In vitro and in vivo assessment of safety and efficacy are the essential first steps in developing nanoparticle-based therapeutic systems. However, it is often challenging to use the knowledge gained from in vitro studies to predict the outcome of in vivo studies since the complexity of the in vivo environment, including the existence of flow and a multicellular environment, is often lacking in...

Glioma, as a primary tumor of central nervous system, is the main cause of death in patients with brain cancer. Therefore, development of an efficient strategy for treatment of glioma is worthy. The aim of the current study was to develop a SRL peptide-coated dendrimer as a novel dual gene delivery system for targeting the LRP receptor, an up-regulated gene in both BBB and glioma cells. To perf...

Since nanocarriers such as liposomes are known to accumulate in tumors of tumor-bearing animals, and those that have entrapped a positron emitter can be used to image a tumor by PET, we applied (18)F-labeled 100-nm-sized liposomes for the imaging of brain tumors. Polyethylene glycol (PEG)-modified liposomes, which are known to accumulate in tumors by passive targeting and those modified with Al...

Synthetically designed anionic nanocarriers that mimic the charge properties of glycosaminoglycans can potentially sequester low-density lipoproteins (LDL) during the treatment of atherosclerosis. In this study, we explore the LDL retentivity of 15-20 nm anionic micelles formed from amphiphilic scorpion-like macromolecules (AScMs) as building blocks. The macromolecules comprise four aliphatic c...

Nanocarrier-delivered dsRNA can be a promising environmentally friendly pest management solution.

We have established a tumour marker activated nanocarrier that can respond to the intracellular mRNA, allowing multimodal cancer cell imaging and therapy.

Flavonoids are polyphenolic secondary metabolites that serve a variety of purposes, from assisting pollination in plants to providing anti-cancerous activity in humans. It is the wide range of functions that give these molecules the highly revered status they have today. Range in function can be linked with the range in structure, and with over 10,000 different flavonoids known, they make up on...

BACKGROUND Unique properties exhibited by nanoparticles makes them great candidates for applications in physics, chemistry, biology, material science and medicine. The biological applications of water-soluble gold nanoparticles range from contrast agents, delivery vehicles to therapeutics. Notch signaling is a complex network that orchestrates cell fate decisions, which involves proliferation, ...

Cabozantinib, a potent pan-tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has been reported to provide enhanced antitumor efficacy by simultaneously inhibiting both MET and VEGF pathways, which are critical to tumor angiogenesis, survival and migration. It's very poor water solubility prevents its administration by the intravenous route, which may be important in patients unable to take the drug orally. In this st...

Flavonoids are polyphenolic plant secondary metabolites with many purposes, including providing pigmentation in plants and anti-oxidant and anti-cancerous activities in humans. There are over 10,000 different flavonoids known, making them one of the largest groups of natural products. One major sub-class of flavonoids is the flavan-3-ols, which are known for their health benefits and the abilit...