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Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology for Biomedical Applications: Current Advances and Future Prospects
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Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology for Biomedical Applications: Current Advances and Future Prospects

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 22538

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Raida Al-Kassas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Science, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
Interests: nanotechnology; ocular drug delivery; age-related macular degeneration treatment using functional nanoparticles; breast cancer treatment using nanotechnology; ovarian cancer treatment using nanotechnology; delivery of siRNA using nanoparticles; implantable drug delivery systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nanotechnology has attracted considerable attention due to its outstanding diversity in the biomedical applications. Nano-encapsulation of drugs modifies their physicochemical properties such as charges, size, and solubility, providing more effective treatment than conventional drug therapy, with fewer side effects. The use of nanoparticles offers many advantages, such as improving drugs’ penetration through biological membranes, enhancing drugs absorption and bioavailability, accumulating drugs at the target site, ability to incorporate small molecules and large biomacromolecules, enhancing drugs’ stability, and reducing their toxicity and cost. Various types of nanoparticles have been developed to date, each with different materials and properties, to be administered through various routes. Their small size enables them to escape the macrophages and to remain in systemic circulation for a longer time to reach the site of action via a passive targeting mechanism. Surface modulation with ligands permits a directed targeted mechanism (active targeting) and enhances nanoparticles’ intracellular transport through various endocytotic processes. In addition to drug delivery and targeting, nanotechnology has also been exploited in imaging and diagnose.  

In this Special Issue, we invite researchers to contribute original research articles, as well as review articles that are related to nanotechnology in biomedical applications. We are particularly interested in research on current nanotechnology application in ocular, pulmonary, oral, and skin drug delivery. Nanotechnology for cancer treatment and its application in diagnosis and imaging are also of interest and focus in this issue.

Dr. Raida Al-Kassas
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. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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

  • Nanoparticles design
  • Ocular delivery
  • Cancer targeting
  • Pulmonary delivery
  • Skin delivery
  • Oral delivery
  • Nanoparticles for imaging
  • Functionalized nanoparticles
  • Nanoparticles for diagnosis

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 2712 KiB  
Article
Novel Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Induce Ferroptosis in a Panel of Cancer Cell Lines
by Roberto Fernández-Acosta, Claudia Iriarte-Mesa, Daniel Alvarez-Alminaque, Behrouz Hassannia, Bartosz Wiernicki, Alicia M. Díaz-García, Peter Vandenabeele, Tom Vanden Berghe and Gilberto L. Pardo Andreu
Molecules 2022, 27(13), 3970; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27133970 - 21 Jun 2022
Cited by 39 | Viewed by 3623
Abstract
The use of nanomaterials rationally engineered to treat cancer is a burgeoning field that has reported great medical achievements. Iron-based polymeric nano-formulations with precisely tuned physicochemical properties are an expanding and versatile therapeutic strategy for tumor treatment. Recently, a peculiar type of regulated [...] Read more.
The use of nanomaterials rationally engineered to treat cancer is a burgeoning field that has reported great medical achievements. Iron-based polymeric nano-formulations with precisely tuned physicochemical properties are an expanding and versatile therapeutic strategy for tumor treatment. Recently, a peculiar type of regulated necrosis named ferroptosis has gained increased attention as a target for cancer therapy. Here, we show for the first time that novel iron oxide nanoparticles coated with gallic acid and polyacrylic acid (IONP–GA/PAA) possess intrinsic cytotoxic activity on various cancer cell lines. Indeed, IONP–GA/PAA treatment efficiently induces ferroptosis in glioblastoma, neuroblastoma, and fibrosarcoma cells. IONP–GA/PAA-induced ferroptosis was blocked by the canonical ferroptosis inhibitors, including deferoxamine and ciclopirox olamine (iron chelators), and ferrostatin-1, the lipophilic radical trap. These ferroptosis inhibitors also prevented the lipid hydroperoxide generation promoted by the nanoparticles. Altogether, we report on novel ferroptosis-inducing iron encapsulated nanoparticles with potent anti-cancer properties, which has promising potential for further in vivo validation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology for Biomedical Applications: Current Advances and Future Prospects)
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16 pages, 3416 KiB  
Article
Step-by-Step Design of New Theranostic Nanoformulations: Multifunctional Nanovectors for Radio-Chemo-Hyperthermic Therapy under Physical Targeting
by Shoeb Anwar Ansari, Eleonora Ficiarà, Federico D’Agata, Roberta Cavalli, Lucia Nasi, Francesca Casoli, Franca Albertini and Caterina Guiot
Molecules 2021, 26(15), 4591; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26154591 - 29 Jul 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2180
Abstract
While investigating the possible synergistic effect of the conventional anticancer therapies, which, taken individually, are often ineffective against critical tumors, such as central nervous system (CNS) ones, the design of a theranostic nanovector able to carry and deliver chemotherapy drugs and magnetic hyperthermic [...] Read more.
While investigating the possible synergistic effect of the conventional anticancer therapies, which, taken individually, are often ineffective against critical tumors, such as central nervous system (CNS) ones, the design of a theranostic nanovector able to carry and deliver chemotherapy drugs and magnetic hyperthermic agents to the target radiosensitizers (oxygen) was pursued. Alongside the original formulation of polymeric biodegradable oxygen-loaded nanostructures, their properties were fine-tuned to optimize their ability to conjugate therapeutic doses of drugs (doxorubicin) or antitumoral natural substances (curcumin). Oxygen-loaded nanostructures (diameter = 251 ± 13 nm, ζ potential = −29 ± 5 mV) were finally decorated with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs, diameter = 18 ± 3 nm, ζ potential = 14 ± 4 mV), producing stable, effective and non-agglomerating magnetic nanovectors (diameter = 279 ± 17 nm, ζ potential = −18 ± 7 mV), which could potentially target the tumoral tissues under magnetic driving and are monitorable either by US or MRI imaging. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology for Biomedical Applications: Current Advances and Future Prospects)
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15 pages, 6250 KiB  
Article
Polymeric Nanovectors Incorporated with Ganciclovir and HSV-tk Encoding Plasmid for Gene-Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy
by Alicia J. Sawdon, Jun Zhang, Sarah Peng, Esmael M. Alyami and Ching-An Peng
Molecules 2021, 26(6), 1759; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26061759 - 21 Mar 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2872
Abstract
In the area of gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT), using herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) paired with prodrug ganciclovir (GCV) for cancer treatment has been extensively studied. It is a process involved with two steps whereby the gene (HSV-tk [...] Read more.
In the area of gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT), using herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) paired with prodrug ganciclovir (GCV) for cancer treatment has been extensively studied. It is a process involved with two steps whereby the gene (HSV-tk) is first delivered to malignant cells. Afterward, non-toxic GCV is administered to that site and activated to cytotoxic ganciclovir triphosphate by HSV-tk enzyme expressed exogenously. In this study, we presented a one-step approach that both gene and prodrug were delivered at the same time by incorporating them with polymeric micellar nanovectors. GCV was employed as an initiator in the ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone (ε-CL) to synthesize hydrophobic GCV-poly(caprolactone) (GCV–PCL), which was furthered grafted with hydrophilic chitosan to obtain amphiphilic polymer (GCV–PCL–chitosan) for the fabrication of self-assembled micellar nanoparticles. The synthesized amphiphilic polymer was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and proton nuclear magnetic resonance. Micellar prodrug nanoparticles were analyzed by dynamic light scattering, zeta potential, critical micelle concentration, and transmission electron microscopy. Polymeric prodrug micelles with optimal features incorporated with HSV-tk encoding plasmids were cultivated with HT29 colorectal cancer cells and anticancer effectiveness was determined. Our results showed that prodrug GCV and HSV-tk cDNA encoded plasmid incorporated in GCV–PCL–chitosan polymeric nanocarriers could be delivered in a one-step manner to HT-29 cells and triggered high cytotoxicity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology for Biomedical Applications: Current Advances and Future Prospects)
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Review

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27 pages, 2763 KiB  
Review
Recent Trends and Developments in Multifunctional Nanoparticles for Cancer Theranostics
by Ali A. Rabaan, Rehab Bukhamsin, Hajir AlSaihati, Saleh A. Alshamrani, Jehad AlSihati, Hani M. Al-Afghani, Roua A. Alsubki, Abdulmonem A. Abuzaid, Saleh Al-Abdulhadi, Yahya Aldawood, Abdulmonem A. Alsaleh, Yousef N. Alhashem, Jenan A. Almatouq, Talha Bin Emran, Shamsah H. Al-Ahmed, Firzan Nainu and Ranjan K. Mohapatra
Molecules 2022, 27(24), 8659; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27248659 - 7 Dec 2022
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2893
Abstract
Conventional anticancer treatments, such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy, have significantly improved cancer therapy. Nevertheless, the existing traditional anticancer treatments have been reported to cause serious side effects and resistance to cancer and even to severely affect the quality of life of cancer survivors, [...] Read more.
Conventional anticancer treatments, such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy, have significantly improved cancer therapy. Nevertheless, the existing traditional anticancer treatments have been reported to cause serious side effects and resistance to cancer and even to severely affect the quality of life of cancer survivors, which indicates the utmost urgency to develop effective and safe anticancer treatments. As the primary focus of cancer nanotheranostics, nanomaterials with unique surface chemistry and shape have been investigated for integrating cancer diagnostics with treatment techniques, including guiding a prompt diagnosis, precise imaging, treatment with an effective dose, and real-time supervision of therapeutic efficacy. Several theranostic nanosystems have been explored for cancer diagnosis and treatment in the past decade. However, metal-based nanotheranostics continue to be the most common types of nonentities. Consequently, the present review covers the physical characteristics of effective metallic, functionalized, and hybrid nanotheranostic systems. The scope of coverage also includes the clinical advantages and limitations of cancer nanotheranostics. In light of these viewpoints, future research directions exploring the robustness and clinical viability of cancer nanotheranostics through various strategies to enhance the biocompatibility of theranostic nanoparticles are summarised. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology for Biomedical Applications: Current Advances and Future Prospects)
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13 pages, 2859 KiB  
Review
Thrombolytic Agents: Nanocarriers in Targeted Release
by Minghua Shen, Yujiao Wang, Fan Hu, Linwen Lv, Kui Chen and Gengmei Xing
Molecules 2021, 26(22), 6776; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26226776 - 10 Nov 2021
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4093
Abstract
A thrombus, known as a blood clot, may form within the vascular system of the body and impede blood flow. Thrombosis is the most common underlying pathology of cardiovascular diseases, contributing to high morbidity and mortality. However, the main thrombolytic drugs (urokinase, streptokinase, [...] Read more.
A thrombus, known as a blood clot, may form within the vascular system of the body and impede blood flow. Thrombosis is the most common underlying pathology of cardiovascular diseases, contributing to high morbidity and mortality. However, the main thrombolytic drugs (urokinase, streptokinase, etc.) have shortcomings, including a short half-life, serious side effects and a lack of targeting, that limit their clinical application. The use of nano-drug delivery systems is expected to address these problems and a variety of approaches, including biological and physical responsive systems, have been explored. In this report, recent advances in the development of targeted nano-drug delivery systems are thoroughly reviewed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology for Biomedical Applications: Current Advances and Future Prospects)
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28 pages, 2374 KiB  
Review
Advances in Biomimetic Nanoparticles for Targeted Cancer Therapy and Diagnosis
by Chaw Yee Beh, Ray Putra Prajnamitra, Li-Lun Chen and Patrick Ching-Ho Hsieh
Molecules 2021, 26(16), 5052; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26165052 - 20 Aug 2021
Cited by 52 | Viewed by 5205
Abstract
Biomimetic nanoparticles have recently emerged as a novel drug delivery platform to improve drug biocompatibility and specificity at the desired disease site, especially the tumour microenvironment. Conventional nanoparticles often encounter rapid clearance by the immune system and have poor drug-targeting effects. The rapid [...] Read more.
Biomimetic nanoparticles have recently emerged as a novel drug delivery platform to improve drug biocompatibility and specificity at the desired disease site, especially the tumour microenvironment. Conventional nanoparticles often encounter rapid clearance by the immune system and have poor drug-targeting effects. The rapid development of nanotechnology provides an opportunity to integrate different types of biomaterials onto the surface of nanoparticles, which enables them to mimic the natural biological features and functions of the cells. This mimicry strategy favours the escape of biomimetic nanoparticles from clearance by the immune system and reduces potential toxic side effects. Despite the rapid development in this field, not much has progressed to the clinical stage. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop biomimetic-based nanomedicine to produce a highly specific and effective drug delivery system, especially for malignant tumours, which can be used for clinical purposes. Here, the recent developments for various types of biomimetic nanoparticles are discussed, along with their applications for cancer imaging and treatments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology for Biomedical Applications: Current Advances and Future Prospects)
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