Mangiferin functionalized radioactive gold nanoparticles (MGF-198AuNPs) in prostate tumor therapy: green nanotechnology for production, in vivo tumor retention and evaluation of therapeutic efficacy.

We report here an innovative feature of green nanotechnology-focused work showing that mangiferin-a glucose functionalized xanthonoid, found in abundance in mango peels-serves dual roles of chemical reduction and in situ encapsulation, to produce gold nanoparticles with optimum in vivo stability and tumor specific characteristics. The interaction of mangiferin with a Au-198 gold precursor affords MGF-198AuNPs as the beta emissions of Au-198 provide unique advantages for tumor therapy while gamma rays are used for the quantitative estimation of gold within the tumors and various organs. The laminin receptor specificity of mangiferin affords specific accumulation of therapeutic payloads of this new therapeutic agent within prostate tumors (PC-3) of human prostate tumor origin induced in mice which overexpress this receptor subtype. Detailed in vivo therapeutic efficacy studies, through the intratumoral delivery of MGF-198AuNPs, show the retention of over 80% of the injected dose (ID) in prostate tumors up to 24 h. By three weeks post treatment, tumor volumes of the treated group of animals showed an over 5 fold reduction as compared to the control saline group. New opportunities for green nanotechnology and a new paradigm of using mangiferin as a tumor targeting agent in oncology for the application of MGF-198AuNPs in the treatment of cancer are discussed.

Synthesis of papain nanoparticles by electron beam irradiation - A pathway for controlled enzyme crosslinking.

Crosslinked enzyme aggregates comprise more stable and highly concentrated enzymatic preparations of current biotechnological and biomedical relevance. This work reports the development of crosslinked nanosized papain aggregates using electron beam irradiation as an alternative route for controlled enzyme crosslinking. The nanoparticles were synthesized in phosphate buffer using various ethanol concentrations and electron beam irradiation doses. Particle size increase was monitored using dynamic light scattering. The crosslinking formation by means of bityrosine linkages were measured by fluorescence spectra and the enzymatic activity was monitored using Na-Benzoyl-dl-arginine p-nitroanilide hydrochloride as a substrate. The process led to crosslinked papain nanoparticles with controlled sizes ranging from 6 to 11nm depending upon the dose and ethanol concentration. The irradiation atmosphere played an important role in the final bioactivity of the nanoparticles, whereas argon and nitrous oxide saturated systems were more effective than at atmospheric conditions in terms of preserving papain enzymatic activity. Highlighted advantages of the technique include the lack of monomers and crosslinking agents, quick processing with reduced bioactivity changes, and the possibility to be performed inside the final package simultaneously with sterilization.

Radiation-synthesized protein-based drug carriers: Size-controlled BSA nanoparticles.

Nanotechnology has broadened the options for the delivery of agents of biotechnological and clinical relevance. Currently, attention has been driven towards the development of protein-based nanocarriers due to high the biocompatibility and site-specific delivery. In this work we report radiation-synthesized bovine serum albumin nanoparticles as an attempt to overcome limitations of available albumin particles, as a novel route for the development of crosslinked protein nanocarriers for the administration of chemotherapic agents or radiopharmaceuticals. Albumin containing phosphate buffer solutions were irradiated using γ-irradiation at distinct cosolvent concentrations-ethanol or methanol. Nanoparticle size was followed by DLS and bityrosine crosslinking formation using fluorescence measurements and SDS-PAGE. In addition, computational experiments were performed to elucidate the mechanism and pathways for the nanoparticle formation. The synthesis of BSA nanoparticles using γ-irradiation in the presence of a cosolvent allowed the formation of the nanoparticles from 7 to 70 nm without the use of any chemical crosslinker as confirmed by SDS-PAGE and DLS analysis. The combination of cosolvent and γ-irradiation allowed a fine tuning with regard to protein size.