Latest ArticlesGold nanorods (AuNRs), as relatively common materials used in biomedical areas, have been synthesized by means of many methods. However, the conventional seed-mediated method is limited by complex operations and low yield. Besides, for further applications of AuNRs, well monodispersed AuNRs and tunable longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) remain to be improved. Herein, we report a one-pot method for synthesizing AuNRs without seeding agents. In this method, we use phenols as reducing agents and hydrochloric acid and nitric acid are used to regulate the pH of the growth solution. AuNRs with the longest LSPR peak position reaching 1340 nm are prepared. Furthermore, by systematically optimizing concentrations of the reagents involved in the growth solution, different aspect ratios of AuNRs are synthesized. The facile synthesis, controllability aspect ratio, and long LSPR peak make our method promising for wider applications of AuNRs.
Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in men. The Rac1-GTP inhibitor NSC23766 has been shown to suppress PCa growth. However, these therapies have low tumor-targeting efficacy in vivo. Therefore, it is essential to produce a drug delivery system that specifically targets the tumor site. Herein, novel l-phenylalanine-based poly(ester amide) (Phe-PEA) polymers were synthesized and loaded with NSC23766 (NSC23766@8P6 NPs), which had a small particle size (162.3 ± 6.7 nm) and high NSC23766 loading (8.0% ± 1.1%) with a more rapid release of NSC23766 at pH 5.0. In vitro cellular uptake and cytotoxicity assays demonstrated that NSC23766@8P6 NPs were rapidly taken up by PC3 cells and showed significant effects of PCa cell proliferation inhibition and G2/M phase arrest. Furthermore, in vivo studies using PC3-bearing mice demonstrated that NSC23766@8P6 NPs delivered by intravenous injection not only increased the drug concentration with prolonged retention (96 h) at the tumor site, but also inhibited tumor growth and induced apoptosis. In conclusion, we have discovered that NSC23766@8P6 NPs can serve as a delivery system that targets the tumor site and is therefore a promising therapeutic approach for PCa treatment.
The small molecular second near-infrared (NIR-Ⅱ, 1000-1700 nm) dye-based nanotheranostics can concurrently combine deep-tissue photodiagnosis with in situ phototherapy, which occupies a vital position in the early detection and precise treatment of tumors. However, the development of small molecular NIR-Ⅱ dyes is still challenging due to the limited electron acceptors and cumbersome synthetic routes. Herein, we report a novel molecular electron acceptor, boron difluoride formazanate (BDF). Based on BDF, a new small molecular NIR-Ⅱ dye BDF1005 is designed and synthesized with strong NIR-Ⅰ absorption at 768 nm and bright NIR-Ⅱ peak emission at 1034 nm. In vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrate that BDF1005-based nanotheranostics can be applied for NIR-Ⅱ fluorescence imaging-guided photothermal therapy of 4T1 tumor-bearing mice. Under 808 nm laser irradiation, tumor growth can be effectively inhibited. This work opens up a new road for the exploitation of NIR-Ⅱ small molecular dyes for cancer phototheranostics.
Lung cancer is the most common malignancy in the world, with a high mortality rate. Nevertheless, therapies to act effectively against lung cancer remain elusive. So far, chemotherapy is still the frontline treatment of lung cancer. Doxorubicin (DOX) is a broad-spectrum anti-tumor drug. However, DOX often has serious side effects and causes multi-drug resistance, which greatly limits its clinical application. In this work, biodegradable methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(lactic acid) (MPEG-PLA) and cyclo(Arg-Gly-Asp-d-Phe-Lys) (cRGD) polypeptide modified PEG-PLA (cRGD-PEG-PLA) copolymers were used for the co-delivery of curcumin (CUR) and DOX (CUR-DOX/cRGD-M). The particle size of the self-assembled drug-loaded nanomicelle approximately was 27.4 nm and the zeta potential was −2.7 mV. Interestingly, CUR can enhance the uptake of DOX by Lewis lung carcinoma (LL/2) cells. The experimental results in vivo and in vitro showed that CUR-DOX/cRGD-M combination therapy could promote apoptosis of lung cancer cells, and conspicuously inhibit the tumor growth. Our data indicate that CUR-DOX/cRGD-M will be biodegradable and sustainable, which may have potential clinical application value in the treatment of lung cancer.
Highly efficient removal of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) from plasma by hemoperfusion for autoimmune disease therapy remains a challenge in the clinical field owing to the low adsorption capacity and poor blood compatibility of adsorbents. In this work, a new class of nanobody (Nb)-coupled antifouling polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) beads was constructed as an immunosorbent for the selective removal of TNF-α from plasma. Notably, our immunosorbent exhibited an exceptionally high specific TNF-α adsorption capacity of 416.9 ng/g in human plasma (at a plasma-to-adsorbent ratio of 300). More importantly, the obtained adsorbent beads showed outstanding blood compatibility. In addition, during in vivo experiments, the blood circulation device was constructed to remove TNF-α in rat models, proving that the beads had good removal performance (~85%/60 min). Furthermore, 95% of the original capacity was retained after 6-month storage, showed strong stability and prolonged storage of PVA-Nb. Above all, the results indicate that the novel PVA-Nb immunosorbent has possible clinical applications for treating autoimmune diseases in the clinic.
Osteoporosis (OP) is a noncommunicable bone disease caused by a shift in the balance between osteoblasts and osteoclasts, and can severely affect the health of elderly persons. Autologous stem-cell transplantation can improve reduced bone density and weakened fracture healing abilities in patients with OP. However, OP can adversely affect the osteogenesis and proliferation abilities of autologous adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs). Therefore, an effective drug is required to facilitate autologous ASCs to recover their osteogenic and proliferative potential. Tetrahedral framework nucleic acid (tFNA) is a new type of nanomaterial that has ability to regulate the biological behavior of cells effectively and enhance the bioactivity of stem cells. In this study, we examine the effects of tFNAs on the osteogenic differentiation and proliferation abilities of ASCs in rats with OP. The results indicate that the 250 nmol/L tFNAs can considerably increase the expression of osteogenesis-related markers, effectively promote the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of osteoporotic ASCs (OP-ASCs), and help them to regain their osteogenic and proliferative potential. In short, tFNAs can enable OP-ACSs to recover their osteogenic potential and promote their proliferation and, therefore, can play a key regulatory role in autologous ASC transplantation.
Developing phosphors with long-lifetime (millisecond scale or even longer) solid state room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) feature has attracted considerable attention. However, to date, stimuli-responsive phosphors with RTP nature are still rare due to the absence of effective guidelines for the exploitation of luminophors synchronously possessing stimuli-responsive and RTP characteristics. In this work, a series of mononuclear gold(I) complexes are reported. All these complexes exhibit various solid-state RTP properties, and phosphor 1-Cl exhibits long-lived RTP behavior. The effect of halogen atoms on the RTP nature of these complexes is investigated in detail. Furthermore, the introduction of different types of halogen atoms can effectively regulate the phosphorescent mechanochromism phenomena of these gold(I)-containing complexes. In addition, these phosphors display typical aggregation-induced emission (AIE) effect except for phosphor 5-CCl, which lacks hydrogen-bonding interactions compared with the other four phosphors. This work will be very helpful to the development of mechanical-force-responsive AIE phosphors with lasting RTP.
Glutathione (GSH) is a key maintainer of cellular redox balance and plays an important role in many physiological effects. For example, GSH has been widely implicated in cancer initiation, progression and metastasis. Moreover, the concentrations of GSH in tumor cells can influence drug resistance. Given the serious harmfulness of cancer and the important roles of GSH in cancer, it has great significance to development probes for screening of tumor cells and real-time monitoring of GSH fluctuations in tumor cells. However, no targetable probe for reversible imaging of GSH in tumor cells has been reported. Herein, we constructed a melatonin-based targetable and reversible fluorescent probe (GR-MT) for screening of tumor cells and real-time imaging of GSH fluctuations in tumor cells. The probe uses coumarin as the skeleton, Michael addition reaction as the reaction mechanism, and melatonin as the targeted groups of tumor cells. The experimental results demonstrate this probe has many advantages including high selectivity, satisfactory sensitivity, excellent reversible ability, rapid reaction speed, and outstanding targetability of tumor cells. Therefore, this study provides a promising tool for tumor cells screening and real-time detection of GSH fluctuations in specific tumor cells.
Based on three rationally designed pyrrole-appended o-carborane derivatives, we present that fluorescence properties of crystalline materials are highly dependent on intermolecular interaction and steric hinderance. Though the three molecules are similar in structure, single crystals of the three compounds showed obvious difference in molecular stacking and fluorescence behavior. Systematic studies indicate that fluorescence quantum yields, thermo-response as well as mechano-response are highly dependent on intermolecular interaction and steric hindrance. In the three crystalline materials, the CB-NMe crystals with weaker intermolecular interaction and looser molecular packing showed superior fluorescence quantum yield and temperature sensitivity. Accordingly, surface temperature detection strip with favorable reversibility is prepared by doping CB-NMe into the polymer. In addition, the CB-NMe aggregates can be used for monitoring bovine serum albumin (BSA) denaturation, as temperature response of the aggregates can be reversed when co-assembled with BSA.
To test the hypothesis that the microviscosity changes of Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) can be a useful indicator of ferroptosis promoted by ER Stresses (ERS), a new ER targeting viscosity rotor, L-Vis-1 was developed and applied in the quantitation of viscosity by FLIM imaging in live cells. The FLIM imaging exhibited an excellent resolution almost as good as the corresponding confocal imaging, more significantly, during ferroptosis processes promoted by different types of ERS, the viscosity increases were clearly monitored by FLIM of L-Vis-1 within ER, which has not been demonstrated before.
No. 86 Xueyuan South Road, Haidian District, Beijing
010-62662699(Operation and Technical Support)
qkjq@cast.org.cn
Copyright © 2025 China Association for Science and Technology. All rights reserved. For all open access content, the relevant licensing terms apply.
Sponsored by the Office of the Leading Group for Cybersecurity and Informatization of CAST, and supported by Science and Technology Review Publishing House
