Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology - Volume 14, Issue 13, 2013

Artificial skeletal muscle tissues composed of cells are expected to be used for applications of regenerative medicine and drug screening. Generally, however, the physical forces generated by tissue-engineered skeletal muscle are lower than those of skeletal muscle tissues found in the body. Local hyperthermia is used for many diseases including muscle injuries. It was recently reported that mild heat treatment improve Read More

A 46-year-old female underwent surgery for cancer of the right breast mammary (T3N2M0) in Sep 2010. Following post surgery, adjuvant chemotherapy of CAF regimens (cyclophosphamide+adriamycin+fluorouracil) was administered. Two years later, multiple pulmonary and skeletal metastatic lesions had been found by CT (computerized tomography) and ECT (emission computed tomograph) imaging. She received t Read More

Treatments of obesity and type II diabetes target often gene functions involved in appetite-satiety, fat and carbohydrate metabolism or thermogenesis. None of these, have provided efficient drug therapy due to a large number of genes involved in weight and energy management, the redundancy of biochemical pathways and the environmental factors. Here I discuss a new approach based on studies of genes/prote Read More

Malignant glioma is a primary tumor of the central nervous system, representing a major cause of mortality in a young, productive subset of population. The management of this neoplasm requires aggressive treatments, including radiotherapy. Accurate imaging plays a central role in treatment planning process with curative intent based on radiation therapy. In order to maximize the radiation dose to the tumor and to Read More

Objective: A multifunctional tumor-targeting drug delivery system employing single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) as drug carriers, AS1411 as targeting ligand and doxorubicine (DOX) as a model chemotherapy drug was constructed. Methods: Firstly, SWCNT were modified with F68 (4.0 mg/ml) by ultrasonic dispersing technology due to the action of hydrophobic force and Van der Waals force, endowing SWCNT water dis Read More

Targeted nanoparticulated drug delivery systems have gained much attention owing to their potential in elevating anti-tumor effect and decreasing drug-originated side effects. In this contribution, a kind of dual glioma targeting delivery system was developed through co-modification nanoparticles with interlukin-13 peptide (IL-13p) and RGD peptide (IRNPs), in which IL-13p could target to IL13Rα2 on tumor cells and RG Read More

Fluorescent nanodiamonds (FNDs) are one of the new and very promising biocompatible nanomaterials that can be used both as a fluorescence imaging agent and a highly versatile platform for controlled functionalization to target and deliver a wide spectrum of therapeutic agents. Among the remarkable fluorescence properties are excellent photostability, emission between 600-700nm, quantum yield of 1 and moderately l Read More

In our previous paper we showed that the MMP-9 enzyme recognizes a specific peptide sequence, Lys-Gly- Pro-Arg-Ser-Leu-Ser-Gly-Lys, and cleaves the peptide into two parts [1]. In this study, the peptide is labeled with two dyes, carboxyfluorescein (5-FAM) and Cy5. A highly efficient energy transfer of over 80% results in a dominant emission of Cy5 at ~670 nm with an excitation of 470 nm. Severance of the peptide b Read More

Although BSA Au clusters fluoresce in red region (λmax: 650nm), they are of limited use due to low fluorescence quantum yield (~6%). Here we report an enhanced fluorescence imaging application of fluorescent bio-nano probe BSA Au clusters using multipulse excitation scheme. Multipulse excitation takes advantage of long fluorescence lifetime (> 1μs) of BSA Au clusters and enhances its fluorescence intensity 15 times ove Read More

Background: Prostate cancer is one of the leading malignant tumors in men. Current therapies are associated with severe side effects making it problematic for many multi-morbid patients to receive treatment. Prostate specific antigen, serum response factor (SRF), signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3), hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), HIF-2α, E2F1 and Survivin are well known proteins being overe Read More