Inhalable Polymeric Micro and Nano-immunoadjuvants for Developing Therapeutic Vaccines in the Treatment of Non-small Cell Lung Cancer.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a leading cause of death in millions of cancer patients. Lack of diagnosis at an early stage in addition to no specific guidelines for its treatment, and a higher rate of treatment- related toxicity further deteriorate the conditions. Current therapies encompass surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy according to the pattern and the stage of lung cancer. Among all, with a longlasting therapeutic action, reduced side-effects, and a higher rate of survival, therapeutic cancer vaccine is a new, improved strategy for treating NSCLC. Immunoadjuvants are usually incorporated into the therapeutic vaccines to shield the antigen against environmental and physiological harsh conditions in addition to boosting the immune potential. Conventional immunoadjuvants are often associated with an inadequate cellular response, poor target specificity, and low antigen load. Recently, inhalable polymeric nano/micro immunoadjuvants have exhibited immense potential in the development of therapeutic vaccines for the treatment of NSCLC with improved mucosal immunization. The development of polymeric micro/nano immunoadjuvants brought a new era for vaccines with increased strength and efficiency. Therefore, in the present review, we explained the potential application of micro/nano immunoadjuvants for augmenting the stability and efficacy of inhalable vaccines in the treatment of NSCLC. In addition, the role of biodegradable, biocompatible, and non-toxic polymers has also been discussed with case studies.

Carbon nanomaterials in oncology: an expanding horizon.

Carbon nanomaterials have been attracting attention in oncology for the development of safe and effective cancer nanomedicines in increasing improved patient compliance for generally recognized as safe (GRAS) prominence. Toxicity, safety and efficacy of carbon nanomaterials are the major concerns in cancer theranostics. Various parameters such as particle size and shape or surface morphology, surface charge, composition, oxidation and nonoxidative-stress-related mechanisms are prone to toxicity of the carbon nanomaterials. Currently, few cancer-related products have been available on the market, although some are underway in preclinical and clinical phases. Thus, our main aim is to provide comprehensive details on the carbon nanomaterials in oncology from the past two decades for patient compliance and safety.

Safety and toxicity of nanomaterials for ocular drug delivery applications.

Multifunctional nanomaterials are rapidly emerging for ophthalmic delivery of therapeutics to facilitate safe and effective targeting with improved patient compliance. Because of their extremely high area to volume ratio, nanomaterials often have physicochemical properties that are different from those of their larger counterparts. There exists a complex relationship between the physicochemical properties (composition, size, shape, charge, roughness, and porosity) of the nanomaterials and their interaction with the biological system. The eye is a very sensitive accessible organ and is subjected to intended and unintended exposure to nanomaterials. Currently, various ophthalmic formulations are available in the market, while some are underway in preclinical and clinical phases. However, the data on safety, efficacy, and toxicology of these advanced nanomaterials for ocular drug delivery are sparse. Focus of the present review is to provide a comprehensive report on the safety, biocompatibility and toxicities of nanomaterials in the eye.

Pharmaceutical and biomedical applications of quantum dots.

Quantum dots (QDs) have captured the fascination and attention of scientists due to their simultaneous targeting and imaging potential in drug delivery, in pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. In the present study, we have exhaustively reviewed various aspects of QDs, highlighting their pharmaceutical and biomedical applications, pharmacology, interactions, and toxicological manifestations. The eventual use of QDs is to dramatically improve clinical diagnostic tests for early detection of cancer. In recent years, QDs were introduced to cell biology as an alternative fluorescent probe.

Glycyrrhizin Conjugated Dendrimer and Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes for Liver Specific Delivery of Doxorubicin.

The purpose of the present investigation was to investigate the drug targeting potential of glycyrrhizin (GL) conjugated dendrimers (GL-PPI) and multi walled carbon nanotubes (GL-MWCNTs) towards liver targeting of a model anti-cancer agent, doxorubicin (DOX). The synthesis was confirmed by FTIR, 1H-NMR and morphology analysis. Higher DOX loading was observed in case of GL-PPI-DOX and GL-MWCNT-DOX (43.02 ± 0.64% and 87.26 0.57%, respectively) than parent nanocarriers. GL attachment considerably reduced the haemolytic toxicity of DOX by 12.38 ± 1.05 and 7.30 ± 0.63% by GL-PPI-DOX and GL-MWCNT-DOX, respectively. MTT cytotoxicity studies, flow cytometry and cell morphology assessment was done in HepG2 cell. The IC50 of DOX was reduced from 4.19±0.05 µM to 2.0±0.01 and 2.7±0.03 µM, respectively by GL-PPI-DOX and GL-MWCNT-DOX, respectively. Flow cytometry and phase contrast microscopy confirmed GL conjugated formulations to be significantly dragging higher cancer cell number of cells in early apoptosis as well as in early apoptotic phase.

Role of Antioxidants for the Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases: Challenges and Opportunities.

Cardiovascular disorders or cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are major illness associated with heart and blood vessels. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), generated during excessive oxidative stress, are responsible for the pathophysiology of various cardiovascular disorders including atherosclerosis, cardiac hypertrophy, cardiomyopathy, heart failure, ventricular remodeling, ischemia/reperfusion injury and myocardial infarction. Cellular "redox homeostasis" generally maintains the healthy physiology in cardiac myocytes and endothelial cells. However, during excessive oxidative stress body's endogenous system fails to maintain normal physiology hence antioxidant supplementation is necessary, which could scavenge the free radicals and other toxic radicals. Several antioxidants such as CoQ10, beta carotene, lycopene, quercetin, reserveterol, vitamin C and vitamin E have shown preventive and therapeutic benefits in different forms of CVD. However, poor biopharmaceutical properties and variable pharmacokinetics of several antioxidants limits their use as therapeutic agents. Hence delivery of stable antioxidants at their site of action is a need of current scenario. Several novel carriers based approaches have shown considerable benefits for the systemic and site specific delivery of antioxidants for the preventive and therapeutic treatment of several cardiovascular diseases. In the present review, conventional as well as novel antioxidants have been discussed with special emphasis for the treatment of CVD. Further, the current review also highlights the critical challenges for antioxidant delivery and various novel carriers (nanoformulations) including, liposomes and nanoparticles explored for their efficient delivery in the therapeutic management of CVD.