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Bioengineering
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Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Treatment
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Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Treatment

A special issue of Bioengineering (ISSN 2306-5354). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomedical Engineering and Biomaterials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 9978

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Wujie Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Interests: biomaterials; drug delivery; micro/nanotechnology; tissue engineering; cancer treatment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death, although significant progress has been made toward its treatment. Novel drug delivery systems are critical in effective cancer treatments, in addition to the discovery of drug molecules themselves. Novel drug delivery systems of various scales and shapes show great promise in improving cancer treatment efficacy, especially in relieving drug resistance. Some state-of-the-art approaches to cancer treatment include targeting cancer cells and releasing drugs, utilizing the tumor microenvironment-responsiveness of drug carriers. Moreover, drug delivery to cancer stem-like cells requires further research, as they are highly involved in drug resistance and metastasis.

This Special Issue on “Novel Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Treatment” focuses on original research papers and comprehensive reviews that investigate multiscale novel drug delivery systems for effective cancer treatment, especially targeting cancer stem-like cells and drug resistance. Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

  1. Novel microscale drug delivery systems, such as microspheres and microcapsules, for cancer treatment;
  2. Novel nanoscale drug delivery systems, such as nanoparticles and nanofibers, for cancer treatment;
  3. Novel targeted drug delivery systems for cancer treatment;
  4. The development of in vitro tumor models for anti-cancer therapeutics testing;
  5. Tumor microenvironment-responsive, such as heat and pH, drug delivery systems for cancer treatment;
  6. Novel drug delivery systems overcoming cancer cell drug resistance;
  7. Drug delivery to cancer stem-like cells.

Prof. Dr. Wujie Zhang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Bioengineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • drug delivery
  • cancer treatment
  • controlled release
  • sustained release
  • drug targeting
  • microcarrier
  • nanocarrier
  • tumor microenvironment-responsive
  • cancer stem-like cells

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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22 pages, 5216 KiB  
Article
Low-Intensity Continuous Ultrasound Enhances the Therapeutic Efficacy of Curcumin-Encapsulated Exosomes Derived from Hypoxic Liver Cancer Cells via Homotropic Drug Delivery Systems
by MinSeok Kim, YounJoong Kim, ChiYeon Hwang, MinHyeok Song, SuKang Kim, Kyung-Sik Yoon, InSug Kang, HyungHwan Baik and Yong-Jin Yoon
Bioengineering 2024, 11(12), 1184; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering11121184 - 23 Nov 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1218
Abstract
Exosomes are extracellular nanovesicles secreted by cells that efficiently deliver therapeutic cargo for cancer treatment. However, because exosomes are present in low quantities and have limited target specificity, internal and external stress stimulation has been studied to increase exosome efficiency. Inspired by these [...] Read more.
Exosomes are extracellular nanovesicles secreted by cells that efficiently deliver therapeutic cargo for cancer treatment. However, because exosomes are present in low quantities and have limited target specificity, internal and external stress stimulation has been studied to increase exosome efficiency. Inspired by these studies, the uptake efficiency of cobalt chloride-induced hypoxic cancer cell-secreted exosomes was evaluated. Western blotting and RT-PCR data revealed increased exosome secretion and different protein compositions exhibited by hypoxic exosomes (H-Exos) compared to natural normoxic exosomes (N-Exos). Furthermore, these H-Exos were continuously stimulated using low-intensity ultrasound (LICUS) at an intensity of 360 mW/cm2 and a frequency of 3 MHz in vitro and 1 MHz in vivo. Hyperthermic and mechanical stress caused by ultrasound successfully improved exosome uptake via clathrin-mediated pathways, and confocal laser microscopy showed strong internal localization near the target cell nuclei. Finally, LICUS-equipped H-Exos were loaded with hydrophobic curcumin (H-Exo-Cur) and used to treat parent HepG2 liver cancer cells. The UV–Vis spectrophotometer displayed enhanced stability, solubility, and concentration of the encapsulated drug molecules. In MTT and FACS studies, approximately 40 times higher cell death was induced, and in animal studies, approximately 10 times higher tumor sizes were suppressed by LICUS-assisted H-Exo-Cur compared to the control. In this study, the delivery platform constructed demonstrated enormous potential for liver cancer therapy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Treatment)
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10 pages, 2923 KiB  
Article
Designing Patient-Driven, Tissue-Engineered Models of Primary and Metastatic Breast Cancer
by Garrett F. Beeghly, Candace Thomas, Jessica X. Yuan, Alexandra R. Harris and Jennifer M. Munson
Bioengineering 2022, 9(2), 44; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering9020044 - 18 Jan 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3184
Abstract
The rising survival rate for early-stage breast cancer in the United States has created an expanding population of women in remission at risk for distant recurrence, with metastatic spread to the brain demonstrating an especially poor prognosis. The current standard of care for [...] Read more.
The rising survival rate for early-stage breast cancer in the United States has created an expanding population of women in remission at risk for distant recurrence, with metastatic spread to the brain demonstrating an especially poor prognosis. The current standard of care for breast cancer brain metastases is not well defined or differentiated from the treatment of brain metastases from other primary sites. Here, we present tissue-engineered models of the primary and brain metastatic breast cancer microenvironments informed by analysis of patient tumor resections. We find that metastatic resections demonstrate distinct cellular and matrix components compared with primary resections or non-cancerous controls. Using our model systems, we find that the observed deposition of collagen I after metastasis to the brain may enhance breast cancer invasion. Future optimization of these models will present a novel platform to examine tumor-stroma interactions and screen therapeutics for the management of metastatic breast cancer. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Treatment)
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Review

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22 pages, 2939 KiB  
Review
Flavonoids-Based Delivery Systems towards Cancer Therapies
by Miguel Ferreira, Diana Costa and Ângela Sousa
Bioengineering 2022, 9(5), 197; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering9050197 - 2 May 2022
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 5194
Abstract
Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Cervical cancer, for instance, is considered a major scourge in low-income countries. Its development is mostly associated with the human papillomavirus persistent infection and despite the availability of preventive vaccines, they are only widely [...] Read more.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Cervical cancer, for instance, is considered a major scourge in low-income countries. Its development is mostly associated with the human papillomavirus persistent infection and despite the availability of preventive vaccines, they are only widely administered in more developed countries, thus leaving a large percentage of unvaccinated women highly susceptible to this type of cancer. Current treatments are based on invasive techniques, being far from effective. Therefore, the search for novel, advanced and personalized therapeutic approaches is imperative. Flavonoids belong to a group of natural polyphenolic compounds, well recognized for their great anticancer capacity, thus promising to be incorporated in cancer therapy protocols. However, their use is limited due to their low solubility, stability and bioavailability. To surpass these limitations, the encapsulation of flavonoids into delivery systems emerged as a valuable strategy to improve their stability and bioavailability. In this context, the aim of this review is to present the most reliable flavonoids-based delivery systems developed for anticancer therapies and the progress accomplished, with a special focus on cervical cancer therapy. The gathered information revealed the high therapeutic potential of flavonoids and highlights the relevance of delivery systems application, allowing a better understanding for future studies on effective cancer therapy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Treatment)
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