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Multifunctional Nanoparticles for Anticancer Drug Delivery Systems

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2024) | Viewed by 2019

Special Issue Editor

College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Interests: nanoparticles; drug delivery; nanocarriers; cancer therapy; computational modeling; nanomaterials; cancer biology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

The field of nanotechnology has led to the development of many innovative strategies for the effective detection and treatment of cancer, overcoming limitations associated with conventional cancer diagnosis and therapy. Compared to conventional chemotherapy, targeted drug delivery systems are advantageous in many ways as they minimize drug resistance and improve therapeutic value for cancer patients. Moreover, multifunctional nanoparticle-based platforms of anticancer drug delivery have paved the way for innovative therapies that are more efficacious, less invasive, and less toxic.

Multifunctional nanoparticles enable the simultaneous delivery of multiple treatment agents, resulting in effective combinatorial therapeutic regimens against cancer.  Multifunctional nanoparticles can also be loaded with imaging agents or molecules to provide diagnostic information during optical imaging, magnetic resonance, and photothermal detection. Overall, they can be engineered to detect cancer cells, deliver treatment agents, and monitor treatment response, thus integrating diagnosis and treatment in real time.

For this Special Issue, we discuss the various types of materials used to synthesize multifunctional nanoparticles for cancer imaging and therapy and summarize recent and ongoing research in the fabrication of these designer NPs against cancer. We highlight the three main components that make up a multifunctional NP in cancer drug delivery and imaging: the targeting ligand, the anticancer therapeutic agent, and the imaging modality.

Dr. Amr Amin
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • cancer therapy
  • drug delivery
  • multifunctional nanoparticles
  • nanotechnology
  • tumor targeting
  • imaging

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 3774 KiB  
Article
Cationic Vitamin E-TPGS Mixed Micelles of Berberine to Neutralize Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity via Amelioration of Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Impeding Apoptosis
by Abdelkader A. Metwally, Samayita Ganguly, Nora Biomi, Mingyi Yao and Tamer Elbayoumi
Molecules 2024, 29(5), 1155; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29051155 - 5 Mar 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1670
Abstract
Anthracycline antibiotics, namely, doxorubicin (DOX) and daunorubicin, are among the most widely used anticancer therapies, yet are notoriously associated with severe myocardial damage due to oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage. Studies have indicated the strong pharmacological properties of Berberine (Brb) alkaloid, predominantly mediated [...] Read more.
Anthracycline antibiotics, namely, doxorubicin (DOX) and daunorubicin, are among the most widely used anticancer therapies, yet are notoriously associated with severe myocardial damage due to oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage. Studies have indicated the strong pharmacological properties of Berberine (Brb) alkaloid, predominantly mediated via mitochondrial functions and nuclear networks. Despite the recent emphasis on Brb in clinical cardioprotective studies, pharmaceutical limitations hamper its clinical use. A nanoformulation for Brb was developed (mMic), incorporating a cationic lipid, oleylamine (OA), into the TPGS-mixed corona of PEGylated-phosphatidylethanolamine (PEG-PE) micelles. Cationic TPGS/PEG-PE mMic with superior Brb loading and stability markedly enhanced both intracellular and mitochondria-tropic Brb activities in cardiovascular muscle cells. Sub-lethal doses of Brb via cationic OA/TPGS mMic, as a DOX co-treatment, resulted in significant mitochondrial apoptosis suppression. In combination with an intense DOX challenge (up to ~50 µM), mitochondria-protective Brb-OA/TPGS mMic showed a significant 24 h recovery of cell viability (p ≤ 0.05–0.01). Mechanistically, the significant relative reduction in apoptotic caspase-9 and elevation of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 seem to mediate the cardioprotective role of Brb-OA/TPGS mMic against DOX. Our report aims to demonstrate the great potential of cationic OA/TPGS-mMic to selectively enhance the protective mitohormetic effect of Brb to mitigate DOX cardiotoxicity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifunctional Nanoparticles for Anticancer Drug Delivery Systems)
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