Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 25, Issue 17, 2019

Articular cartilage is a connective tissue structure that is found in anatomical areas that are important for the movement of the human body. Osteoarthritis is the ailment that most often affects the articular cartilage. Due to its poor intrinsic healing capacity, damage to the articular cartilage is highly detrimental and at present the reconstructive options for its repair are limited. Tissue engineering and the science of Read More

Lysosomal Storage Disorders (LSDs), also known as lysosomal diseases (LDs) are a group of serious genetic diseases characterized by not only the accumulation of non-catabolized compounds in the lysosomes due to the deficiency of specific enzymes which usually eliminate these compounds, but also by trafficking, calcium changes and acidification. LDs mainly affect the central nervous system (CNS), which is difficult to reach f Read More

Macrophages play a role in almost every disease such as cancer, infections, injuries, metabolic and inflammatory diseases and are becoming an attractive therapeutic target. However, understanding macrophage diversity, tissue distribution and plasticity will help in defining precise targeting strategies and effective therapies. Active targeting of macrophages using nanoparticles for therapeutic purposes is still at its infancy but Read More

Background: Tumours are no longer regarded as isolated masses of aberrantly proliferating epithelial cells. Rather, their properties depend on complex interactions between epithelial cancer cells and the surrounding stromal compartment within the tumour microenvironment. In particular, leukocyte infiltration plays a role in controlling tumour development and is now considered one of the hallmarks of cancer. Thus, in the l Read More

Increasing evidence has suggested that extracellular vesicles (EV) mediated bidirectional transfer of functional molecules (such as proteins, different types of RNA, and lipids) between cancer cells and tumor stromal cells (immune cells, endothelial cells, fibroblasts, stem cells) and strongly contributed to the reinforcement of cancer progression. Thus, intercellular EV-mediated signaling in tumor microenvironment (TME) is e Read More

The combination of magnetism and upconversion luminescent property into one single nanostructure is fascinating for biological fields, such as multimodal bioimaging, targeted drug delivery, and imaging-guided therapy. In this review, we will provide the state-of-the-art advances on magnetic upconversion nanocomposites towards their bioapplications. Their structure design, synthesis methods, surface engineering a Read More