Nanodiamond-DGEA peptide conjugates for enhanced delivery of doxorubicin to prostate cancer

• Amanee D Salaam,
• Patrick Hwang,
• Roberus McIntosh,
• Hadiyah N Green,
• Ho-Wook Jun and
• Derrick Dean

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 937–945, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.107

• collagens, laminins, E-cadherin, and matrix metalloproteinase 1 [31]. α2β1 integrins have been proven to be up-regulated in bone metastatic prostate cancer cells [32][33]. Particularly, PC3 human bone metastatic prostate cancer cell lines have the highest expression of α2β1 integrins when compared to other

• metastatic cell lines CWR-22 and LNCaP [31]. The over-expression of α2β1 integrins in PC3 can be harnessed as a target for a drug delivery platform. The toxicity of DOX can be decreased by increasing the interaction between the drug and cancer cells. Since α2β1 integrins are over-expressed in bone metastatic

• prostate cancers, targeted drug delivery with a ligand that interacts with these integrins should allow for increased accumulation of drug systems in cancer cells versus normal cells or tissues. Asp–Gly–Glu–Ala (DGEA) peptide has been identified as a binding peptide for the α2β1 integrins; it corresponds

Optimizing the synthesis of CdS/ZnS core/shell semiconductor nanocrystals for bioimaging applications

• Li-wei Liu,
• Si-yi Hu,
• Ying Pan,
• Jia-qi Zhang,
• Yue-shu Feng and
• Xi-he Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 919–926, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.105

• optical probes for various immunoassays, multiplex imaging of cancer cells, and in vivo cancer targeting and imaging studies, etc. In 1998, Nie and Alivisatos were the first to report on the potential applications of QDs in biology [8][9]. There is no doubt that QDs offer a new tool for the multiplexed

In vitro toxicity and bioimaging studies of gold nanorods formulations coated with biofunctional thiol-PEG molecules and Pluronic block copolymers

• Tianxun Gong,
• Douglas Goh,
• Malini Olivo and
• Ken-Tye Yong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 546–553, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.64

• in the overall cell viability. We also demonstrate the use of the functionalized gold nanorods as scattering probes for dark-field imaging of cancer cells thereby demonstrating their biocompatibility. Our results offer a unique solution for the future development of safe scattering color probes for

• clinical applications such as the long term imaging of cells and tissues. Keywords: cancer cells; dark-field imaging; gold nanorods; PEG-SH; PEO–PPO–PEO; Introduction Gold nanorods (AuNRs) have been widely adopted for biological applications due to their unique plasmonic properties. One of the most

• or PEO–PPO–PEO molecules produces biocompatible AuNRs formulations. These formulations lead to stable colloidal solutions and can be readily used for dark-field imaging of cancer cells. We believe that this work provides useful insight for developing new protocols for preparing biocompatible AuNRs

The softening of human bladder cancer cells happens at an early stage of the malignancy process

• Jorge R. Ramos,
• Joanna Pabijan,
• Ricardo Garcia and
• Malgorzata Lekka

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 447–457, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.52

• are stiffer (higher Young’s modulus) than cancerous cells (HTB-9, HT1376, and T24 cell lines). However, independently of the histological grade of the studied bladder cancer cells, all cancerous cells possess a similar level of the deformability of about a few kilopascals, significantly lower than non

• filaments; atomic force microscopy (AFM); bladder cells; cytoskeleton; elastic properties of cells; malignancy degree of cancer cells; Introduction During oncogenic progression, many cancer-related alterations change both the internal structures of cells and also their surroundings, i.e., the extracellular

• invasion. The relation between the stiffness of cancer cells and the 2D-organization of the actin cytoskeleton has been reported for breast [3], thyroid [11] and ovarian [21] cancers. For stiffer cells, the actin filaments distribution usually revealed two types of filament organization, i.e., an actin

Near-infrared dye loaded polymeric nanoparticles for cancer imaging and therapy and cellular response after laser-induced heating

• Tingjun Lei,
• Alicia Fernandez-Fernandez,
• Romila Manchanda,
• Yen-Chih Huang and
• Anthony J. McGoron

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 313–322, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.35

• –45 °C) needed for killing cancer cells. More importantly, IR820 has improved in vitro and in vivo stability compared to ICG. The in vitro IR820 degradation half-time is about twice that of ICG. In vivo, the plasma distribution half-life of IR820 is about 15 min, which is 5 times that of ICG; with an

• also reported to induce mRNA accumulation for heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) [20], which is able to minimize the effect of heat on cells during heat exposure by inducing cells’ thermotolerance [21][22]. Our previous study investigated the effect of HT on cancer cells in a thermal dose-dependent manner

• IR820-PGMD NPs within cancer cells will not activate ROS production and trigger HIF-1 and VEGF expression. Whereas slow and long-term incubator HT, with high thermal dose, will activate ROS production and result in the promotion of HIF-1 and VEGF expression. The study of cell killing and the cellular

Extracellular biosynthesis of gadolinium oxide (Gd₂O₃) nanoparticles, their biodistribution and bioconjugation with the chemically modified anticancer drug taxol

• Shadab Ali Khan,
• Sanjay Gambhir and
• Absar Ahmad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 249–257, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.27

• render it more potent in killing tumor/cancer cells. We believe that this work could pave the way for nanosized drug delivery applications for the treatment of cancer. UV–vis spectrum of biosynthesized gadolinium oxide nanoparticles solution after 96 h of reaction with the fungal biomass. (A) TEM

Growth behaviour and mechanical properties of PLL/HA multilayer films studied by AFM

• Cagri Üzüm,
• Johannes Hellwig,
• Narayanan Madaboosi,
• Dmitry Volodkin and
• Regine von Klitzing

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 778–788, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.87

• . Therefore, scanning- or colloidal-probe atomic force microscopy have been widely used for studying the topography and the mechanical properties of PEMs [3][4][5][7][8]. One of the first measurements of elastic modulus with atomic force microscopy (AFM) on biological films was performed on lung-cancer cells

• , back in 1993 [9]. Further measurements include different strains of E. coli with a colloidal probe [10], elastic modulus of human platelet cells [11], human bone cell or skeletal muscle cells [12], breast cancer cells [13][14], hydrogel films [15][16][17], or nanoribbons [18], as well as single

• similar multilayers [4][5][23][32], crosslinked PDMS films [47], human platelets [48], agar gel [49] and cancer cells [13][14]. From 100 nm/s to 6000 nm/s, τ1 continuously decreases from 2.17 s to 0.18 s and τ2 decreases from 9.03 s to 1.20 s. This decrease means that the film is less viscous when it is

Effect of spherical Au nanoparticles on nanofriction and wear reduction in dry and liquid environments

• Dave Maharaj and
• Bharat Bhushan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 759–772, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.85

• treatment, nanoparticles are either functionalized with biomolecules that recognize and attach to the cancer cells, [6][7] or in the case of iron-oxide nanoparticles, the nanoparticles are directed by an external magnetic field [9]. The cells are destroyed by drugs that coat the nanoparticles or by

• increasing the temperature of the nanoparticles to which cancer cells are susceptible. Figure 1a shows a nanoparticle loaded with a therapeutic drug and functionalized with a biomolecule (ligand), which selectively attaches to receptors in the cancer cell. The drug is then released as the nanoparticle

• applications in which friction forces are of concern in controlled manipulation and targeting mechanisms. (a) Schematic of drug-carrying nanoparticles targeting cancer cells and releasing their therapeutic payload resulting in death of the cancer cell. Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd [8

Magnetic-Fe/Fe₃O₄-nanoparticle-bound SN38 as carboxylesterase-cleavable prodrug for the delivery to tumors within monocytes/macrophages

• Hongwang Wang,
• Tej B. Shrestha,
• Matthew T. Basel,
• Raj K. Dani,
• Gwi-Moon Seo,
• Sivasai Balivada,
• Marla M. Pyle,
• Heidy Prock,
• Olga B. Koper,
• Prem S. Thapa,
• David Moore,
• Ping Li,
• Viktor Chikan,
• Deryl L. Troyer and
• Stefan H. Bossmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 444–455, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.51

• the payload of tumor-homing double-stable RAW264.7 cells; (2) Release of chemotherapeutic SN38 at the cancer site by means of the self-containing Tet-On Advanced system; (3) Provide localized magnetic hyperthermia to enhance the cancer treatment, both by killing cancer cells through magnetic heating

• , severe side effects, such as life-threatening diarrhea and neutropenia, have been observed [14][15]. SN38 is a topoisomerase I inhibitor, and it has demonstrated 100- to 1000-fold more cytotoxicity against various cancer cells in vitro than CPT-11 [6]. Despite the excellent anticancer potential, SN38 has

• prodrug to the tumor site, and, upon activation of a previously silenced gene with doxycycline, significantly increased survival in a murine pancreatic cancer model in mice was observed [28]. Hyperthermia uses heat to kill cancer cells [29]. Numerous clinical trials have demonstrated that the combination

Magnetic nanoparticles for biomedical NMR-based diagnostics

• Huilin Shao,
• Tae-Jong Yoon,
• Monty Liong,
• Ralph Weissleder and
• Hakho Lee

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 142–154, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.17

• the first-generation DMR device [14]. In these early experiments, CLIO nanoparticles were directly conjugated to monoclonal antibodies. More recently, the use of BOND-2 strategy has further advanced DMR profiling capabilities (Table 1). Cancer cells were targeted with CLIO nanoparticles via BOND-2. At

• also produced results in a fraction of the time (<15 minutes). The DMR platform has since been shown to be adaptable to rapid multi-target detection, where putative cancer cells can be profiled for multiple biomarkers; DMR is ideally suited to this use since it can perform measurements on a few cells

• accuracy for correctly diagnosing cancer cells as malignant (Figure 7d). These, in addition to other advanced refinements to DMR sensing, are currently being applied to clinical trials of cancer cell profiling. Conclusion DMR represents a powerful combination of several cutting-edge technologies, namely