Vankayala, Raviraj

Cisplatin (CDDP) is an FDA-approved chemotherapeutic drug used for treating various solid tumors. Despite of its effectiveness towards chemotherapy, it faces several challenges, such as multi-drug resistance (MDR) and significant damage to the normal tissues. To address these challenges, various nanoformulations were developed to improve the delivery and safety of CDDP. One of the limitation in these CDDP loaded nanoformulations is that the effective CDDP loading concentrations are very poor. Therefore, this leaves a grand challenge to develop an effective strategy to carry higher concentrations of CDDP molecules, and also simultaneously exhibit very unique properties. Herein, we have developed an one-pot synthesis of Cisplatin encapsulated Plasmonic blackbody (CiP), which offers a double play for near infrared (NIR) light activatable chemo-photothermal therapy in destructing cancer cells as well as mediate catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). The CiP nanoformulation exhibits superior light absorbing capabilities in the NIR region with an appreciable photothermal conversion efficiency of 41 %. Further, NIR light activatable combinatorial therapeutic approach of CiP was demonstrated against ovarian cancer cells and as a catalyst for the reduction of model pollutant 4-nitrophenol. Our findings highlight the potential of CiP as a versatile platform for light-activated combinatorial cancer therapy and environmental pollutant remediation.

Biofilms in water distribution systems are complex and tenacious populations of microbes surrounded by a protective matrix that may lead to significant water-borne diseases due to contamination and compromised quality of water. To tackle this issue, several small-molecule-based antimicrobials and engineered nanomaterials were developed that show much promise in combating biofilms. Herein, organic carbon dots (LC-CDs) were successfully synthesized from Lantana camara leaf extract, which is an invasive plant, using a one-pot hydrothermal method, requiring no chemical modifications. These LC-CDs were found to be less toxic and exhibited antibacterial and antibiofilm properties, indicating their potential use to combat biofilms. While natural carbon dots have been extensively studied for bioimaging, their antibiofilm activity has not been widely explored. Our study explores the antibacterial activity of naturally derived carbon dots through the generation of reactive oxygen species, thereby expanding the industrial prospects of this system as an antibacterial and antibiofilm agent. The LC-CDs may serve as antibacterial and antibiofilm agents to facilitate clean water production.

Aging, marked by dysregulated cellular systems, gives rise to a spectrum of age-related disorders, including neurodegeneration, atherosclerosis, immunosenescence, and musculoskeletal issues. These conditions contribute significantly to the global disease burden, posing challenges to health span and economic resources. Current therapeutic approaches, although diverse in mechanism, often fall short in targeting the underlying cellular pathologies. They fail to address the issues compounded by altered pharmacokinetics in the elderly. Nanotechnology emerges as a transformative solution, offering tissue-specific targeted therapies through nanoparticles. Functional nanomaterials (FNMs) respond to internal or external stimuli, with light-responsive nanomaterials gaining prominence. Harnessing the benefits of deep tissue penetration and ease of manipulation particularly in the near-infrared spectrum, light-responsive FNMs present innovative strategies for age-related comorbidities. This review comprehensively summarizes the potential of light-responsive FNM-based approaches for targeting cellular environments in age-related disorders, and also emphasizes the advantages over traditional treatment modalities. Specifically, it focuses on the development of various classes of light-responsive functional nanomaterials including plasmonic nanomaterials, nanomaterials as carriers, upconversion nanomaterials, 2D nanomaterials, transition metal oxide and dichalcogenide nanomaterials and carbon-based nanomaterials against age related diseases. We foresee that such advanced developments in the field of nanotechnology could provide a new hope for clinical diagnosis and treatment of age-related disorders.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most aggressive, incurable, and difficult-to-treat malignant brain tumor with very poor survival rates. The gold standard in treating GBMs includes neurosurgical resection of the tumor, followed by the chemotherapy and radiotherapy. However, these strategies remain ineffective in treating patients with GBMs, as tumor recurrence always occur in most cases. Therefore, it remains a grand challenge to develop an effective strategy to combat orthotopic glioblastoma with simultaneous imaging capabilities to monitor the therapeutic outcomes. To tackle this challenge, this study demonstrates, for the first time, that a tumor-specific europium hexaboride (EuB6)-based nanomedicine surface-modified with RGD-K peptide to target αvβ3 integrin receptors overexpressed on the glioblastoma cells. Further, EuB6@RGD-K NPs are able to exert theranostic capabilities to effectively diagnose and combat difficult-to-treat orthotopic glioblastoma tumors using NIR-II 1064 nm and NIR-III 1550 nm photodynamic therapy (NIR PDT) effects. In the in vivo experiments, the average half-life of 55 d for mice treated with EuB6@RGD-K NPs and exposed to NIR-III 1550 nm light irradiation is far higher than that of EuB6@RGD-K NPs exposed to NIR-II 1064 nm light irradiation (25 d), PBS-treated mice (20 d) and EuB6@RGD-K NPs-treated mice (no light irradiation, 18 d). To the best of our knowledge, this work represents the first example for destructing murine brain tumors via multi-functional tumor-specific europium hexaboride-based nanotheranostic agent to mediate MR imaging-guided NIR-II/-III photodynamic therapy.