Controlled Drug Release from Cyclodextrin-Gated Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles Based on Switchable Host-Guest Interactions.

With the development of materials science and pharmaceutics, the application of mesoporous silica nanoparticles with a gated switch in the field of drug delivery has attracted much attention in the past decades. Cyclodextrins (CD) as promising gated materials have become a new area of interest in recent years due to their properties of self-assembly and function of host-guest interaction. CD is one kind of extensively studied host molecules and the host-guest interactions with different guest molecules can respond to different signals, and thus can be applied as intelligent gated switches for smart drug carriers. Switchable gatekeepers based on CD hosts with different guest molecules (such as benzimidazole, azobenzene, and ferrocene) respond to different stimuli modes (such as pH, light, and redox) that change the host-guest interactions and trigger drug release. The different structural features, mechanisms of action, and potent applications of these switchable gatekeepers are discussed. In addition, some personal perspectives and challenge on this field are presented.

Corticosteroid-induced intraocular pressure elevation in the pediatric patients: A protocol for systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Corticosteroids have been one of the most frequently used therapeutics in ophthalmology over the past decades, known for their potent anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive actions. Intraocular pressure elevation has proven to be a significant ocular side effect that could accompany steroid use. However, the information on ocular-hypertensive corticosteroid response is scant in children. We aim to systematically describe the corticosteroid-induced intraocular pressure elevation in the pediatric age group. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature, and the Chinese Biomedical Literature database will be searched for potential articles from database inception to April 29, 2021. No language restrictions will be applied. Studies involving patients less than 18 years old receiving corticosteroids will be included. We will screen abstracts for relevance, extract data, and assess the risk of bias in duplicate. We will rate the certainty of evidence using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment Development and Evaluation approach. The primary outcome will be the intraocular pressure in pediatric patients group. We will provide a narrative synthesis of the findings. RESULTS: The systematic review will provide high-quality evidence to assess the relationship between dosage, frequency, route of administration, and duration of corticosteroid on intraocular pressure in children. CONCLUSION: The systematic review will provide evidence to assess the safety of corticosteroid for ocular diseases in pediatric population. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42021252298.

[Lycorine inhibits the proliferation and promotes apoptosis of SGC-7901 gastric cancer cells by downregulating expression of cyclin D1].

Objective To investigate the effect of lycorine on the proliferation and apoptosis of gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells. Methods Effect of lycorine on the proliferation of SGC-7901 cells and 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of lycorine were determined by CCK-8 assay. SGC-7901 cells were treated with IC50 lycorine, and 48 hours later, cell cycle and apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry, and the level of cyclin D1 mRNA and protein was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR and Western blot analysis. Results Lycorine obviously inhibited the proliferation of SGC-7901 gastric cancer cells in a concentration- or time-dependent manner. The IC50 of 24 hours and 48 hours to gastric cancer cells treated with lycorine was (20.85±2.36) µmol/L and (13.29±1.28) µmol/L, respectively. The cell cycle was arrested in G0/G1 phase, the apoptosis rate of cells increased, and the level of cyclin D1 mRNA and protein decreased significantly 48 hours after the treatment with 13 µmol/L lycorine. Conclusion Lycorine can inhibit the proliferation of SGC-7901 gastric cancer cells, induce cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase and promote cell apoptosis. The mechanism may be related to the down-regulation of cyclin D1 expression.

Cyclodextrin-based biological stimuli-responsive carriers for smart and precision medicine.

Spurred on by recent progress in nanotechnology and precision medicine, smart drug carriers are entering an entirely new era. Smart drug carriers have been widely studied in recent years as a result of their ability to control drug release under different microenvironments (such as pH, redox, and enzyme) in vivo. Host-guest interactions based on cyclodextrins have proven to be an efficient tool for fabricating smart drug carriers. Because of the application of host-guest interactions, many kinds of biological molecules or supramolecular building blocks can combine into an organic whole at the molecular level. In this review, the features, mechanisms of action, and potent applications of biological stimuli-responsive drug carriers based on cyclodextrins are discussed. In addition, some personal perspectives on this field are presented.