Plant-derived exosome-like nanoparticles and their therapeutic activities

Nanotechnologies have been successfully applied to the treatment of various diseases.Plant-derived exosome-like nanoparticles (PENs) are expected to become effective therapeutic modalities for treating disease or in drug-delivery. PENs are minimally cytotoxic to healthy tissues, with which they show excellent biocompatibility, and are biased towards tumors by targeting specific tissues through special endocytosis mechanisms. Thus, the use of these PENs may expand the scope of drug therapies while reducing the off-target effects.In this review, we summarize the fundamental features and bioactivities of PENs extracted from the grape, grapefruit, ginger, lemon, and broccoli and discuss the applications of these particles as therapeutics and nanocarriers.

Thrombosis: Novel nanomedical concepts of diagnosis and treatment

Intravascular thrombosis, a critical pathophysiological feature of many cardiovascular disorders, leads to the formation of life-threatening obstructive blood clots within the vessels. Rapid recanalization of occluded vessels is essential for the patients' outcome, but the currently available systemic fibrinolytic therapy is associated with low efficacy and tremendous side effects. Additionally, many patients are ineligible for systemic thrombolytic therapy, either due to delayed admission to the hospital after symptom onset, or because of recent surgery, or bleeding. In order to improve the treatment efficacy and to limit the risk of hemorrhagic complications, both precise imaging of the affected vascular regions, and the localized application of fibrinolytic agents, are required. Recent years have brought about considerable advances in nanomedical approaches to thrombosis. Although these thrombustargeting imaging agents and nanotherapies are not yet implemented in humans, substantial amount of successful in vivo applications have been reported, including animal models of stroke, acute arterial thrombosis, and pulmonary embolism. It is evident that the future progress in diagnosis and treatment of thrombosis will be closely bound with the development of novel nanotechnology-based strategies. This Editorial focuses on the recently reported approaches, which hold a great promise for personalized, disease-targeted treatment and reduced side effects in the patients suffering from this life-threatening condition.

Properties, Characterizations and Applications of Organometallic Surfactants—A Review

This review focuses on organometallic surfactant frameworks considering their wide applications. Organometallic surfactants have grown from being used as dewaxers in complex industrial processes to the production of nanoparticles and for use in many drug delivery applications. Their properties such as self assembly, forming supramolecular structures are outstanding, providing for their myriad industrial usage. In this review, an account of properties, preparation techniques, characterisation techniques and uses of organometallic surfactants are covered.

Macrocyclic supramolecular biomaterials in anti-cancer therapeutics

Macrocyclic supramolecular complexes demonstrate the dynamic potential to solve global biomedical challenges,a promising cancer treatment modality.The macrocyclic system is an important heterocyclic system widely present in natural products and synthetic molecules.The unique structural feature of macrocyclic supramolecular complexes with desirable donor&acceptor characteristics is beneficial for readily binding with various enzymes and receptors in biological systems through diverse weak interactions,thereby exhibiting broad bioactivities.Macrocyclic-related research and macrocyclic moleculesbased medicinal chemistry developments have become rapidly developing areas of study.Numerous macrocyclic-based molecules as clinical drugs have been extensively used in the clinic to treat various diseases with high therapeutic potency.This critically analyzed work systematically reviews current developments of macrocyclic supramolecular complexes-based compounds in the range of medicinal chemistry as anticancer,anti-inflammatory,and other therapeutic agents,together with their potential applications in diagnostics and pathology.This review will be helpful for medicinal chemistry researchers to develop new thoughts in the quest for rational designs of more active and less toxic macrocyclic supramolecular complexes-based medicinal drugs,as well as more effective diagnostic agents and pathologic probes.

Cell membrane-derived vesicles for delivery of therapeutic agents

Cell membranes have recently emerged as a new source of materials for molecular delivery systems.Cell membranes have been extruded or sonicated to make nanoscale vesicles.Unlike synthetic lipid or polymeric nanoparticles,cell membrane-derived vesicles have a unique multicomponent feature,comprising lipids,proteins,and carbohydrates.Because cell membrane-derived vesicles contain the intrinsic functionalities and signaling networks of their parent cells,they can overcome various obstacles encountered in vivo.Moreover,the different natural combinations of membranes from various cell sources expand the range of cell membrane-derived vesicles,creating an entirely new category of drug-delivery systems.Cell membrane-derived vesicles can carry therapeutic agents within their interior or can coat the surfaces of drug-loaded core nanoparticles.Cell membranes typically come from single cell sources,including red blood cells,platelets,immune cells,stem cells,and cancer cells.However,recent studies have reported hybrid sources from two different types of cells.This review will summarize approaches for manufacturing cell membrane-derived vesicles and treatment applications of various types of cell membrane-derived drug-delivery systems,and discuss challenges and future directions.

Carrier-free highly drug-loaded biomimetic nanosuspensions encapsulated by cancer cell membrane based on homology and active targeting for the treatment of glioma

Nanosuspensions,as a new drug delivery system for insoluble drugs,are only composed of a drug and a small amount of stabilizer,which is dispersed in an aqueous solution with high drug-loading,small particle size,high dispersion,and large specific surface area.It can significantly improve the dissolution,bioavailability,and efficacy of insoluble drugs.In this study,paclitaxel nanosuspensions((PTX)NS)were prepared by an ultrasonic precipitation method,with the characteristics of simple preparation and easy repetition.With the help of a homologous targeting mechanism,a kind of glioma C6 cancer cell membrane(CCM)-coated(PTX)NS was developed and modified with DWSW peptide to obtain DWSW-CCM-(PTX)NS with the functions of BBB penetration and tumor targeting.The results showed that the cancer cell membrane could effectively camouflage the nanosuspensions so that it was not cleared by the immune system and could cross the blood-brain-barrier(BBB)and selectively target tumor tissues.Cell uptake experiments and in vivo imaging confirmed that the uptake of DWSW-CCM-(PTX)NS by tumor cells and the distribution in intracranial gliomas increased.Cytotoxicity test and in vivo anti-glioma studies showed that DWSW-CCM-(PTX)NS could significantly inhibit the growth of glioma cells and significantly prolong the survival time of glioma-bearing mice.Finally,the cancer cell membrane coating endowed the nanosuspensions with the biological properties of homologous adhesion and immune escape.This study provides an integrated solution for improving the targeting of nanosuspensions and demonstrates the encouraging potential of biomimetic nanosuspensions applicable to tumor therapy.

Biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles based on amphiphilic principle:construction and application in drug delivery

The use of nanotechnology in drug-delivery systems(DDS) is attractive for advanced diagnosis and treatment of cancer diseases. Biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles, for example, have promising applications as advanced drug carriers in cancer treatment. In this review, we discuss the development of drug-delivery systems based on an amphiphilic principle mainly conducted by our group for anti-cancer drug delivery. We first briefly address the synthetic chemistry for amphiphilic biodegradable polymers. In the second part, we summarize progress in the application of self-assembled polymer micelles using amphiphilic biodegradable copolymers as anti-tumor drug carriers.

Combined flow-focus and self-assembly routes for the formation of lipid stabilized oil-shelled microbubbles

Lipid and polymer stabilized microbubbles are used in medicine as contrast agents for ultrasound imaging and are being developed for the delivery of water soluble drugs to diseased areas of the body.However,many new therapeutics exhibit poor water solubility or stability,which has led to the requirement for the development of effective hydrophobic drug delivery systems.This study presents a new method to produce microbubbles coated with an oil layer capable of encapsulating hydrophobic drugs and suitable for targeted,triggered drug release.This new method utilizes highly controllable flow-focusing microfluidics with lipid oil nanodroplets self-assembling and spreading at gas–aqueous interfaces.Oil layer inside microbubbles were produced with diameters of 2.4±0.3μm(s.d.,1.6μm)and at concentrations up to 10^(6) bubbles per milliliter.The mechanism of oil layer inside microbubble assembly and stability were characterized using methods including contact angle measurements,quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring and fluorescence resonance energy transfer imaging.