Enabling non-viral DNA delivery using lipid nanoparticles co-loaded with endogenous anti-inflammatory lipids.

Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have transformed genetic medicine, recently shown by their use in COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. While loading LNPs with mRNA has many uses, loading DNA would provide additional advantages such as long-term expression and availability of promoter sequences. However, here we show that plasmid DNA (pDNA) delivery via LNPs (pDNA-LNPs) induces acute inflammation in naïve mice which we find is primarily driven by the cGAS-STING pathway. Inspired by DNA viruses that inhibit this pathway for replication, we co-loaded endogenous lipids that inhibit STING into pDNA-LNPs. Specifically, loading nitro-oleic acid (NOA) into pDNA-LNPs (NOA-pDNA-LNPs) ameliorates serious inflammatory responses in vivo enabling prolonged transgene expression (at least 1 month). Additionally, we demonstrate the ability to iteratively optimize NOA-pDNA-LNPs' expression by performing a small LNP formulation screen, driving up expression 50-fold in vitro. Thus, NOA-pDNA-LNPs, and pDNA-LNPs co-loaded with other bioactive molecules, will provide a major new tool in the genetic medicine toolbox, leveraging the power of DNA's long-term and promoter-controlled expression.

Quatramer™ encapsulation of dual-targeted PI3-Kδ/HDAC6 inhibitor, HSB-510, suppresses growth of breast cancer.

Multiple studies have shown that the progression of breast cancer depends on multiple signaling pathways, suggesting that therapies with multitargeted anticancer agents will offer improved therapeutic benefits through synergistic effects in inhibiting cancer growth. Dual-targeted inhibitors of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3-K) and histone deacetylase (HDAC) have emerged as promising cancer therapy candidates. However, poor aqueous solubility and bioavailability limited their efficacy in cancer. The present study investigates the encapsulation of a PI3-Kδ/HDAC6 dual inhibitor into hybrid block copolymers (polylactic acid-methoxy polyethylene glycol; polylactic acid-polyethylene glycol-polypropylene glycol-polyethylene glycol-polylactic acid) (HSB-510) as a delivery system to target PI3-Kδ and HDAC6 pathways in breast cancer cells. The prepared HSB-510 showed an average diameter of 96 ± 3 nm, a zeta potential of -17 ± 2 mV, and PDI of ˂0.1 with a slow and sustained release profile of PI3-Kδ/HDAC6 inhibitors in a nonphysiological buffer. In vitro studies with HSB-510 have demonstrated substantial growth inhibition of breast cancer cell lines, MDA-MB-468, SUM-149, MCF-7, and Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) as well as downregulation of phospho-AKT, phospho-ERK, and c-Myc levels. Importantly, bi-weekly treatment of Balb/c wild-type mice harboring EAC cells with HSB-510 at a dose of 25 mg/kg resulted in significant tumor growth inhibition. The treatment with HSB-510 was without any significant effect on the body weights of the mice. These results demonstrate that a novel Quatramer encapsulation of a PI3-Kδ/HDAC6 dual inhibitor (HSB-510) represents an approach for the successful targeting of breast cancer and potentially other cancer types.

Polylactic acid based biodegradable hybrid block copolymeric nanoparticle mediated co-delivery of salinomycin and doxorubicin for cancer therapy.

Existence of cancer stem cells (CSCs) are primarily responsible for chemoresistance, cancer reoccurrence and treatment failure in cancer patients. Eliminating CSCs along with bulk tumor is a necessity to achieve complete cancer inhibition. Salinomycin (SAL) has potential to specifically target and kill CSCs through blocking their multiple pathways simultaneously. SAL has also been reported to improve anti-cancer efficacy of numerous chemo-based drugs when used in combination therapy. However, clinical use of SAL is restricted due to its high off targeted toxicity. Herein, we have developed a PLA based hybrid block copolymer for concomitant delivery of SAL and doxorubicin (DOX) with an aim to reduce their adverse side effects and enhance the therapeutic efficacy of the treatment. Designed PLA based nanoplatform showed high encapsulation and sustained release profile for both the drugs. Cytotoxicity evaluation on cancer cell lines confirmed the synergistic effect of SAL:DOX co-loaded NPs. Additionally, prepared SAL NPs were also found to be highly effective against chemo-resistant cancer cells and CSCs derived from cancer patient. Most importantly, encapsulation of SAL in PLA NPs improved its pharmacokinetics and biodistribution profile. Consequently, undesired toxicity with SAL NPs was significantly reduced which in-turn increased the dose tolerability in mice as compared to free SAL. Treatment of EAC tumor bearing mice with SAL:DOX co-loaded NPs resulted in excellent tumor regression and complete inhibition of cancer reoccurrence. These results conclude that concomitant delivery of SAL and DOX using PLA based block copolymeric nano-carrier have a strong potential for cancer therapy.

Polylactic acid based polymeric nanoparticle mediated co-delivery of navitoclax and decitabine for cancer therapy.

Combination chemotherapy with systemic administration of drugs in their free form can be challenging due to non-synchronized pharmacokinetics and sub-optimal tumor accumulation. The present study investigates a PLA-based block copolymeric nanocarrier for the co-delivery of navitoclax and decitabine (NAV/DCB NPs) for combination cancer therapy. NAV/DCB NPs exhibited potent in vitro synergistic cytotoxicity in both acute myeloid leukemia and breast cancer cell lines. Biodistribution studies of NAV/DCB NPs in tumor bearing mice, showed significant drug accumulation in tumor tissue and detectable quantities in plasma even after 48 h. Good hemocompatibility with reduced in vivo platelet toxicity indicated that encapsulation in PLA-based nanocarrier helped ameliorate navitoclax associated thrombocytopenia. In vivo biological activity of NAV/DCB NPs evaluated in xenograft AML and syngeneic breast cancer model, demonstrated potent tumor growth inhibition efficacy. PLA-based NAV/DCB dual NPs present a novel, safe and effective nanoformulation for combination cancer therapy in both solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.

Co-encapsulation of PI3-Kδ/HDAC6 dual inhibitor and Navitoclax in Quatramer™ nanoparticles for synergistic effect in ER+ breast cancer.

Progression and metastasis of ER+ breast cancer depend on multiple signaling cascades. The available conventional treatment options have limited efficacy in ER+ breast cancer due to overexpression of AKT, c-Myc and BCL-2 proteins. Simultaneous targeting and inhibition of these targets in ER+ cancer may result in effective therapeutic outcomes. However, combining two or more free drug molecules to treat cancer leads to unsynchronised pharmacokinetics, toxicity, and eventual resistance development. To overcome these limitations, a novel nanoformulation of PI3-Kδ/HDAC6 dual inhibitor in combination with Navitoclax is developed using Pluronic modified PLA based hybrid block copolymer. The prepared dual drug loaded PI3-Kδ/HDAC6-NAV-NPs (1:3-NPs) have shown high encapsulation efficiency, hydrodynamic size, and polydispersity of âˆ¼ 93 %, 159 ± 2.6 nm, and 0.19 ± 0.03, respectively. These PI3-Kδ/HDAC6-NAV-NPs exhibit slow and sustained release profiles of PI3-Kδ/HDAC6 inhibitor and NAV in phosphate buffer saline (PBS, pH 7.4). The in-vitro cytotoxicity studies done with PI3-Kδ/HDAC6-NAV-NPs in ER+ breast cancer cell lines have shown a synergistic effect with lower IC50 values compared to individual NAV-NPs and PI3-Kδ/HDAC6-NPs. The PI3-Kδ/HDAC6-NAV-NPs treatment (4 mg/kg, I.V., twice a week for three weeks) of ER+ breast cancer syngeneic mice tumor model resulted in complete tumor eradication without any overt toxicity. These results demonstrate that a unique formulation of a novel PI3-Kδ/HDAC6 dual inhibitor in combination with Navitoclax represents an approach for an efficient treatment option for ER+ breast cancer.

Quatramer™ mediated co-delivery of PI3-Kδ/HDAC6 dual inhibitor augments the anti-cancer efficacy of Epirubicin in breast cancer.

The disruption and overexpression of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT signaling pathway in cancer results in tumor growth, metastasis, and survival. Treatment with common anthracyclines has confirmed cancer cells' dependence on PI3K pathway through overexpression of AKT. Moreover, combining HDAC inhibitor with anthracycline has shown the targeting of breast cancer stem cells. Therefore, it has been hypothesized that the co-delivery of PI3-Kδ/HDAC6 dual inhibitor with Epirubicin using polymeric nanoparticle could increase the anti-cancer treatment efficacy with reduced toxicity. Pluronic modified polylactic acid block copolymer (quatramer) was used for co-encapsulation of PI3-Kδ/HDAC6 and Epirubicin. The co-encapsulated nanoparticles, PI3-Kδ/HDAC6-Epi-NPs have shown size of 99 ± 3 nm, PDI of 0.18 ± 0.07 with a sustained and slow-release profile in non-physiological buffer (PBS, pH 7.4). The in-vitro cell proliferation inhibition studies done on 2D and 3D culture of breast cancer cell lines have confirmed the synergistic effect of PI3-Kδ/HDAC6-Epi-NPs with lower IC50 values compared to PI3-Kδ/HDAC6-NPs and Epi-NPs. Additionally, intravenous twice a week treatment for three weeks with PI3-Kδ/HDAC6-Epi-NPs resulted in complete tumor eradication in the syngeneic breast tumor mice model. In comparison, the PI3-Kδ/HDAC6-NPs and Epi-NPs resulted in tumor growth inhibition of 15.86% and 81.59%, respectively. These studies predicted that clinical use of PI3-Kδ/HDAC6-Epi-NPs will be effective in breast cancer treatments.

Development and evaluation of PLA based hybrid block copolymeric nanoparticles for systemic delivery of pirarubicin as an anti-cancer agent.

Pirarubicin (PIRA) is a semi-synthetic anthracycline derivative that is reported to have lesser toxicity and better clinical outcomes as compared to its parental form doxorubicin (DOX). However, long term use of PIRA causes bone marrow suppression and severe cardiotoxicity to the recipients. Herein, we have developed a biodegradable polymeric nano platform consisting of amphiphilic di-block copolymer methoxy polyethylene glycol-polylactic acid and a hydrophobic penta-block copolymer polylactic acid-pluronic L-61-polylactic acid as a hybrid system to prepare PIRA (& DOX) encapsulated nanoparticles (NPs) with an aim to reduce its off targeted toxicity and enhance therapeutic efficacy for cancer therapy. Prepared PIRA/DOX NPs showed uniform particle size distribution, high encapsulation efficiency and sustained drug release profile. Cytotoxicity evaluation of PIRA NPs against TNBC cells and mammospheres showed its superior anti-cancer activity over DOX NPs. Anti-cancer efficacy of PIRA/DOX NPs was found significantly enhanced in presence of penta-block copolymer which confirmed chemo-sensitising ability of pluronic L-61. Most importantly, encapsulation of PIRA/DOX in the NPs reduced their off targeted toxicity and increased the maximum tolerated dose in BALB/c mice. Moreover, treatment of EAC tumor harbouring mice with PIRA NPs resulted in higher tumor regression as compared with the groups treated with free PIRA, free DOX or DOX NPs. Altogether, the results conclude that prepared PIRA NPs exhibits an excellent anti-cancer therapeutic efficacy and has a strong potential for cancer therapy.

Amino acid functionalized ZrO2 nanoparticles decorated reduced graphene oxide based immunosensor.

Here, a study is reported on a simple, one-step method for the synthesis of a zirconium dioxide-reduced graphene oxide (ZrO2-RGO) nanocomposite involving the reduction of graphene oxide (GO) and in situ growth of ZrO2 NPs using hydrazine as a reducer. This ZrO2-RGO nanocomposite was functionalized with l-methionine (Meth) for immunosensor application. Morphological and structural studies clearly indicated that ZrO2 NPs (6 nm) were decorated onto the RGO sheets, and enhanced exfoliation, thereby preventing the restacking of the RGO sheets. RGO improved the electrochemical properties of the ZrO2-RGO nanocomposite and minimized the aggregation of ZrO2 NPs. FTIR studies confirmed the functionalization of the ZrO2-RGO nanocomposite with Meth and biomolecules (anti-OTA and BSA). The Meth functionalized ZrO2-RGO nanocomposite had enhanced biocompatibility and wettability as confirmed by MTT assay and contact angle studies, respectively. Furthermore, a uniform thin film of the Meth/ZrO2-RGO nanocomposite was electrophoretically deposited onto an indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrate and utilized for covalent immobilization of monoclonal antibodies specific to ochratoxin A (anti-OTA) for the detection of ochratoxin A (OTA). The fabricated BSA/anti-OTA/Meth/ZrO2-RGO/ITO immunoelectrode exhibited a wide linear detection range of 1-20 ng mL-1 with a sensitivity of 4.8 µA ng-1 mL cm-2 and a detection limit of 0.079 ng mL-1 for OTA detection.

L-cysteine capped lanthanum hydroxide nanostructures for non-invasive detection of oral cancer biomarker.

In this paper, we present the result of studies related to the in situ synthesis of amino acid (L-Cysteine) capped lanthanum hydroxide nanoparticles [Cys-La(OH)3 NPs] towards the fabrication of efficient immunosensor for non-invasive detection of oral cancer. The characterization of Cys-La(OH)3 NPs was carried out by different techniques including X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and electrochemical techniques. These Cys-La(OH)3 NPs were electrophoretically deposited onto an indium-tin-oxide glass substrate and used for immobilization of anti-cytokeratin fragment-21-1 (anti-Cyfra-21-1) for the electrochemical detection of Cyfra-21-1. This immunosensor shows a broad detection range of 0.001-10.2ngmL-1, the low detection limit of 0.001ngmL-1, and high sensitivity of 12.044µA (ng per mL cm-2)-1 with a response time of 5min. This immunosensor was found to be more advanced in terms of high sensitivity and low detection limit as compared to previously reported biosensors and commercially available ELISA kit (Kinesis DX).

Bismuth oxide nanorods based immunosensor for mycotoxin detection.

We report results of the studies relating to fabrication of an efficient immunosensor based on bismuth oxide nanorods (nBi2O3), electrophoretically deposited onto indium-tin-oxide (ITO) coated glass substrate. This immunosensor was fabricated by immobilization of anti-aflatoxin monoclonal antibodies (Ab-AFB1) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) for aflatoxin B1 detection. The structural and morphological studies of n-Bi2O3 have been carried out by XRD, UV-vis spectrophotometer; SEM, AFM and FTIR. It was found that the nBi2O3 provided improved sensing characteristics to the electrode interface in terms of electroactive surface area, diffusion coefficient, charge transfer rate constant and electron transfer kinetics. The results of electrochemical response studies of this BSA/Ab-AFB1/nBi2O3/ITO immunosensor revealed good linearity in the range of 1-70ngdL-1 with low detection limit of 8.715ng/dL, improved sensitivity of 1.132µA/(ng/dLcm-2), regression coefficient R2 of 0.918 and reproducibility of >11 times. The association constant for the BSA/Ab-AFB1/nBi2O3/ITO immunosensor was determined as 7.318ng/dL.

Biofunctionalized Nanostructured Zirconia for Biomedical Application: A Smart Approach for Oral Cancer Detection.

Results of the studies are reported relating to application of the silanized nanostructured zirconia, electrophoretically deposited onto indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass for covalent immobilization of the monoclonal antibodies (anti-CYFRA-21-1). This biosensing platform has been utilized for a simple, efficient, noninvasive, and label-free detection of oral cancer via cyclic voltammetry technique. The results of electrochemical response studies conducted on bovine serum albumin (BSA)/anti-CYFRA-21-1/3-aminopropyl triethoxy silane (APTES)/ZrO2/ITO immunoelectrode reveal that this immunoelectrode can be used to measure CYFRA-21-1 (oral cancer biomarker) concentration in saliva samples, with a high sensitivity of 2.2 mA mL ng-1, a linear detection range of 2-16 ng mL-1, and stability of six weeks. The results of these studies have been validated via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.