Nanomedicines for developing cancer nanotherapeutics: from benchtop to bedside and beyond

Abstract

Cancer is a devastating disease and remains a significant cause of mortality and morbidity in both developed and developing countries. Although there are large number of drugs that can be used for the treatment of cancer, the problem is selective and specific killing of cancerous cells without harming the normal cells. There are some biological barriers to potential drug delivery in cancer cells like hepatic, renal, abnormal vasculature, dense extracellular matrix, and high interstitial fluid pressure. The physicochemical characteristics of nanoparticles (NPs) such as size, shape, and surface charge may also have significant effects on tumor penetration. NPs coated with drug can be used to overcome these biological barriers to enhance targeted delivery. This literature survey encompasses the biological barriers to potential drug delivery in cancer cells, elaborate on designing strategies to enhance NPs penetration and distribution inside the tumor interstitium. Scientists are now doing great efforts to design next-generation of nanomedicines (NMs) that need to be better targeted with high specificity and efficacy to kill cancer cells. These challenges need to be overcome through collaborations among academia, pharmaceutical industries, and regulatory agencies to eradicate this global menace. Furthermore, this review article has critically discussed the recent developments, controversies, challenges, emerging concepts, and future perspectives in cancer NMs.

Metal Nanoclusters: New Paradigm in Catalysis for Water Splitting, Solar and Chemical Energy Conversion

“…This excellent protocol was developed for the sake of convenience because the directs ynthesis of [Ag 24 Au(SR) 18 ] À lead to am ixture of products. [151] The photoluminescence and stability of these clusters mimics that of Ag 25 and Ag 24 Pd. Such behavior delivers an ew vision for the development of single-atom-dopant clusters at atomic level.…”

“…[131] Hutchison and co-workersa lso successfully synthesized Au 11 NCs through the ligand exchange of larger phosphine-stabilized Au NCsb ys imply stirring them in the presence of excess organic-phase-solublet hiol ligands. [132] After the earlier reports of Au 102 ,A u 38 ,a nd Au 25 NCs with different geometry,i tw as thought that NCs with fcc geometry are not stable at this small size, but Au 36 (SPh-tBu) 24 with af cctype Au core could be successfully crystalized for the first time. [63] Zeng et al [133] studied the synthesis of Au 28 ,A u 36 ,A u 44 , and Au 52 NCs and their detailed electronic properties.…”

“…[152] Synthesis of Au 8 and Au 25 is the well-known example for the etchingp rocess. [153] The clusters were first protected using mercaptosuccinic acid( MSA) and then etchedt oA u 8 and Au 25 at different pH values using an excess concentration of GSH. Based on this early work, Jin andh is co-workersd eveloped a two-phase strategy for the synthesis of Au 38 .…”

“…[50] Au 25 /CoSe 2 was the best catalystf or OER, requiring ap otentialo f1 .406 vs. RHE to reach ac urrent density of 10 mA cm À2 .T his activity was 2.5 times higher at an overpotential (h)o f% 0.43 Vt han that of bare CoSe 2 (h % 0.45 V), 7.5 times highert han that of Pt/C (h % 1.57 V), and 20.7 times higher than that of Au 25 /C (h % 0.57 V). [50] The purpose of the study was to investigate the mechanism through which the Au NCs can effectively enhancet he OER activity of chalcogenides (Scheme 9): Initially,t he presenceo fA u 25 NCs on aC oSe 2 surface composite disfavors the adsorption of OH À during water oxidation (step A). However,t his step can be controlledb yi ncreasingt he concentration of base, which can increaset he chemicalp otential of OH À .I ns tep B, the formation of an adsorbed oxygen atom (O*) is more favorable at the Co-Auinterface compared to the Au 25 surfaceb ecause OH À has to coordinate with only two atoms, which is more stable at high concentrationst han in the presence of only Co (coordination number of one).…”

“…[23] Nanomaterials have triggered considerable interesti nt he last few decades, especially in energy conversion research.T he size-dependent properties of nanomaterials (particles ize 5-100 nm) such as surface-to-volumer atio, magnetic and electronic behavior,a nd SPR warrantt heir potentiala pplication in catalysis, drugd elivery and therapy, and environmental remediation. [24,25] Catalysis, the focus of this Review,r equires ag ood control of particles ize and surfaced efects of the catalytic materials;t his is mainly achieved by preparing materials at the sub-nanoscale ( 2nm).…”