Evaluation of the immune response in conventionally weaned pigs infected with porcine deltacoronavirus.

Although porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is a significant pandemic threat in the swine population and has caused significant economic losses, information regarding the immune response in conventionally weaned pigs infected with PDCoV is scarce. Hence, the immune response in conventionally weaned pigs infected with PDCoV was assessed after challenge and rechallenge. After the first challenge, obvious diarrhea and viral shedding developed successively in all pigs in the four inoculation dose groups from 3 to 14 days postinfection (dpi), and all pigs recovered (no clinical symptoms or viral shedding) by 21 dpi. All pigs in the four groups exhibited significantly increased PDCoV-specific IgG, IgA and virus-neutralizing (VN) antibody (Ab) titers and IFN-γ levels in the serum after the first challenge. All pigs were completely protected against rechallenge at 21 dpi. The serum levels of PDCoV-specific IgG, IgA, and VN Abs increased further after rechallenge. Notably, the IFN-γ level declined continuously after 7 dpi. In addition, the levels of PDCoV-specific IgG, IgA and VN Abs in saliva increased significantly after rechallenge and correlated well with the serum Ab titers. Furthermore, the appearance of clinical symptoms of PDCoV infection in conventionally weaned pigs was delayed with reduced inoculation doses. In summary, the data presented here offer important reference information for future PDCoV animal infection and vaccine-induced immunoprotection experiments.

Biological characterization and pathogenicity of a newly isolated Chinese highly virulent genotype GIIa porcine epidemic diarrhea virus strain.

Since 2010, continual outbreaks of highly virulent variants of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) belonging to genotype GII have led to serious economic losses for the Chinese swine industry. To better understand the biological characteristics and pathogenicity of the current prevalent Chinese PEDV field strains, in this study, a highly virulent Chinese genotype GIIa PEDV strain, CH/HBXT/2018, was isolated and serially propagated using Vero cells. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis showed that strain CH/HBXT/2018 contained novel insertion and deletion mutations in the S gene region relative to the classical strain and belonged to the genotype GIIa, similar to other recently isolated PEDV strains from China and the United States. Pig infection studies indicated that the CH/HBXT/2018 strain was highly virulent in suckling piglets, and the median pig diarrhea dose (PDD50) was 8.63 log10PDD50/3 mL at 7 days postinfection (DPI). The results of the present study are important for future PEDV challenge studies and the development of new PEDV vaccines based on prevalent field strains for the prevention and control of PED in China.

Immunogenicity and protective efficacy of recombinant proteins consisting of multiple epitopes of foot-and-mouth disease virus fused with flagellin.

Many recent studies have shown that flagellin fused to heterologous antigens can induce significantly enhanced humoral and cellular immune responses through its adjuvant activity. Therefore, in this study, two key B cell epitopes and a truncated VP1 (ΔVP1) protein from foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) were expressed as flagellin fusion proteins in different patterns. Specifically, ΔVP1 and two duplicates of two key B cell epitopes (2×B1B2) were fused separately to the C-terminus of flagellin with a universal exogenous T cell epitope to construct FT (Flagellin-Truncated VP1) and FME (Flagellin-Multiple Epitopes). In addition, the D3 domain of flagellin was replaced by ΔVP1 in FME, yielding FTME (Flagellin-Truncated VP1-Multiple Epitopes). The immunogenicity and protective efficacy of the three fusion proteins as novel FMDV vaccine candidates were evaluated. The results showed that FT, FME, and FTME elicited significant FMDV-specific IgG responses at 10 µg/dose compared with the mock group (P < 0.05), with FTME producing the highest response. No significant differences in the antibody response to FTME were observed between different immunization routes or among adjuvants (ISA-206, poly(I·C), MPLA, and CpG-ODN) in mice. In addition, at 30 µg/dose, all three fusion proteins significantly induced neutralizing antibody production and upregulated the levels of some cytokines, including TNF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-12, in guinea pigs. Importantly, all three fusion proteins provided effective protective immunity against FMDV challenge in guinea pigs, though different protection rates were found. The results presented in this study indicate that the FTME fusion protein is a promising novel vaccine candidate for the future prevention and control of foot-and-mouth disease.

Palladium-Catalyzed H/D Exchange Reaction with 8-Aminoquinoline as the Directing Group: Access to ortho-Selective Deuterated Aromatic Acids and ß-Selective Deuterated Aliphatic Acids.

We develop a palladium-catalyzed H/D exchange reaction with 8-aminoquinoline as the directing group as well as D2O as the source of deuterium atom and solvent. This reaction achieves selectively H/D exchange at the ortho-C-H of aromatic amides and the ß-C-H of aliphatic amide. Ortho-deuterated aromatic acids and ß-deuterated aliphatic acids are obtained by removal of the directing group. And a possible mechanism is also proposed.

Human neural stem cell tropism to metastatic breast cancer.

Metastasis to multiple organs is the primary cause of mortality in breast cancer patients. The poor prognosis for patients with metastatic breast cancer and toxic side effects of currently available treatments necessitate the development of effective tumor-selective therapies. Neural stem cells (NSCs) possess inherent tumor tropic properties that enable them to overcome many obstacles of drug delivery that limit effective chemotherapy strategies for breast cancer. We report that increased NSC tropism to breast tumor cell lines is strongly correlated with the invasiveness of cancer cells. Interleukin 6 (IL-6) was identified as a major cytokine mediating NSC tropism to invasive breast cancer cells. We show for the first time in a preclinical mouse model of metastatic human breast cancer that NSCs preferentially target tumor metastases in multiple organs, including liver, lung, lymph nodes, and femur, versus the primary intramammary fat pad tumor. For proof-of-concept of stem cell-mediated breast cancer therapy, NSCs were genetically modified to secrete rabbit carboxylesterase (rCE), an enzyme that activates the CPT-11 prodrug to SN-38, a potent topoisomerase I inhibitor, to effect tumor-localized chemotherapy. In vitro data demonstrate that exposure of breast cancer cells to conditioned media from rCE-secreting NSCs (NSC.rCE) increased their sensitivity to CPT-11 by 200-fold. In vivo, treatment of tumor-bearing mice with NSC.rCE cells in combination with CPT-11 resulted in reduction of metastatic tumor burden in lung and lymph nodes. These data suggest that NSC-mediated enzyme/prodrug therapy may be more effective and less toxic than currently available chemotherapy strategies for breast cancer metastases.

2PNS++ point-cloud registration via hash of invariants and local compatibility check.

In this research, we use hash match of invariants under fixed pair length and local compatibility check of positions or normal vectors to improve the efficiency of two-point normal set (2PNS) point cloud registration algorithm. On the one hand, we use the key value formed by the invariants of base point pairs of fixed length to construct and retrieve the hash table to realize the matching of base point pairs in the two point clouds to be registered to speed up the extraction of candidate transformation matrices. On the other hand, the time consumed in the verification phase is reduced by checking the compatibility between the positions or normal vectors of the corresponding points in the specific areas of the two point clouds under the transformation from the candidate matrix. Through these two improvements, the algorithm significantly reduces the time spent in the point cloud registration algorithm.

Enhanced Super4PCS Algorithm by Comparing Transformed Normals at Corresponding Points.

In this paper, an enhanced algorithm based on the Super4PCS algorithm was established to address the problem of prolonged congruent set verification of Super4PCS for point clouds with many points or low overlap. By comparing normals of corresponding points in a source point cloud and a tentatively transformed target point cloud, this approach dramatically decreases the time required for candidate transformation verification. This strategy has been shown to improve registration efficiency in experiments.

Quality improvement of nursing on patients with complex cerebral arteriovenous malformation undergoing hybrid surgery: a prospective single-center study.

BACKGROUND: We sought to explore an optimal clinical nursing mode following a hybrid surgery for cerebral arteriovenous malformation. METHODS: Patients with complex cerebral arteriovenous malformations seen in our neurosurgery department from January 2016 to December 2017 were prospectively enrolled. The hybrid surgery protocol included "angiographic diagnosis, surgical resection, and intraoperative angiographic evaluation" and "angiographic diagnosis and embolization, surgical resection, and intraoperative angiographic evaluation". The patients were randomly stratified into intensive care group and routine care group. After surgery, intensive or routine care was provided, and the prognosis of patients was evaluated, with a subsequent comparative analysis. RESULTS: A total of 109 cases were divided into the routine nursing group (n = 54 cases) and intensive nursing group (n = 55 cases). There were no significant differences between the two groups in baseline data before surgery. Postoperative lung infection in the intensive nursing group was significantly less frequent than those in the routine nursing group (5.5% vs. 18.5%, P=0.039) with pulmonary infection and lower extremity venous thrombosis (5.5% vs. 24.1%, P=0.006). The average hospital stay in the intensive nursing group was 14.4 ± 5.78 days, which was significantly lower than that in the routine nursing group (19.3 ± 6.38 days, P=0.013). At 3 months' follow-up after surgery, the Generic Quality of Life Inventory-74 (GQOLI-74) dimension score and GQOLI-74 total score in the enhanced group were significantly better than those in the routine nursing group (P=0.017 and 0.023, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Intensive postoperative nursing can improve the safety of patients after hybrid surgery, reduce the postoperative complications and the average length of hospital stay, and improve the quality of life of patients.

Characterization, pathogenicity and protective efficacy of a cell culture-derived porcine deltacoronavirus.

Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is a novel swine enteropathogenic coronavirus that causes acute diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration and mortality in neonatal piglets, resulting in significant economic losses to the pig industry. However, there is currently little information on vaccine studies and commercially available vaccines for PDCoV. Hence, herein, a PDCoV strain, CH/XJYN/2016, was successfully isolated and serially propagated in vitro, and its biological characteristics were determined. Compared to that of previously reported and recently isolated PDCoV strains from China and the United States, the S gene of the CH/XJYN/2016 strain contains novel mutations. Infection studies revealed that CH/XJYN/2016 is pathogenic to suckling piglets and conventional weaned pigs. In addition, the median pig diarrhea dose (PDD50) of PDCoV in conventional weaned pigs was determined (2.0 log10PDD50/3 mL). Furthermore, an inactivated cell-adapted CH/XJYN/2016-based vaccine candidate was developed with different adjuvants. Compared with nonvaccinated pigs, conventional weaned pigs given the inactivated vaccine developed a potent humoral immune response and showed no clinical signs or viral shedding after challenge, indicating a potent protective effect of the vaccine against PDCoV infection. Therefore, the PDCoV vaccine developed in this study is a promising vaccine candidate that can be used for the control of PDCoV infection in pigs.

Neural stem cell tropism to glioma: critical role of tumor hypoxia.

Hypoxia is a critical aspect of the microenvironment in glioma and generally signifies unfavorable clinical outcome. Effective targeting of hypoxic areas in gliomas remains a significant therapeutic challenge. New therapeutic platforms using neural stem cells (NSC) for tumor-targeted drug delivery show promise in treatment of cancers that are refractory to traditional therapies. However, the molecular mechanisms of NSC targeting to hypoxic tumor areas are not well understood. Therefore, we investigated the role of hypoxia in directed migration of NSCs to glioma and identified the specific signaling molecules involved. Our data showed that hypoxia caused increased migration of human HB1.F3 NSCs to U251 human glioma-conditioned medium in vitro. In HB1.F3 NSCs, hypoxia led to up-regulation of CXCR4, urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2), and c-Met receptors. Function-inhibiting antibodies to these receptors inhibited the migration of HB1.F3 cells to glioma-conditioned medium. Small interfering RNA knockdown of hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha in glioma cells blocked the hypoxia-induced migration of NSCs, which was due to decreased expression of stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1), uPA, and VEGF in glioma cells. Our in vivo data provided direct evidence that NSCs preferentially distributed to hypoxic areas inside intracranial glioma xenografts, as detected by pimonidazole hypoxia probe, as well as to the tumor edge, and that both areas displayed high SDF-1 expression. These observations indicate that hypoxia is a key factor in determining NSC tropism to glioma and that SDF-1/CXCR4, uPA/uPAR, VEGF/VEGFR2, and hepatocyte growth factor/c-Met signaling pathways mediate increased NSC-to-glioma tropism under hypoxia. These results have significant implications for development of stem cell-mediated tumor-selective gene therapies.

Urokinase plasminogen activator and urokinase plasminogen activator receptor mediate human stem cell tropism to malignant solid tumors.

Human neural and mesenchymal stem cells have been identified for cell-based therapies in regenerative medicine and as vehicles for delivering therapeutic agents to areas of injury and tumors. However, the signals required for homing and recruitment of stem cells to these sites are not well understood. Urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) are involved in chemotaxis and cell guidance during normal development and are upregulated in invasive tumors. Here we provided evidence that activation of uPA and uPAR in malignant solid tumors (brain, lung, prostate, and breast) augments neural and mesenchymal stem cell tropism. Expression levels of uPAR on human solid tumor cell lines correlated with levels of uPA and soluble uPAR in tumor cell-conditioned media. Cytokine expression profiles of these tumor-conditioned media were determined by protein arrays. Among 79 cytokines investigated, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 were the most highly expressed cytokines in uPAR-positive tumors. We provided evidence that human recombinant uPA induced stem cell migration, whereas depletion of uPA from PC-3 prostate cancer cell-conditioned medium blocked stem cell migration. Furthermore, retrovirus-mediated overexpression of uPA and uPAR in neuroblastoma (NB1691) cells induced robust migration of stem cells toward NB1691 cell-conditioned media, compared with media derived from wild-type NB1691 cells. We conclude that expression of uPA and uPAR in cancer cells underlies a novel mechanism of stem cell tropism to malignant solid tumors, which may be important for development of optimal stem cell-based therapies. Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.

Evaluation of the Efficacy of a Recombinant Adenovirus Expressing the Spike Protein of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus in Pigs.

In recent years, many studies have shown that recombinant adenovirus live vector-based vaccines are a promising novel vaccine candidate against virus infection. Therefore, in this study, a new type of recombinant adenovirus expressing the spike (S) protein of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), rAd-PEDV-S, was generated, and its characteristics were determined. Then, its efficacy as a vaccine candidate was evaluated in 4-week-old pigs. The results showed that the S protein could be well expressed at a high level in rAd-PEDV-S-infected cells and that the viral titers could reach 1011 PFU/mL. Further animal experimental results showed that rAd-PEDV-S elicited a significant PEDV-specific humoral immune response after vaccination (P < 0.05). In addition, rAd-PEDV-S provided partial protection for pigs against the highly virulent PEDV challenge. The results presented in this study indicate that the adenovirus vector can be used as a vaccine delivery vector for the development of a PEDV vaccine and is a promising novel vaccine candidate for future prevention and control of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED), but its efficacy still needs to be improved in the future.

Evaluation and comparison of immunogenicity and cross-protective efficacy of two inactivated cell culture-derived GIIa- and GIIb-genotype porcine epidemic diarrhea virus vaccines in suckling piglets.

Although highly virulent GII-genotype PEDV strains have become pandemic in the swine population worldwide, little is known about the differences in immunogenicity and cross-protective efficacy between the GIIa and GIIb subgenotypes. Hence, in the present study, we vaccinated suckling piglets with GIIa (CH/HBXT/2018) and GIIb (CH/HNPJ/2017) PEDV strain-based inactivated vaccine candidates and compared their immunogenicity and cross-protective efficacy. The results showed that both vaccine candidates induced high levels of PEDV-specific IgG antibodies and IFN-γ and reduced the levels of neutralizing antibodies at 21 dpv in suckling piglets. The GIIa-based inactivated vaccine protected all piglets (8/8) against virulent homologous and heterologous virus challenge, while the GIIb strain-based inactivated vaccine protected only 2/4 and 1/4 piglets against virulent homologous and heterologous virus challenge, respectively. Furthermore, antibodies against the GIIa and GIIb strains cross-reacted and cross-neutralized both strains in vitro. Taken together, the data presented in this study indicate that GIIa strain-based inactivated vaccine candidates are more promising than GIIb-based candidates for the development of an effective vaccine against the current highly virulent pandemic PEDV strains.

A newly isolated Chinese virulent genotype GIIb porcine epidemic diarrhea virus strain: Biological characteristics, pathogenicity and immune protective effects as an inactivated vaccine candidate.

Since October 2010, severe porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) outbreaks caused by highly virulent PED virus (PEDV) strains have occurred continuously in the Chinese pig population and caused considerable economic losses. Although PEDV vaccines based on classical PEDV strains have been widely used in China in recent years, the morbidity and mortality in piglets remain high. Therefore, virulent genotype GII PEDV strains that are prevalent in the field should be isolated and used to develop next-generation vaccines. In the present study, a Chinese virulent genotype GIIb PEDV strain, CH/HNPJ/2017, was serially propagated in Vero cells for up to 90 passages. The S genes contained typical insertions and deletions that were also found in other recently isolated highly virulent PEDV strains from China and other countries and had two neighboring unique insertion mutations, which resulted in four amino acid changes in the S1 region of passages P10 and P60. Pig infection studies revealed that the CH/HNPJ/2017 strain was highly virulent in piglets, and the median pig diarrhea dose (PDD50) was 7.68 log10PDD50/3 mL. Furthermore, the cell-adapted CH/HNPJ/2017 strain elicited potent serum IgG and neutralizing antibody responses in immunized pigs when it was used as an inactivated vaccine candidate. In addition, the pigs that received the experimental inactivated vaccines were partially protected (3/5) against subsequent viral challenge. In brief, these data indicate that the CH/HNPJ/2017 strain is a promising candidate for developing a safe and effective PEDV vaccine in the future.

Polo-like kinase 1 regulates mitotic arrest after UV irradiation through dephosphorylation of p53 and inducing p53 degradation.

Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation can result in cell cycle arrest. The reactivation of Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) is necessary for cell cycle reentry. But the mechanism of how Plk1 regulates p53 in UV-induced mitotic arrest cells remained elusive. Here we find that UV treatment leads HEK293 cells to inverse changes of Plk1 and p53. Over-expression of Plk1 rescue UV-induced mitotic arrest cells by inhibiting p53 activation. Plk1 could also inhibit p53 phosphorylation at Ser15, thus facilitates its nuclear export and degradation. Further examination shows that Plk1, p53 and Cdc25C can form a large complex. Plk1 could bind to the sequence-specific DNA-binding domain of p53 and active Cdc25C by hyperphosphorylation. These results hypothesize that Plk1 and Cdc25C participate in recovery the mitotic arrest through binding to the different domain of p53. Cdc25C may first be actived by Plk1, and then its phosphatase activity makes p53 dephosphorylated at Ser15.

Knockdown of c-Met by adenovirus-delivered small interfering RNA inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma growth in vitro and in vivo.

c-Met is highly expressed and constitutively activated in various human tumors. We employed adenovirus-mediated RNA interference technique to knock down c-Met expression in hepatocellular carcinoma cells and observed its effects on hepatocellular carcinoma cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Among the five hepatocellular carcinoma and one normal human liver cell lines we analyzed, c-Met was highly expressed and constitutively tyrosine phosphorylated in only MHCC97-L and HCCLM3 hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Knockdown of c-Met could inhibit MHCC97-L cells proliferation by arresting cells at G0-G1 phase. Soft agar colony formation assay indicated that the colony forming ability of MHCC97-L cells decreased by approximately 70% after adenovirus AdH1-small interfering RNA (siRNA)/met infection. In vivo experiments showed that adenovirus AdH1-siRNA/met inhibited the tumorigenicity of MHCC97-L cells and significantly suppressed tumor growth when injected directly into tumors. These results suggest that knockdown of c-Met by adenovirus-delivered siRNA may be a potential therapeutic strategy for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma in which c-Met is overexpressed.

The association of calmodulin with central spindle regulates the initiation of cytokinesis in HeLa cells.

Calmodulin is a major cytoplasmic calcium receptor that performs multiple functions in the cell including cytokinesis. Central spindle appears between separating chromatin masses after metaphase-anaphase transition. The interaction of microtubules from central spindle with cell cortex regulates the cleavage furrow formation. In this paper, we use green fluorescence protein (GFP)-tagged calmodulin as a living cell probe to examine the detailed dynamic redistribution and co-localization of calmodulin with central spindle during cytokinesis and the function of this distribution pattern in a tripolar HeLa cell model. We found that calmodulin is associated with spindle microtubules during mitosis and begins to aggregate with central spindle after anaphase initiation. The absence of either central spindle or central spindle-distributed calmodulin is correlated with the defect in the formation of cleavage furrow, where contractile ring-distributed CaM is also extinct. Further analysis found that both the assembly of central spindle and the formation of cleavage furrow are affected by the W7 treatment. The microtubule density of central spindle was decreased after the treatment. Only less than 10% of the synchronized cells enter cytokinesis when treated with 25 microM W7, and the completion time of furrow regression is also delayed from 10 min to at least 40 min. It is suggested that calmodulin plays a significant role in cytokinesis including furrow formation and regression, The understanding of the interaction between calmodulin and microtubules may give us insight into the mechanism through which calmodulin regulates cytokinesis.

hNRAGE, a human neurotrophin receptor interacting MAGE homologue, regulates p53 transcriptional activity and inhibits cell proliferation.

hNRAGE, a neurotrophin receptor p75 interacting MAGE homologue, is cloned from a human placenta cDNA library. hNRAGE can inhibit the colony formation of and arrest cell proliferation at the G1/S and G2/M stages in hNRAGE overexpressing cells. Interestingly, hNRAGE also increases the p53 protein level as well as its phosphorylation (Ser392). Further studies demonstrated that hNRAGE does not affect the proliferation of mouse p53-/- embryonic fibroblasts, suggesting that p53 function is required for hNRAGE induced cell cycle arrest. Moreover, the cell cycle inhibiting protein p21(WAF) is induced by hNRAGE in a p53 dependent manner. The data provide original evidence that hNRAGE arrests cell growth through a p53 dependent pathway.

Expanded flap to repair facial scar left by radiotherapy of hemangioma.

This study explored the feasibility and clinical efficacy of expanded flap to repair facial scar left by radiotherapy of hemangioma. From March 2000 to April 2011, 13 cases of facial cicatrices left by radiotherapy of hemangioma have been treated with implantation surgery of facial skin dilator under local anesthesia. After water flood expansion for 1-2 months, resection of facial scar was performed, and wound repairing with expansion flap transfer was done. Thirteen patients were followed up from 5 months to 3 years. All patients tolerated flap transfer well; no contracture occurred during the facial expansion flap transfer. The incision scar was not obvious, and its color and texture were identical to surrounding skin. In conclusion, the use of expanded flap transfer to repair the facial scar left by radiotherapy of hemangioma is advantageous due to its simplicity, flexibility, and large area of repairing. This method does not affect the subsequent facial appearance.

Neural stem cell-mediated intratumoral delivery of gold nanorods improves photothermal therapy.

Plasmonic photothermal therapy utilizes biologically inert gold nanorods (AuNRs) as tumor-localized antennas that convert light into heat capable of eliminating cancerous tissue. This approach has lower morbidity than surgical resection and can potentially synergize with other treatment modalities including chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Despite these advantages, it is still challenging to obtain heating of the entire tumor mass while avoiding unnecessary collateral damage to surrounding healthy tissue. It is therefore critical to identify innovative methods to distribute an effective concentration of AuNRs throughout tumors without depositing them in surrounding healthy tissue. Here we demonstrate that AuNR-loaded, tumor-tropic neural stem cells (NSCs) can be used to improve the intratumoral distribution of AuNRs. A simple UV-vis technique for measuring AuNR loading within NSCs was established. It was then confirmed that NSC viability is unimpaired following AuNR loading and that NSCs retain AuNRs long enough to migrate throughout tumors. We then demonstrate that intratumoral injections of AuNR-loaded NSCs are more efficacious than free AuNR injections, as evidenced by reduced recurrence rates of triple-negative breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) xenografts following NIR exposure. Finally, we demonstrate that the distribution of AuNRs throughout the tumors is improved when transported by NSCs, likely resulting in the improved efficacy of AuNR-loaded NSCs as compared to free AuNRs. These findings highlight the advantage of combining cellular therapies and nanotechnology to generate more effective cancer treatments.