Phytochemical-encapsulated nanoplatform for ＂ondemand＂ synergistic treatment of multidrug-resistant bacteria

Though phytochemicals are a promising alternative to traditional antibiotics for combating resistant bacteria, the low water solubility and lack of selectivity seriously hinder their widespread applications. Herein, we constructed a hyaluronidase-activated ＂on-demand＂ delivery nanocarrier to encapsulate plant essential oils （PEOs） for the synergistic treatment of mulfidrug-resistant bacteria. The bioavailability and selectivity of PEOs was enhanced and the antibacterial effect was significantly improved by combining with the photothermal effect of the nanocarrier. This antibacterial system was successfully applied for healing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus-infected wound with negligible cytotoxicity and biotoxicity in mice. Given the increasing risk of antibiotic resistance, we believe that this phytochemical-encapsulated nanoplatform would provide a long-term solution and be a new powerful tool for skin-associated bacterial infections.

Synergistic Effect of Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Pre-Treatment on Alkaline Etching of Polyethylene Terephthalate Fabrics and Films

Dyeing of PET materials by traditional methods presents several problems.Plasma technology has received enormous attention as a solution for the environmental problems related with textile surface modifications,and there has been a rapid development and commercialization of plasma technology over the past decade.In this work,the synergistic effect of atmospheric pressure plasma on alkaline etching and deep coloring of dyeing properties on polyethylene terephthalate（PET）fabrics and films was investigated.The topographical changes of the PET surface were investigated by atomic force microscopy（AFM）images,which revealed a smooth surface morphology of the untreated sample whereas a high surface roughness for the plasma and/or alkaline treated samples.The effects of atmospheric pressure plasma on alkaline etching of the structure and properties of PET were investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry（DSC）,the main objective of performing DSC was to investigate the effect of the plasma pre-treatment on the T_g and T_m.Using a tensile strength tester YG065 H and following a standard procedure the maximum force and elongation at maximum force of PET materials was investigated.Oxygen and argon plasma pre-treatment was found to increase the PET fabric weight loss rate.The color strength of PET fabrics was increased by various plasma pre-treatment times.The penetration of plasma and alkaline reactive species deep into the PET structure results in better dyeability and leaves a significant effect on the K/S values of the plasma pre-treated PET.It indicated that plasma pre-treatment has a great synergistic effect with the alkaline treatment of PET.

Biomaterial-assisted photoimmunotherapy for synergistic suppression of cancer progression

Photoimmunotherapy is an emerging treatment modality that uses photothermal,photodynamic and photochemical processes to fight against cancer by eliciting a robust host immune response.Recently,various nanoformulations of biomaterials have been rationally designed as highly effective photosensitive agents,immunoadjuvants or carriers to enhance phototherapeutic efficacy,boost immune stimulation,amplify nano-permeability and monitor cancer progression in situ.Nevertheless,relying solely on a single-modality therapy may not completely ablate primary tumors,and the metastasis and recurrence of tumors remain a serious challenge.To solve this issue,the strategy of combining photoimmunotherapy with other immunotherapies,such as immune checkpoint blockade,chimeric antigen receptor-T cell or cytokine therapy,can greatly enhance the effectiveness of oncology treatment and reduce the traditional adverse effects.Thus,it is very valuable to summarize the research progress in biomaterial-assisted combination photoimmunotherapy for clinical translation.In this review,the recent advances in constructing multifunctional nano-biomaterials for combinatorial photoimmunotherapy of cancer are summarized.Furthermore,the opportunities,challenges,future trends and prospects in this field are also analyzed to pave the way for advancing the next generation of clinical cancer management strategies.

Advanced surgical technologies for lung cancer treatment:Current status and perspectives

Lung cancer has become one of the key life-threatening factors and is the most common type of tumor.With the improvement of equipment and the improvement of lung cancer awareness,the surgical treatment of lung cancer is becoming more and more mature.Surgery can provide an important part of individualized treatment strategies for patients with different stages of lung cancer and different wishes.In addition,the concept of minimally invasive,precise,and intelligent has triggered a revolutionary change in the surgical treatment strategy for lung cancer.Therefore,this review focuses on the development of lung cancer surgery history,summarizing the era from traditional surgery to the era of minimally invasive thoracic surgery based on TV-assisted thoracic surgery.The operating methods and treatment effects of different surgical methods are comprehensively introduced,and the optimization and improvement of different surgical methods in the future are also discussed.Along with the concept of minimally invasive surgical techniques,there are more and more explorations of nanotechnology in the surgical treatment of lung cancer.The application of nanotechnology in lung cancer imaging,and the combination of surgery with nanomedicine is an effective solution for cancer treatment today.So,this review also summarizes the application prospects of nanotechnology before,during and after lung cancer surgery.

Charge-reversible crosslinked nanoparticle for pro-apoptotic peptide delivery and synergistic photodynamic cancer therapy

Although anti-cancer nanotherapeutics have made breakthroughs,many remain clinically unsatisfactory due to limited delivery efficiency and complicated biological barriers.Here,we prepared charge-reversible crosslinked nanoparticles(PDC NPs)by supramolecular self-assembly of pro-apoptotic peptides and photosensitizers,followed by crosslinking the self-assemblies with polyethylene glycol to impart tumor microenvironment responsiveness and charge-reversibility.The resultant PDC NPs have a high drug loading of 68.3%,substantially exceeding that of 10%–15%in conventional drug delivery systems.PDC NPs can overcome the delivery hurdles to significantly improve the tumor accumulation and endocytosis of payloads by surface charge reversal and responsive crosslinking strategy.Pro-apoptotic peptides target the mitochondrial membranes and block the respiratory effect to reduce local oxygen consumption,which extensively augments oxygen-dependent photodynamic therapy(PDT).The photosensitizers around mitochondria increased along with the peptides,allowing PDT to work with pro-apoptotic peptides synergistically to induce tumor cell death by mitochondria-dependent apoptotic pathways.Our strategy would provide a valuable reference for improving the delivery efficiency of hydrophilic peptides and developing mitochondrial-targeting cancer therapies.

Reversibly sensitizing-storing-releasing ^(1)O_(2) within a single platinum(Ⅱ)-acetylide-based metallacycle molecule via laser power modulation

Tumor hypoxia severely limits the therapeutic efficacy of photodynamic therapy(PDT) for solid tumors,which is highly dependent on tissue oxygen concentration.In this study,we developed a platinum(Ⅱ)-acetylide-based metallacycle compound bearing six 1,4-dimethylnaphthalenes(DMN) groups,and controlled the photodynamic and photothermal effects of the compound by adjusting the power of 730 nm laser to achieve reversible sensitization,storage and release of 1~O_(2) within a single molecule.The compound formed nanoparticles by self-assembly and exhibited good water solubility and biocompatibility.Under laser irradiation,the strong spin-orbit coupling of platinum atoms in the metallacycle facilitated 1~O_(2) generation.The produced 1~O_(2) was captured by the DMN carriers and transported into the hypoxic tumor,where 1~O_(2) release was triggered owing to the good photothermal effect of the extended conjugation of the metallacycle.During therapy,the metallacycle serving as a photosensitizer,1~O_(2) carrier,and photothermal reagent,achieved the synergistic therapy of PDT/PTT,demonstrating the versatility of the metallacycle.This study proposes a new strategy to develop phototherapy agents that are suitable for hypoxic tumors.

A smart dual-drug nanosystem based on coassembly of plant and food-derived natural products for synergistic HCC immunotherapy

Nanotechnology has emerged as an ideal approach for achieving the efficient chemo agent delivery.However,the potential toxicity and unclear internal metabolism of most nano-carriers was still a major obstacle for the clinical application.Herein,a novel"core-shell"co-assembly carrier-free nanosystem was constructed based on natural sources of ursolic acid(UA)and polyphenol(EGCG)with the EpCAM-aptamer modification for hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)synergistic treatment.As the nature products derived from food-plant,UA and EGCG had good anticancer activities and low toxicity.With the simple and"green"method,the nanodrugs had the advantages of good stability,p H-responsive and strong penetration of tumor tissues,which was expected to increase tumor cellular uptake,long circulation and effectively avoid the potential defects of traditional carriers.The nanocomplex exhibited the low cytotoxicity in the normal cells in vitro,good biosafety of organic tissues and efficient tumor accumulation in vivo.Importantly,UA combined with EGCG showed the immunotherapy by activating the innate immunity and acquired immunity resulting in significant synergistic therapeutic effect.The research could provide new ideas for the research and development of self-assembly delivery system in the future,and offer effective intervention strategies for clinical HCC treatment.

Advanced treatment of wet-spun acrylic fiber manufacturing wastewater using three-dimensional electrochemical oxidation

A three-dimensional electrochemical oxidation （3D-EC） reactor with introduction of activated carbon （AC） as particle micro-electrodes was apphed for the advanced treatment of secondary wastewater effluent of a wet-spun acrylic fiber manufacturing plant. Under the optimized conditions （current density of 500 A/m2, circulation rate of 5 mL/min, AC dosage of 50 g, and chloride concentration of 1.0 g/L）, the average removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand （CODer）, NH3-N, total organic carbon （TOC）, and ultraviolet absorption at 254 nm （UV2s4） of the 3D-EC reactor were 64.5%, 60.8%, 46.4%, and 64.8%, respectively; while the corresponding effluent concentrations of CODcr, NH3-N, TOC, and UV2s4 were 76.6, 20.1, and 42.5 mg/L, and 0.08 Abs/cm, respectively. The effluent concentration of CODer was less than 100 mg/L, which showed that the treated wastewater satisfied the demand of the integrated wastewater discharge standard （GB 8978-1996）. The 3D-EC process remarkably improved the treatment efficiencies with synergistic effects for CODer, NH3-N, TOC, and UV2s4 during the stable stage of 44.5%, 38.8%, 27.2%, and 10.9%, respectively, as compared with the sum of the efficiencies of a two-dimensional electrochemical oxidation （2D-EC） reactor and an AC adsorption process, which was ascribed to the numerous micro-electrodes of AC in the 3D-EC reactor. Gas chromatography mass spectrometry （GC-MS） analysis revealed that electro- chemical treatment did not generate more toxic organics, and it was proved that the increase in acute biotoxicity was caused primarily by the production of free chlorine.

Recent advances in diverse nanosystems for nitric oxide delivery in cancer therapy

Gas therapy has been proven to be a promising and advantageous treatment option for cancers.Studies have shown that nitric oxide(NO)is one of the smallest structurally significant gas molecules with great potential to suppress cancer.However,there is controversy and concern about its use as it exhibits the opposite physiological effects based on its levels in the tumor.Therefore,the anti-cancer mechanism of NO is the key to cancer treatment,and rationally designed NO delivery systems are crucial to the success of NO biomedical applications.This review summarizes the endogenous production of NO,its physiological mechanisms of action,the application of NO in cancer treatment,and nano-delivery systems for delivering NO donors.Moreover,it briefly reviews challenges in delivering NO from different nanoparticles and the issues associated with its combination treatment strategies.The advantages and challenges of various NO delivery platforms are recapitulated for possible transformation into clinical applications.

Au-Fe_3O_4 heterostructures for catalytic, analytical, and biomedical applications

Heterostructures are a series of nanomaterials combining different components into a single nanostructure. Au-FeOheterostructures have received considerable attentions because of their superior properties coming from both individual and combinational features of gold and iron oxide nanoparticles. Their intrinsically peculiar magnetic, optical properties, and structure designability greatly enhance and broaden their potential applications in catalysis, assay, multimodal imaging, and synergistic treatment for tumor. In this review, we systematically introduce the preparation methods of Au-FeOheterostructures and their potential applications in the biomedical field, focusing on the unique synergistic effect caused by the combination of gold and iron oxide structures. This review will provide insights into the structure control in adjusting the function of heterogeneous or hybrid material, such as Au-FeOheterostructures, to implement their biomedical applications.

A viscoelastic alginate-based hydrogel network coordinated with spermidine for periodontal ligament regeneration

Periodontitis can cause irreversible defects in the periodontal ligament(PDL),the regeneration of which is the major obstacle to the clinical treatment of periodontitis.Implanting hydrogel for releasing anti-inflammatory drugs is a promising treatment to promote PDL regeneration.However,existing hydrogel systems fail to mimic the typical viscoelastic feature of native periodontium,which may have been shown as an important role in tissue regeneration.Meanwhile,the synergistic benefits of mechanical cues and biochemical agents for PDL regeneration remain elusive.In this study,we developed a bi-crosslinking viscoelastic hydrogel(Alg-PBA/Spd)by integrating phenylboronic acid-modified alginate with anti-inflammatory agent(spermidine)through borate ester and B-N coordination bonds,where spermidine will be released with the degradation of the hydrogel.Alg-PBA/Spd hydrogel is biocompatible,injectable and can quickly adapt to complex periodontal structures due to the dynamic crosslinking.We demonstrated in rat models that the viscoelastic Alg-PBA/Spd hydrogel significantly promotes the deposition of periodontal collagen and accelerates the repair of periodontal damage.Our results suggest that the viscoelastic Alg-PBA/Spd hydrogel would be a promising mechano-biochemically synergistic treatment for periodontal regeneration.