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Nanomaterials
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Multi-Functional Nanoparticles for Therapy and Diagnostics
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Multi-Functional Nanoparticles for Therapy and Diagnostics

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Biology and Medicines".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2022) | Viewed by 19421

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Álvaro Somoza

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia (IMDEA Nanociencia), & CNB-CSIC-IMDEA Nanociencia Associated Unit “Unidad de Nanobiotecnología” Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
Interests: drug delivery; smart nanoparticles; stimuli-responsive materials; cancer; oligonucleotides; microRNAs; aptamers; nanomedicine; sensors; gene regulation; gene editing; magnetic hyperthermia

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nanomedicine has reached an exceptional level of interest, due to the good results obtained in recent decades using several nanoparticles for the treatment of cancer or the detection of markers of a variety of diseases. Nevertheless, it is facing limitations in some applications due to the complexity of the biological media and cell biology, which can lead to reduced efficacy or selectivity as well as drug resistance, among other factors. However, such shortcomings can be overcome with the proper choice and combination of active components in the preparation of the nanostructures. These more complex nanosystems might contain different drugs, coatings, ligands, nucleic acids, or reporting molecules, which interact in a defined manner, increasing their effectiveness in the treatment and/or detection of maladies.

This special issue of Nanomaterials aims to compile a selection of original contributions and review articles where the combination of active components on the nanostructure can lead to significant improvements of the available systems for the treatment and/or detection of any disease.

Prof. Dr. Álvaro Somoza
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • smart nanoparticles
  • combined therapy
  • stimuli-responsive materials
  • sensing, multiplexing
  • theranostics
  • cancer

Published Papers (6 papers)

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18 pages, 6521 KiB  
Article
Solid-Phase Synthesized Copolymers for the Assembly of pH-Sensitive Micelles Suitable for Drug Delivery Applications
by Razvan Ghiarasim, Crina Elena Tiron, Adrian Tiron, Mihail-Gabriel Dimofte, Mariana Pinteala and Alexandru Rotaru
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(11), 1798; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12111798 - 24 May 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1941
Abstract
Diblock copolymers of polyhistidine are known for their self-assembly into micelles and their pH-dependent disassembly due to the amphiphilic character of the copolymer and the unsaturated imidazole groups that undergo a hydrophobic-to-hydrophilic transition in an acidic pH. This property has been largely utilized [...] Read more.
Diblock copolymers of polyhistidine are known for their self-assembly into micelles and their pH-dependent disassembly due to the amphiphilic character of the copolymer and the unsaturated imidazole groups that undergo a hydrophobic-to-hydrophilic transition in an acidic pH. This property has been largely utilized for the design of drug delivery systems that target a tumor environment possessing a slightly lower extracellular pH (6.8–7.2). The main purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of designed poly(ethylene glycol)-polyhistidine sequences synthesized using solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS), to self-assemble into micelles, to assess the ability of the corresponding micelles to be loaded with doxorubicin (DOX), and to investigate the drug release profile at pH values similar to a malignant extracellular environment. The designed and assembled free and DOX-loaded micelles were characterized from a physico-chemical point of view, their cytotoxicity was evaluated on a human breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231), while the cellular areas where micelles disassembled and released DOX were assessed using immunofluorescence. We concluded that the utilization of SPPS for the synthesis of the polyhistidine diblock copolymers yielded sequences that behaved similarly to the copolymeric sequences synthesized using ring-opening polymerization, while the advantages of SPPS may offer facile tuning of the histidine site or the attachment of a large variety of functional molecules. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Functional Nanoparticles for Therapy and Diagnostics)
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20 pages, 9009 KiB  
Article
Magnetic Nanoprobes for Spatio-Mechanical Manipulation in Single Cells
by Iuliia P. Novoselova, Andreas Neusch, Julia-Sarita Brand, Marius Otten, Mohammad Reza Safari, Nina Bartels, Matthias Karg, Michael Farle, Ulf Wiedwald and Cornelia Monzel
Nanomaterials 2021, 11(9), 2267; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11092267 - 31 Aug 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3332
Abstract
Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are widely known as valuable agents for biomedical applications. Recently, MNPs were further suggested to be used for a remote and non-invasive manipulation, where their spatial redistribution or force response in a magnetic field provides a fine-tunable stimulus to a [...] Read more.
Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are widely known as valuable agents for biomedical applications. Recently, MNPs were further suggested to be used for a remote and non-invasive manipulation, where their spatial redistribution or force response in a magnetic field provides a fine-tunable stimulus to a cell. Here, we investigated the properties of two different MNPs and assessed their suitability for spatio-mechanical manipulations: semisynthetic magnetoferritin nanoparticles and fully synthetic ‘nanoflower’-shaped iron oxide nanoparticles. As well as confirming their monodispersity in terms of structure, surface potential, and magnetic response, we monitored the MNP performance in a living cell environment using fluorescence microscopy and asserted their biocompatibility. We then demonstrated facilitated spatial redistribution of magnetoferritin compared to ‘nanoflower’-NPs after microinjection, and a higher magnetic force response of these NPs compared to magnetoferritin inside a cell. Our remote manipulation assays present these tailored magnetic materials as suitable agents for applications in magnetogenetics, biomedicine, or nanomaterial research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Functional Nanoparticles for Therapy and Diagnostics)
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11 pages, 1716 KiB  
Article
Stand-Alone CuFeSe2 (Eskebornite) Nanosheets for Photothermal Cancer Therapy
by Mimi Liu, Daniela R. Radu, Gurpreet Singh Selopal, Saiphaneendra Bachu and Cheng-Yu Lai
Nanomaterials 2021, 11(8), 2008; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11082008 - 5 Aug 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4395
Abstract
Two-dimensional CuFeSe2 nanosheets have been successfully obtained via solution-phase synthesis using a sacrificial template method. The high purity was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and the two-dimensional morphology was validated by transmission electron microscopy. The intense absorption in the 400–1400 nm region has [...] Read more.
Two-dimensional CuFeSe2 nanosheets have been successfully obtained via solution-phase synthesis using a sacrificial template method. The high purity was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and the two-dimensional morphology was validated by transmission electron microscopy. The intense absorption in the 400–1400 nm region has been the basis for the CuFeSe2 nanosheets’ photothermal capabilities testing. The colloidal CuFeSe2 (CFS) nanosheets capped with S2− short ligands (CFS-S) exhibit excellent biocompatibility in cell culture studies and strong photothermal effects upon 808 nm laser irradiation. The nanosheets were further loaded with the cancer drug doxorubicin and exposed to laser irradiation, which accelerated the release of doxorubicin, achieving synergy in the therapeutic effect. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Functional Nanoparticles for Therapy and Diagnostics)
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15 pages, 18673 KiB  
Article
Smart Dual-Functionalized Gold Nanoclusters for Spatio-Temporally Controlled Delivery of Combined Chemo- and Photodynamic Therapy
by Andrea Tabero, Oriol Planas, Thibault Gallavardin, Ingrid Nieves, Santi Nonell and Angeles Villanueva
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(12), 2474; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10122474 - 10 Dec 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2160
Abstract
We report the preparation of gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) as a delivery vehicle for the clinically approved photodynamic and chemotherapeutic agents Protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) and doxorubicin (DOX), respectively, and their effect on tumor cells. DOX was attached to the gold nanoclusters through a singlet [...] Read more.
We report the preparation of gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) as a delivery vehicle for the clinically approved photodynamic and chemotherapeutic agents Protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) and doxorubicin (DOX), respectively, and their effect on tumor cells. DOX was attached to the gold nanoclusters through a singlet oxygen-cleavable linker and was therefore released after PpIX irradiation with red light, contributing, synergistically with singlet oxygen, to induce cell death. The doubly functionalized AuNCs proved more effective than a combination of individually functionalized AuNCs. Unlike free DOX, the photoactive nanosystem was non-toxic in the absence of light, which paves the way to introduce a spatiotemporal control of the anticancer therapy and could contribute to reducing the undesirable side effects of DOX. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Functional Nanoparticles for Therapy and Diagnostics)
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16 pages, 2324 KiB  
Article
Iron Oxide Nanoparticles as Carriers for DOX and Magnetic Hyperthermia after Intratumoral Application into Breast Cancer in Mice: Impact and Future Perspectives
by Susann Piehler, Heidi Dähring, Julia Grandke, Julia Göring, Pierre Couleaud, Antonio Aires, Aitziber L. Cortajarena, José Courty, Alfonso Latorre, Álvaro Somoza, Ulf Teichgräber and Ingrid Hilger
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(6), 1016; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10061016 - 26 May 2020
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 3143
Abstract
There is still a need for improving the treatment of breast cancer with doxorubicin (DOX). In this paper, we functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) with DOX and studied the DOX-induced antitumor effects in breast cancer cells (BT474) in the presence of magnetic hyperthermia (43 [...] Read more.
There is still a need for improving the treatment of breast cancer with doxorubicin (DOX). In this paper, we functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) with DOX and studied the DOX-induced antitumor effects in breast cancer cells (BT474) in the presence of magnetic hyperthermia (43 °C, 1 h). We show that i) intratumoral application of DOX-functionalized MNPs (at least at a concentration of 9.6 nmol DOX/100 mm3 tumor volume) combined with magnetic hyperthermia favors tumor regression in vivo, and there is evidence for an increased effect compared to magnetic hyperthermia alone or to the intratumoral application of free DOX and ii) the presence of the pseudopeptide NucAnt (N6L) on the MNP surface might well be beneficial in its function as carrier for MNP internalization into breast cancer cells in vitro, which could further augment the possibility of the induction of intracellular heating spots and cell death in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Functional Nanoparticles for Therapy and Diagnostics)
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16 pages, 2140 KiB  
Article
Selected Tetraspanins Functionalized Niosomes as Potential Standards for Exosome Immunoassays
by Pablo García-Manrique, Esther Serrano-Pertierra, Estefanía Lozano-Andrés, Soraya López-Martín, María Matos, Gemma Gutiérrez, María Yáñez-Mó and María Carmen Blanco-López
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(5), 971; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10050971 - 18 May 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3378
Abstract
Quantitative detection of exosomes in bio-fluids is a challenging task in a dynamic research field. The absence of a well-established reference material (RM) for method development and inter-comparison studies could be potentially overcome with artificial exosomes: lab-produced biomimetic particles with morphological and functional [...] Read more.
Quantitative detection of exosomes in bio-fluids is a challenging task in a dynamic research field. The absence of a well-established reference material (RM) for method development and inter-comparison studies could be potentially overcome with artificial exosomes: lab-produced biomimetic particles with morphological and functional properties close to natural exosomes. This work presents the design, development and functional characteristics of fully artificial exosomes based on tetraspanin extracellular loops-coated niosomes, produced by bio-nanotechnology methods based on supra-molecular chemistry and recombinant protein technology. Mono- and double-functionalized particles with CD9/CD63 tetraspanins have been developed and characterized from a morphological and functional point of view. Produced bio-particles showed close similarities with natural entities in terms of physical properties. Their utility for bioanalysis is demonstrated by their detection and molecular-type discrimination by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), one of the most frequent bio-analytical method found in routine and research labs. The basic material based on streptavidin-coated niosomes allows the surface functionalization with any biotinylated protein or peptide, introducing versatility. Although promising results have been reported, further optimizations and deeper characterization will help this innovative biomaterial become a robust RM for validation and development of diagnostic tools for exosomes determination. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Functional Nanoparticles for Therapy and Diagnostics)
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