Latest ArticlesEmbolotherapy is a common method for clinical intervention in the treatment of diseases including aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations and solid tumors, and embolic agents are a decisive factor affecting the effect of embolization. Although various embolic agents like coils, microspheres, and Onyx have been used clinically, there are still some treatment limitations: such as weak blood vessel penetration, easy to aggregate, poor mechanical properties, adhesion to catheters, and the need for toxic solvents (e.g. dimethyl sulfoxide). In recent years, a number of studies have found that in situ hydrogels have good application prospects in the field of vascular embolization. When low viscosity precursor solution is injected into the targeted blood vessel via microcatheters, it will undergo a sol-gel transition through physical and/or chemical cross-linking to form hydrogel to block blood flow. In addition, these in situ hydrogels can load drugs by pore embedding, electrostatic interaction, chemical bonding, etc., and have excellent sustained-release properties. This review summarizes the research progress of injectable in situ hydrogel vascular embolic agents in the past ten years, with a view to provide references for the development of new embolic agents in the future.
Brain-targeted delivery plays an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological diseases, but the existence of blood brain barrier (BBB) limits the development of brain-targeted delivery. As cell-derived nanovesicles, exosomes can participate in the transportation of substances between cells to mediate the communication between cells to play a biological regulatory role in vivo. Due to the low immunogenicity, low toxicity, high engineering and natural crossing over BBB, exosomes play an important role in brain-targeted delivery. In this paper, the composition of exosomes, the mechanism of brain targeted delivery and its role in various brain diseases are systematically described.
The mucous barrier is a major physiological obstacle that the mucosal drug delivery system needs to deal with. In response to this physiological barrier, many achievements have been made in research of mucosal adhesion and mucus penetration. This review puts emphasis on the progress of the research on new mucosal adhesion strategies such as cationization, sulfhydrylization, maleimide functionalization, lectinization and catechol conjugation; polyethylene glycol (PEG), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), poly (2-alkyl-2-oxazoline) (POZ), zwitterionic polymers and other mucus-inert materials, strategies to enhance mucus penetration ability such as enzyme functionalization, reducing agent pretreatment and so on. The problems of each strategy are also analyzed and discussed, which can provide some references for clinical transformation.
Mitochondria is involved in many important physiological activities such as energy supply, signal transduction, cell differentiation, etc., and plays an significant role in the occurrence and development of diseases. Using mitochondria as a target is a new strategy for cancer treatment. The use of nanotechnology to construct a mitochondrial targeted nano-drug delivery system can improve the solubility of traditional drugs, prolong the half-life of drugs in the body, increase the bioavailability and concentration of drugs at the tumor site, and reduce the toxic and side effects of drugs. It is expected to solve the resistance in the process of tumor treatment. This review focuses on the field of cancer treatment. Firstly, it introduces the mechanism of mitochondrial targeted nano-drug delivery system for cancer treatment. Secondly, it outlines the design ideas, classification and application research of mitochondrial targeted nano-drug delivery systems in the past five years. Finally, it expands the analysis of other studies that target mitochondria, such as bionic vectors, and presents its advantages and disadvantages, which provide a basis for in-depth research on drug delivery systems in the future.
Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are widely used in cancer treatment. Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) is overexpressed in various types of solid tumors and is a validated therapeutic target for cancers. To develop a more effective therapy, we generated a novel anti-HER2 humanized monoclonal antibody MIL40 and MIL40 drug conjugates as novel cancer therapies. The MIL40 was conjugated with small molecule cytotoxic agents DM1 [emtansine, N2'-deacetyl-N2'-(3-mercapto-1-oxopropyl)-maytansine] or monomethylauristatin E (MMAE) to generate ADCs, which were evaluated for their in vitro and in vivo anti-cancer activities. Experimental results show that MIL40-DM1 and MIL40-MMAE can effectively identify and bind to HER2-positive tumor cells. The binding capabilities of MIL40-DM1 and MIL40-MMAE with HER2 extracellular domain (ECD) antigens were not different after conjugation with DM1 or MMAE. The ADCs showed potent cytotoxicity in HER2-positive ovarian cancer cells SKOV3, breast cancer cells SKBR3 and stomach cancer cells N87 in vitro. MIL40-DM1 can effectively inhibit the volume and weight growth of SKOV3 transplant tumors in mice. The mice in this study were used and treated by following the international guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals, and approved by Animal Ethics Committee of Institute of Military Cognitive and Brain Sciences.
In order to research the mechanism of guiding action of borneol in Suxiaojiuxin pills, the model of in vitro intestinal absorption, in vivo drug metabolism of mice and cell in vitro absorption model of Caco-2 were established firstly. All animal experiments were in accordance with the regulations of the Animal Ethics Committee of Nankai University. The results showed that the cumulative absorption quantity and absorption permeability of ferulic acid and ligustilide in the intestinal juice of Suxiaojiuxin pills group were significantly increased comparing with fake Suxiaojiuxin pills group, which don't contain borneol. By using borneol, the content of ferulic acid and ligustilide in the blood and tissues, such as heart, were added. The transepithelial resistance value and the content of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in Caco-2 were rapidly decreased and increased, respectively. Due to further explore mechanism of promoting intestinal absorption of borneol for drugs, in this study, photosensitive probes of borneol were synthesized to capture its targets, and dual luciferase reporter system was used to evaluate its activity of calcium. It was found that it could make calcium overload by regulating transient receptor potential cation channel, subfamily M, member 8 (TrpM8). Then, the results of mass spectrometry imaging showed that the accumulation of ferulic acid in the heart was significantly increased by borneol, and the relaxation rate of rat thoracic aorta was enhanced obviously. In summary, the borneol in Suxiaojiuxin pills can expand cell space and increase intestinal permeability by acting on TrpM8, thus promoting the intestinal absorption, tissue distribution and target organ enrichment of drugs.
We analyzed the anticancer effect and mechanism of the novel indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) inhibitor NLG-919 combined with temozolomide (TMZ) on human glioma cell lines. The anti-tumor activity of NLG-919 and temozolomide after single and combined treatments was detected by MTT assay. Colony formation assay, invasion assay and migration assays were used to detect the effects of NLG-919 and temozolomide alone or in combination on proliferation, invasion and migration of human glioma cells. A flow cytometry assay was used to detect cell apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and mitochondrial membrane potential damage (JC-1). An immunofluorescence assay was used to detect the expression level of IDO1 and HPLC was used to detect the expression level of L-kynurenine (Kyn) to explore the anti-tumor mechanism of NLG-919 and temozolomide. The results show that NLG-919 had a weak in vitro inhibitory effect compared to that of temozolomide. The IC50 of NLG-919 on U251 cells and U87 after 72 h was 26.9 and 30.7 μmol·L-1, respectively. However, when NLG-919 was used in combination with temozolomide, its anti-glioma activity was significantly increased. Compared with the single treatment, the combination treatment had a potent ability to inhibit proliferation, invasion and migration of glioma cells. Combination treatment improved the capacity of temozolomide to induce cell cycle arrest and inhibit the growth of glioma cells. NLG-919 significantly down-regulated the expression and activity of IDO1 in glioma cells, and the inhibitory effect was improved after combination with temozolomide, and effectively blocked the production of Kyn through the metabolism of L-tryptophan (Trp). In conclusion, the IDO1 inhibitor NLG-919 and temozolomide showed synergistic effects in the anticancer therapy of human glioma cell lines.
This study identified the exact molecular mechanisms of baicalein on neuroinflammation in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced BV-2 cells. Bioinformatics methods and molecular docking were integrated for predicting the potential targets and mechanisms of baicalein. Immunofluorescence staining and Western blot were used to analyze the predicted key targets [inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2)], the expression level of protein related to signal transducer and activator of transcription 1/nuclear factor kappa-B (STAT1/NF- κB) signaling pathway and its upstream regulator NADPH oxidase-2 (NOX2), and then the mechanism of baicalein in alleviating neuroinflammation was explored. The results showed that iNOS and COX-2 were predicted as the key targets and NF-κB signaling pathway was one of the important pathways by bioinformatics methods and molecular docking. Experimental verification showed that baicalein could significantly reduce the expression of iNOS and COX-2, inhibit the phosphorylation of NF-κB and STAT1 and the production of NOX2 in LPS-induced BV-2 cells. To sum up, baicalein could effectively inhibit the inflammatory reaction in LPS-induced BV-2 cells through regulating NOX2 (gp91phox/p47phox)/STAT1/NF-κB pathway.
The α-conotoxins are peptide toxins that are identified from the venom of marine cone snails and they hold outstanding potency on various subtypes of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). nAChRs have an important role in regulating transmitter release, cell excitability, and neuronal integration, so nAChR dysfunctions have been involved in a variety of severe pathologies. Four types of α-3/5 conotoxins MI, MIA, MIB and MIC have been found from Conus magus. Among them, the activity and selectivity of MIA and MIB have not been well studied. In this study, four α-3/5 conotoxins MI, MIA, MIB and MIC were synthesized by solid peptide synthesis method, and the bioactivities of them were screened by double electrode voltage clamp electrophysiology. The results showed that MIA and MIB selectively inhibited muscle type acetylcholine receptors with IC50 values of 14.45 and 72.78 nmol·L-1, respectively, which are slightly weaker than MI and MIC. Molecular docking results have shown MIA and MIB interact with muscle-type nAChRs with similar mechanism. The reasons for activity differences may relate to the size of the N-terminal amino acids. Together, the conotoxins MIA and MIB may have the potential to develop as a tool for detect the function of muscle type nAChRs, as well as the diagnosis or treat of related diseases.
Twenty-five compounds of novel quinoxaline-based scaffold with antiplatelet activity were designed and synthesized on the basis of previous quinoxaline analogues, and the structures were confirmed by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and MS. The antiplatelet activity was evaluated, structure-activity relationship (SAR) study was summarized and the selectivity of PAR4 was confirmed by calcium mobilization assays. It was indicated that compound 14a, 14g, 13i, 13p showed moderate activity against PAR4, especially, the activity of compound 14g (IC50 = 0.26 μmol·L-1) was 6.7 times than the lead compound A (IC50 = 1.73 μmol·L-1). Therefore, 2, 3-dihydro-[1, 4]dioxino[2, 3-g]quinoxaline and [1, 3]dioxolo[4, 5-g]quinoxaline derivatives are promising compounds for the discovery of novel antiplatelet agents. It is worthy of further research to develop highly effective and selective PAR4 antagonists.
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