Fabrication, evaluation and applications of dissolving microneedles.

Noble metal nanoparticles have been sought after in cancer nanomedicine during the past two decades, owing to the unique localized surface plasmon resonance that induces strong absorption and scattering properties of the nanoparticles. A popular application of noble metal nanoparticles is photothermal therapy, which destroys cancer cells by heat generated by laser irradiation of the nanoparticles. Gold nanorods have stood out as one of the major types of noble metal nanoparticles for photothermal therapy due to the facile tuning of their optical properties in the tissue penetrative near infrared region, strong photothermal conversion efficiency, and long blood circulation half-life after surface modification with stealthy polymers. In this review, we will summarize the optical properties of gold nanorods and their applications in photothermal therapy. We will also discuss the recent strategies to improve gold nanorod-assisted photothermal therapy through combination with chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy.

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Gold Nanorod-Assisted Photothermal Therapy and Improvement Strategies

http://manuscript.elsevier.com/S0163725822000717/pdf/S0163725822000717.pdf

Anti-cancer activity of sustained release capsaicin formulations.

Research progress of microneedles in the treatment of melanoma.

Remote triggering of contents release with micron spatial and sub-second temporal resolution has been a long-time goal of medical and technical applications of liposomes. Liposomes can sequester a variety of bioactive water-soluble ions, ligands and enzymes, and oligonucleotides. The bilayer that separates the liposome interior from the exterior solution provides a physical barrier to contents release and degradation. Tethering plasmon-resonant, hollow gold nanoshells to the liposomes, or growing gold nanoparticles directly on the liposome exterior, allows liposome contents to be released by nanosecond or shorter pulses of near-infrared light (NIR). Gold nanoshells or nanoparticles strongly adsorb NIR light; cells, tissues, and physiological media are transparent to NIR, allowing penetration depths of millimeters to centimeters. Nano to picosecond pulses of NIR light rapidly heat the gold nanoshells, inducing the formation of vapor nanobubbles, similar to cavitation bubbles. The collapse of the nanobubbles generates mechanical forces that rupture bilayer membranes to rapidly release liposome contents at the preferred location and time. Here, we review the syntheses, characterization, and applications of liposomes coupled to plasmon-resonant gold nanostructures for delivering a variety of biologically important contents in vitro and in vivo with sub-micron spatial control and sub-second temporal control.

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Liposome-Tethered Gold Nanoparticles Triggered by Pulsed NIR Light for Rapid Liposome Contents Release and Endosome Escape

Development of gold nanorods for cancer treatment.

Application and prospect of antimonene: A new two-dimensional nanomaterial in cancer theranostics

As a painless and minimally invasive method of self-administration, microneedle is very promising to replace subcutaneous injection of insulin for type I diabetes treatment. Since the introduction of microneedles, many scholars have paid attention to and studied this technology, which has made it developed rapidly. However, there is no product on the market or in clinical trials at present. The reason is that there are still many technical problems in microneedle drug delivery system, such as the perfect integration of stable, controllable, fast, long-lasting, safe, and other necessary conditions. Here, we review the achievements that researchers have made that contain one or more of the above factors, and put some ideas to solve the limitations of insulin delivery by microneedles for reference.

Design and development of insulin microneedles for diabetes treatment.

Nanobubbles for tumors: Imaging and drug carriers

In recent years, nanomedicines have shown tremendous progress in their targeted delivery systems and effective anticancer functions. The targeting, solubility, chemical stability, and degradability of nanocarriers make them widely used. The tumor microenvironment is different from that of normal cells. According to the response characteristics of pH, reducibility, hypoxia, reactive oxygen species, and enzymes, a series of tumor microenvironment stimulation–responsive nanocarrier delivery platforms were constructed.

Naijun Dong

Papers

Development of gold nanorods for cancer treatment.

Application and prospect of antimonene: A new two-dimensional nanomaterial in cancer theranostics

Design and development of insulin microneedles for diabetes treatment.

Nanobubbles for tumors: Imaging and drug carriers

Research progress of response strategies based on tumor microenvironment in drug delivery systems