Electrospun patches to deliver combination drug therapy for fungal infections.

Fungal infections, though affecting healthcare globally, receive insufficient attention in clinical and academic settings. Invasive fungal infections, particularly caused by combat wounds, have been identified as a critical threat by the US Department of Defense. Monotherapy with traditional antifungals is often insufficient, and so combination therapies are explored to enhance treatment efficacy.

Metabolic Reprogramming of Tumors: Induced Immunosuppression and Therapeutic Prospects of Nanoscale Drug Delivery Systems.

The initiation, progression, and metastasis of tumors are accompanied by metabolic reprogramming. Within the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), the impact of metabolic alterations in tumor cells is often overlooked, leading to therapeutic failure. In reality, tumor cells and immune cells within TIME compete for nutrients, inducing hypoxia, acidosis, and other conditions that collectively foster an immunosuppressive microenvironment.

A photothermally triggered cascade bioreactor for cuproptosis and ferroptosis-driven cancer immunotherapy.

Excessive intracellular accumulation of metal ions results in metal-dependent programmed cell death, including ferroptosis and cuproptosis. However, cancer cells have defences against these processes, which allow them to resist therapy. Therefore, this work reports a laser-controlled cascade bioreactor based on gold and silica-coated Cu- and Mn-doped iron oxide nanocrystals (IONCs) loaded with the drug disulfiram (DSF).

Glucan-based biomaterials and their applications in the biomedical field.

Glucan is a class of natural polysaccharide formed by multiple glucose units connected by glucoside bonds. In recent years, it has attracted much attention in the biomedical field because of its biodegradability, biocompatibility, bioactivity, and ease of chemical modification, among other properties. The development of various glucan-based biomaterials such as prodrugs, hydrogels, micelles, microspheres, and nanoparticles have great potential for applications in drug delivery, tissue engineering, wound healing, etc.

Ciprofloxacin-loaded electrosprayed lactose particles.

Bacterial infections persist as a major global health challenge, underscoring the need for the development of advanced drug delivery systems. This study firstly explored the use of electrospraying to generate lactose microparticles loaded with ciprofloxacin (cipro), using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as an additive to enhance particle formation. Following optimization, spherical electrosprayed (ES) lactose microparticles were successfully produced with various cipro loadings (in the range of 0.

A BiO-TiO Heterojunction for Triple-Modality Cancer Theranostics.

Purpose: Owing to the limitations of single-mode cancer treatments, combination therapies have attracted much attention. However, constructing a platform for combination therapies in a simple and effective way and improving the overall treatment effect remains a challenge. Our aim was to combine sonodynamic therapy, radiotherapy and chemotherapy together and improve therapeutic outcomes within one nanoplatform.

A triple-cascade nanoreactor for potent anti-tumor chemodynamic and immunotherapy.

Chemodynamic therapy (CDT) has shown promising effects in the treatment of malignant tumors, especially in inducing immunogenic cell death (ICD). However, the therapeutic efficacy of CDT is much weakened due to limitations in tumor oxidative stress response, and intracellular HO and catalyst levels. In order to solve these challenges, we have designed an intracellular acid-activated cascade nanoreactor (Sal/FeO@SiO-NaCN) which induces ICD by accelerating the process of CDT-mediated ferroptosis.

In-situ hyaluronic acid-tyramine hydrogels prolong the release of extracellular vesicles and enhance stability.

Hydrogels can provide a hydrated environment to encapsulate extracellular vesicles (EVs) while offering promising solutions to some of the challenges that limit their therapeutic potential, e.g. rapid clearance and propensity for enzymatic degradation and aggregation.

The Development of a Coaxial Electrospinning Formula Using Fish Gelatin/PBS as the Core for Structurally Intact Liposome Loading and Release.

In electrospun scaffolds, coaxial electrospinning is gaining increased attention due to its potential for biocomponent encapsulation and controlled delivery. However, the encapsulation of biocomponents, such as liposomes, remains challenging because of their low stability in commonly used electrospinning solvents. This study, therefore, aims to develop a novel coaxial electrospinning formulation for crafting a liposome-encapsulated, rapid-release coaxial fiber.

Advances in antimicrobial peptides: From mechanistic insights to chemical modifications.

This review provides a comprehensive analysis of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), exploring their diverse sources, secondary structures, and unique characteristics. The review explores into the mechanisms underlying the antibacterial, immunomodulatory effects, antiviral, antiparasitic and antitumour of AMPs. Furthermore, it discusses the three principal synthesis pathways for AMPs and assesses their current clinical applications and preclinical research status.

Ciprofloxacin-Loaded Spray-Dried Lactose Particles: Formulation Optimization and Antibacterial Efficacy.

: Bacterial infections in the oral cavity and outer ear require effective and targeted drug delivery systems. This study details the production of drug-loaded lactose microparticles, with the aim of creating antibiotic formulations for ultimate use in combatting oral and outer ear bacterial infections. : Lactose particles were prepared via spray drying and optimized with varying ciprofloxacin (cipro) loadings to maximize the drug content.

Acid-Unlocked Two-Layer Ca-Loaded Nanoplatform to Interfere With Mitochondria for Synergistic Tumor Therapy.

Background: The development of selective formulations able to target and kill tumor cells without the application of external energy has shown great promise for anti-tumor therapy.

Methods: Here, we report a "nanobomb" that explosively increases Ca content within cells. It can selectively release Ca and generate HO in the tumor microenvironment (TME) by acid-triggered degradation of the two-layer protective shell (ie, unlocking the "double-lock").

Multifunctional phenylboric acid modified carboxymethyl chitosan based hydrogel crosslinked by tannic acid.

Hydrogels prepared from natural polysaccharide, such as chitosan, have attracted much attention owing to their advantageous physicochemical properties and functions. Therefore, it is of great significance to develop novel crosslinking and preparation methods for hydrogels. Here, a class of multifunctional chitosan-based (CBT) hydrogels were prepared from 3-carboxy-5-nitrophenylboronic acid (PBA) modified carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) and tannic acid (TA) by double crosslinking of borate ester and hydrogen bonds.

Tumor microenvironment-responsive hyperbranched polymers for controlled drug delivery.

Hyperbranched polymers (HBPs) have drawn great interest in the biomedical field on account of their special morphology, low viscosity, self-regulation, and facile preparation methods. Moreover, their large intramolecular cavities, high biocompatibility, biodegradability, and targeting properties render them very suitable for anti-tumor drug delivery. Recently, exploiting the specific characteristics of the tumor microenvironment, a range of multifunctional HBPs responsive to the tumor microenvironment have emerged.

Anti-Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Bacteriophage Loaded Electrospun Fibers for Antibacterial Wound Dressings.

Antimicrobial resistance poses a growing threat to public health globally. Multidrug resistant Pseudomonas (P.) aeruginosa is detected in many infected wounds and is very challenging to treat with antibiotics.

A smart responsive NIR-operated chitosan-based nanoswitch to induce cascade immunogenic tumor ferroptosis via cytokine storm.

In this work we present a near-infrared (NIR)-operated nanoswitch based on chitosan nanoparticles (EpCAM-CS-co-PNVCL@IR780/IMQ NPs) that induces cascade immunogenic tumor ferroptosis via cytokine storm. The formulation was prepared by loading a photosensitiser (IR780) and an immunotherapeutic drug (imiquimod; IMQ) into temperature- and pH-responsive chitosan-based NPs functionalized with tumor-targeting aptamers. The EpCAM aptamer can chaperone the NPs selectively into cancer cells, and allow them to enter the cell nucleus.

Development of hyaluronic acid/β-cyclodextrin semi-interpenetrating network hydrogels for prolonged delivery of water-soluble sunitinib malate.

Sunitinib malate (SUM), widely used in cancer treatment for its anti-VEGF properties, has also been explored for ocular neovascular diseases. For ocular applications, sustained drug release is essential to reduce dosing frequency. Hyaluronic acid (HA)-based hydrogels are commonly used for controlled drug delivery, but their hydrophilicity leads to rapid drug diffusion, especially for water-soluble drugs like SUM.

Coupling Probiotics with CaO Nanoparticle-Loaded CoFeCe-LDH Nanosheets to Remodel the Tumor Microenvironment for Precise Chemodynamic Therapy.

Chemodynamic therapy (CDT) has become an emerging cancer treatment strategy with advantages of tumor-specificity, high selectivity, and low systemic toxicity. However, it usually suffers from low therapeutic efficacy. This is caused by low hydroxyl radical (·OH) yield arising because of the relatively high pH, overexpressed glutathione, and low HO concentration in the tumor microenvironment (TME).

Nanopasta: electrospinning nanofibers of white flour.

White flour may be directly electrospun, providing a starch nanofiber alternative which avoids unnecessary industrial extraction and purification. By dissolving 17 wt% flour in warm formic acid and cooling, a dope can be created which can be electrospun into porous mats of 372 nm fibers of pasta.

Hydrophobic ion pairing as a novel approach to co-axial electrospraying of peptide-PLGA particles.

Electrospraying is a processing technique that has gained much interest to prepare polymeric particles. The technique operates at ambient temperature, thereby avoiding heat induced degradation of labile therapeutics (e.g.

Developing and scaling up captopril-loaded electrospun ethyl cellulose fibers for sustained-release floating drug delivery.

In this work ethyl cellulose (EC) was used as the matrix polymer and loaded with captopril, with the goal to fabricate electrospun fibers as potential sustained-release floating gastro-retentive drug delivery systems. Fibers were prepared with monoaxial and coaxial electrospinning, and both bench-top and scaled-up (needle-based) methods were explored. With monoaxial electrospinning, EC-based fibers in the shape of cylinders and with smooth surfaces were obtained both at 1 and 20 mL/h.