Nanomedicine Research Journal
Volume:7 Issue: 1, Winter 2022

As the world's sixth prevalent malignancy among women, the increased rate of mortality in ovarian cancer (OC)  patients is due to late diagnosis that causes a high rate of proliferation within the abdominal cavity. The sensitivity of screening and detection methods for the diagnosis of ovarian cancer in the early stages is insufficient. Considering the high rate of ovarian cancers resistance to most traditional treatments that cause the risk of disease recurrence and death, it is necessary to design new treatments and diagnostic methods. In this regard, nanoparticles and nanotechnology can be viable options for suppressing these limitations. One of the goals of nanotechnology is to improve the approaches of diagnosing, treating, or their combination (theranostics) in a variety of diseases including cancer. Au nanoparticles can simultaneously integrate therapeutic and imaging agents due to their special and extraordinary physicochemical properties and function as theranostic platforms. Next to their numerous distinct features, such as small size, surface impacts, quantum size, and electrical and optical effects, AuNPs proved to be relatively secure, stable, and require a simple preparation. Gold nanoparticles can be exerted as carriers for a more effective and targeted diagnostic and therapeutic agent delivery in the treatment of ovarian cancer. They can limit drug toxicity at tumor site and consequently reduce the toxicity of normal cells and tissues. Gold nanoparticles can be used as nano-theranostics agents and facilitate personalized medicine for a more efficient treatment of ovarian cancer by providing the simultaneous delivering of diagnostic and therapeutic agents.

Influenza virus have its place in the Orthomyxoviridae family, comprising four types of viruses namely influenza A, B, C, and D. Several methods are commonly used to diagnose influenza, including PCR, rapid test, viral culture, and immunofluorescence while antiviral drugs are available for the therapeutic intervention including vaccines for preventive purposes which can inhibit the infection and virus spread more efficiently. The emergence of drug resistance is frequently detected due to the high occurrence of mutations in the virus's genome.  Nowadays, nanotechnology has evolved to overcome these hurdles wherein it could be deployed for both, the diagnosis and treatment of viral infections  via development of nano drugs and nano vaccines. Numerous nanostructures have been developed, such as peptides, proteins, polymers, metals, silicones, liposomes, and virus-like particles (VLPs), which can be used to diagnose and treat the influenza virus. These nanoparticles can be incorporated into nano biosensors or be employed as biological tags as nano drugs or nanocarriers for drug delivery as well as nano vaccines to stimulate the immune system more effectively. Herein, an overview of the potential application of nanotechnology-based strategies in the treatment, analytical methods, and vaccine production is presented for combating influenza viruses.

This study aimed to prepare a stable colloidal silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and assess its novelty combination therapy, which comprises AgNPs and lives attenuated Measles virus (MV) vaccine, to target breast cancer cells. The safety of the proposed therapy in normal breast epithelial cell lines (HBL-100) was evaluated. Silver nanoparticles prepared by chemical reduction, The stability, size, and concentration of the colloidal component have been demonstrated by examining the ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy at various times using Zeta potential examination, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and atomic spectroscopy. MV was propagated using the VERO-hSLAM cell line. Cytotoxicity assay was evaluated on human breast cancer cell lines. The safety of the proposed therapy in normal Human breast Luminal epithelial cells was assessed to compare the effect against cancer cell lines. The formation of nanoparticles is confirmed by the appearance of a perfect surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band at 424 nm. The stability was proved via a slight change in the absorption intensity from 224 nm to 226 nm (immediately and after a month), respectively, and the value of the charge was -41.13 mV. NPs were spherical in shape and had an average diameter of 40.87 nm. The concentration was 13 µg/ml. The Chou–Talalay analysis revealed synergism between the Measles virus and silver nanoparticles in all tested cancer cell lines and there were highly significant differences (p-value<0.001) among them  The novel combination of AgNPs and MV showed effective antitumor activity against breast cancer cells with high safety in normal human breast cells.

Klebsiella pneumoniae (K.p) is one of the pathogens causing hospital-acquired infections, which has been prioritized by the WHO due to its increased resistance to a variety of antibiotics. Cytokines are pro-inflammatory markers and their secretion in macrophages changes in pulmonary pneumoniae. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), as novel approaches in drug delivery, despite their pros, may induce acute inflammation in animal lungs. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of functionalized multi walled carbon nanotubes and ciprofloxacin (f-MWCNTs+cip) combination on the immune responses, by cytokine assessment in the treated THP1-derived macrophages and the A549 cell line infected with resistant and ATCC 700,603 K.p strains.  Nanofluid containing f-MWCNTs were prepared using ultrasonic method. THP1 cells were differentiated to macrophages and were infected with resistant and ATCC 700,603 K.p. The infected THP1–derived macrophages and A549 cells were treated with f-MWCNT+cip. ELISA and real-time PCR assays were performed to assess the TNF-α and IL-1β cytokines in the THP1-derived macrophages and A549 cell line before and after the treatments. The level of TNF-α and IL-1β cytokines after exposure to the f-MWCNT+ cip were upregulated significantly, in the resistant and ATCC K.p strains, from infected THP1–derived macrophages and the A549 cell line in comparison with control. Our findings showed that f-MWCNTs noticeably upregulated the expression of IL-1β and TNF-α genes in comparison with controls. Combination of f-MWCNTs+ciprofloxacin induced inflammatory response in both infected THP1-derived macrophages and A549 cell lines compared to the ciprofloxacin treatment.

Raman spectroscopy is a promising diagnostic technique used to identify different cancer types; however, few reports have correlated this information to histopathological analyses conducted in vivo or ex-vivo. It is well-known that using a set of techniques is important and necessary to get reliable and safer results. Identifying chemical changes in the Raman spectrum of healthy and pathological tissues enables better understanding the effects of treatments to be adopted, as well as optimizing pathological information and preventing cell death from taking place as slow biomolecule degradation of biomolecules. The treatment applied to non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) in the presence of reduced graphene oxide (rGO), rGO with cisplatin, rGO with doxorubicin, as well as the association of chemotherapeutics, such as rGO, with cisplatin and doxorubicin, followed by Raman spectroscopy and histopathological analyses, have shown the feasibility of using these two techniques to monitor NIMBC development in rats based on different chemotherapeutic formulations. Moreover, Raman tests have confirmed structural and biochemical changes in urinary bladder due to pathological process and exposure to chemotherapeutic agents.

Curcumin is a herbal supplement that has been mentioned for many biomedical applications. Several pieces of research demonstrated that curcumin could improve cancer chemotherapy, lagging the metastasis progress, and prevent healthy cells from radiation therapy damage. Through a simple and green synthesis procedure, stable gold nanoparticles were synthesized by natural phytomedicine curcumin. The curcumin-coated gold nanoparticles (Cur@AuNPs) are red and represent the distinct gold nanoparticles' plasmonic peak. The average diameter of the synthesized nanoparticles is 21.7. However, the hydrodynamic diameter was 45.1 nm. The cytotoxicity of Cur@AuNPs has been investigated through an MTT assay. 24-hour treatment of Cur@AuNPs could eradicate more than 30% of HT29 cancerous cells. The real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was used to study the molecular change in apoptotic protein changes. The nanoparticle treatment increases the level of the pro-apoptotic protein (Bax, P53, and P21) and decreases the anti-apoptotic protein level (Bcl-2) in the treated cell population.

One of the new strategies for improving of chemotherapy in cancer treatment is the use of nanocarriers for sustained release of anticancer drugs. The present study aims to investigate the bovine serum albumin nanoparticles (BSANP) with exosomes (Exo) for prolonged release of 5-Flurouracil (5FU) as an anticancer drug model. 5FU with Exo was loaded to BSANP (5FU.Exo@BSANP) and the system was characterized by FTIR, AFM and FESEM. Furthermore, 5FU.Exo and 5FU@BSANP were prepared and characterized to compare their release behavior with that of 5FU.Exo@BSANP. The binding properties examined via FTIR confirmed the formation of the above-mentioned systems. FESEM analysis of BSANP and 5FU.Exo@BSANP showed the spherical morphology with the average particle size 313±60 nm and 403±64 nm, respectively, while, 5FU.Exo had a cylindrical morphology with average particle size in width 200±36 nm. AFM results demonstrated the reduction of roughness in 5FU.Exo@BSANP. In addition, the release behavior indicated that sustained release of 5FU occurred when it was loaded to nanocarriers. However, the release of 5FU from 5FU.Exo@BSANP at pH 7.4 was slower than in the other systems. Furthermore, the kinetic model of all systems was followed by Korsmeyer-peppas with Fickian diffusion while 5FU.Exo@BSANP at pH 5.5 was zero order kinetic model. Moreover, MTT assay onto 4T1 cancer cell lines explored the significant cytotoxicity of 5FU.Exo@BSANP. Thus, the designed nanocarrier of Exo@BSANP is a promising system for sustained release of 5FU.

A study was performed on the possibility of synthesizing silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) from Ducrosia Anethifolia Aqueous Extract for treating breast cancer MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines.

The application of Ducrosia Anethifolia Aqueous Extract caused a reduction in silver ions and facilitated the production of silver nanoparticles. Different analyzing procedures were exerted to evaluate the qualities of synthesized NPs by Ducrosia Anethifolia Aqueous Extract including UV-Vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and dynamic light scattering (DLS). In the following, subsequent to assessing the viability of MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines, their exposure to AgNPs was evaluated by the usage of MTT assay. Moreover, the Bax, Bad, Bcl-2, and c-FLIP expression levels of treated cells were examined by real-time PCR analysis.

The observance of an absorption peak at 460 nm through the obtained data from a spectrophotometer affirmed the production of silver NPs. The images of electron microscope displayed the spherical shape of NPs in an average size of around 9.41 nm. Moreover, this product caused a robust reduction in the viability of both MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines that was mainly pointed out by the improved expressions of Bax and Bad gene, while minimizing the gene expressions of Bcl-2 and c-FLIP.

This experiment approved the applicability of Ducrosia Anethifolia Aqueous Extract for performing the green synthesis of NPs. In addition, the synthesized NPs exhibited anti-tumor effects on the applied breast cancer cell lines through the up-regulation of pro-apoptotic proteins concomitant along with the down-regulation of anti-apoptotic proteins expression.

The Hyalomma species of ticks is hematophagous ectoparasites and responsible for transmission of protozoan, bacterial, rickettsial and viral infection in vertebrate animals and humans. Recently, nanobiotechnology is considered as a novel approach for the control of ticks. The aim of this study is to evaluate acaricidal activity of nanocristobalite (nano-SiO2) against the Hyalomma spp. in vitro and to determine its toxicity by MTT assay. The acaricidal activities of the SiO2-NPs were evaluated at concentrations of 50, 125 and 250 mg/ml and controls (distilled water and Cypermethrin) at exposure times of 10, 30 and 60 min, were performed each with two replications and two spraying and contact methods. Then the toxicity of each concentration was evaluated by MTT assay. Mortality percentages and LC50 values were calculated. Data were analysed by Graph Pad Prism 5 software. The results of this study revealed all concentrations of SiO2-NPs had acaricidal activity and concentration of 250 mg/ml of SiO2-NPs had the highest acaricidal effect (90%) at 60 min exposure time. The results showed that the spray method was more effective than the contact method and the results of MTT toxicity test showed that nano-SiO2 have very little toxicity in all concentrations. The median lethal concentration (LC50) values were obtained at 125 mg/ml in 60 min. The results indicated that SiO2-NPs contained potent acaricidal activity and might provide new acaricidal compounds for the effective control of Hyalomma spp. However, further investigations are needed to determine the efficacy of SiO2-NPs in vivo.

Iron oxide nanoparticles are one of the most applied metal nanoparticles with advantageous properties in biomedicine that can be cost-effectively and rapidly produced through green synthesizing methods. The purpose of this study was to study the toxicity of iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe2O3 NPs), which were green synthesized by Prosopis farcta extract, on brain glioblastoma cells (U87). Powder X-ray Diffraction (PXRD), Vibrating-Sample Magnetometer (VSM), Field Energy Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy-Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDX), and Raman technics were performed to evaluate the physicochemical properties of this product. According to results, the green synthesized Fe2O3 nanoparticles contained a spherical morphology in the size range of 20-45 nm with superparamagnetic features. Additionally, their cytotoxic activity was surveyed against U87 cells by MTT assay, and the outcomes indicated the lack of any cytotoxic activity until reaching the concentration of 500 μg/mL. Therefore, our synthesized Fe2O3 NPs can be proposed as a proper candidate for being applied in the drug delivery of cancer treatments.