scholarly journals Comparison of different silica microporous structures as drug delivery systems for in vitro models of solid tumors

RSC Advances ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (22) ◽  
pp. 13104-13111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natália Vilaça ◽  
Ana F. Machado ◽  
Filipa Morais-Santos ◽  
Ricardo Amorim ◽  
A. Patrícia Neto ◽  
...  

5-FU release profiles reveled to be dependent on the host structures. 5-FU DDS led to significant potentiation of the 5-FU effect in cancer cells.

Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 3295
Author(s):  
Federica Foglietta ◽  
Loredana Serpe ◽  
Roberto Canaparo

Stimuli-responsive drug-delivery systems (DDSs) have emerged as a potential tool for applications in healthcare, mainly in the treatment of cancer where versatile nanocarriers are co-triggered by endogenous and exogenous stimuli. Two-dimensional (2D) cell cultures are the most important in vitro model used to evaluate the anticancer activity of these stimuli-responsive DDSs due to their easy manipulation and versatility. However, some limitations suggest that these in vitro models poorly predict the outcome of in vivo studies. One of the main drawbacks of 2D cell cultures is their inadequate representation of the 3D environment’s physiological complexity, which sees cells interact with each other and the extracellular matrix (ECM) according to their specific cellular organization. In this regard, 3D cancer models are a promising approach that can overcome the main shortcomings of 2D cancer cell cultures, as these in vitro models possess many peculiarities by which they mimic in vivo tumors, including physiologically relevant cell–cell and cell–ECM interactions. This is, in our opinion, even more relevant when a stimuli-responsive DDS is being investigated. In this review, we therefore report and discuss endogenous and exogenous stimuli-responsive DDSs whose effectiveness has been tested using 3D cancer cell cultures.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 884 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Sapino ◽  
Daniela Chirio ◽  
Elena Peira ◽  
Elena Abellán Rubio ◽  
Valentina Brunella ◽  
...  

The bioavailability of ophthalmic therapeutics is reduced because of the presence of physiological barriers whose primary function is to hinder the entry of exogenous agents, therefore also decreasing the bioavailability of locally administered drugs. Consequently, repeated ocular administrations are required. Hence, the development of drug delivery systems that ensure suitable drug concentration for prolonged times in different ocular tissues is certainly of great importance. This objective can be partially achieved using thermosensitive drug delivery systems that, owing to their ability of changing their state in response to temperature variations, from room to body temperature, may increase drug bioavailability. In the case of topical instillation, in situ forming gels increase pre-corneal drug residence time as a consequence of their enhanced adhesion to the corneal surface. Otherwise, in the case of intraocular and periocular, i.e., subconjunctival, retrobulbar, peribulbar administration, among others, they have the undoubted advantage of being easily injectable and, owing to their sudden thickening at body temperature, have the ability to form an in situ drug reservoir. As a result, the frequency of administration can be reduced, also favoring the patient’s adhesion to therapy. In the main section of this review, we discuss some of the most common treatment options for ocular diseases, with a special focus on posterior segment treatments, and summarize the most recent improvement deriving from thermosensitive drug delivery strategies. Aside from this, an additional section describes the most widespread in vitro models employed to evaluate the functionality of novel ophthalmic drug delivery systems.


RSC Advances ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (36) ◽  
pp. 28219-28227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Martinho ◽  
Natália Vilaça ◽  
Paulo J. G. Castro ◽  
Ricardo Amorim ◽  
António M. Fonseca ◽  
...  

Y and MOR zeolites were used as a host for the temozolomide (TMZ). Y presented toxicity to glioblastoma cancer cells in contrast to MOR. Higher potentiation of TMZ was obtained with MOR in comparison to free TMZ bothin vitroandin vivo.


2013 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 237-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natália Vilaça ◽  
Ricardo Amorim ◽  
Ana F. Machado ◽  
Pier Parpot ◽  
Manuel F.R. Pereira ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 902-909
Author(s):  
Jingxin Zhang ◽  
Weiyue Shi ◽  
Gangqiang Xue ◽  
Qiang Ma ◽  
Haixin Cui ◽  
...  

Background: Among all cancers, lung cancer has high mortality among patients in most of the countries in the world. Targeted delivery of anticancer drugs can significantly reduce the side effects and dramatically improve the effects of the treatment. Folate, a suitable ligand, can be modified to the surface of tumor-selective drug delivery systems because it can selectively bind to the folate receptor, which is highly expressed on the surface of lung tumor cells. Objective: This study aimed to construct a kind of folate-targeted topotecan liposomes for investigating their efficacy and mechanism of action in the treatment of lung cancer in preclinical models. Methods: We conjugated topotecan liposomes with folate, and the liposomes were characterized by particle size, entrapment efficiency, cytotoxicity to A549 cells and in vitro release profile. Technical evaluations were performed on lung cancer A549 cells and xenografted A549 cancer cells in female nude mice, and the pharmacokinetics of the drug were evaluated in female SD rats. Results: The folate-targeted topotecan liposomes were proven to show effectiveness in targeting lung tumors. The anti-tumor effects of these liposomes were demonstrated by the decreased tumor volume and improved therapeutic efficacy. The folate-targeted topotecan liposomes also lengthened the topotecan blood circulation time. Conclusion: The folate-targeted topotecan liposomes are effective drug delivery systems and can be easily modified with folate, enabling the targeted liposomes to deliver topotecan to lung cancer cells and kill them, which could be used as potential carriers for lung chemotherapy.


Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 725
Author(s):  
Yuseon Shin ◽  
Patihul Husni ◽  
Kioh Kang ◽  
Dayoon Lee ◽  
Sehwa Lee ◽  
...  

The combination of nanotechnology and chemotherapy has resulted in more effective drug design via the development of nanomaterial-based drug delivery systems (DDSs) for tumor targeting. Stimulus-responsive DDSs in response to internal or external signals can offer precisely controlled delivery of preloaded therapeutics. Among the various DDSs, the photo-triggered system improves the efficacy and safety of treatment through spatiotemporal manipulation of light. Additionally, pH-induced delivery is one of the most widely studied strategies for targeting the acidic micro-environment of solid tumors. Accordingly, in this review, we discuss representative strategies for designing DDSs using light as an exogenous signal or pH as an endogenous trigger.


Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 861
Author(s):  
Jacopo Cardellini ◽  
Arianna Balestri ◽  
Costanza Montis ◽  
Debora Berti

In the past decade(s), fluorescence microscopy and laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) have been widely employed to investigate biological and biomimetic systems for pharmaceutical applications, to determine the localization of drugs in tissues or entire organisms or the extent of their cellular uptake (in vitro). However, the diffraction limit of light, which limits the resolution to hundreds of nanometers, has for long time restricted the extent and quality of information and insight achievable through these techniques. The advent of super-resolution microscopic techniques, recognized with the 2014 Nobel prize in Chemistry, revolutionized the field thanks to the possibility to achieve nanometric resolution, i.e., the typical scale length of chemical and biological phenomena. Since then, fluorescence microscopy-related techniques have acquired renewed interest for the scientific community, both from the perspective of instrument/techniques development and from the perspective of the advanced scientific applications. In this contribution we will review the application of these techniques to the field of drug delivery, discussing how the latest advancements of static and dynamic methodologies have tremendously expanded the experimental opportunities for the characterization of drug delivery systems and for the understanding of their behaviour in biologically relevant environments.


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