Research related to the development and application of luminescent nanoparticles (LNPs) for chemical and biological analysis and imaging is flourishing. Novel materials and new applications continue to be reported after two decades of research. This review provides a comprehensive and heuristic overview of this field. It is targeted to both newcomers and experts who are interested in a critical assessment of LNP materials, their properties, strengths and weaknesses, and prospective applications. Numerous LNP materials are cataloged by fundamental descriptions of their chemical identities and physical morphology, quantitative photoluminescence (PL) properties, PL mechanisms, and surface chemistry. These materials include various semiconductor quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, graphene derivatives, carbon dots, nanodiamonds, luminescent metal nanoclusters, lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles and downshifting nanoparticles, triplet-triplet annihilation nanoparticles, persistent-luminescence nanoparticles, conjugated polymer nanoparticles and semiconducting polymer dots, multi-nanoparticle assemblies, and doped and labeled nanoparticles, including but not limited to those based on polymers and silica. As an exercise in the critical assessment of LNP properties, these materials are ranked by several application-related functional criteria. Additional sections highlight recent examples of advances in chemical and biological analysis, point-of-care diagnostics, and cellular, tissue, and in vivo imaging and theranostics. These examples are drawn from the recent literature and organized by both LNP material and the particular properties that are leveraged to an advantage. Finally, a perspective on what comes next for the field is offered.

Photoluminescent Nanoparticles for Chemical and Biological Analysis and Imaging

Advances in technology of the past decades led to development of new nanometer scale diagnosis and treatment approaches in cancer medicine leading to establishment of nanooncology. Inorganic and organic nanomaterials have been shown to improve bioimaging techniques and targeted drug delivery systems. Their favorable physico-chemical characteristics, like small sizes, large surface area compared to volume, specific structural characteristics, and possibility to attach different molecules on their surface transform them into excellent transport vehicles able to cross cell and/or tissue barriers, including the blood–brain barrier. The latter is one of the greatest challenges in diagnosis and treatment of brain cancers. Application of nanomaterials can prolong the circulation time of the drugs and contrasting agents in the brain, posing an excellent opportunity for advancing the treatment of the most aggressive form of the brain cancer—glioblastomas. However, possible unwanted side-effects and toxicity issues must be considered before final clinical translation of nanoparticles.

https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/12/10/1588/pdf

Nanotechnology Meets Oncology: Nanomaterials in Brain Cancer Research, Diagnosis and Therapy.

Classical swine fever virus: the past, present and future

Liposomes are nano-sized spherical vesicles composed of an aqueous core surrounded by one (or more) phospholipid bilayer shells. Owing to their high biocompatibility, chemical composition variability, and ease of preparation, as well as their large variety of structural properties, liposomes have been employed in a large variety of nanomedicine and biomedical applications, including nanocarriers for drug delivery, in nutraceutical fields, for immunoassays, clinical diagnostics, tissue engineering, and theranostics formulations. Particularly important is the role of liposomes in drug-delivery applications, as they improve the performance of the encapsulated drugs, reducing side effects and toxicity by enhancing its in vitro- and in vivo-controlled delivery and activity. These applications stimulated a great effort for the scale-up of the formation processes in view of suitable industrial development. Despite the improvements of conventional approaches and the development of novel routes of liposome preparation, their intrinsic sensitivity to mechanical and chemical actions is responsible for some critical issues connected with a limited colloidal stability and reduced entrapment efficiency of cargo molecules. This article analyzes the main features of the formation and fabrication techniques of liposome nanocarriers, with a special focus on the structure, parameters, and the critical factors that influence the development of a suitable and stable formulation. Recent developments and new methods for liposome preparation are also discussed, with the objective of updating the reader and providing future directions for research and development.

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Methods of Liposomes Preparation: Formation and Control Factors of Versatile Nanocarriers for Biomedical and Nanomedicine Application

Although photodynamic therapy (PDT) has promising advantages in almost non-invasion, low drug resistance, and low dark toxicity, it still suffers from limitations in the lipophilic nature of most photosensitizers (PSs), short half-life of PS in plasma, poor tissue penetration, and low tumor specificity. To overcome these limitations and enhance PDT, liposomes, as excellent multi-functional nano-carriers for drug delivery, have been extensively studied in multi-functional theranostics, including liposomal PS, targeted drug delivery, controllable drug release, image-guided therapy, and combined therapy. This review provides researchers with a useful reference in liposome-based drug delivery.

Multi-Functional Liposome: A Powerful Theranostic Nano-Platform Enhancing Photodynamic Therapy

Molecular imaging is very important in disease diagnosis and prognosis. Liposomes are excellent carriers for different types of molecular imaging probes. In this work, we summarize current developments in liposome-based probes used for molecular imaging and their applications in image-guided drug delivery and tumour surgery, including computed tomography (CT), ultrasound imaging (USI), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), fluorescence imaging (FLI) and photoacoustic imaging (PAI). We also summarized liposome-based multimodal imaging probes and new targeting strategies for liposomes. This work will offer guidance for the design of liposome-based imaging probes for future clinical applications.

Liposome-based probes for molecular imaging: from basic research to the bedside

Caveolin-1-mediated endocytic pathway is involved in classical swine fever virus Shimen infection of porcine alveolar macrophages.

Development of functionalized gold nanoparticles as nanoflare probes for rapid detection of classical swine fever virus.

Classical swine fever (CSF) is a disease that is characterized by diffuse hemorrhaging, high fever, and high mortality rates. The pro-inflammatory characteristics of allograft inflammatory factor 1 (AIF1) have been well documented; however, insufficient attention has been given to porcine AIF1. In the present study, AIF1 was identified as a key player contributing to CSFV Shimen infection in porcine alveolar macrophage (PAM) 3D4/21 cell line. Our evaluation showed that AIF1 mRNA and protein are expressed at a time-dependent high level in CSFV Shimen-infected PAM 3D4/21 cells. The transcription and translation of IL6 were also significantly upregulated in infected PAM 3D4/21 cells. By utilizing overexpression RNAs approach, we showed that the cellular AIF1 induced an increased IL6 in PAM 3D4/21 cells. Furthermore, silencing of AIF1 suppressed CSFV Shimen-induced IL6 production in PAM 3D4/21 cells and also inhibited CSFV replication, whereas overexpression of recombinant AIF1 was beneficial for the replication of CSFV Shimen and promoting IL6 production in CSFV Shimen-infected PAM 3D4/21 cells. It is suggested CSFV Shimen induced IL6 in PAM 3D4/21 cells via AIF1 activation, which help clarify the AIF1-related inflammatory processes that occur on CSFV Shimen infected macrophages.

Xianghan Zhang

Papers

Liposome-based probes for molecular imaging: from basic research to the bedside

Caveolin-1-mediated endocytic pathway is involved in classical swine fever virus Shimen infection of porcine alveolar macrophages.

Development of functionalized gold nanoparticles as nanoflare probes for rapid detection of classical swine fever virus.

AIF1 was identified as an up-regulated gene contributing to CSFV Shimen infection in porcine alveolar macrophage 3D4/21 cells.