Fabrication of gold nanoparticles for targeted therapy in pancreatic cancer

The targeted delivery of a drug should result in enhanced therapeutic efficacy with low to minimal side effects. This is a widely accepted concept, but limited in application due to lack of available technologies and process of validation. Biomedical nanotechnology can play an important role in this respect. Biomedical nanotechnology is a burgeoning field with myriads of opportunities and possibilities for advancing medical science and disease treatment. Cancer nanotechnology (1–100 nm size range) is expected to change the very foundations of cancer treatment, diagnosis and detection. Nanomaterials, especially gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have unique physico-chemical properties, such as ultra small size, large surface area to mass ratio, and high surface reactivity, presence of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) bands, biocompatibility and ease of surface functionalization. In this review, we will discuss how the unique physico-chemical properties of gold nanoparticles may be utilized for targeted drug delivery in pancreatic cancer leading to increased efficacy of traditional chemotherapeutics.     

Encapsulating gold nanomaterials into size-controlled human serum albumin nanoparticles for cancer therapy platforms

Abstract

Progress has been made in using human serum albumin nanoparticles (HSAPs) as promising colloidal carrier systems for early detection and targeted treatment of cancer and other diseases. Despite this success, there is a current lack of multi-functional HSAP hybrids that offer combinational therapies. The size of the HSAPs has crucial importance on drug loading and in vivo performance and has previously been controlled via manipulation of pH and cross-linking parameters. Gold nanomaterials have also gained attention for medicinal use due to their ability to absorb near-infrared light, thus offering photothermal capabilities. In this study, the desolvation and cross-linking approach was employed to encapsulate gold nanorods, nanoparticles, and nanoshells into HSAPs. Incorporation of gold nanomaterials caused some changes in HSAP sizes, but the general size trends remained. This encasement strategy facilitated size-controlled HSAPs, in the range of 100–300?nm, loaded with gold nanostructures; providing composite particles which incorporate photothermally active components.     

Cationic nanoparticles for cancer therapy

Importance of the field: The lack of selective delivery of therapeutic molecules to cancer cells remains a problem in cancer therapy. As a result of this non-selectivity, cytotoxic agents are delivered to both healthy and cancerous cells, resulting in severe side effects for the patient, eventually causing termination of therapy or ineffective therapy resulting in progression or recurrence of the disease. In this context, cationic polymers with net positive surface charge emerge as a promising option owing to their very strong cellular interaction properties and good cellular uptake.

Areas covered in this review: In this review, the structure, characteristics and preparation techniques for cationic nanoparticulate drug delivery systems are discussed in the light of cytotoxicity associated with cationic polymers and strong complement activation properties of cationic carrier systems on injection. In vivo behavior and biodistribution of cationic nanoparticles are also reviewed for a better understanding of biological interaction of cationic nanoparticles.

What the reader will gain: This review will give an insight to the properties of cationic polymers, including their advantages and drawbacks and drug/gene delivery systems based on cationic polymers intended for cancer therapy.

Take home message: Cationic polymer-based nanoparticles emerge as a promising group of nanosize carrier systems to the tumor cell level with a wide range of modification and application possibilities.     

Polymeric nanoparticles for cancer therapy

Cancer is an ever-increasing menace that needs to be curbed soon. Though chemotherapy is successful to some extent, the main drawbacks of chemotherapy is the limited accessibility of drugs to the tumor tissues requiring high doses, their intolerable toxicity, development of multiple drug resistance and their non-specific targeting. Nanoparticles (NPs), an evolution of nanotechnology, have the potential to successfully address these problems related to drug delivery and retention and are considered potential candidates to carry drugs to the desired site of therapeutic action. In this review, we give an overview of the use of clinically applicable NPs mainly for cancer therapy. We also focus on the different types of nanoscale polymer carriers used for the delivery of chemotherapeutic agents and the mechanisms that facilitate their targeted delivery to tumor cells.     

Polymeric nanoparticles for cancer therapy

Cancer is an ever-increasing menace that needs to be curbed soon. Though chemotherapy is successful to some extent, the main drawbacks of chemotherapy is the limited accessibility of drugs to the tumor tissues requiring high doses, their intolerable toxicity, development of multiple drug resistance and their non-specific targeting. Nanoparticles (NPs), an evolution of nanotechnology, have the potential to successfully address these problems related to drug delivery and retention and are considered potential candidates to carry drugs to the desired site of therapeutic action. In this review, we give an overview of the use of clinically applicable NPs mainly for cancer therapy. We also focus on the different types of nanoscale polymer carriers used for the delivery of chemotherapeutic agents and the mechanisms that facilitate their targeted delivery to tumor cells.     

Cancer-targeting multifunctionalized gold nanoparticles in imaging and therapy

Nanotechnology has provided many promising nanoplatforms for targeted cancer imaging and therapy. Among these platforms, gold nanoparticles (GNPs) play a unique role in medicine because of their excellent physical and chemical properties. To expand the applications of GNPs in medicine, amounts of targeting moieties, imaging labels, and therapeutic agents have been integrated into these particles to form multifunctionalized GNPs. In this review, we highlight recent advances of the fabrication of cancer-targeting multifunctionalized GNPs and their applications in imaging and therapy.     

Size matters: gold nanoparticles in targeted cancer drug delivery

Cancer is the current leading cause of death worldwide, responsible for approximately one quarter of all deaths in the USA and UK. Nanotechnologies provide tremendous opportunities for multimodal, site-specific drug delivery to these disease sites and Au nanoparticles further offer a particularly unique set of physical, chemical and photonic properties with which to do so. This review will highlight some recent advances, by our laboratory and others, in the use of Au nanoparticles for systemic drug delivery to these malignancies and will also provide insights into their rational design, synthesis, physiological properties and clinical/preclinical applications, as well as strategies and challenges toward the clinical implementation of these constructs moving forward.     

Biogenic silver,gold and copper nanoparticles - A sustainable green chemistry approach for cancer therapy

The advent of nanotechnology has revolutionized the way clinicians are treating cancers. Treatment for cancer includes surgery, radiotherapy, hormonal therapy, chemotherapy, and now nano therapy, which could be a possible alternative. This new treatment regime can be beneficial since it shows minimum side effects as compared to other treatment methods. Metallic nanoparticles synthesized through green chemistry by using biological entities minimizes the side effects and enhances the properties of the metal against cancer cells. These green nanoparticles are widely used in research and have shown promising cytotoxic activity against various cancer cell lines. Mechanistically, these nanoparticles can enter the cancer cell and cause cell death by the activation of various molecular pathways such as apoptosis, necrosis and autophagy. This review focuses on the metal nanoparticles (silver, gold and copper) synthesized by the green chemistry approach that have been utilized to study the cancer cell death and we are also discussing the underlying molecular pathways.     

RET inhibition: implications in cancer therapy

Introduction: The RET gene encodes a receptor tyrosine kinase essential for ontogenesis of the enteric nervous system and kidney. Following identification of RET, it was found that somatic rearrangements of this gene, conventionally designated as RET/PTC, are frequently present in papillary thyroid carcinoma. Subsequently, activating germ line point mutations of RET were identified as being responsible for the hereditary medullary thyroid carcinoma syndromes MEN2A, MEN2B and FMTC. RET rearrangements have recently been identified in a small fraction of lung adenocarcinomas.

Area covered: The authors review the current field concerning the RET gene and protein, its involvement in cancer and the preclinical and clinical studies which highlight its role as a potentially important therapeutic target for several cancers.

Expert opinion: Many multitargeted inhibitors which crossreact with RET have been developed and investigated in clinical trials targeting many cancer indications. In particular, VEGFR/PDGFR inhibitors, widely explored as antiangiogenics, have been intensively studied in thyroid carcinoma patients. Notwithstanding the efficacy observed with such agents, their common clinical activity in thyroid carcinoma is of short duration and includes frequent and severe side effects, limiting their therapeutic action. These findings are discussed and the need for improved, more specific RET-targeting drugs is highlighted.     

Gold nanoparticles in cancer therapy

The rapid advancement of nanotechnology in recent years has fuelled a burgeoning interest in the field of nanoparticle research, in particular, its application in the medical arena. A constantly expanding knowledge based on a better understanding of the properties of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) coupled with relentless experimentation means that the frontiers of nanotechnology are constantly being challenged. At present, there seems to be heightened interest in the application of AuNPs to the management of cancer, encompassing diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of the disease. These efforts are undertaken in the hope of revolutionizing current methods of treatment and treatment strategies for a multifactorial disease such as cancer. This review will focus on the current applications of AuNPs in cancer management.     

Enhancement of radiation effects by gold nanoparticles for superficial radiation therapy

Iodinated contrast agents, which are routinely used to improve contrast in x-ray diagnostic radiography, have been successfully proven to enhance radiation effects in kilovoltage x-ray radiation therapy beams. The studies determined the influence of iodine on the level of radiation biotoxicity to cells as an indicator of the radiation dose enhancement. The use of other high-atomic-number materials such as gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) may also provide advantages in terms of radiation dose enhancement. In this work AuNPs have been used for the enhancement of radiation effects on bovine aortic endothelial cells of superficial x-ray radiation therapy and megavoltage electron radiation therapy beams. Results reveal an increase of cell damage with increasing concentration of AuNPs. At 1 mM concentration of AuNPs, enhancement of radiation peaked at 25 times for a kilovoltage x-ray beam. AuNPs showed similar effects on electron beams but to a lesser extent. This study showed that AuNPs can be used to enhance the effect of radiation doses from kilovoltage x-ray radiation therapy and megavoltage electron radiation therapy beams. In the prevailing clinical circumstances, wherein radiation therapy dose is constrained by normal tissue tolerance, this enhancement could in the future be used to improve local control in superficial x-ray treatments, megavoltage electron beam radiation therapy, microbeam radiation therapy, and intraoperative irradiation using kilovoltage x-rays or megavoltage electron beams. Moreover, the value of this work also stems from the fact that the damage to the endothelial cells lining the highly vasculature structure of tumors deprives tumors of their oxygen and nutrients supply and enhances the efficiency of radiation therapy treatment, where it has been proven that more of the AuNPs injected into animals ends up into the blood than in the tumor.     

In search of the Holy Grail: Folate-targeted nanoparticles for cancer therapy

Targeted drug therapy or “smart” drug delivery, potentially combined with simultaneous imaging modalities to monitor the delivery of drugs to specific tissues, is arguably the “holy grail” of pharmacology. Therapeutic approaches that exploit nanoparticles to deliver drugs selectively to cancer cells are currently considered one of the most promising avenues in the area of cancer therapeutics and imaging. The potential to deliver active chemotherapeutic drugs in the vicinity or directly within specific tumors via receptor mediated pathways, and to image tumors through the use of nanoparticles has been conceptually and experimentally shown for several classes of nanoparticles. Nanoparticles functionalized with the vitamin folic acid are of particular interest as a variety of malignant tumors are known to overexpress the folate receptor(s). Indeed, several nanoparticle architectures with improved retention time, administration route, biocompatibility, absorption, and clearance are being proposed and are in late stage clinical development. This commentary highlights some of the most important concepts related to nanoparticles and folate-mediated drug delivery and imaging in cancer research.     

Combinatorial nanoparticles for cancer diagnosis and therapy

Nanotechnology when engineered together with biotechnology opens a fascinating field with applications in diverse areas such as drug targeting and delivery, medical imaging, biosensing, biomaterials and nanotechnology. Conjugating nanoparticles with biomolecules like QD-herceptin conjugates or QD-aptamer (Apt)-DOX conjugates provides many opportunities for improving many of the current challenges in cancer diagnosis and therapy. This paper reviews combinatorial nanoparticles designed and formulated for cancer imaging and therapy, including inorganic nanoparticles (quantum dots, iron oxide particles, gold nanoparticles and silica and carbon nanoparticles), polymeric nanoparticles (PLGA, PLGA-PEG, PAMAM), liposomes and lipid nanoparticles. These nanoparticles are multifunctional in nature and combine two or more functions like targeting, imaging and therapy. In this review, we have classified these combinatorial targeted nanoparticles into inorganic, polymeric and liposome based nanosystems.     

Neurotransmission and cancer: implications for prevention and therapy

Published evidence compiled in this review supports the hypothesis that the development, progression, and responsiveness to prevention and therapy of the most common human cancers is strongly influenced, if not entirely orchestrated, by an imbalance in stimulatory and inhibitory neurotransmission. The neurotransmitters acetylcholine, adrenaline, and noradrenaline of the autonomic nervous system act as powerful upstream regulators that orchestrate numerous cell and tissue functions, by releasing growth factors, angiogenesis factors and metastasis factors, arachidonic acid, proinflammatory cytokines, and local neurotransmitters from cancer cells and their microenvironment. In addition, they modulate proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, and metastasis of cancer directly by intracellular signaling downstream of neurotransmitter receptors. Nicotine and the tobacco-specific nitrosamines have the documented ability to hyperstimulate neurotransmission by both branches of the autonomic nervous system. The expression and function of these neurotransmitter pathways are cell type specific. Lifestyle, diet, diseases, stress, and pharmacological treatments modulate the expression and responsiveness of neurotransmitter pathways. Current preclinical testing systems fail to incorporate the modulating effects of neurotransmission on the responsiveness to anticancer agents and should be amended accordingly. The neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid has a strong inhibitory function on sympathicus-driven cancers whereas stimulators of cyclic adenosine monophosphate/protein kinase A signaling have strong inhibitory function on parasympathicus-driven cancers. Marker-guided restoration of the physiological balance in stimulatory and inhibitory neurotransmission represents a promising and hitherto neglected strategy for the prevention and therapy of neurotransmitter-responsive cancers.     

Inorganic nanoparticles for enhanced photodynamic cancer therapy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) in cancer treatment uses photosensitizers to generate singlet oxygen followed by photoirradiation. The efficacy of PDT is greatly determined by the dosimetry of activation light and the photosensitizer (PS), modulating the photodynamic reaction at depth in diseased tissue. Development of nano-formulated photosensitizer has emerged as a promising field because of the biocompatibility and the accessibility for multi-functionalization of nanoparticles. In this review, we summarize the contemporary progress in use of inorganic nanoparticles for improvement of PDT in cancer therapeutics.     

Expert opinion: Responsive polymer nanoparticles in cancer therapy

Polymeric nanoparticles are emerging as an attractive treatment options for cancer due to their favorable size distribution, drug carrying capacity, and tunable properties. In particular, intelligent nanoparticles that respond to biological cues are of interest because of their ability to provide controlled release at a specific site. Tumor sites display abnormal pH profiles and pathophysiology that can be exploited to provide localized release. In this expert opinion, we discuss passive and active targeting of nanoparticles and several classes of pH-responsive nanoparticles.     

Lipid nanoparticles for cancer therapy: state of the art and future prospects

Introduction: Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and it is estimated that deaths from this disease will rise to over 11 million in 2030. Most cases of cancer can be cured with surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy if they are detected at an early stage. However, current cancer therapies are commonly associated with undesirable side effects, as most chemotherapy treatments are cytotoxic and present poor tumor targeting.

Areas covered: Lipid nanoparticles (LN) are one of the most promising options in this field. LN are made up of biodegradable generally recognized as safe (GRAS) lipids, their formulation includes different techniques, and most are easily scalable to industrial manufacture. LN overcome the limitations imposed by the need for intravenous administration, as they are mainly absorbed via the lymphatic system when they are administered orally, which improves drug bioavailability. Furthermore, depending on their composition, LN present the ability to cross the blood–brain barrier, thus opening up the possibility of targeting brain tumors.

Expert opinion: The drawbacks of chemotherapeutic agents make it necessary to invest in research to find safer and more effective therapies. Nanotechnology has opened the door to new therapeutic options through the design of formulations that include a wide range of materials and formulations at the nanometer range, which improve drug efficacy through direct or indirect tumor targeting, increased bioavailability and diminished toxicity.     

Image-guided interventional therapy for cancer with radiotherapeutic nanoparticles

One of the major limitations of current cancer therapy is the inability to deliver tumoricidal agents throughout the entire tumor mass using traditional intravenous administration. Nanoparticles carrying beta-emitting therapeutic radionuclides that are delivered using advanced image-guidance have significant potential to improve solid tumor therapy. The use of image-guidance in combination with nanoparticle carriers can improve the delivery of localized radiation to tumors. Nanoparticles labeled with certain beta-emitting radionuclides are intrinsically theranostic agents that can provide information regarding distribution and regional dosimetry within the tumor and the body. Image-guided thermal therapy results in increased uptake of intravenous nanoparticles within tumors, improving therapy. In addition, nanoparticles are ideal carriers for direct intratumoral infusion of beta-emitting radionuclides by convection enhanced delivery, permitting the delivery of localized therapeutic radiation without the requirement of the radionuclide exiting from the nanoparticle. With this approach, very high doses of radiation can be delivered to solid tumors while sparing normal organs. Recent technological developments in image-guidance, convection enhanced delivery and newly developed nanoparticles carrying beta-emitting radionuclides will be reviewed. Examples will be shown describing how this new approach has promise for the treatment of brain, head and neck, and other types of solid tumors.     

Doxorubicin-conjugated siRNA lipid nanoparticles for combination cancer therapy

Evasion of apoptosis is a hallmark of cancer, attributed in part to overexpression of the antiapoptotic protein B-cell lymphoma 2(Bcl-2). In a variety of cancer types, including lymphoma, Bcl-2 is overexpressed. Therapeutic targeting of Bcl-2 has demonstrated efficacy in the clinic and is the subject of extensive clinical testing in combination with chemotherapy. Therefore, the development of co-delivery systems for Bcl-2 targeting agents, such as small interfering RNA(siRNA), and chemotherapeut...