Stimuli-responsive nanodelivery systems for amplifying immunogenic cell death in cancer immunotherapy.

Immunogenic cell death (ICD) is a special pattern of tumor cell death, enabling to elicit tumor-specific immune response via the release of damage-associated molecular patterns and tumor-associated antigens in the tumor microenvironment. ICD-induced immunotherapy holds the promise for completely eliminating tumors and long-term protective antitumor immune response. Increasing ICD inducers have been discovered for boosting antitumor immunity via evoking ICD. Nonetheless, the utilization of ICD inducers remains insufficient owing to serious toxic reactions, low localization efficiency within the tumor microenvironmental niche, etc. For overcoming such limitations, stimuli-responsive multifunctional nanoparticles or nanocomposites with ICD inducers have been developed for improving immunotherapeutic efficiency via lowering toxicity, which represent a prospective scheme for fostering the utilization of ICD inducers in immunotherapy. This review outlines the advances in near-infrared (NIR)-, pH-, redox-, pH- and redox-, or NIR- and tumor microenvironment-responsive nanodelivery systems for ICD induction. Furthermore, we discuss their clinical translational potential. The progress of stimuli-responsive nanoparticles in clinical settings depends upon the development of biologically safer drugs tailored to patient needs. Moreover, an in-depth comprehending of ICD biomarkers, immunosuppressive microenvironment, and ICD inducers may accelerate the advance in smarter multifunctional nanodelivery systems to further amplify ICD.

Domain-Selective Enzymatic Cross-linking and Etching for Shape-Morphing DNA-Linked Nanoparticle Films.

The highly programmable and responsive molecular recognition properties of DNA provide unparalleled opportunities for fabricating dynamic nanostructures capable of structural transformation in response to various external stimuli. However, they typically operate in tightly controlled environments because certain conditions (ionic strength, pH, temperature, etc.) must be met for DNA duplex formation. In this study, we adopted site-specific enzymatic ligation and DNA-based layer-by-layer thin film fabrication to build shape-morphing DNA-linked nanoparticle films operational in a broad range of environments. The ligated films remained intact in unusual conditions such as pure water and high temperature causing dissociation of DNA duplexes and showed predictable and reversible shape morphing in response to various environmental changes and DNA exchange reactions. Furthermore, domain-selective ligation combined with photoinduced interlayer mixing allowed for the fabrication of unusual edge-sealed double-layered films through midlayer etching, which is difficult to realize by other methods.

Structural Determinants of Stimuli-Responsiveness in Amphiphilic Macromolecular Nano-assemblies.

Stimuli-responsive nano-assemblies from amphiphilic macromolecules could undergo controlled structural transformations and generate diverse macroscopic phenomenon under stimuli. Due to the controllable responsiveness, they have been applied for broad material and biomedical applications, such as biologics delivery, sensing, imaging, and catalysis. Understanding the mechanisms of the assembly-disassembly processes and structural determinants behind the responsive properties is fundamentally important for designing the next generation of nano-assemblies with programmable responsiveness. In this review, we focus on structural determinants of assemblies from amphiphilic macromolecules and their macromolecular level alterations under stimuli, such as the disruption of hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB), depolymerization, decrosslinking, and changes of molecular packing in assemblies, which eventually lead to a series of macroscopic phenomenon for practical purposes. Applications of stimuli-responsive nano-assemblies in delivery, sensing and imaging were also summarized based on their structural features. We expect this review could provide readers an overview of the structural considerations in the design and applications of nanoassemblies and incentivize more explorations in stimuli-responsive soft matters.

Untethered Microgrippers for Precision Medicine.

Microgrippers, a branch of micro/nanorobots, refer to motile miniaturized machines that are of a size in the range of several to hundreds of micrometers. Compared with tethered grippers or other microscopic diagnostic and surgical equipment, untethered microgrippers play an indispensable role in biomedical applications because of their characteristics such as miniaturized size, dexterous shape tranformation, and  controllable motion, which enables the microgrippers to enter hard-to-reach regions to execute specific medical tasks for disease diagnosis and treatment. To date, numerous medical microgrippers are developed, and their potential in cell manipulation, targeted drug delivery, biopsy, and minimally invasive surgery  are explored. To achieve controlled locomotion and efficient target-oriented actions, the materials, size, microarchitecture, and morphology of microgrippers shall be deliberately designed. In this review, the authors summarizes the latest progress in untethered micrometer-scale grippers. The working mechanisms of shape-morphing and actuation methods for effective movement are first introduced. Then, the design principle and state-of-the-art fabrication techniques of microgrippers are discussed. Finally, their applications in the precise medicine are highlighted, followed by offering future perspectives for the development of untethered medical microgrippers.

Smart Stimuli-Responsive Spherical Nucleic Acids: Cutting-Edge Platforms for Biosensing, Bioimaging, and Therapeutics.

Spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) with exceptional colloidal stability, multiple modularity, and programmability are excellent candidates to address common molecular delivery-related issues. Based on this, the higher targeting accuracy and enhanced controllability of stimuli-responsive SNAs render them precise nanoplatforms with inestimable prospects for diverse biomedical applications. Therefore, tailored diagnosis and treatment with stimuli-responsive SNAs may be a robust strategy to break through the bottlenecks associated with traditional nanocarriers. Various stimuli-responsive SNAs are engineered through the incorporation of multifunctional modifications to meet biomedical demands with the development of nucleic acid functionalization. This review provides a comprehensive overview of prominent research in this area and recent advancements in the utilization of stimuli-responsive SNAs in biosensing, bioimaging, and therapeutics. For each aspect, SNA nanoplatforms that exhibit responsive behavior to both internal stimuli (including sequence, enzyme, redox reactions, and pH) and external stimuli (such as light and temperature) are highlighted. This review is expected to offer inspiration and guidance strategies for the rational design and development of stimuli-responsive SNAs in the field of biomedicine.

Engineering Stimuli-Responsive Materials for Precision Medicine.

Over the past decade, precision medicine has garnered increasing attention, making significant strides in discovering new therapeutic drugs and mechanisms, resulting in notable achievements in symptom alleviation, pain reduction, and extended survival rates. However, the limited target specificity of primary drugs and inter-individual differences have often necessitated high-dosage strategies, leading to challenges such as restricted deep tissue penetration rates and systemic side effects. Material science advancements present a promising avenue for these issues. By leveraging the distinct internal features of diseased regions and the application of specific external stimuli, responsive materials can be tailored to achieve targeted delivery, controllable release, and specific biochemical reactions. This review aims to highlight the latest advancements in stimuli-responsive materials and their potential in precision medicine. Initially, we introduce disease-related internal stimuli and capable external stimuli, elucidating the reaction principles of responsive functional groups. Subsequently, we provide a detailed analysis of representative pre-clinical achievements of stimuli responsive materials across various clinical applications, including enhancements in the treatment of cancers, injury diseases, inflammatory diseases, infection diseases, and high-throughput microfluidic biosensors. Finally, we discuss some clinical challenges, such as off-target effects, long-term impacts of nano-materials, potential ethical concerns, and offer insights into future perspectives of stimuli-responsive materials.

Surficial Host-Guest Responsive CsPbBr3 Perovskite Nanocrystals for Programmable Multi-Level Information Encryption.

The design of smart stimuli-responsive photoluminescent materials capable of multi-level encryption and complex information storage is highly sought after in the current information era. Here, a novel adamantyl-capped CsPbBr3 (AD-CsPbBr3) perovskite NCs, along with its supramolecular host-guest assembly partner a modified ß-CD (mCD), mCD@AD-CsPbBr3, are designed and prepared. By dispersing these two materials in different solvents, namely, AD-CsPbBr3 in toluene, mCD@AD-CsPbBr3 in toluene, and mCD@AD-CsPbBr3 in methanol, the three solutions exhibit diverse photoluminescence (PL) turn-on/off or PL discoloration response upon supramolecular stimulus. Based on these responses, a proof-of-principle programmable Multi-Level Photoluminescence Encoding System (MPLES) is established. Three types of four-level and three types of three-level information encoding are achieved by the system. A layer-by-layer four-level information encryption and decryption as well as a two-level encrypted 3D code are successfully achieved.

3D Printable Active Hydrogels with Supramolecular Additive-Driven Adaptiveness.

Smart hydrogels are a promising candidate for the development of next-generation soft materials due to their stimuli-responsiveness, deformability, and biocompatibility. However, it remains challenging to enable hydrogels to actively adapt to various environmental conditions like living organisms. In this work, supramolecular additives are introduced to the hydrogel matrix to confer environmental adaptiveness. Specifically, their microstructures, swelling behaviors, mechanical properties, and transparency can adapt to external environmental conditions. Moreover, the presence of hydrogen bonding provides the hydrogel with applicable rheological properties for 3D extrusion printing, thus allowing for the facile preparation of thickness-dependent camouflage and multistimuli responsive complex. The environmentally adaptive hydrogel developed in this study offers new approaches for manipulating supramolecular interactions and broadens the capability of smart hydrogels in information security and multifunctional integrated actuation.

Self-Regulated Assembly and Disassembly of Gold Nanoparticles for Low-Temperature Time Indication.

The color-changing self-assembly and autonomous disassembly of colloidal gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is reported by simply mixing negatively charged phosphine ligand-capped AuNPs with partially oxidized polyethylene glycol (PEG). The assembly of AuNPs is initiated by PEG adsorption, which disrupts the hydration layer of AuNPs, leading to depletion attraction and reduction of hydration repulsion among the AuNPs. The oxidative species in PEG subsequently oxidize and remove the charged ligands from the AuNP surface, resulting in a decrease and reversal of the negative surface charge. This causes the PEG to adsorb on AuNPs in a tighter and more direct manner, providing strong steric shielding to the AuNPs, thereby triggering the disassembly of the AuNP assemblies. The self-regulated assembly-disassembly process can be tuned widely by controlling chemical conditions of PEG, nanoparticle concentration, and the environmental conditions, suggesting potential applications as colorimetric time-temperature indicators for food and medicine storage conditions. As a proof of concept, it is demonstrated that the lifetime of the color-changing assembly-disassembly process can be extended from tens of minutes to weeks when subjected to a refrigerated environment, with tunability achievable through varying polymer conditions and storage atmospheres.

Ionic Covalent Organic Framework as a Dual Functional Sensor for Temperature and Humidity.

Visual sensing of humidity and temperature by solids plays an important role in the everyday life and in industrial processes. Due to their hydrophobic nature, most covalent organic framework (COF) sensors often exhibit poor optical response when exposed to moisture. To overcome this challenge, the optical response is set out to improve, to moisture by incorporating H-bonding ionic functionalities into the COF network. A highly sensitive COF, consisting of guanidinium and diformylpyridine linkers (TG-DFP), capable of detecting changes in temperature and moisture content is fabricated. The hydrophilic nature of the framework enables enhanced water uptake, allowing the trapped water molecules to form a large number of hydrogen bonds. Despite the presence of non-emissive building blocks, the H-bonds restrict internal bond rotation within the COF, leading to reversible fluorescence and solid-state optical hydrochromism in response to relative humidity and temperature.

Pickering Emulsions Biocatalysis: Recent Developments and Emerging Trends.

Biocatalysis within biphasic systems is gaining significant attention in the field of synthetic chemistry, primarily for its ability to solve the problem of incompatible solubilities between biocatalysts and organic compounds. By forming an emulsion from these two-phase systems, a larger surface area is created, which greatly improves the mass transfer of substrates to the biocatalysts. Among the various types of emulsions, Pickering emulsions stand out due to their excellent stability, compatibility with biological substances, and the ease with which they can be formed and separated. This makes them ideal for reusing both the emulsifiers and the biocatalysts. This review explores the latest developments in biocatalysis using Pickering emulsions. It covers the structural features, methods of creation, innovations in flow biocatalysis, and the role of interfaces in these processes. Additionally, the challenges and future directions are discussed in combining chemical and biological catalysts within Pickering emulsion frameworks to advance synthetic methodologies.

3D Printed Magneto-Active Microfiber Scaffolds for Remote Stimulation and Guided Organization of 3D In Vitro Skeletal Muscle Models.

This work reports the rational design and fabrication of magneto-active microfiber meshes with controlled hexagonal microstructures via melt electrowriting (MEW) of a magnetized polycaprolactone-based composite. In situ iron oxide nanoparticle deposition on oxidized graphene yields homogeneously dispersed magnetic particles with sizes above 0.5 µm and low aspect ratio, preventing cellular internalization and toxicity. With these fillers, homogeneous magnetic composites with high magnetic content (up to 20 weight %) are obtained and processed in a solvent-free manner for the first time. MEW of magnetic composites enabled the creation of skeletal muscle-inspired design of hexagonal scaffolds with tunable fiber diameter, reconfigurable modularity, and zonal distribution of magneto-active and nonactive material, with elastic tensile deformability. External magnetic fields below 300 mT are sufficient to trigger out-of-plane reversible deformation. In vitro culture of C2C12 myoblasts on three-dimensional (3D) Matrigel/collagen/MEW scaffolds showed that microfibers guided the formation of 3D myotube architectures, and the presence of magnetic particles does not significantly affect viability or differentiation rates after 8 days. Centimeter-sized skeletal muscle constructs allowed for reversible, continued, and dynamic magneto-mechanical stimulation. Overall, these innovative microfiber scaffolds provide magnetically deformable platforms suitable for dynamic culture of skeletal muscle, offering potential for in vitro disease modeling.

Intelligent Reconfiguration-Promoted Cellular Internalization of Core-Shell DNA Nanoprobe Equipped with Successive Dual Stimuli-Responsive Protective Satellites for Amplification Fluorescence Imaging of Tumor Cells.

Although DNA probes have attracted increasing interest for precise tumor cell identification by imaging intracellular biomarkers, the requirement of commercial transfection reagents, limited targeting ligands, and/or non-biocompatible inorganic nanostructures has hampered the clinic translation. To circumvent these shortcomings, a reconfigurable ES-NC (Na+-dependent DNAzyme (E)-based substrate (S) cleavage core/shell DNA nanocluster (NC)) entirely from DNA strands is assembled for precise imaging of cancerous cells in a successive dual-stimuli-responsive manner. This nanoprobe is composed of a strung DNA tetrahedral satellites-based protective (DTP) shell, parallelly aligned target-responsive sensing (PTS) interlayer, and hydrophobic cholesterol-packed innermost layer (HCI core). Tetrahedral axial rotation-activated reconfiguration of DTP shell promotes the exposure of interior hydrophobic moieties, enabling cholesterol-mediated cellular internalization without auxiliary elements. Within cells, over-expressed glutathione triggers the disassembly of the DTP protective shell (first stimulus), facilitating target-stimulated signal transduction/amplification process (second stimuli). Target miRNA-21 is detected down to 10.6 fM without interference from coexisting miRNAs. Compared with transfection reagent-mediated counterpart, ES-NC displays a higher imaging ability, resists nuclease degradation, and has no detectable damage to healthy cells. The blind test demonstrates that the ES-NC is suitable for the identification of cancerous cells from healthy cells, indicating a promising tool for early diagnosis and prediction of cancer.

Hydrophobic domain modulation of chemical responsiveness in a bolaamphiphile-based supramolecular monomer.

Self-immolative chemistries that respond in an irreversible manner to external stimuli are highly attractive to permanently degrade filamentous supramolecular biomaterials. Within the monomer, a balance needs to be struck between its capacity to be supramolecularly polymerized and degraded at an appropriate rate for a given application. Herein, we unravel the structure-property-function relationships of a library of squaramide-based bolaamphiphiles bearing a central disulfide-based self-immolative spacer to construct supramolecular polymers responsive to a chemical stimulus in aqueous solutions. We examine the impact of changing the alkyl domain length (2 to 12 methylene units) on the formation of supramolecular filaments and their rate of degradation in response to a biological antioxidant, glutathione. A minimum of an octyl spacer is required to robustly form supramolecular polymers that can be irreversibly degraded through a cyclization-elimination reaction of the self-immolative spacer triggered by thiol-disulfide exchange within several hours. Further increasing the peripheral alkyl chain length to a decyl spacer increases the ordered packing of the amphiphiles, hindering their chemical degradation. This study provides a framework to design small molecule chemically responsive filamentous supramolecular polymers based on bolaamphiphilic monomers that can be irreversibly degraded in aqueous solutions for their eventual application as biomedical materials.

Dynamic Nanostructure-Based DNA Logic Gates for Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy.

DNA logic gates with dynamic nanostructures have made a profound impact on cancer diagnosis and treatment. Through programming the dynamic structure changes of DNA nanodevices, precise molecular recognition with signal amplification and smart therapeutic strategies have been reported. This enhances the specificity and sensitivity of cancer theranostics, and improves diagnosis precision and treatment outcomes. This review explores the basic components of dynamic DNA nanostructures and corresponding DNA logic gates, as well as their applications for cancer diagnosis and therapies. The dynamic DNA nanostructures would contribute to cancer early detection and personalized treatment.

Innovative theranostic hydrogels for targeted gastrointestinal cancer treatment.

Gastrointestinal tumors are the main causes of death among the patients. These tumors are mainly diagnosed in the advanced stages and their response to therapy is unfavorable. In spite of the development of conventional therapeutics including surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy, the treatment of these tumors is still challenging. As a result, the new therapeutics based on (nano)biotechnology have been introduced. Hydrogels are polymeric 3D networks capable of absorbing water to swell with favorable biocompatibility. In spite of application of hydrogels in the treatment of different human diseases, their wide application in cancer therapy has been improved because of their potential in drug and gene delivery, boosting chemotherapy and immunotherapy as well as development of vaccines. The current review focuses on the role of hydrogels in the treatment of gastrointestinal tumors. Hydrogels provide delivery of drugs (both natural or synthetic compounds and their co-delivery) along with gene delivery. Along with delivery, hydrogels stimulate phototherapy (photothermal and photodynamic therapy) in the suppression of these tumors. Besides, the ability of hydrogels for the induction of immune-related cells such as dendritic cells can boost cancer immunotherapy. For more specific cancer therapy, the stimuli-responsive types of hydrogels including thermo- and pH-sensitive hydrogels along with their self-healing ability have improved the site specific drug delivery. Moreover, hydrogels are promising for diagnosis, circulating tumor cell isolation and detection of biomarkers in the gastrointestinal tumors, highlighting their importance in clinic. Hence, hydrogels are diagnostic and therapeutic tools for the gastrointestimal tumors.

Luminescent Platinum(II) Complexes with Stimuli-Responsive Flexible Lewis Pair Ligands: Spectroscopic and Computational Studies.

A series of new luminescent bimetallic platinum(II) complexes with stimuli-responsive flexible Lewis pair (FlexLP) ligands are described. The FlexLP ligands consist of a dimesitylboron Lewis acid and diphenylphosphine oxide Lewis base which are in equilibrium between the unbound open form and the Lewis adduct, controlled by the hydrogen bond donating strength of the solvent. Spectroscopic techniques and density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to interpret the photophysics of the platinum(II) complexes. All complexes exhibit tunable absorption in the region of 300-500 nm and green to orange photoluminescence, depending on the ratio of weak (THF) to strong (MeOH) hydrogen bond donating solvent employed. Spectroscopic and computational data shows that phosphine and peripheral acetylide ligands on the platinum(II) centers have limited influence on the emission energy, indicating the emission originates from the FlexLP-dominated fluorescence. Using time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy it is shown that the complexes undergo intersystem crossing (ISC) to the triplet excited state upon photoexcitation, and the ISC efficiency is affected by the peripheral acetylide ligands. The triplet excited state lifetime can also be manipulated by the state of the FlexLP ligand, with the closed form complexes having longer lifetimes than the open form complexes.

Photo/Mechanical/Acidic Multi-Stimuli Responses and Information Encryption Design of Acylhydrazone Derivative.

Stimuli-responsive crystalline materials have received much attention for being potential candidates of smart materials. However, the occurrence of polymorphism-driven stimuli responses in crystalline materials remains interesting but rare. Herein, three polymorphs of an acylhydrazone derivative, N'-[(E)-(1-benzofuran-2-yl) methylidene] pyridine -4-carbohydrazide (BFMP) were prepared. Form-1 undergoes a photomechanical response via E→Z photoisomerization under UV irradiation, accompanied by a decrease in fluorescence intensity and a change from colorless to yellow. Two types of Z→E thermal isomerization mechanisms with significant differences in conversion rate were observed at different temperatures in form-1. The solid-melt-solid transition has a faster conversion rate compared to the solid-solid transition due to freedom from lattice confinement. The transition from form-2 to form-3 can be achieved under grinding, coupled with a significant decrease in fluorescence intensity. The similar molecular stacking pattern of form-2 and form-3 provides a structural basis for the grinding-induced crystalline transition behavior. In addition, the presence of the pyridine moiety imparts an acidochromic property. The combination of photochromism and acidochromism explores the possible applications of acylhydrazone derivatives in information encryption.

Self-immolative Polymer Hydrogels via In Situ Gelation.

Hydrogels are of interest for a wide range of applications. The ability to control when the hydrogel degrades can provide beneficial properties such as controlled degradation in the environment or the stimulated release of drugs or cells. Self-immolative polymers are a class of degradable polymers that undergo complete end-to-end depolymerization upon the application of a stimulus. They have been explored for hydrogel development, but the ability to prepare and selectively degrade self-immolative hydrogels under neutral aqueous conditions has so far been limited. We describe here the preparation of water-soluble polyglyoxylamides with cross-linkable pendent azides and their cross-linking to form hydrogels with 4-arm poly(ethylene glycol)s having unstrained and strained alkynes using copper-assisted and strain-promoted azide-alkyne click chemistry respectively. The influence of pendent azide density and solution polymer content on the resulting hydrogels was evaluated. A polyglyoxylamide with a 70 : 30 ratio of pendent hydroxyl:azide successfully provided hydrogels with compressive moduli ranging from 1.3-6.3 kPa under copper-free conditions at 10-20 % (w/w) of polymer in phosphate-buffered saline. Selective depolymerization and degradation of the hydrogels upon irradiation with light was demonstrated, resulting in reductions in the compressive moduli and the release of depolymerization products that were detected by NMR spectroscopy.

Heterocyclic Hemipiperazines: Multistimuli-Responsive Switches and Sensors for Zinc or Cadmium Ions.

Advance in the design of molecular photoswitches - adapters that convert light into changes at molecular level - opens up exciting possibilities in preparing smart polymers, drugs photoactivated inside humans, or light-fueled nanomachines that might in the future operate in our bloodstream. Hemipiperazines are recently reported biocompatible molecular photoswitches based on cyclic dipeptides. Here we report a multistimuli-responsive hemipiperazine-based switch that reacts on light, solvents, acidity, or metal ions. Its photoequilibration is controlled by the intramolecular hydrogen bonding pattern. The compound can be used as a mid-nanomolar photoswitchable fluorescent sensor for zinc and cadmium ions, applicable to monitor environmental pollution in real time.