Hepcidin levels in hyperprolactinemic women monitored by nanopore thin film based assay: correlation with pregnancy-associated hormone prolactin.

Hepcidin is a central regulator in human iron metabolism. Although it is often regarded as a promising indicator of iron status, the lack of effective quantification method has impeded the comprehensive assessment of its physiological and clinical significance. Herein we applied a newly established, nanopore film enrichment based hepcidin assay to examine the correlation between hepcidin and prolactin, the hormone with an important role during pregnancy and lactation. Women with pathologically elevated prolactin secretion (hyperprolactinemia) were found to have lower serum hepcidin compared to those with normal prolactin levels, without showing significant difference in other hepcidin-regulating factors. Moreover, prolactin-reducing drug bromocriptine mesylate resulted in elevated expression of the hepcidin in hyperprolactinemia patients. These findings suggest a possible role of prolactin in regulation of hepcidin, and may render hepcidin a useful biomarker for progress monitoring and treatment of iron-related diseases under hyperprolactinemic conditions. FROM THE CLINICAL EDITOR: The level of hepcidin has been shown to reflect the underlying iron status of the patient. Nonentheless, there is an urgent need of reliable, fast and easy-to-do hepcidin assay in the clinical setting. In this paper, the authors described a further modification of their previously described nanopore silica film-based enrichment approach for quantification of hepcidin and found correlation between hepcidin and prolactin. This new knowledge may add to current understanding of iron homeostasis during pregnancy.

Self-construction of core-shell structure by metallofullerene-containing polymer.

Metallofullerene Gd@C82 offers the opportunity to produce novel and advanced polymer-based nanocomposite materials. In this work, we reported the synthesis of novel Gd@C82-containing copolymers with the optimum condition found by changing the temperature, initiator and fullerene contents of C60-PS. The developed materials, based on polystyrene, displayed unique nanostructures which were confirmed by many measurements (GPC, AFM, SEM, TGA/DSC and NEXAFS analysis). The mechanism, stability and structure of Gd@C82-containing copolymer were discussed. This approach offers a new possibility of optimizing the polymer performance with metallofullerene.

A Novel DNA Aptamer for Dual Targeting of Polymorphonuclear Myeloid-derived Suppressor Cells and Tumor Cells.

Aptamers have the potential to be used as targeting ligands for cancer treatment as they form unique spatial structures. Methods: In this study, a DNA aptamer (T1) that accumulates in the tumor microenvironment was identified through in vivo selection and validation in breast cancer models. The use of T1 as a targeting ligand was evaluated by conjugating the aptamer to liposomal doxorubicin. Results: T1 exhibited a high affinity for both tumor cells and polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells (PMN-MDSCs). Treatment with T1 targeted doxorubicin liposomes triggered apoptosis of breast cancer cells and PMN-MDSCs. Suppression of PMN-MDSCs, which serve an immunosuppressive function, leads to increased intratumoral infiltration of cytotoxic T cells. Conclusion: The cytotoxic and immunomodulatory effects of T1-liposomes resulted in superior therapeutic efficacy compared to treatment with untargeted liposomes, highlighting the promise of T1 as a targeting ligand in cancer therapy.

Ultrasensitive, Multiplex Raman Frequency Shift Immunoassay of Liver Cancer Biomarkers in Physiological Media.

Highly sensitive multiplex biomarker detection is critical for the early diagnosis of liver cancer. Here, a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) frequency-shift immunoassay is developed for detection of liver cancer biomarkers α-fetoprotein and Glypican-3 down to subpicomolar concentrations in saline solution. A high temperature modification of the Tollen's method affords silver nanoparticle films with excellent SERS response upon which ordered domains of Raman reporters are chemisorbed by microcontact printing. Shifts in the reporters SERS spectrum in response to a bound antibody's biomarker recognition constitutes the frequency shift assay, exhibiting here exceptional sensitivity and specificity and shown to function in fetal calf serum and in the serum of a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Multifunctional WS2 @Poly(ethylene imine) Nanoplatforms for Imaging Guided Gene-Photothermal Synergistic Therapy of Cancer.

The combination of photothermal therapy (PTT) with gene therapy (GT) to improve PTT efficiency and thus eliminate cancer cells under mild hyperthermia is highly needed. Herein, multifunctional WS2 @poly(ethylene imine) (WS2 @PEI) nanoplatform has been designed and constructed for gene-photothermal synergistic therapy of tumors at mild condition. After a surface modification of WS2 with a positively charged PEI, the as-prepared WS2 @PEI nanoplatform can not only act as an efficient survivin-siRNA carrier for GT but also exhibit remarkable near-infrared (NIR) photothermal effects for PTT. On the one hand, the photothermal effects induced by WS2 @PEI upon NIR irradiation can enhance the cellular uptake owing to the increase of the cell membrane permeability, which leads to the remarkable enhancement of silencing efficiency of survivin. On the other hand, the silencing of survivin can increase the apoptosis as well as reduce the heat resistance of cancer cells by downregulating the heat shock protein 70 expressions, which greatly enhance the sensitivity of cancer cells to PTT. As a result, compared to PTT or GT treatment alone, WS2 @PEI mediated synergistic GT/PTT therapy remarkably enhances in vitro cancer cell damage and in vivo tumor elimination.

DSPE-PEG: a distinctive component in drug delivery system.

1, 2-Distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-Poly(ethylene glycol) (DSPE- PEG) is a widely used phospholipids-polymer conjugate in drug delivery applications. It is a biocompatible, biodegradable and amphiphilic material which can also be functionalized with various biomolecules for specific functions. With the emerging interest in use of nanocarriers for therapeutic drug delivery and imaging DSPE-PEG has become a very useful material for the formulation of these nanocarriers for achieving prolonged blood circulation time, improved stability and enhanced encapsulation efficiency. This review will focus on the relationships between the structure of DSPEPEG and its noticeable effects on these nanocarriers' properties, and the recent progress on the development of DSPE-PEG and its derivatives in delivery systems.

A new near infrared photosensitizing nanoplatform containing blue-emitting up-conversion nanoparticles and hypocrellin A for photodynamic therapy of cancer cells.

The utilization of up-conversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) for photodynamic therapy (PDT) has gained significant interest due to their unique ability to convert near infrared light to UV/visible light. Previous work mainly focused on the fabrication of green and red emitting UCNPs to load photosensitizers (PSs) for PDT. In this work, we firstly developed a new multifunctional nanoplatform combining blue-emitting UCNPs with blue-light excited PS (hypocrellin A, HA) as a NIR photosensitizing nanoplatform for PDT of cancer cells. Tween 20 coated NaYbF4:Tm, Gd@NaGdF4 UCNPs (Tween 20-UCNPs) with strong blue up-conversion luminescence and good water dispersibility were prepared for use as PS carriers. The blue emission band matched well with the efficient absorption band of HA, thereby facilitating the resonance energy transfer from UCNPs to HA and then activating HA to produce singlet oxygen ((1)O2). The in vitro study showed that these Tween 20-UCNPs@HA complexes could efficiently produce (1)O2 to kill cancer cells under 980 nm NIR excitation. Moreover, these Gd(3+) and Yb(3+) containing nanoparticles also exhibited positive contrast effects in both T1 weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) imaging, making them become a multifunctional platform for simultaneous PDT and bio-imaging.