Mapping the Nanotechnology Patent Landscape in the Field of Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Currently, cancer is still a significant disease that seriously endangers human health. Therefore, advanced diagnostic technology and treatment protocols are urgently needed. The rapid development of nanotechnology is expected to provide new ideas for cancer diagnosis and treatment. OBJECTIVE: The research aims to comprehensively demonstrate the hotspots of nanotechnology applications in cancer. METHODS: In this study, an International Patent Classification codes co-occurrence network is constructed to visualize the technology landscape by simultaneously locating and ranking technologies that play an integral role in nanotechnology diffusion and bridging in the field of cancer. In addition, community identification and topic modeling highlight the latent topics in patent documents. RESULTS: The visualization results of the patent network yield five main clusters: Cluster 0 is a nanoparticle composition delivery system with liposomes as the primary carrier. Cluster 1 is mainly represented by nano-immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Cluster 2 is nano phototherapy based on photodynamic therapy and photothermal therapy. Cluster 3 is diagnostic imaging involving nanotechnology. Cluster 4 is a drug delivery system with nanovesicles and albumin nanoparticles as carriers. CONCLUSION: It was found that carriers represented by liposomes, vesicles, and albumin nanoparticles are essential nanomaterials in the current anticancer drug delivery systems. Integrating next-generation immunosuppressants and nanotechnology will become an important development direction for future immunotherapy. Organic/inorganic nanomaterials are pivotal in cancer imaging diagnosis and phototherapy.

The preventive role of the red gingeng ginsenoside Rg3 in the treatment of lung tumorigenesis induced by benzo(a)pyrene.

Red ginseng has been used in traditional medicine for centuries in Asia. In this study, we evaluated four types of red ginseng grown in different areas (Chinese red ginseng, Korean red ginseng A, Korean red ginseng B, and Korean red ginseng C) for their ability to inhibit lung tumor formation and growth induced by the carcinogen benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P) in A/J mice and found that Korean red ginseng B was the most effective at lowering the tumor load among the four red ginseng varieties. Moreover, we analyzed the levels of various ginsenosides (Rg1, Re, Rc, Rb2, Rb3, Rb1, Rh1, Rd, Rg3, Rh2, F1, Rk1, and Rg5) in four kinds of red ginseng extract and found that Korean red ginseng B had the highest level of ginsenoside Rg3 (G-Rg3), which suggested that G-Rg3 may play an important role in its therapeutic efficacy. This work revealed that the bioavailability of G-Rg3 was relatively poor. However, when G-Rg3 was coadministered with verapamil, a P-glycoprotein inhibitor, the G-Rg3 efflux in Caco-2 cells was lowered, the small intestinal absorption rate of G-Rg3 in the rat models was increased, the concentration levels of G-Rg3 were elevated in the intestine and plasma, and its tumor-preventive abilities in the tumorigenesis rat model induced by B(a)P were also augmented. We also found that G-Rg3 reduced B(a)P-induced cytotoxicity and DNA adduct formation in human lung cells and rescued phase II enzyme expression and activity through Nrf2 pathways, which may be the potential mechanisms underlying the inhibitory effects of G-Rg3 on lung tumorigenesis. Our study showed a potentially vital role of G-Rg3 in targeting lung tumors in murine models. The oral bioavailability of this ginsenoside was augmented by targeting P-glycoprotein, which allowed the molecule to exert its anticancer effects.

Black phosphorus conjugation of chemotherapeutic ginsenoside Rg3: enhancing targeted multimodal nanotheranostics against lung cancer metastasis.

It is a significant challenge in lung cancer chemophotothermal (CPT) therapy to develop multifunctional theranostic nanoagent (MTN) for precise targeting and successful tumor treatments, especially for lung metastasis. To overcome this problem, we effectively design and construct multifunctional black phosphorus (BP) nanoagents, BPs/G-Rg3@PLGA. BPs quantum dots (BPsQDs) are co-loaded onto poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) with subsequent conjugations of a cancer therapeutic compound, ginsenoside Rg3 (G-Rg3), in this composite nanoagent. The in vivo delivery findings suggest that BPs/G-Rg3@PLGA has an excellent affinity for primary tumors and metastatic lung tumors. Furthermore, when paired with near-light irradiation, BPs/G-Rg3@PLGA shows superior controllable CPT therapy synergetic therapeutics, significantly increasing photothermal tumor ablation effectiveness. Mechanistically, heating causes rapid G-Rg3 release from the non-complex, and thermal therapy induces apoptosis, culminating in the reduction of lung cancer metastasis. Additionally, in vivo and in vitro findings support the biocompatibility of BPs/G-Rg3@PLGA. This thesis identifies a versatile BPs-based MTN for lung cancer metastasis control.

Rhodococcus daqingensis sp. nov., isolated from petroleum-contaminated soil.

A novel Gram-stain positive, aerobic, non-motile bacterial strain, designated Z1T, was isolated from a sample of petroleum-contaminated soil collected in Daqing, Heilongjiang province, China and characterised with a series of taxonomic approaches. The morphological and chemotaxonomic properties of the isolate were typical of those of members of the genus Rhodococcus. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain Z1T belongs to the genus Rhodococcus and clustered with Rhodococcus maanshanensis DSM 44675T (99.2%, sequence similarity) and Rhodococcus tukisamuensis JCM 11308T (97.9%), respectively. However, the DNA-DNA hybridizations between strain Z1T and R. maanshanensis DSM 44675T and R. tukisamuensis JCM 11308T were both less than 70%. The optimal growth temperature and pH for strain Z1T were found to be at 28 °C and at pH 7.0. The peptidoglycan was found to contain meso-diaminopimelic acid; arabinose, galactose and glucose were detected as diagnostic sugars. The main polar lipids were identified as diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylinositol mannoside and an unidentified lipid; MK-8(H2) was found as the major menaquinone. The major fatty acids were identified as C16:0, 10-methyl C18:0 and C18:1ω9c. Mycolic acids were found to be present. The G + C content of the genomic DNA was determined to be 66.7 mol%. Based on a comparative analysis of phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, in combination with DNA-DNA hybridization results, strain Z1T can be distinguished from the type strains of its two close neighbours as a novel species of the genus Rhodococcus, for which the name Rhodococcus daqingensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Z1T (= CGMCC 1.13630T = DSM 107227T).

Transcriptome profiling and digital gene expression by deep sequencing in early somatic embryogenesis of endangered medicinal Eleutherococcus senticosus Maxim.

Somatic embryogenesis (SE) has been studied as a model system to understand molecular events in physiology, biochemistry, and cytology during plant embryo development. In particular, it is exceedingly difficult to access the morphological and early regulatory events in zygotic embryos. To understand the molecular mechanisms regulating early SE in Eleutherococcus senticosus Maxim., we used high-throughput RNA-Seq technology to investigate its transcriptome. We obtained 58,327,688 reads, which were assembled into 75,803 unique unigenes. To better understand their functions, the unigenes were annotated using the Clusters of Orthologous Groups, Gene Ontology, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes databases. Digital gene expression libraries revealed differences in gene expression profiles at different developmental stages (embryogenic callus, yellow embryogenic callus, global embryo). We obtained a sequencing depth of >5.6 million tags per sample and identified many differentially expressed genes at various stages of SE. The initiation of SE affected gene expression in many KEGG pathways, but predominantly that in metabolic pathways, biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, and plant hormone signal transduction. This information on the changes in the multiple pathways related to SE induction in E. senticosus Maxim. embryogenic tissue will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms involved in early SE. Additionally, the differentially expressed genes may act as molecular markers and could play very important roles in the early stage of SE. The results are a comprehensive molecular biology resource for investigating SE of E. senticosus Maxim.