Straightforward synthesis of gold nanoparticles by adding water to an engineered small dendrimer

• Sébastien Gottis,
• Régis Laurent,
• Vincent Collière and
• Anne-Marie Caminade

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1110–1118, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.95

• for bio-imaging and cancer therapy [6][7]. In most cases, the synthesis of gold nanoparticles is carried out by the reaction between HAuCl4 and a reducing agent (in particular NaBH4) in the presence of a suitable compound to simultaneously prevent the aggregation of the nanoparticles and to stabilize

Applications of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in drug and therapeutic delivery, and biotechnological advancements

• Maria Suciu,
• Corina M. Ionescu,
• Alexandra Ciorita,
• Septimiu C. Tripon,
• Dragos Nica,
• Hani Al-Salami and
• Lucian Barbu-Tudoran

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1092–1109, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.94

• behave like one magnetic unit, rotating in the presence of a magnetic field without retaining the magnetism after the magnetic field is removed [17]. This property makes SPIONs good candidates for MRI, and also for a type of thermic treatment of cancer, called localized hyperthermia. There are also other

• , dendrimers, albumin, silicones, liposomes, poloxamer, poly-ʟ-lysine, sugars, or polyethylene glycol (PEG) [27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. Hyperthermia treatment for cancer therapy is still under scrutiny. It shows great potential due to the property of SPIONs to produce local heat when placed under an

• trials [51]. A recent report suggests that submandibular gland cells suffer epigenetic mutations when treated with maghemite [52]. This fact becomes very important especially when developing SPION treatments for cancer. Unfortunately, to date scientists and physicians cannot provide definite protocols

A few-layer graphene/chlorin e6 hybrid nanomaterial and its application in photodynamic therapy against Candida albicans

• Selene Acosta,
• Carlos Moreno-Aguilar,
• Dania Hernández-Sánchez,
• Beatriz Morales-Cruzado,
• Erick Sarmiento-Gomez,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Luis Octavio Sánchez-Vargas and
• Mildred Quintana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1054–1061, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.90

• prevailing drugs used to fight fungal infections usually require long treatments and very often present side effects [2]. For these reasons, improved antifungal therapies must be developed to treat fungal infections [4]. An alternative approach, used as medical technology to treat diseases like cancer and

Key for crossing the BBB with nanoparticles: the rational design

• Sonia M. Lombardo,
• Marc Schneider,
• Akif E. Türeli and
• Nazende Günday Türeli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 866–883, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.72

• are P-glycoproteins (P-gp or ABCB1, MDR1 gene product), breast cancer resistance proteins (BCRP/ABCG2) and the multidrug resistance-associated proteins (MRP1, 2, 4 and 5, ABCC) [31][35][36][37][38]. With their ability to transport a large variety of compounds, these efflux proteins cause a significant

Integrated photonics multi-waveguide devices for optical trapping and Raman spectroscopy: design, fabrication and performance demonstration

• Gyllion B. Loozen,
• Arnica Karuna,
• Mohammad M. R. Fanood,
• Erik Schreuder and
• Jacob Caro

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 829–842, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.68

• biomarkers for cancer. In [6] we found, due to the divergence of the emitted beams, that larger facet separations (≥10 μm) lead to a strong global hot region of the light field near the waveguide facets. These global hot regions are preferential trapping sites, which may lead to adherence of the particle to

Examination of the relationship between viscoelastic properties and the invasion of ovarian cancer cells by atomic force microscopy

• Mengdan Chen,
• Jinshu Zeng,
• Weiwei Ruan,
• Zhenghong Zhang,
• Yuhua Wang,
• Shusen Xie,
• Zhengchao Wang and
• Hongqin Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 568–582, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.45

• The mechanical properties of cells could serve as an indicator for disease progression and early cancer diagnosis. This study utilized atomic force microscopy (AFM) to measure the viscoelastic properties of ovarian cancer cells and then examined the association with the invasion of ovarian cancer at

• the level of living single cells. Elasticity and viscosity of the ovarian cancer cells OVCAR-3 and HO-8910 are significantly lower than those of the human ovarian surface epithelial cell (HOSEpiC) control. Further examination found a dramatic increase of migration/invasion and an obvious decease of

• significantly related with the elasticity of the cells. An increase of elasticity and a decrease of invasion were found in OVCAR-3 and HO-8910 cells after Ech treatment. Together, this study clearly demonstrated the association of viscoelastic properties with the invasion of ovarian cancer cells and shed a

Luminescent gold nanoclusters for bioimaging applications

• Nonappa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 533–546, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.42

• receptor-positive (FR+) oral squamous cell carcinoma (KB) and breast cancer adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cell lines [88]. Since then, there have been numerous other reports that have shown various surface modifications to image a wide variety of cell lines. Pan et al. reported composite core–shell nanoparticle

• allowed for plasmonic and magnetic resonance, and luminescence in a single composite system for plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT). The bioimaging capability of the plasmonic magneto-luminescent multifunctional nanocarrier (PML-MF) systems were studied in vitro using three types of cancer cells, namely

• potential for photothermal therapy. While PML-MF alone was not toxic to healthy HEK cell lines, the treatment with DPML-MF showed a similar antiproliferative effect on healthy cell lines as that of cancerous cells. Therefore, the selective killing of cancer cells was not achieved. The superparamagnetic

Multilayer capsules made of weak polyelectrolytes: a review on the preparation, functionalization and applications in drug delivery

• Varsha Sharma and
• Anandhakumar Sundaramurthy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 508–532, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.41

• of magnetic NPs (e.g., iron oxide and cobalt oxide NPs) into capsules allows them to respond to magnetic stimuli and produce heat due to magnetic energy dissipation, mechanical vibrations and motion induced in the film, thus releasing the cargo [80]. The Fe2O4-PAH capsules studied with A549 cancer

• cell line showed a rapid uptake, demonstrating the potential for cancer therapy. Silica and gold NPs were assembled in a one pot assembly of specifically tailored diblock polymers of PLL and poly-ʟ-cysteine [82]. The electrostatic binding between the positively charged lysine blocks and negatively

• intensity of radiation successfully breaks the shell and releases the loaded cargo, high intensity leads to the generation of high heat, which helps in destroying the surrounding cancer cells. Even though the advantages of NP incorporation in capsules have been immense, similar work in weak PE assemblies is

Nanoparticles based on the zwitterionic pillar[5]arene and Ag⁺: synthesis, self-assembly and cytotoxicity in the human lung cancer cell line A549

• Dmitriy N. Shurpik,
• Denis A. Sevastyanov,
• Pavel V. Zelenikhin,
• Pavel L. Padnya,
• Vladimir G. Evtugyn,
• Yuriy N. Osin and
• Ivan I. Stoikov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 421–431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.33

Brome mosaic virus-like particles as siRNA nanocarriers for biomedical purposes

• Alfredo Nuñez-Rivera,
• Pierrick G. J. Fournier,
• Danna L. Arellano,
• Ana G. Rodriguez-Hernandez,
• Rafael Vazquez-Duhalt and
• Ruben D. Cadena-Nava

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 372–382, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.28

• Educación Superior de Ensenada, Baja California, (CICESE), Ensenada, Baja California, México 10.3762/bjnano.11.28 Abstract There is an increasing interest in the use of plant viruses as vehicles for anti-cancer therapy. In particular, the plant virus brome mosaic virus (BMV) and cowpea chlorotic mottle

• and the gene silencing. In addition, BMV VLP carring siAkt1 inhibited the tumor growth in mice. These results show the attractive potential of plant virus VLPs to deliver molecular therapy to tumor cells with low immunogenic response. Keywords: anti-cancer therapy; brome mosaic virus (BMV); cowpea

• chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV); nanocarriers; plant virus-like particles (VLPs); siRNA delivery; small interfering RNA (siRNA); Introduction Despite many efforts taken, the efficient and specific delivery of therapeutic molecules to tumor cells is still a unsolved challenge. Cancer therapies are often

Poly(1-vinylimidazole) polyplexes as novel therapeutic gene carriers for lung cancer therapy

• Gayathri Kandasamy,
• Elena N. Danilovtseva,
• Vadim V. Annenkov and
• Uma Maheswari Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 354–369, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.26

• efficiency of the formed complexes in A549 lung cancer cells. The polyplex formed was found to exhibit 66% complexation efficiency. The complexation was confirmed by gel retardation assays, FTIR and thermal analysis. The blank PVI polymer was not toxic to cells. The polyplex was found to exhibit excellent

• internalization and escaped the endosome effectively. The polyplex was more effective than free siRNA in silencing VEGF in lung cancer cells. The silencing of VEGF was quantified using Western blot and was also reflected in the depletion of HIF-1α levels in the cells treated with the polyplex. VEGF silencing by

• that have been connected to the proliferation and invasion of lung cancer cells. These results indicate that the PVI complexes can be an effective agent to counter lung cancer. Keywords: anti-VEGF siRNA; gene silencing; lung cancer; microarray; poly(1-vinylimidazole); small interfering RNA (siRNA

Interactions at the cell membrane and pathways of internalization of nano-sized materials for nanomedicine

• Valentina Francia,
• Daphne Montizaan and
• Anna Salvati

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 338–353, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.25

• nanoparticles by caveolae-mediated endocytosis [200]. Similarly, many in vitro studies use immortalized or cancer cell lines, such as HEK293 or HeLa cells, which are easy to transfect and culture. However, these cells can behave quite differently in comparison to primary cells or cells isolated directly from

Using gold nanoparticles to detect single-nucleotide polymorphisms: toward liquid biopsy

• María Sanromán Iglesias and
• Marek Grzelczak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 263–284, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.20

• cancer biomarker. We discuss the main mechanisms of the assays that either are assisted by DNA-based molecular machines or by enzymatic reactions, summarize their performance and provide an outlook towards future developments. Keywords: amplification reactions; biomarkers; colorimetric biosensing; gold

• nanoparticles; plasmonics; single-point mutation; Introduction Cancer is a leading cause of death accounting for about 8.8 million deaths in 2015 [1]. The list of tumor-linked substances, i.e., biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis purposes is continuously increasing. Cancer biomarkers are present in tumor

• simple blood test, setting thus a milestone of “liquid biopsy”. Liquid biopsy has the potential to accelerate the early cancer diagnosis by the detection of biomolecules such as cell-fee DNA directly in blood samples. Currently, the development of liquid biopsies is directly linked to the state-of-the

Rational design of block copolymer self-assemblies in photodynamic therapy

• Maxime Demazeau,
• Laure Gibot,
• Anne-Françoise Mingotaud,
• Patricia Vicendo,
• Clément Roux and
• Barbara Lonetti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 180–212, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.15

• glutathione concentration (ca. 10 mM), and iii) very recently, tumor hypoxia (i.e., low oxygen concentrations due to rapid use of blood supply for cancer cell growth) [55]. A typical exogenous trigger is light that can induce the cleavage of covalently linked groups and the solubilization and degradation of

• proposed to overcome the drug resistance of cancer cells. Indeed, it induced membrane permeability of the endo-lysosome and particle disassembly after white-light irradiation thus triggering the release of doxorubicin in the cytosol [96]. In the study by Zheng et al. [100] the AIE fluorophore is used as

• a hydrophilic shell for micelle stabilization, and the derivatized polylysin (Plys) acts as a hydrophobic core to load the photosensitizer (BODIPY), while PMAGP mainly serves to direct the target delivery to hepatoma cancer cells. Folate (FA) has been extensively studied as a targeting moiety [116

Molecular architectonics of DNA for functional nanoarchitectures

• Debasis Ghosh,
• Lakshmi P. Datta and
• Thimmaiah Govindaraju

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 124–140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.11

• construction of a DNA origami-based nanorobot for the cargo delivery of payloads into cancer cells [56]. The autonomous DNA nanorobot was constructed using a nucleolin-binding DNA aptamer and was loaded with thrombin protease. The nucleolin protein was overexpressed in tumor-associated endothelial cells, which

• delivery and nonimmunogenicity of the nanorobot made it a promising candidate for drug delivery in cancer therapeutics. The group of Krishnan reported the construction of a DNA nanodevice to quantitatively determine the activity and location of chloride ion channels and transport under pH stimuli [57]. In

• -functionalized iron oxide nanoparticle system was capable of selectively targeting the cancer cells and, potentially, to act as an MRI contrast agent. The programmability of the DNA tetrahedrons provided an opportunity to conjugate other functional nucleic acid sequences, viz., DNA, siRNA, or DNAzymes, to serve

Internalization mechanisms of cell-penetrating peptides

• Ivana Ruseska and
• Andreas Zimmer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 101–123, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.10

Advanced hybrid nanomaterials

• Andreas Taubert,
• Fabrice Leroux,
• Pierre Rabu and
• Verónica de Zea Bermudez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2563–2567, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.247

• is simultaneously employed as a contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and for local heating therapy using magnetic particle hyperthermia [33]. In vitro hyperthermia tests showed efficiency in inoculating mouse breast cancer cells. Another study reports the use of alendronate-coated gold

• nanoparticles [34]. The resulting gold–alendronate nanoplatform combines antitumor activity through drug delivery and photothermal therapy, as illustrated in vitro on the inhibition of prostate cancer cells. In the field of hybrid coordination networks, new lanthanide-based networks synthesized by a solvo

Bombesin receptor-targeted liposomes for enhanced delivery to lung cancer cells

• Mohammad J. Akbar,
• Pâmela C. Lukasewicz Ferreira,
• Melania Giorgetti,
• Leanne Stokes and
• Christopher J. Morris

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2553–2562, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.246

• receptor, gastrin releasing peptide receptor (GRPR), is widely expressed in cancers of the lung, pancreas and ovaries. Gastrin releasing peptide (GRP) is an autocrine growth factor in small cell lung cancer, which has very poor patient outcomes. High affinity antagonist peptides have been developed for in

• vivo cancer imaging. In this report we decorated pegylated liposomes with a GRPR antagonist peptide and studied its interaction with, and accumulation within, lung cancer cells. Results: An N-terminally cysteine modified GRPR antagonist (termed cystabn) was synthesised and shown to inhibit cell growth

• targeting has potential for enhancing drug accumulation in resistant cancer cells. Keywords: bombesin; GRPR; liposome; lung cancer; targeting; Introduction Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for approximately one in five lung cancer diagnoses. In spite of global efforts to reduce tobacco smoking in

Frontiers in pharmaceutical nanotechnology

• Matthias G. Wacker

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2538–2540, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.244

• applied in the development of semisolids. But we still have much to learn. Pharmaceutical science has indisputably become more complex with the discovery of nanocarrier-based delivery systems. Fueled by first successes in the 1990s, liposomes were at the forefront of cancer therapy [12][13]. The

Evaluation of click chemistry microarrays for immunosensing of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)

• Seyed Mohammad Mahdi Dadfar,
• Sylwia Sekula-Neuner,
• Vanessa Trouillet,
• Hui-Yu Liu,
• Ravi Kumar,
• Annie K. Powell and
• Michael Hirtz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2505–2515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.241

• (AOC), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Engesserstraße 15, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.10.241 Abstract The level of cancer biomarkers in cells, tissues or body fluids can be used for the prediction of the presence of cancer or can even indicate the stage of the disease. Alpha

• was spotted onto them via microchannel cantilever spotting (µCS). Based on the fluorescence measurements, the optimal microarray design was found and its sensitivity was determined. Keywords: alpha-fetoprotein (AFP); cancer biomarker; click chemistry; fluorescent immunosensor; hepatocellular

• carcinoma; Introduction Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic liver disease, the sixth most common cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The last release of the Global Cancer Observatory (GCO) database in

Label-free highly sensitive probe detection with novel hierarchical SERS substrates fabricated by nanoindentation and chemical reaction methods

• Jingran Zhang,
• Tianqi Jia,
• Yongda Yan,
• Li Wang,
• Peng Miao,
• Yimin Han,
• Xinming Zhang,
• Guangfeng Shi,
• Yanquan Geng,
• Zhankun Weng,
• Daniel Laipple and
• Zuobin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2483–2496, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.239

• green is highly toxic for aquatic animals or mammals and can induce cancer in animals. Thus, MG is significantly detected at low concentrations in water. The maximum concentration of malachite green is less than 2 μg/kg (5.48 × 10−9 mol/L) for many national food safety standards. Pesticide residues in

Small protein sequences can induce cellular uptake of complex nanohybrids

• Jan-Philip Merkl,
• Malak Safi,
• Christian Schmidtke,
• Fadi Aldeek,
• Johannes Ostermann,
• Tatiana Domitrovic,
• Sebastian Gärtner,
• John E. Johnson,
• Horst Weller and
• Hedi Mattoussi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2477–2482, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.238

• have also been discussed [12][14][15]. More recently, there have been a few reports discussing the use of luminescent Eu-loaded hydroxyapatite nanocrystals for rapid HeLa cancer cell imaging [9][11][16], or the nanostructure self‐assembly driven by amino acid coordination to increase the biological

pH-Controlled fluorescence switching in water-dispersed polymer brushes grafted to modified boron nitride nanotubes for cellular imaging

• Saban Kalay,
• Yurij Stetsyshyn,
• Volodymyr Donchak,
• Khrystyna Harhay,
• Ostap Lishchynskyi,
• Halyna Ohar,
• Yuriy Panchenko,
• Stanislav Voronov and
• Mustafa Çulha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2428–2439, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.233

• contrast to acidic pH conditions where the fluorescent intensity is absent or low. No increase in the absorption was observed when the suspension pH was increased from 7 to 10. The functionalized BNNTs are easily taken up by human normal prostate epithelium (PNT1A) and human prostate cancer cell lines

• obtained with a Carl Zeiss Evo-40 instrument under high vacuum and accelerating voltage of 10 kV. Cell culture experiments Normal prostate epithelium (PNT1A) and human prostate cancer (DU145) cell lines were grown in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium, supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1

• intracellular pH values are often associated with cell dysfunction and are observed in diseases such as cancer [58] and Alzheimer’s [59]. Therefore, information on intracellular pH is a crucial factor in understanding the physiological and pathological processes within living cells. In our previous work, BNNTs

Multiwalled carbon nanotube based aromatic volatile organic compound sensor: sensitivity enhancement through 1-hexadecanethiol functionalisation

• Nadra Bohli,
• Meryem Belkilani,
• Juan Casanova-Chafer,
• Eduard Llobet and
• Adnane Abdelghani

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2364–2373, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.227

• of trace concentrations of toluene in exhaled breath is associated with lung cancer and can therefore be considered as a biomarker for this pathology [2][3][4]. A gas sensor is generally composed of an active sensing film or material deposited on an electrode. The sensing performance is strongly

Design of a nanostructured mucoadhesive system containing curcumin for buccal application: from physicochemical to biological aspects

• Sabrina Barbosa de Souza Ferreira,
• Gustavo Braga,
• Évelin Lemos Oliveira,
• Jéssica Bassi da Silva,
• Hélen Cássia Rosseto,
• Lidiane Vizioli de Castro Hoshino,
• Mauro Luciano Baesso,
• Wilker Caetano,
• Craig Murdoch,
• Helen Elizabeth Colley and
• Marcos Luciano Bruschi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2304–2328, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.222

• activity, mainly in oral squamous cancer; however, its physicochemical characteristics hinder its application. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop nanostructured formulations containing curcumin for oral cancer therapy. The photophysical interactions between curcumin and the formulations were

• 8 h and could permeate through the porcine oral mucosa. Cytotoxicity testing revealed that the formulations were selective to cancer cells over healthy cells. Therefore, these systems could improve the physicochemical characteristics of curcumin by providing improved release and permeation, while

• selectivity targeting cancer cells. Keywords: curcumin; mucoadhesion; oral squamous cell carcinoma; permeation; poloxamer 407; Introduction The development of nanostructured systems containing poloxamer 407 (P407) and Carbopol 974P® (C974P) have previously been shown to have rheological and mechanical