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Life
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Advancing Nanotechnology in Cancer Theranostics
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Advancing Nanotechnology in Cancer Theranostics

A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Medical Research".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 January 2026 | Viewed by 1775

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Yulia Merkher

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel
Interests: biomedical devices; biomaterials; biomedical engineering; biomechanics; biomedical science; medical technology; extracellular matrix; mechanobiology; cancer metastasis; rheology; cancer cell biology; basic oncology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nanotechnology plays a pivotal role in the development of innovative cancer theranostics. By leveraging nanoscale materials, researchers aim to enhance diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic efficacy. Nanoparticles can be used for metastasis detection and prediction, as well as treatment targeting. The nano-systems can carry payloads of drugs, imaging agents or both, enabling targeted delivery to tumor sites. Additionally, they facilitate the real-time monitoring of treatment responses. In summary, nanotechnology revolutionizes personalized cancer therapy by combining diagnostics and therapeutics. As we explore these groundbreaking advancements, we pave the way for effective treatments that hold immense promise for patients worldwide.

Dr. Yulia Merkher
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. Life 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 2600 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

  • nanotechnology
  • cancer
  • nanoscale materials
  • nanoparticles
  • diagnostic accuracy
  • therapeutic efficacy
  • metastasis detection and prediction
  • targeted drug delivery
  • personalized cancer therapy

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 5437 KiB  
Article
Navigating the Collective: Nanoparticle-Assisted Identification of Leader Cancer Cells During Migration
by Anastasia Alexandrova, Elizaveta Kontareva, Margarita Pustovalova, Sergey Leonov and Yulia Merkher
Life 2025, 15(1), 127; https://doi.org/10.3390/life15010127 - 19 Jan 2025
Viewed by 1354
Abstract
Cancer-related deaths primarily occur due to metastasis, a process involving the migration and invasion of cancer cells. In most solid tumors, metastasis occurs through collective cell migration (CCM), guided by “cellular leaders”. These leader cells generate forces through actomyosin-mediated protrusion and contractility. The [...] Read more.
Cancer-related deaths primarily occur due to metastasis, a process involving the migration and invasion of cancer cells. In most solid tumors, metastasis occurs through collective cell migration (CCM), guided by “cellular leaders”. These leader cells generate forces through actomyosin-mediated protrusion and contractility. The cytoskeletal mechanisms employed by metastatic cells during the migration process closely resemble the use of the actin cytoskeleton in endocytosis. In our previous work, we revealed that tumor cells exhibiting high metastatic potential (MP) are more adept at encapsulating 100–200 nm nanoparticles than those with lower MP. The objective of this study was to investigate whether nanoparticle encapsulation could effectively differentiate leader tumor cells during their CCM. To achieve our objectives, we employed a two-dimensional CCM model grounded in the wound-healing (“scratch”) assay, utilizing two breast cancer cell lines, MCF7 and MDA-MB-231, which display low and high migratory potential, respectively. We conducted calibration experiments to identify the “optimal time” at which cells exhibit peak speed during wound closure. Furthermore, we carried out experiments to assess nanoparticle uptake, calculating the colocalization coefficient, and employed phalloidin staining to analyze the anisotropy and orientation of actin filaments. The highest activity for low-MP cells was achieved at 2.6 h during the calibration experiments, whereas high-MP cells were maximally active at 3.9 h, resulting in 8% and 11% reductions in wound area, respectively. We observed a significant difference in encapsulation efficiency between leader and peripheral cells for both high-MP (p < 0.013) and low-MP (p < 0.02) cells. Moreover, leader cells demonstrated a considerably higher anisotropy coefficient (p < 0.029), indicating a more organized, directional structure of actin filaments compared to peripheral cells. Thus, nanoparticle encapsulation offers a groundbreaking approach to identifying the most aggressive and invasive leader cells during the CCM process in breast cancer. Detecting these cells is crucial for developing targeted therapies that can effectively curb metastasis and improve patient outcomes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancing Nanotechnology in Cancer Theranostics)
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