Recent Progress in Phage-Based Nanoplatforms for Tumor Therapy.

Nanodrug delivery systems have demonstrated a great potential for tumor therapy with the development of nanotechnology. Nonetheless, traditional drug delivery systems are faced with issues such as complex synthetic procedures, low reproducibility, nonspecific distribution, impenetrability of biological barrier, systemic toxicity, etc. In recent years, phage-based nanoplatforms have attracted increasing attention in tumor treatment for their regular structure, fantastic carrying property, high transduction efficiency and biosafety. Notably, therapeutic or targeting peptides can be expressed on the surface of the phages through phage display technology, enabling the phage vectors to possess multifunctions. As a result, the drug delivery efficiency on tumor will be vastly improved, thereby enhancing the therapeutic efficacy while reducing the side effects on normal tissues. Moreover, phages can overcome the hindrance of biofilm barrier to elicit antitumor effects, which exhibit great advantages compared with traditional synthetic drug delivery systems. Herein, this review not only summarizes the structure and biology of the phages, but also presents their potential as prominent nanoplatforms against tumor in different pathways to inspire the development of effective nanomedicine.

The value of ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration in the diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: A single center experiment.

OBJECTIVES: Flow cytometry (FC) is a critical diagnostic approach for guiding targeted chemotherapy and cellular immunotherapy for relapsed and refractory lymphoma patients. The aim of the study was to investigate the value of ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) to improve the quality of FC specimens in relapsed and refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (R/R DLBCL). METHODS: Twenty patients with R/R DLBCL after standard treatment were included. The primary lesions of all cases were confirmed by pathology. FNA and core needle biopsy (CNB) were both used for ultrasound-guided puncture, the specimens obtained by FNA are directly examined by FC, and the specimens by CNB were subjected to FC after grinding. The accuracy of FC with the two methods were evaluated using histopathology as the gold standard. RESULTS: Of the 20 R/R DLBCL cases, 19 were diagnosed as DLBCL pathologically and one was diagnosed as inflammatory granuloma. Among the specimens obtained by CNB, 14 cases examined by FC after grinding showed abnormal mature B cells, five cases were missed, all cases are not misdiagnosed. Among the specimens obtained by FNA, 18 cases showed FC-confirmed abnormal mature B cells, one case was missed, all cases are not misdiagnosed. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of FC with CNB and FNA were 73.68 % (14/19) vs 94.73 % (18/19), 100 % (1/1) vs 100 % (1/1), and 75 % (15/20) vs 97.14 % (19/20), respectively. The sensitivity of the two puncture methods of FC of DLBCL was statistically different (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Sampling with ultrasound-guided FNA is of great value to improve the quality of FC specimens. FNA can significantly improve the sensitivity and accuracy of FC diagnosis in R/R DLBCL.