Phage Therapy: A Targeted Solution for Brucellosis.

Brucellosis is a widespread zoonotic bacterial infection that affects over 500,000 people annually, with significant economic losses in the livestock industry, particularly in endemic regions such as the Middle East, Asia, and parts of Africa and Latin America. Despite standard antibiotic treatments, relapse rates remain as high as 10%-15%, highlighting the limitations of current therapeutic options. Phage therapy, which uses bacteriophages to selectively target and lyse Brucella spp.

Enhancing chemotherapy for colorectal cancer: EGFR-conjugated ferritin nanocages for targeted doxorubicin delivery.

Biomimetic nanoparticles, exemplified by ferritin, have emerged as a novel approach in drug delivery systems, designed to improve both the biocompatibility of drugs and their targeting. The clinical application of doxorubicin (Dox) is impeded by systemic toxicity and multidrug resistance, emphasising the necessity for innovative delivery platforms. In this research, we proposed the hypothesis that a protein-based nanocage, decorated with an anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) peptide as a targeting ligand on its surface, has the potential to enhance the targeted delivery of Dox while reducing systemic toxicity.

Novel engineered HER2 specific recombinant protein nanocages for targeted drug delivery.

Protein nanocages resemble natural biomimetic carriers and can be engineered to act as targeted delivery systems, making them an attractive option for various drug delivery and biomedical applications. Our research investigated the genetic link of a specific anti-HER2 peptide (LTVSPWY) to the exposed N-terminal region of the maize (Zea mays) ferritin 1 (ZmFer1) protein nanocage, employing either a 7-amino acid (for LTVS-ZmFer1) or 16-amino acid (for LTVS-L-ZmFer1) linker. We utilized a heat treatment method to load the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin into the protein nanocage.