The Emerging Landscape for Combating Resistance Associated with Energy-Based Therapies via Nanomedicine.

Cancer represents a serious disease with significant implications for public health, imposing substantial economic burden and negative societal consequences. Compared to conventional cancer treatments, such as surgery and chemotherapy, energy-based therapies (ET) based on athermal and thermal ablation provide distinct advantages, including minimally invasive procedures and rapid postoperative recovery. Nevertheless, due to the complex pathophysiology of many solid tumors, the therapeutic effectiveness of ET is often limited. Nanotechnology offers unique opportunities by enabling facile material designs, tunable physicochemical properties, and excellent biocompatibility, thereby further augmenting the outcomes of ET. Numerous nanomaterials have demonstrated the ability to overcome intrinsic therapeutic resistance associated with ET, leading to improved antitumor responses. This comprehensive review systematically summarizes the underlying mechanisms of ET-associated resistance (ETR) and highlights representative applications of nanoplatforms used to mitigate ETR. Overall, this review emphasizes the recent advances in the field and presents a detailed account of novel nanomaterial designs in combating ETR, along with efforts aimed at facilitating their clinical translation.

A Biodegradable "One-For-All" Nanoparticle for Multimodality Imaging and Enhanced Photothermal Treatment of Breast Cancer.

Silver sulfide nanoparticles (Ag2S-NP) hold promise for various optical-based biomedical applications, such as near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging, photoacoustics (PA), and photothermal therapy (PTT). However, their NIR absorbance is relatively low, and previous formulations are synthesized using toxic precursors under harsh conditions and are not effectively cleared due to their large size. Herein, sub-5 nm Ag2S-NP are synthesized and encapsulated in biodegradable, polymeric nanoparticles (AgPCPP). All syntheses are conducted using biocompatible, aqueous reagents under ambient conditions. The encapsulation of Ag2S-NP in polymeric nanospheres greatly increases their NIR absorbance, resulting in enhanced optical imaging and PTT effects. AgPCPP nanoparticles exhibit potent contrast properties suitable for PA and NIRF imaging, as well as for computed tomography (CT). Furthermore, AgPCPP nanoparticles readily improve the conspicuity of breast tumors in vivo. Under NIR laser irradiation, AgPCPP nanoparticles significantly reduce breast tumor growth, leading to prolonged survival compared to free Ag2S-NP. Over time, AgPCPP retention in tissues gradually decreases, without any signs of acute toxicity, providing strong evidence of their safety and biodegradability. Therefore, AgPCPP may serve as a "one-for-all" theranostic agent that degrades into small components for excretion after fulfilling diagnostic and therapeutic tasks, offering good prospects for clinical translation.

Soybean Oil-Derived Lipids for Efficient mRNA Delivery.

The rapid progress in the development of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines during the initial year of the pandemic has highlighted the significance of lipid nanoparticles in therapeutic delivery. Various lipid types have been investigated for the effective delivery of mRNA, each with unique functions and versatile applications. These range from their use in cancer immunotherapy and gene editing to their role in developing vaccines against infectious diseases. Nonetheless, continued exploration of novel lipids and synthetic approaches is necessary to further advance the understanding and expand the techniques for optimizing mRNA delivery. In this work, new lipids derived from FDA-approved soybean oil are facilely synthesized and these are employed for efficient mRNA delivery. EGFP and Fluc mRNA are used to evaluate the delivery efficacy of the lipid formulations both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, organ-specific targeting capabilities are observed in certain formulations, and their outstanding performance is demonstrated in delivering Cre mRNA for gene editing. These results showcase the potential of soybean oil-derived lipids in mRNA delivery, offering utility across a broad spectrum of bioapplications.