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Progress in the Application of Nanoparticles Against Lung Infection/Inflammation

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Nanoscience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 October 2025 | Viewed by 834

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Science and Technology, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Bernal B1876, Argentina
Interests: nanomedicines; archaeosomes; lung delivery; anti-inflammatory; targeted adjuvants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Inhalation is the most direct way to access the wide lung surface, and aerosolization of nanoparticulate material allows targeted delivery of therapeutic agents to specific sites of the upper respiratory tract and alveolar surface. Antibiotics formulated in biodegradable nanoparticles such as nebulized liposomes have already entered the market of inhaled antimicrobials. The development of this promising area of nanomedicine is expected to provide rapid treatments against lethal infectious outbreaks, and antimicrobial agents that, combined with anti-inflammatory activity, would magnify their effectiveness on concomitant infections accompanying certain lung tumors.

This Special Issue will focus on the design, structural characterization and performance in vitro /in vivo of novel nanoparticles aimed to treat lung bacterial, fungal or viral infections, their resultant inflammation, oxidative stress and eventual antitumoral activity.

Prof. Dr. Eder Lilia Romero
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • nanoparticulate material
  • lung
  • infection
  • inflammation
  • antitumoral activity

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

26 pages, 3958 KB  
Article
Nebulized Bacterioruberin/Astaxanthin-Loaded Nanovesicles: Antitumoral Activity and Beyond
by Victoria Rebeca Dana González Epelboim, Diego G. Lamas, Cristián Huck-Iriart, Ezequiel Nicolas Caputo, Maria Julia Altube, Horacio Emanuel Jerez, Yamila Roxana Simioni, Kajal Ghosal, Maria Jose Morilla, Leticia Herminia Higa and Eder Lilia Romero
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26(17), 8607; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26178607 - 4 Sep 2025
Viewed by 695
Abstract
The membranes of halophilic archaea are a source of novel biomaterials, mainly of isoprenoid nature, with therapeutic properties practically unraveled. Here, we explored the antitumoral activity of neutral archaeolipids (NAs, such as bacterioruberin, astaxanthin, and dihydrosqualene) present in the total archaeolipids (TAs) (a [...] Read more.
The membranes of halophilic archaea are a source of novel biomaterials, mainly of isoprenoid nature, with therapeutic properties practically unraveled. Here, we explored the antitumoral activity of neutral archaeolipids (NAs, such as bacterioruberin, astaxanthin, and dihydrosqualene) present in the total archaeolipids (TAs) (a fraction from the first step of lipid extraction by the modified Blight and Dyer technique) extracted from halophilic archaea Halorubrum tebenquichense, and formulated as TA-nanoarchaeosomes (TA: polar archaeolipids (PAs): Tween 80, 5:5:4 w:w:w, TA-nanoARC). The structure of 300.3 ± 84.2 nm TA-nanoARC of 0.59 ± 0.12 polydispersity index and −20 ± 3.7 mV ζ potential as determined by SAXS modelling, revealed that NA reduced the hydrophobic core and enlarged its hydrophilic section in comparison to TA-lacking bilayers (nanoARC), while preserving the width (~50 Å) and unilamellarity. Stable to storage and nebulization, TA-nanoARC was cytotoxic on A549 cells after 48 h, with an IC50 expressed as [bacterioruberin] of 0.15 μg/mL (~0.20 µM), comparable to or lower than the IC50 of docetaxel or cisplatin. Such cytotoxicity was exerted at a concentration harmless to macrophages (mTHP-1 cells). Besides, the conditioned medium from TA-nanoARC nebulized on A549 cells reduced the expression of the CD204/SRA-1, an M2 phenotype marker, and induced pro-inflammatory activity, comparable to or to a greater extent than that induced by lipopolysaccharide, including IL-6 and TNF-α, in mTHP-1 as a model of tumor-associated macrophages. The endocytosis of TA-nanoARC by A549 cells induced Lysotracker red fluorescence to fade and blur. This suggested the internalization of the highly viscous and ordered TA-nanoARC rich in NAs and subsequent lysosomal dysfunction (and not its antioxidant activity), as responsible for the selective damage on A549 cells. These are the first results showing that nebulized TA-nanoARC, lethal to A549 cells and modulating mTHP-1 cell phenotype, may act as antitumorals in the absence of cytotoxic drugs. Full article
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