Multivalent nanoparticles have several key advantages in terms of solubility, binding avidity, and uptake, making them particularly well suited to molecular imaging applications. Herein is reported the stepwise synthesis and characterization of NIR viral nanoparticles targeted to gastrin-releasing peptide receptors that are over-expressed in human prostate cancers. The pan-bombesin analogue, [β-Ala11, Phe13, Nle14]bombesin-(7–14), is conjugated to cowpea mosaic virus particles functionalized with an NIR dye (Alexa Fluor 647) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) using the copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction. Targeting and uptake in human PC-3 prostate cells is demonstrated in vitro. Tumor homing is observed using human prostate tumor xenografts on the chicken chorioallantoic membrane model using intravital imaging. Further development of this viral nanoparticle platform may open the door to potential clinical noninvasive molecular imaging strategies.

Formation of drug/polymer complexes through ionic interactions has proven to be very effective for the controlled release of drugs. The stability of such drug/polymer ionic complexes can be greatly influenced by solution pH and ionic strength. The aim of the current work was to evaluate the potential ofγ-polyglutamic acid (γ-PGA) as a carrier for the anticancer drug, Doxorubicin (DOX). We investigated the formation of ionic complexes betweenγ-PGA and DOX using scanning electron microscopy, spectroscopy, thermal analysis, and X-ray diffraction. Our studies demonstrate that DOX specifically interacts withγ-PGA forming random colloidal aggregates and results in almost 100% complexation efficiency. In vitro drug release studies illustrated that these complexes were relatively stable at neutral pH but dissociates slowly under acidic pH environments, facilitating a pH-triggered release of DOX from the complex. Hydrolytic degradation ofγ-PGA and DOX/γ-PGA complex was also evaluated in physiological buffer. In conclusion, these studies clearly showed the feasibility ofγ-PGA to associate cationic drug such as DOX and that is may serve as a new drug carrier for the controlled release of DOX in malignant tissues.

No abstract

Sterility of cell culture media is an important concern in biotherapeutic processing. In large scale biotherapeutic production, a unit contamination of cell culture media can have costly effects. Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation is a sterilization method effective against bacteria and viruses while being non-thermal and non-adulterating in its mechanism of action. This makes UV irradiation attractive for use in sterilization of cell culture media. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of UV irradiation of cell culture media in terms of chemical composition and the ability to grow cell cultures in the treated media. The results showed that UV irradiation of commercial cell culture media at relevant disinfection doses impacted the chemical composition of the media with respect to several carboxylic acids, and to a minimal extent, amino acids. The cumulative effect of these changes, however, did not negatively influence the ability to culture Chinese Hamster Ovary cells, as evaluated by cell viability, growth rate, and protein titer measurements in simple batch growth compared with the same cells cultured in control media exposed to visible light.

Microbially produced gamma-polyglutamic acid (gamma-PGA) is a commercially important biopolymer with many applications in biopharmaceutical, food, cosmetic and waste-water treatment industries. Owing to its increasing demand in various industries, production of gamma-PGA is well documented in the literature, however very few methods have been reported for its recovery. In this paper, we report a novel method for the selective recovery and purification of gamma-PGA from cell-free fermentation broth of Bacillus licheniformis. The cell-free fermentation broth was treated with divalent copper ions, resulting in the precipitation of gamma-PGA, which was collected as a pellet by centrifugation. The pellet was resolubilized and dialyzed against de-ionized water to obtain the purified gamma-PGA biopolymer. The efficiency and selectivity of gamma-PGA recovery was compared with ethanol precipitation method. We found that 85% of the original gamma-PGA content in the broth was recovered by copper sulfate-induced precipitation, compared to 82% recovery by ethanol precipitation method. Since ethanol is a commonly used solvent for protein precipitation, the purity of gamma-PGA precipitate was analyzed by measuring proteins that co-precipitated with gamma-PGA. Of the total proteins present in the broth, 48% proteins were found to be co-precipitated with gamma-PGA by ethanol precipitation, whereas in copper sulfate-induced precipitation, only 3% of proteins were detected in the final purified gamma-PGA, suggesting that copper sulfate-induced precipitation offers better selectivity than ethanol precipitation method. Total metal content analysis of the purified gamma-PGA revealed the undetectable amount of copper ions, whereas other metal ions detected were in low concentration range. The purified gamma-PGA was characterized using infrared spectroscopy.