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The development of new multi-target combination treatment strategies to tackle ischemic stroke (IS) remains to be challenging. Herein, a proof-of-concept demonstration of an advanced nanomedicine formulation composed of macrophage membrane (MM)-camouflaged phosphorous dendrimer (termed as AK137)/fibronectin (FN) nanocomplexes (NCs) loaded with antioxidant edaravone (EDV) to modulate both microglia and neurons for effective IS therapy is showcased. The created MM@AK137-FN/EDV (M@A-F/E) NCs with a mean size of 260 nm possess good colloidal stability, sustained EDV release kinetics, and desired cytocompatibility. By virtue of MM decoration, the M@A-F/E NCs can cross blood-brain barrier, act on microglia to exert the anti-inflammatory (AK137 and FN) and antioxidative (FN and EDV) effects in vitro for oxidative stress alleviation, microglia M2 polarization, and reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion, and act on neuron cells to be anti-apoptotic. In a transient middle cerebral artery occlusion rat model, the developed M@A-F/E NCs can exert enhanced antioxidant/anti-inflammatory/anti-apoptotic therapeutic effects to comprehensively regulate the brain microenvironment and promote vascular regeneration to collaboratively restore the blood flow after ischemia-reperfusion. The designed MM-coated NCs composed of all-active ingredients of phosphorous dendrimers, FN, and EDV that can fully regulate the brain inflammatory microenvironment may expand their application scope in other neurodegenerative diseases.
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ß-Phenylalanine derivatives (ß-PAD) represent a structural family of therapeutic interest, either as components of drugs or as starting materials for access to key compounds. As scaffolds for medicinal chemistry work, ß-PAD offer the advantage of great diversity and modularity, a chiral pseudopeptidic character that opens up the capacity to be recognized by natural systems, and greater stability than natural α-amino acids. Nevertheless, their synthesis remains a challenge in drug discovery and numerous methods have been devoted to their preparation. This review is an update of the access routes to ß-PAD and their various therapeutic applications.
[Box: see text].
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Química Farmacêutica , Fenilalanina , Fenilalanina/química , Fenilalanina/síntese química , Fenilalanina/análogos & derivados , Humanos , Estrutura Molecular , Descoberta de DrogasRESUMO
Effective treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD), a prevalent central neurodegenerative disorder particularly affecting the elderly population, still remains a huge challenge. We present here a novel nanomedicine formulation based on bioactive hydroxyl-terminated phosphorous dendrimers (termed as AK123) complexed with fibronectin (FN) with anti-inflammatory and antioxidative activities. The created optimized AK123/FN nanocomplexes (NCs) with a size of 223 nm display good colloidal stability in aqueous solution and can be specifically taken up by microglia through FN-mediated targeting. We show that the AK123/FN NCs are able to consume excessive reactive oxygen species, promote microglia M2 polarization and inhibit the nuclear factor-kappa B signaling pathway to downregulate inflammatory factors. With the abundant dendrimer surface hydroxyl terminal groups, the developed NCs are able to cross blood-brain barrier (BBB) to exert targeted therapy of a PD mouse model through the AK123-mediated anti-inflammation for M2 polarization of microglia and FN-mediated antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, thus reducing the aggregation of α-synuclein and restoring the contents of dopamine and tyrosine hydroxylase to normal levels in vivo. The developed dendrimer/FN NCs combine the advantages of BBB-crossing hydroxyl-terminated bioactive per se phosphorus dendrimers and FN, which is expected to be extended for the treatment of different neurodegenerative diseases.
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Development of nanomedicines that can collaboratively scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inhibit inflammatory cytokines, along with osteogenesis promotion, is essential for efficient osteoarthritis (OA) treatment. Herein, we report the design of a ROS-responsive nanomedicine formulation based on fibronectin (FN)-coated polymer nanoparticles (NPs) loaded with azabisdimethylphoaphonate-terminated phosphorus dendrimers (G4-TBP). The constructed G4-TBP NPs-FN with a size of 268 nm are stable under physiological conditions, can be specifically taken up by macrophages through the FN-mediated targeting, and can be dissociated in the oxidative inflammatory microenvironment. The G4-TBP NPs-FN loaded with G4-TBP dendrimer having intrinsic anti-inflammatory property and FN having both anti-inflammatory and antioxidative properties display integrated functions of ROS scavenging, hypoxia attenuation, and macrophage M2 polarization, thus protecting macrophages from apoptosis and creating designed bone immune microenvironment for stem cell osteogenic differentiation. These characteristics of the G4-TBP NPs-FN lead to their effective treatment of an OA model in vivo to reduce pathological changes of joints including synovitis inhibition and cartilage matrix degradation and simultaneously promote osteogenic differentiation for bone repair. The developed nanomedicine formulation combining the advantages of both bioactive phosphorus dendrimers and FN to treat OA may be developed for immunomodulatory therapy of different inflammatory diseases.
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Dendrímeros , Nanopartículas , Osteoartrite , Humanos , Espécies Reativas de Oxigênio/metabolismo , Osteogênese , Dendrímeros/uso terapêutico , Osteoartrite/tratamento farmacológico , Anti-Inflamatórios/uso terapêutico , Fósforo/uso terapêuticoRESUMO
The application of nanotechnology in biological and medical fields have resulted in the creation of new devices, supramolecular systems, structures, complexes, and composites. Dendrimers are relatively new nanotechnological polymers with unique features; they are globular in shape, with a topological structure formed by monomeric subunit branches diverging to the sides from the central nucleus. This review analyzes the main features of dendrimers and their applications in biology and medicine regarding cancer treatment. Dendrimers have applications that include drug and gene carriers, antioxidant agents, imaging agents, and adjuvants, but importantly, dendrimers can create complex nanosized constructions that combine features such as drug/gene carriers and imaging agents. Dendrimer-based nanosystems include different metals that enhance oxidative stress, polyethylene glycol to provide biosafety, an imaging agent (a fluorescent, radioactive, magnetic resonance imaging probe), a drug or/and nucleic acid that provides a single or dual action on cells or tissues. One of major benefit of dendrimers is their easy release from the body (in contrast to metal nanoparticles, fullerenes, and carbon nanotubes), allowing the creation of biosafe constructions. Some dendrimers are already clinically approved and are being used as drugs, but many nanocomplexes are currently being studied for clinical practice. In summary, dendrimers are very useful tool in the creation of complex nanoconstructions for personalized nanomedicine. This article is categorized under: Diagnostic Tools > Diagnostic Nanodevices Diagnostic Tools > In Vivo Nanodiagnostics and Imaging Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease.
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Dendrímeros , Nanotubos de Carbono , Neoplasias , Dendrímeros/uso terapêutico , Portadores de Fármacos/uso terapêutico , Nanotecnologia , Nanomedicina/métodos , Neoplasias/diagnóstico por imagem , Neoplasias/tratamento farmacológicoRESUMO
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), causative agent of tuberculosis (TB) and non-tubercular mycobacterial (NTM) pathogens such as Mycobacterium abscessus are one of the most critical concerns worldwide due to increased drug-resistance resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. Therefore, focusing on developing novel therapeutics to minimize the treatment period and reducing the burden of drug-resistant Mtb and NTM infections are an urgent and pressing need. In our previous study, we identified anti-mycobacterial activity of orally bioavailable, non-cytotoxic, polycationic phosphorus dendrimer 2G0 against Mtb. In this study, we report ability of 2G0 to potentiate activity of multiple classes of antibiotics against drug-resistant mycobacterial strains. The observed synergy was confirmed using time-kill kinetics and revealed significantly potent activity of the combinations as compared to individual drugs alone. More importantly, no re-growth was observed in any tested combination. The identified combinations were further confirmed in intra-cellular killing assay as well as murine model of NTM infection, where 2G0 potentiated the activity of all tested antibiotics significantly better than individual drugs. Taken together, this nanoparticle with intrinsic antimycobacterial properties has the potential to represents an alternate drug candidate and/or a novel delivery agent for antibiotics of choice for enhancing the treatment of drug-resistant mycobacterial pathogens.
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Dendrímeros , Mycobacterium tuberculosis , Tuberculose , Animais , Camundongos , Antibacterianos/farmacologia , Dendrímeros/farmacologia , Preparações Farmacêuticas , Tuberculose/microbiologiaRESUMO
Fully mobilizing the activities of multiple immune cells is crucial to achieve the desired tumor immunotherapeutic efficacy yet still remains challenging. Herein, we report a nanomedicine formulation based on phosphorus dendrimer (termed AK128)/programmed cell death protein 1 antibody (aPD1) nanocomplexes (NCs) that are camouflaged with M1-type macrophage cell membranes (M1m) for enhanced immunotherapy of orthotopic glioma. The constructed AK128-aPD1@M1m NCs with a mean particle size of 160.3 nm possess good stability and cytocompatibility. By virtue of the decorated M1m having α4 and ß1 integrins, the NCs are able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier to codeliver both AK128 with intrinsic immunomodulatory activity and aPD1 to the orthotopic glioma with prolonged blood circulation time. We show that the phosphorus dendrimer AK128 can boost natural killer (NK) cell proliferation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, while the delivered aPD1 enables immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) to restore the cytotoxic T cells and NK cells, thus promoting tumor cell apoptosis and simultaneously decreasing the tumor distribution of regulatory T cells vastly for improved glioma immunotherapy. The developed nanomedicine formulation with a simple composition achieves multiple modulations of immune cells by utilizing the immunomodulatory activity of nanocarrier and antibody-mediated ICB therapy, providing an effective strategy for cancer immunotherapy.
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Dendrímeros , Glioma , Humanos , Fósforo , Leucócitos Mononucleares/metabolismo , Leucócitos Mononucleares/patologia , Biomimética , Glioma/terapia , Glioma/patologia , Imunoterapia , Células Matadoras Naturais , Anticorpos/metabolismo , Linfócitos T Citotóxicos , Barreira Hematoencefálica/metabolismo , Microambiente TumoralRESUMO
Nanocarrier-based cytoplasmic protein delivery offers opportunities to develop protein therapeutics; however, many delivery systems are positively charged, causing severe toxic effects. For enhanced therapeutics, it is also of great importance to design nanocarriers with intrinsic bioactivity that can be integrated with protein drugs due to the limited bioactivity of proteins alone for disease treatment. We report here a protein delivery system based on anionic phosphite-terminated phosphorus dendrimers with intrinsic anti-inflammatory activity. A phosphorus dendrimer termed AK-137 with optimized anti-inflammatory activity was selected to complex proteins through various physical interactions. Model proteins such as bovine serum albumin, ribonuclease A, ovalbumin, and fibronectin (FN) can be transfected into cells to exert their respective functions, including cancer cell apoptosis, dendritic cell maturation, or macrophage immunomodulation. Particularly, the constructed AK-137@FN nanocomplexes display powerful therapeutic effects in acute lung injury and acute gout arthritis models by integrating the anti-inflammatory activity of both the carrier and protein. The developed anionic phosphite-terminated phosphorus dendrimers may be employed as a universal carrier for protein delivery and particularly utilized to deliver proteins and fight different inflammatory diseases with enhanced therapeutic efficacy.
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Dendrímeros , Fosfitos , Dendrímeros/farmacologia , Fósforo , Proteínas , Anti-Inflamatórios/farmacologia , Anti-Inflamatórios/uso terapêuticoRESUMO
The development of nonviral dendritic polymers with a simple molecular backbone and great gene delivery efficiency to effectively tackle cancer remains a great challenge. Phosphorus dendrimers or dendrons are promising vectors due to their structural uniformity, rigid molecular backbones, and tunable surface functionalities. Here, we report the development of a new low-generation unsymmetrical cationic phosphorus dendrimer bearing 5 pyrrolidinium groups and one amino group as a nonviral gene delivery vector. The created AB5-type dendrimers with simple molecular backbone can compress microRNA-30d (miR-30d) to form polyplexes with desired hydrodynamic sizes and surface potentials and can effectively transfect miR-30d to cancer cells to suppress the glycolysis-associated SLC2A1 and HK1 expression, thus significantly inhibiting the migration and invasion of a murine breast cancer cell line in vitro and the corresponding subcutaneous tumor mouse model in vivo. Such unsymmetrical low-generation phosphorus dendrimers may be extended to deliver other genetic materials to tackle other diseases.
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Dendrímeros , MicroRNAs , Neoplasias , Animais , Camundongos , Dendrímeros/química , Vetores Genéticos , MicroRNAs/genética , Técnicas de Transferência de Genes , Cátions , FósforoRESUMO
To Davide [...].
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Nanoplatforms with amplified passive tumor targeting and enhanced protein resistance can evade unnecessary uptake by the reticuloendothelial system and achieve high tumor retention for accurate tumor theranostics. To achieve this goal, we here constructed phosphorus core-shell tecto dendrimers (CSTDs) with a rigid aromatic backbone core as a nanoplatform for enhanced fluorescence and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) dual-mode imaging of tumors. In this study, the phosphorus P-G2.5/G3 CSTDs (G denotes generation) were partially conjugated with tetraazacyclododecane tetraacetic acid (DOTA), cyanine5.5 (Cy5.5) and 1,3-propane sulfonate (1,3-PS) and then labeled with 99mTc. The formed P-G2.5/G3-DOTA-Cy5.5-PS CSTDs possess good monodispersity with a particle size of 10.1 nm and desired protein resistance and cytocompatibility. Strikingly, compared to the counterpart material G3/G3-DOTA-Cy5.5-PS with both the core and shell components being soft poly(amidoamine) dendrimers, the developed P-G2.5/G3-DOTA-Cy5.5-PS complexes allow for more efficient cellular uptake and more significant penetration in 3-dimensional tumor spheroids in vitro, as well as more significant tumor retention and accumulation for enhanced dual-mode fluorescence and SPECT (after labelling with 99mTc) tumor imaging in vivo. Our studies suggest that the rigidity of the core for the constructed CSTDs matters in the amplification of the tumor enhanced permeability retention (EPR) effect for improved cancer nanomedicine development.
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Dendrímeros , Neoplasias , Humanos , Tomografia Computadorizada de Emissão de Fóton Único , Linhagem Celular TumoralRESUMO
The incessant, global increase in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a very big challenge for healthcare systems. AMR is predicted to grow at an alarming pace, with a dramatic increase in morbidity, mortality, and a 100 trillion US$ loss to the global economy by 2050. The mortality rate caused by methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) is much higher as compared to infections caused by drug-susceptible S. aureus. Additionally, there is a big paucity of therapeutics available for treatment of serious infections caused by MRSA. Thus, the discovery and development of novel therapies is an urgent, unmet medical need. In this context, we synthesized AE4G0, a low-generation cationic-phosphorus dendrimer expressing potent antimicrobial activity against S. aureus and Enterococcus sp., and demonstrating a broad selectivity index against eukaryotic cells. AE4G0 exhibits concentration-dependent, bactericidal activity and synergizes with gentamicin, especially against gentamicin-resistant MRSA NRS119. Fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy demonstrate that treatment with AE4G0 led to the utter destruction of S. aureus ATCC 29213 without inducing resistance, despite repeated exposure. When tested in vivo, AE4G0 demonstrates significant efficacy against S. aureus ATCC 29213, alone and in combination with gentamicin against gentamicin-resistant S. aureus NRS119 in the murine skin model of infection. Taken together, AE4G0 demonstrates the potential to be translated as a novel therapeutic option for the treatment of topical, drug-resistant S. aureus infections.
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Anti-Infecciosos , Dendrímeros , Staphylococcus aureus Resistente à Meticilina , Infecções Estafilocócicas , Animais , Camundongos , Antibacterianos , Staphylococcus aureus , Dendrímeros/farmacologia , Testes de Sensibilidade Microbiana , Gentamicinas/farmacologia , Gentamicinas/uso terapêutico , Anti-Infecciosos/uso terapêutico , Fósforo/farmacologia , Infecções Estafilocócicas/tratamento farmacológicoRESUMO
The endocannabinoid system (ECS) plays a very important role in numerous physiological and pharmacological processes, such as those related to the central nervous system (CNS), including learning, memory, emotional processing, as well pain control, inflammatory and immune response, and as a biomarker in certain psychiatric disorders. Unfortunately, the half-life of the natural ligands responsible for these effects is very short. This perspective describes the potential role of the inhibitors of the enzymes fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and monoacylglycerol lipase (MGL), which are mainly responsible for the degradation of endogenous ligands in psychic disorders and related pathologies. The examination was carried out considering both the impact that the classical exogenous ligands such as Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and (-)-trans-cannabidiol (CBD) have on the ECS and through an analysis focused on the possibility of predicting the potential toxicity of the inhibitors before they are subjected to clinical studies. In particular, cardiotoxicity (hERG liability), probably the worst early adverse reaction studied during clinical studies focused on acute toxicity, was predicted, and some of the most used and robust metrics available were considered to select which of the analyzed compounds could be repositioned as possible oral antipsychotics.
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The development of efficient nanomedicines to repress the repolarization of M1 phenotype macrophages and therefore inhibit pro-inflammatory cytokine overexpression for anti-inflammatory therapy is still a challenging task. We report here an original gene delivery nanoplatform based on pyrrolidinium-modified amphiphilic generation 1 phosphorus dendron (C12G1) nanomicelles with a rigid phosphorous dendron structure. The nanomicelles display higher gene delivery efficiency than the counterpart materials of pyrrolidinium-modified G1 phosphorus dendrimers, and meanwhile exhibit excellent cytocompatibility. The C12G1 nanomicelles can be employed to co-deliver the miRNA-146a mimic (miR-146a mimic) and miRNA-429 inhibitor (miR-429i) to inhibit the Toll-like receptor-4 signaling pathway and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway, respectively, thus causing repression of M1 phenotype alveolar macrophage polarization. The developed C12G1/miR-mixture polyplexes enable efficient therapy of lipopolysaccharide-activated alveolar macrophages in vitro and an acute lung injury mouse model in vivo. The generated cationic phosphorus dendron nanomicelles may hold promising potential for anti-inflammatory gene therapy of other inflammatory diseases.
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Lesão Pulmonar Aguda , Dendrímeros , MicroRNAs , Camundongos , Animais , MicroRNAs/metabolismo , Dendrímeros/metabolismo , Lesão Pulmonar Aguda/tratamento farmacológico , Lesão Pulmonar Aguda/genética , Lesão Pulmonar Aguda/metabolismo , Macrófagos/metabolismo , Anti-Inflamatórios/químicaRESUMO
Small interfering RNA (siRNA) holds promise for treating rheumatoid arthritis by inhibiting major cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). We developed original cationic amphiphilic phosphorus dendrons to produce dendriplexes associated with TNF-α siRNA. The dendrons were made of 10 pyrrolidinium end groups and a C17 aliphatic chain. The dendriplexes demonstrated the ability to protect siRNA from nuclease degradation and to promote macrophage uptake. Moreover, they led to potent inhibition of TNF-α expression in the lipopolysaccharide-activated mouse macrophage cell line RAW264.7 in vitro model. A significant anti-inflammatory effect in the murine collagen-induced arthritis model was observed through arthritis scoring and histological observations. These results open up essential perspectives in using this original amphiphilic dendron to reduce the disease burden and improve outcomes in chronic inflammatory diseases.
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Artrite Experimental , Dendrímeros , Animais , Camundongos , Artrite Experimental/tratamento farmacológico , Artrite Experimental/genética , RNA Interferente Pequeno/genética , RNA Interferente Pequeno/farmacologia , Fator de Necrose Tumoral alfa/genética , Anti-Inflamatórios/farmacologiaRESUMO
Combined chemo/gene therapy of cancer through different action mechanisms has been emerging to enhance the therapeutic efficacy towards cancer, and still remains a challenging task due to the lack of highly effective and biocompatible nanocarriers. In this work, we report a new nanosystem based on amphiphilic phosphorus dendron (1-C12G1) micelles to co-deliver microRNA-21 inhibitor (miR-21i) and doxorubicin (DOX) for combination therapy of triple negative breast cancer. The amphiphilic phosphorus dendron bearing a long linear alkyl chain and ten protonated pyrrolidine surface groups was prepared and was demonstrated to form micelles in water solution and have a hydrodynamic size of 103.2 nm. The micelles are shown to be stable, enable encapsulation of an anticancer drug DOX with optimal loading content (80%) and encapsulation efficiency (98%), and can compress miR-21i to form polyplexes to render it with good stability against degradation. The co-delivery system of 1-C12G1@DOX/miR-21i polyplexes has a pH-dependent DOX release profile, and can be readily phagocytosed by cancer cells to inhibit them due to the different anticancer mechanisms, which was further validated after intravenous injection to treat an orthotopic triple-negative breast tumor model in vivo. With the proven biocompatibility under the studied doses, the developed amphiphilic phosphorus dendron micelles could be developed as an effective nanomedicine formulation for synergistic cancer therapy.
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Dendrímeros , MicroRNAs , Neoplasias de Mama Triplo Negativas , Humanos , Micelas , Dendrímeros/farmacologia , Neoplasias de Mama Triplo Negativas/tratamento farmacológico , DoxorrubicinaRESUMO
Curcumin (Cur), a traditional Chinese medicine extracted from natural plant rhizomes, has become a candidate drug for the treatment of diseases due to its anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antioxidant, and antibacterial activities. However, the poor water solubility and low bioavailability of Cur limit its therapeutic effects for clinical applications. A variety of nanocarriers have been successfully developed to improve the water solubility, in vivo distribution, and pharmacokinetics of Cur, as well as to enhance the ability of Cur to polarize macrophages and relieve macrophage oxidative stress or anti-apoptosis, thus accelerating the therapeutic effects of Cur on inflammatory diseases. Herein, we review the design and development of diverse Cur nanoformulations in recent years and introduce the biomedical applications and potential therapeutic mechanisms of Cur nanoformulations in common inflammatory diseases, such as arthritis, neurodegenerative diseases, respiratory diseases, and ulcerative colitis, by regulating macrophage behaviors. Finally, the perspectives of the design and preparation of future nanocarriers aimed at efficiently exerting the biological activity of Cur are briefly discussed.
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During the past two decades, tremendous progress has been made in the dendrimer-based delivery of therapeutic molecules including, for instance, small molecules, macromolecules, and genes. This review deals with recent successes in the development of promising biocompatible phosphorus dendrimers, a specific type of dendrimer, to deliver genes to treat cancers.
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Conventional small molecular chemical drugs always have challenging limitations in cancer therapy due to their high systemic toxicity and low therapeutic efficacy. Nanotechnology has been applied in drug delivery, bringing new promising potential to realize effective cancer treatment. In this context, we develop here a new nanomicellar drug delivery platform generated by amphiphilic phosphorus dendrons (1-C17G3.HCl), which could form micelles for effective encapsulation of a hydrophobic anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) with a high drug loading content (42.4%) and encapsulation efficiency (96.7%). Owing to the unique dendritic rigid structure and surface hydrophilic groups, large steady void space of micelles can be created for drug encapsulation. The created DOX-loaded micelles with a mean diameter of 26.3 nm have good colloidal stability. Strikingly, we show that the drug-free micelles possess good intrinsic anticancer activity and act collectively with DOX to take down breast cancer cells in vitro and the xenografted tumor model in vivo through upregulation of Bax, PTEN, and p53 proteins for enhanced cell apoptosis. Meanwhile, the resulting 1-C17G3.HCl@DOX micelles significantly abolish the toxicity relevant to the free drug. The findings of this study demonstrate a unique nanomicelle-based drug delivery system created with the self-assembling amphiphilic phosphorus dendrons that may be adapted for chemotherapy of different cancer types.
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Antineoplásicos , Neoplasias da Mama , Dendrímeros , Antineoplásicos/química , Neoplasias da Mama/tratamento farmacológico , Dendrímeros/química , Doxorrubicina/química , Portadores de Fármacos/química , Sistemas de Liberação de Medicamentos , Feminino , Humanos , Micelas , FósforoRESUMO
Nitroimidazole represents one of the most essential and unique scaffolds in drug discovery since its discovery in the 1950s. It was K. Maeda in Japan who reported in 1953 the first nitroimidazole as a natural product from Nocardia mesenterica with antibacterial activity, which was later identified as Azomycin 1 (2-nitroimidazole) and remained in focus until now. This natural antibiotic was the starting point for synthesizing numerous analogs and regio-isomers, leading to several life-saving drugs and clinical candidates against a number of diseases, including infections (bacterial, viral, parasitic) and cancers, as well as imaging agents in medicine/diagnosis. In the present decade, the nitroimidazole scaffold has again been given two life-saving drugs (Delamanid and Pretomanid) used to treat MDR (multi-drug resistant) tuberculosis. Keeping in view the highly successful track-record of the nitroimidazole scaffold in providing breakthrough therapeutic drugs, this comprehensive review focuses explicitly on presenting the activity profile and synthetic chemistry of functionalized nitroimidazole (2-, 4- and 5-nitroimidazoles as well as the fused nitroimidazoles) based drugs and leads published from 1950 to 2021. The present review also presents the miscellaneous examples in each class. In addition, the mutagenic profile of nitroimidazole-based drugs and leads and derivatives is also discussed.