Nanotheranostics ˗ Application and Further Development of Nanomedicine Strategies for Advanced Theranostics
Madaswamy S. Muthu, David Tai Leong, Lin Mei, Si‐Shen Feng · 2014 · 602 citationsRead the paper
Nanotheranostics is to apply and further develop nanomedicine strategies for advanced theranostics. This review summarizes the various nanocarriers developed so far in the literature for nanotheranostics, which include polymer conjugations, dendrimers, micelles, liposomes, metal and inorganic nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, and nanoparticles of biodegradable polymers for sustained, controlled and targeted co-delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic agents for better theranostic effects with fewer side effects. The theranostic nanomedicine can achieve systemic circulation, evade host defenses and deliver the drug and diagnostic agents at the targeted site to diagnose and treat the disease at cellular and molecular level. The therapeutic and diagnostic agents are formulated in nanomedicine as a single theranostic platform, which can then be further conjugated to biological ligand for targeting. Nanotheranostics can also promote stimuli-responsive release, synergetic and combinatory therapy, siRNA co-delivery, multimodality therapies, oral delivery, delivery across the blood-brain barrier as well as escape from intracellular autophagy. The fruition of nanotheranostics will be able to provide personalized therapy with bright prognosis, which makes even the fatal diseases curable or at least treatable at the earliest stage.
What the full text shows
Shown in the lab- Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) achieved complete tumor destruction via photothermal therapy with high efficiency at significantly lower doses and irradiation powers than controls. — 100% tumor destruction (Intravenously injected SWCNTs (~140 nm) in mice; 808 nm irradiation)
- Targeted multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) showed significantly higher tumor accumulation compared to free or non-targeted versions. — 19.14 and 8.62 times higher accumulation (Folate-targeted MWCNTs in xenografted mice after 24 h)
- PLA-TPGS nanoparticles significantly extended the effective chemotherapy duration compared to the commercial drug Taxotere®. — 360 h vs. 22 h (Intravenous administration of docetaxel loaded PLA-TPGS)
- Combination of PLGA nanoparticles with autophagy inhibitors (3-methyladenine or chloroquine) increased the effectiveness of docetaxel delivery. — 5.7 to 8.0 fold more effective (24 h treatment; 10 mM 3-methyladenine or 30 mM chloroquine)
- Combination of PLGA nanoparticles with autophagy inhibitors reduced xenograft tumor volume compared to nanoparticles alone. — ~50% reduction in volume (SCID mice after 20 day treatment)
- Targeted HPMA drug-polymer conjugates improved the pharmacokinetics of Cu-64 in tumors. — 1 fold improvement (RGD-targeted poly(HPMA) in human prostate cancer xenografts)
- Setup
- Pre-clinical studies involving in vitro cell lines (e.g., A549, MCF-7, NIH-3T3) and in vivo mouse models (nude mice, SCID mice) with various nanocarrier sizes (typically 10-400 nm).
- How
- The paper reviews various nanocarrier platforms (polymers, dendrimers, liposomes, carbon nanomaterials) for co-delivering diagnostic and therapeutic agents. It analyzes specific studies using techniques like PET, NIR imaging, and xenograft mouse models to evaluate targeting and efficacy.
- Limitations
- Most reported results are limited to in vitro studies with little in vivo evaluation. · Potential toxicity of carbon nanotubes (oxidative stress, inflammation in lungs/liver). · Safety concerns regarding heavy metal-based quantum dots for human use. · Liposomes suffer from low drug loading efficiency and poor stability.
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