In our present study we focus on two physical enhancement methods for transdermal drug delivery: ultrasound and electric pulses either alone or in combination. Great emphasis has been given on the design of the experimental system and protocols, so the results and the conclusions drawn from them would have greater relevance for in vivo use and later translation into clinical practice. Our resul...

The present study investigated the ability of carboplatin and paclitaxel to sensitize human non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells to carbon-ion beam irradiation. NSCLC H460 cells treated with carboplatin or paclitaxel were irradiated with X-rays or carbon-ion beams, and radiosensitivity was evaluated by clonogenic survival assay. Cell proliferation was determined by counting the number of vi...

Enhancement of solubility is one of the difficult tasks which become challenges in formulation development of orally administered drug with poor aqueous solubility. Poor water solubility of drugs often causes significant problems in producing formulations of sufficiently high bioavailability, preventing effective use of the drugs. 'Mixed-solvency ' concept is the phenomenon to increase the solu...

Abstract The rapid economic growth and environmental concerns have led to high demands on paper paper-based products in terms of variety, quantity, quality, specialty. Enhancement functionalization with additives are constantly required. Moving away from traditional petroleum-based additives, researchers attempted use “green” nanoadditives by introducing renewable environmentally friendly nanoc...

Recent studies suggest the possibility of a direct antiangiogenic effect of anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) drugs due to the presence of EGFR on endothelial cells. The aim of this study was to analyze the direct effect on endothelial cells of associating EGFR targeting, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-2 targeting, and irradiation. We examined both the cytotoxic ...

Besides the power of the chelicerae, synergistic interactions between different components in the venom of Cupiennius salei ensure the hunting success of this spider. The main components of the venom were tested alone or in combination according to their physiological venom concentrations in Drosophila bioassays. The high K+ ion content of the venom synergistically increases the insecticidal ac...

Temozolomide (TMZ), an alkylating agent, is recommended as the initial treatment for high-grade glioblastoma. TMZ is widely used, but its short half-life and the frequency of tumor resistance limit its therapeutic efficacy. In the present study, the anticancer effect of vitamin D (VD) combined with TMZ upon glioblastoma was determined, and the underlying mechanism of this effect was identified....

Developing a platform for in vitro cartilage formation would enhance the study of cartilage development, pathogenesis, and regeneration. To improve neocartilage formation, our group developed a novel self-assembly process for articular chondrocytes, which has been improved in this study using a novel combination of catabolic and anabolic agents. TGF-β1 was applied in conjunction with the enzyme...

Lipopolyplexes are of widespread interest for gene therapy due to their multifunctionality and high transfection efficiencies. Here we compared the biological and biophysical properties of a lipopolyplex formulation with its lipoplex and polyplex equivalents to assess the role of the lipid and peptide components in the formation and function of the lipopolyplex formulation. We show that peptide...

5-Fluorouracil (FU) is a halogenated nucleobase analog that is widely used in chemotherapy. Here we show that 5-hydroxymethyl-2'-deoxyuridine (hmUdR) synergistically enhances the activity of FU in cell lines derived from solid tumors but not normal tissues. While the cytotoxicity of FU and hmUdR was not directly related to the amount of the modified bases incorporated into cellular DNA, incubat...