental to achieve the desired effect on malignant tissues by PDT. In this study, we focus on the optical properties of the temoporfin chromophore in different environments –in <i>vacuo</i>, in solution, encapsulated in drug delivery agents, namely cyclodextrin, and interacting with a lipid bilayer.

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Nanostructures for pH-sensitive Drug Delivery and Magnetic Resonance Contrast Enhancement Systems

Current Medicinal Chemistry ◽

10.2174/0929867324666170406110642 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 25 (25) ◽

pp. 3036-3057 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Xiao Sun ◽

Guilong Zhang ◽

Zhengyan Wu

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Magnetic Resonance ◽

Drug Release ◽

Contrast Enhancement ◽

General Strategy ◽

Ph Responsive ◽

Physicochemical Changes ◽

Magnetic Resonance Contrast ◽

Resonance Contrast ◽

Magnetic Resonance Contrast Enhancement

According to the differences of microenvironments between tumors and healthy tissues, if the anticancer drugs or magnetic resonance contrast agents (MRCAs) can be controlled to precisely match physiological needs at targeted tumor sites, it is expected to acquire better therapeutic efficacy and more accurate diagnosis. Over the decade, stimuli-responsive nanomaterials have been a research hotspot for cancer treatment and diagnosis because they show many excellent functions, such as in vivo imaging, combined targeting drug delivery and systemic controlled release, extended circulation time, etc. Among the various stimuli nanosystems, pH-stimuli mode is regarded as the most general strategy because of solid tumors acidosis. When exposed to weakly acidic tumor microenvironment, pH-responsive nanoplatforms can generate physicochemical changes for their structure and surface characteristics, causing drug release or contrast enhancement. In this review, we focused on the designs of various pH-responsive nanoplatforms and discussed the mechanisms of controlled drug release or switch on-off in MRCAs. This review also discussed the efficacy of cellular internalization for these nanoplatforms via endocytosis of acidic tumor cell. Meanwhile, nanoplatforms response to acidic intracellular pH (such as endosome, lysosome) are discussed, along with approaches for improving drug release performance and magnetic resonance contrast enhancement. A greater understanding of these pH-responsive nanoplatforms will help design more efficient nanomedicine to address the challenges encountered in conventional diagnosis and chemotherapy.

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Transferrin-Conjugated Nanocarriers as Active-Targeted Drug Delivery Platforms for Cancer Therapy

Current Pharmaceutical Design ◽

10.2174/1381612822666161026162347 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 23 (3) ◽

pp. 454-466 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Daniele R. Nogueira-Librelotto ◽

Cristiane F. Codevilla ◽

Ammad Farooqi ◽

Clarice M. B. Rolim

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Cancer Therapy ◽

Tumor Cells ◽

Therapeutic Benefit ◽

Active Targeting ◽

Future Research ◽

Passive Targeting ◽

The Right ◽

Review Current ◽

Target Effects

A lot of effort has been devoted to achieving active targeting for cancer therapy in order to reach the right cells. Hence, increasingly it is being realized that active-targeted nanocarriers notably reduce off-target effects, mainly because of targeted localization in tumors and active cellular uptake. In this context, by taking advantage of the overexpression of transferrin receptors on the surface of tumor cells, transferrin-conjugated nanodevices have been designed, in hope that the biomarker grafting would help to maximize the therapeutic benefit and to minimize the side effects. Notably, active targeting nanoparticles have shown improved therapeutic performances in different tumor models as compared to their passive targeting counterparts. In this review, current development of nano-based devices conjugated with transferrin for active tumor-targeting drug delivery are highlighted and discussed. The main objective of this review is to provide a summary of the vast types of nanomaterials that have been used to deliver different chemotherapeutics into tumor cells, and to ultimately evaluate the progression on the strategies for cancer therapy in view of the future research.

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