Applications of Curcumin and Its Nanoforms in the Treatment of Cancer.

Due to the diverse medicinal and pharmacokinetic properties of turmeric, it is well-known in the therapeutic, pharmaceutic, nutraceutical, cosmetic, and dietary industries. It gained importance due to its multitude of properties, such as wound-healing, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, cytoprotective, anti-aging, anti-cancer, and immunomodulatory effects. Even though the natural healing effect of turmeric has been known to Indians as early as 2500 BCE, the global demand for turmeric has increased only recently. A major reason for the beneficiary activities of turmeric is the presence of the yellow-colored polyphenolic compound called curcumin. Many studies have been carried out on the various properties of curcumin and its derivatives. Despite its low bioavailability, curcumin has been effectively used for the treatment of many diseases, such as cardiovascular and neurological diseases, diabetes, arthritis, and cancer. The advent of nanobiotechnology has further opened wide opportunities to explore and expand the use of curcumin in the medical field. Nanoformulations using curcumin and its derivatives helped to design new treatment modalities, specifically in cancer, because of the better bioavailability and solubility of nanocurcumin when compared to natural curcumin. This review deals with the various applications of curcumin nanoparticles in cancer therapy and broadly tries to understand how it affect the immunological status of the cancer cell.

Mitophagy Induced by Metal Nanoparticles for Cancer Treatment.

Research on nanoparticles, especially metal nanoparticles, in cancer therapy is gaining momentum. The versatility and biocompatibility of metal nanoparticles make them ideal for various applications in cancer therapy. They can bring about apoptotic cell death in cancer cells. In addition to apoptosis, nanoparticles mediate a special type of autophagy facilitated through mitochondria called mitophagy. Interestingly, nanoparticles with antioxidant properties are capable of inducing mitophagy by altering the levels of reactive oxygen species and by influencing signaling pathways like PINK/Parkin pathway and P13K/Akt/mTOR pathway. The current review presents various roles of metal nanoparticles in inducing mitophagy in cancer cells. We envision this review sheds some light on the blind spots in the research related to mitophagy induced by nanoparticles for cancer treatment.

Nanoparticles in Clinical Translation for Cancer Therapy.

The advent of cancer therapeutics brought a paradigm shift from conventional therapy to precision medicine. The new therapeutic modalities accomplished through the properties of nanomaterials have extended their scope in cancer therapy beyond conventional drug delivery. Nanoparticles can be channeled in cancer therapy to encapsulate active pharmaceutical ingredients and deliver them to the tumor site in a more efficient manner. This review enumerates various types of nanoparticles that have entered clinical trials for cancer treatment. The obstacles in the journey of nanodrug from clinic to market are reviewed. Furthermore, the latest developments in using nanoparticles in cancer therapy are also highlighted.

Coconut Carbon Dots: Progressive Large-Scale Synthesis, Detailed Biological Activities and Smart Sensing Aptitudes towards Tyrosine.

In the recent era, carbon dots (C-dots) have been extensively considered as a potential tool in drug delivery analysis. However, there have been fewer reports in the literature on their application in the sensing of amino acids. As part of our ongoing research on coconut-husk-derived C-dots, we synthesized C-dots under different temperature conditions and utilized them in the field of amino acid sensing and found them to be highly selective and sensitive towards tyrosine. The detailed characterization of the prepared C-dots was carried out. The developed C-dots exhibit good values of quantum yield. BSA, HSA and glutamic acid were utilized to explore the binding efficiency of C-dots with biologically active components. Hemolysis, blood clotting index activity and cell viability assays using the prepared C-dots were evaluated and they were found to be biocompatible. Therefore, the C-dots described in this work have high potential to be utilized in the field of amino acid sensing, especially L-tyrosine. The limit of detection and the binding constant for the developed C-dots in the presence of tyrosine were found to be 0.96 nM and 296.38 nM-1, respectively. The efficiency of the developed C-dots was also investigated in the presence of various other amino acids and different water mediums in order to enhance the working scope of the developed sensors.

The catalytic and ROS-scavenging activities of green synthesized, antiferromagneticα-Fe2O3nanoparticle with a prismatic octahedron morphology from pomegranate rind extract.

Phenolic compounds (like 4-nitrophenol) and dyes (like methyl orange) are common by-products discharged by many industries as wastes; they are toxic and may induce discomfort and irritation in humans when ingested. Most of these compounds can be made less toxic through catalytic degradation. Metal oxide nanoparticles are found to have high catalytic activity and can degrade toxic phenolic compounds and dyes. In the current study, pomegranate rind extract was used for the green synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles that exhibited an octahedron morphology revealed by scanning electron microscopy analysis. Energy dispersive x-ray analysis showed 47.96% content of Fe (by weight); high resolution-transmission electron microscopy analysis confirmed that the nanoparticles had a particle size of 22.54 ± 4.13 nm. The particles were further characterized by x-ray diffraction, fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer, and thermogravimetric analysis. The nanoparticle proved to be efficient in reducing 4-nitrophenol and methyl orange. It was also found to be non-toxic towards murine macrophages, RAW 264.7 with good ROS-scavenging potential compared to control.