Current Food and Drug Administration-approved cancer nanotherapeutics, which passively accumulate around leaky regions of the tumor vasculature because of an enhanced permeation and retention (EPR) effect, have provided only modest survival benefits. This suboptimal outcome is likely due to physiological barriers that hinder delivery of the nanotherapeutics throughout the tumor. Many of these n...

OBJECTIVE Cerium oxide (CeO2) nanoparticles have been shown to protect cells in culture from lethal stress, but no protection in vivo has been reported. Cardiac-specific expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 in mice causes ischemic cardiomyopathy associated with activation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of CeO2 nanoparticle...

This study reports that tumor-targeting glycol chitosan nanoparticles with physically loaded and chemically conjugated photosensitizers can be used in photodynamic therapy (PDT). First, the hydrophobic photosensitizer, chlorin e6 (Ce6), was physically loaded onto the hydrophobically-modified glycol chitosan nanoparticles (HGC), which were prepared by self-assembling amphiphilic glycol chitosan-...

The destruction of the neovessels in solid tumors can cause the death of tumor cells resulting from the lack of oxygen and nutrients. Peculiarities of the tumor vasculature, however, also position angiogenic endothelial cells as obvious targets to address cytotoxic drugs into the tumor. In particular, the identification of a three-amino acids sequence, arginine-glycine-aspartate (RGD), as a fun...

The remarkable health benefits of the chemical cocktails occluded within Vites vinefera (grapes) have been broadly used as dietary supplements and as natural pharmaceuticals in the treatment of various diseases including human cancer. Current discovery demonstrates the rapid formation of gold nanoparticles with the phytochemicals present in grapes, which serve a dual role as synergistic reducin...

Adviser: Srivatsan Kidambi Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles are one of the most highly manufactured nanomaterials in the world with applications in copious industrial and consumer products. The liver is a major accumulation site for many nanoparticles, including TiO2, directly through intentional ingestion or indirectly through increased environmental contamination and unintentional ingest...

Time-resolved quantitative colocalization analysis is a method based on confocal fluorescence microscopy allowing for a sophisticated characterization of nanomaterials with respect to their intracellular trafficking. This technique was applied to relate the internalization patterns of nanoparticles i.e. superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with distinct physicochemical characteristics wit...

Poly(γ-benzyl-L-glutamate) (PBLG) derivatives are synthetic polypeptides for preparing nanoparticles with well controlled surface properties. The aim of this paper was to investigate the biodistribution of pegylated PBLG in rats. For this purpose, nanoparticles were prepared by a nanoprecipitation method using mixtures of different PBLG derivates, including a pegylated derivate to avoid mononuc...

Interaction of nanoparticles with proteins is the basis of nanoparticle bio-reactivity. This interaction gives rise to the formation of a dynamic nanoparticle-protein corona. The protein corona may influence cellular uptake, inflammation, accumulation, degradation and clearance of the nanoparticles. Furthermore, the nanoparticle surface can induce conformational changes in adsorbed protein mole...