vCPP2319 interacts with metastatic breast cancer extracellular vesicles (EVs) and transposes a human blood-brain barrier model.

Brain metastases (BM) are frequently found in cancer patients and, though their precise incidence is difficult to estimate, there is evidence for a correlation between BM and specific primary cancers, such as lung, breast, and skin (melanoma). Among all these, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed among women and, in this case, BM cause a critical reduction of the overall survival (OS), especially in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients. The main challenge of BM treatment is the impermeable nature of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which shields the central nervous systems (CNS) from chemotherapeutic drugs.

The antimetastatic breast cancer activity of the viral protein-derived peptide vCPP2319 as revealed by cellular biomechanics.

The incidence of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is increasing and the therapeutic arsenal available to fight it is insufficient. Brain metastases, in particular, represent a major challenge for chemotherapy as the impermeable nature of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) prevents most drugs from targeting cells in the brain. For their ability to transpose biological membranes and transport a broad spectrum of bioactive cargoes, cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have been hailed as ideal candidates to deliver drugs across biological barriers.

Exosomes and Brain Metastases: A Review on Their Role and Potential Applications.

Brain metastases (BM) are a frequent complication in patients with advanced stages of cancer, associated with impairment of the neurological function, quality of life, prognosis, and survival. BM treatment consists of a combination of the available cancer therapies, such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and targeted therapies. Even so, cancer patients with BM are still linked to poor prognosis, with overall survival being reported as 12 months or less.

Protonectin peptides target lipids, act at the interface and selectively kill metastatic breast cancer cells while preserving morphological integrity.

Despite the need for innovative compounds as antimicrobial and anticancer agents, natural sources of peptides remain underexplored. Protonectin (PTN), a cationic dodecapeptide of pharmacological interest, presents large hydrophobicity that is associated with the tendency to aggregate and supposedly influences bioactivity. A disaggregating role was assigned to PTN' N-terminal fragment (PTN), which enhances the bioactivity of PTN in a 1:1 mixture (PTN/PTN).

Scalable Production of Human Mesenchymal Stromal Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Under Serum-/Xeno-Free Conditions in a Microcarrier-Based Bioreactor Culture System.

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) hold great promise for tissue engineering and cell-based therapies due to their multilineage differentiation potential and intrinsic immunomodulatory and trophic activities. Over the past years, increasing evidence has proposed extracellular vesicles (EVs) as mediators of many of the MSC-associated therapeutic features. EVs have emerged as mediators of intercellular communication, being associated with multiple physiological processes, but also in the pathogenesis of several diseases.

Plant defensin PvD modulates the membrane composition of breast tumour-derived exosomes.

One of the most important causes of failure in tumour treatment is the development of resistance to therapy. Cancer cells can develop the ability to lose sensitivity to anti-neoplastic drugs during reciprocal crosstalk between cells and their interaction with the tumour microenvironment (TME). Cell-to-cell communication regulates a cascade of interdependent events essential for disease development and progression and can be mediated by several signalling pathways.

Challenging metastatic breast cancer with the natural defensin PvD.

Metastatic breast cancer is a very serious life threatening condition that poses many challenges for the pharmaceutical development of effective chemotherapeutics. As the therapeutics targeted to the localized masses in breast improve, metastatic lesions in the brain slowly increase in their incidence compromising successful treatment outcomes overall. The blood-brain-barrier (BBB) is one important obstacle for the management of breast cancer brain metastases.