Cutting-edge progress and challenges in stimuli responsive hydrogel microenvironment for success in tissue engineering today.
The field of tissue engineering has numerous potential for modified therapeutic results and has been inspired by enhancements in bioengineering at the recent decades. The techniques of regenerating tissues and assembling functional paradigms that are responsible for repairing, maintaining, and revitalizing lost organs and tissues have affected the entire spectrum of health care studies. Strategies to combine bioactive molecules, biocompatible materials and cells are important for progressing the renewal of damaged tissues. Hydrogels have been utilized as one of the most popular cell substrate/carrier in tissue engineering since previous decades, respect to their potential to retain a 3D str…
Recent advancements in structural improvements of lateral flow assays towards point-of-care testing
Abstract Lateral flow assays (LFAs) provide some of the most attractive point-of-care instruments for broad applications with simple, rapid, user-friendly, and cost-effective characteristics. However, these technologies suffer from low sensitivity, the poor limit of detection, and just qualitative or semi-quantitative results that restrict their practical applications. Extensive research has been reported in this area involving sensitivity enhancement, multiplex analysis, the implementation for broad analytes, and development of novel electronic readers for quantitative analysis. This review presents recently reported works for the structural improvements of LFAs considering antibody immobi…
Biosensing of microcystins in water samples; recent advances
Safety and quality of water are significant matters for agriculture, animals and human health. Microcystins, as secondary metabolite of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) and cyclic heptapeptide cyanotoxin, are one of the main marine toxins in continental aquatic ecosystems. More than 100 microcystins have been identified, of which MC-LR is the most important type due to its high toxicity and common detection in the environment. Climate change is an impressive factor with effects on cyanobacterial blooms as source of microcystins. The presence of this cyanotoxin in freshwater, drinking water, water reservoir supplies and food (vegetable, fish and shellfish) has created a common phenomenon in …
Lateral flow assays towards point-of-care cancer detection: A review of current progress and future trends
Abstract Cancer is one of the main causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. However, its early non-invasive detection via quantification of appropriate biomarkers can significantly reduce mortality, enhance survival, and save treatment costs. Lateral flow test strips (LFTS) are nowadays considered as the most attractive point-of-care devices for healthcare applications. However, the quantification of cancer biomarkers in body fluids suffers from some challenges including i) the necessity for multiplex analysis, ii) the development of sensitive detection systems, iii) to overcome the analysis of complex samples, at the same time, it should keep the quality assurance criteria for an accur…
Carbon based nanomaterials for tissue engineering of bone: Building new bone on small black scaffolds: A review.
Graphical abstract
Nanomaterial-based biosensors for detection of pathogenic virus
Viruses are real menace to human safety that cause devastating viral disease. The high prevalence of these diseases is due to improper detecting tools. Therefore, there is a remarkable demand to identify viruses in a fast, selective and accurate way. Several biosensors have been designed and commercialized for detection of pathogenic viruses. However, they present many challenges. Nanotechnology overcomes these challenges and performs direct detection of molecular targets in real time. In this overview, studies concerning nanotechnology-based biosensors for pathogenic virus detection have been summarized, paying special attention to biosensors based on graphene oxide, silica, carbon nanotub…
COVID-19 Infection in Cancer Patients: How Can Oncologists Deal With These Patients?
The world is facing a new pandemic caused by a novel beta coronavirus (COVID 19), which causes severe respiratory coronavirus syndrome (SARS-CoV-2). Unfortunately, there are currently no US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved medications for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. High mortality rates in frail patients is a notable feature of the virus registered since the onset of COVID-19 pandemic. Above all, elderly patients or those with underlying chronic illnesses and compromised immune system are most at risk (1). Thus, the consideration is that the possible coexistence, in the same individual, of a cancer diagnosis and a COVID-19 infection could generate a synergistic negative p…
Molecular beacon strategies for sensing purpose
Abstract The improvement of nucleic acid probes as vital molecular engineering devices will cause a noteworthy contribution to developments in bioimaging, biosensing, and disorders diagnosis. The molecular beacon (MB) which was designed by Tyagi and Kramer in 1996, are loop-stem hairpin-designed oligonucleotides armed with a quencher and a dye (also named reporter groups) at the 3′ or 5′ ends. This construction allows that MBs in the absence of their target complementary molecules do not fluoresce. Through hybridization with their specific targets a spontaneous configuration change on MBs occur and the dye and quencher separate from each other, resulting in emitting the fluorescence. MBs ar…
Development of biosensors for detection of alpha-fetoprotein: As a major biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma
Abstract Alpha-fetoprotein as a multifunctional glycoprotein with a dual regulatory role in cancer and fetal activities is belonging to an albuminoid gene family. Due to important biological activities of alpha-fetoprotein in the adjustment of cancer, the level of this biomarker, majorly in liver carcinomas, abnormally is elevated. Also, the probability of high-risk or low-risk patients for chromosomal abnormalities can be identified by the serum level of alpha-fetoprotein. The detection of biomarkers possesses an important role in prognosis and early diagnosis of cancer and other diseases. So, the development of accurate and sensitive methods for measurement of alpha-fetoprotein is of grea…
Recent advances on portable sensing and biosensing assays applied for detection of main chemical and biological pollutant agents in water samples: A critical review
Abstract The quality analysis of water, pharmaceutical and environmental compounds is a basic subject for human health. The presence of low-quality drugs, biological toxins and chemical compounds in water or forbidden additives in the nourishments lead to irreversible problems in human health. Hence, multiple analytical approaches have been presented for investigating the quality of environmental, pharmaceutical, and food compounds and monitoring the detection of toxic compounds and pollutants in water. Sensing tools based on analytical strategies are required for identifying and quantifying the different pollutants including biological and chemical contaminants in water samples. Among diff…
Recent advances on nanomaterial based electrochemical and optical aptasensors for detection of cancer biomarkers
Abstract Cancer is a real menace to all societies globally since it is the leading cause of premature mortality in men and women. The incidence of malignancies is enhancing as a result of plenty factors. Physically and economically concerns that occur in cancers patients cannot be neglected. However, current diagnostic methods and cure duration do not fulfill patients requirements. Therefore, it is essential to detect and diagnose cancer biomarkers as soon as possible and overcome the current burdens. Novel aptasensors is emerging as one of the most promising strategies for early recognition of cancer. Aptamers an artificial DNA or RNA sequences, possess plenty of merits such as easy produc…
Recent advances on application of peptide nucleic acids as a bioreceptor in biosensors development
Abstract The analogs of DNA are unique biomedical tools that are broadly utilized to develop different types of biosensors. Peptide nucleic acids (PNA) are an individual and notable class of nucleic acid analogs due to their unique, novel physicochemical and biochemical characteristics, stability and resistance to nuclease and protease enzymes, significant interactions with complementary strands and remarkable hybridization attributes. Therefore, they are employed in the preparation and fabrication of various types of functional biosensors. In other words, immobilization of PNA as an appropriate diagnostic probe on the surface of electrochemical and optical converters lead to the fabricatio…
Lateral flow assays (LFA) as an alternative medical diagnosis method for detection of virus species: The intertwine of nanotechnology with sensing strategies
Viruses are responsible for multiple infections in humans that impose huge health burdens on individuals and populations worldwide. Therefore, numerous diagnostic methods and strategies have been developed for prevention, management, and decreasing the burden of viral diseases, each having its advantages and limitations. Viral infections are commonly detected using serological and nucleic acid-based methods. However, these conventional and clinical approaches have some limitations that can be resolved by implementing other detector devices. Therefore, the search for sensitive, selective, portable, and costless approaches as efficient alternative clinical methods for point of care testing (P…
Recent advances on HIV DNA vaccines development: Stepwise improvements to clinical trials.
According to WHO (World Health Organization) reports, more than 770,000 people died from HIV and almost 1.7 million people becoming newly infected in the worldwide in 2018. Therefore, many attempts should be done to produce a forceful vaccine to control the AIDS. DNA-based vaccines have been investigated for HIV vaccination by researches during the recent 20 years. The DNA vaccines are novel approach for induction of both type of immune responses (cellular and humoral) in the host cells and have many advantages including high stability, fast and easy of fabrication and absence of severe side effects when compared with other vaccination methods. Recent studies have been focused on vaccine de…
Recent progress in optical and electrochemical biosensors for sensing of Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin
Abstract Botulinum toxin is a neurotoxic protein which produced from Clostridium botulinum and related species and it block acetylcholine release from presynaptic nerve terminals at the neuromuscular junctions. This toxin is life threatening for millions of people and growing menace to society since causing human botulism. Enzymatic activity of Botulinum neurotoxin within the cell made it hazardous and lead to flaccid paralysis. However, there isn't any reliable and precise remedy for this toxin. Therefore, there is an urgent need for early detection of this toxin in a fast and meticulous way with a robust and cost-effective relationship for real-time monitoring of Botulinum neurotoxin. Sev…
IL-4 induces the formation of multinucleated giant cells and expression of ?5 integrin in central giant cell lesion
Background It is now well established that IL-4 has a central role in the development of monocytes to multinucleated giant cells (MGCs) by inducing the expression of integrins on the surface of monocytes. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential role of IL-4 in induction of β5 integrin expression in the peripheral blood samples of patients with giant cell granuloma. Material and Methods Monocytes were isolated from peripheral blood samples of patients with central giant cell granuloma (CGCG) and healthy controls using human Monocyte Isolation Kit II. Isolated monocytes were then cultured in the absence or presence of IL-4 (10 and 20 ng/mL), and following RNA extraction and cDN…
Carbon based nanomaterials for the detection of narrow therapeutic index pharmaceuticals
Precise detection of important pharmaceuticals with narrow therapeutic index (NTI) is very critical as there is a small window between their effective dose and the doses at which the adverse reactions are very likely to appear. Regarding the fact that various pharmacokinetics will be plausible while considering pharmacogenetic factors and also differences between generic and brand name drugs, accurate detection of NTI will be more important. Current routine analytical techniques suffer from many drawbacks while using novel biosensors can bring up many advantages including fast detection, accuracy, low cost with simple and repeatable measurements. Recently the well-known carbon Nano-allotrop…
Monitoring of microRNA using molecular beacons approaches: Recent advances
Abstract Micro ribose nucleic acid (miRNA) recognition is of remarkable significance in the investigation of its functions as well as diagnosis of various diseases. The significance of miRNA itself is owing to the complex regulatory roles in several physiological processes and its close association with important diseases such as cardiovascular problems, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and different kinds of cancers. On the other hand, there are numerous challenges to conquer in the recognition of miRNA, consisting of low abundance, varied concentration range, small size, prolonged extraction process from cells and sequence resemblances. Traditional approaches for miRNA recognition do not mee…
Advanced mechanotherapy: Biotensegrity for governing metastatic tumor cell fate via modulating the extracellular matrix.
Mechano-transduction is the procedure of mechanical stimulus translation via cells, among substrate shear flow, topography, and stiffness into a biochemical answer. TAZ and YAP are transcriptional coactivators which are recognized as relay proteins that promote mechano-transduction within the Hippo pathway. With regard to healthy cells in homeostasis, mechano-transduction regularly restricts proliferation, and TAZ and YAP are totally inactive. During cancer development a YAP/TAZ - stimulating positive response loop is formed between the growing tumor and the stiffening ECM. As tumor developments, local stromal and cancerous cells take advantage of mechanotransduction to enhance proliferatio…
Advances in detection of fastidious bacteria: From microscopic observation to molecular biosensors
Abstract Identification of pathogens and diagnosis of infections are important health challenges, especially in the case of fastidious bacteria which are those difficult-to-grow. A fastidious organism is any organism that has a complex nutritional requirement. Additionally, a fastidious microorganism will only grow when specific nutrients are included in the culture medium. These bacteria can cause serious diseases whose detection and monitoring is critical in many cases. The oldest detection methods are based on simple microscopy observation and staining, after culture on selective growth media, but often do not provide a clear answer. Some new molecular approaches, such as DNA-based seque…
Evaluation of Flavonoid Derivative and Doxorubicin Effects in Lung Cancer Cells (A549) Using Differential Pulse Voltammetry Method.
Purpose: Electrochemical measurements have prompted the progress as a consequence of their affectability, cost-affectivity and comparatively short examination time. The aim of this study was the fast evaluation of the effect of chemotherapy compounds on the viability of lung cancer cells (A549) via electrochemical methods. Methods: Cyclic voltammetry (CV) was used as a primary method to distinguish between electrochemical behavior of normal and lung cancer cells. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) was employed as a complementary analyses method for the impact of doxorubicin (DOX) and Flavonoid modified drug (FMD) (US patent Application number: 62548886) on Lung cancer cells. Results: Only…
Recent advances on aptamer-based biosensors to detection of platelet-derived growth factor.
Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF-BB), a significant serum cytokine, is an important protein biomarker in diagnosis and recognition of cancer, which straightly rolled in proceeding of various cell transformations, including tumor growth and its development. Fibrosis, atherosclerosis are certain appalling diseases, which PDGF-BB is near to them. Generally, the expression amount of PDGF-BB increases in human life-threatening tumors serving as an indicator for tumor angiogenesis. Thus, identification and quantification of PDGF-BB in biomedical fields are particularly important. Affinity chromatography, immunohistochemical methods and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), conventional m…
Recent advances on development of portable biosensors for monitoring of biological contaminants in foods
Abstract Background There is a demand for easy, rapid and affordable analysis of biological contaminants in foods to guarantee their safety and quality. Most analysis of food contaminants is commonly performed in a limited number of samples in centralized laboratories by an expert technician. Therefore, developing of alternative techniques such as portable biosensors is of great significance. Scope and approach This review aims to discuss the recent advances in designing and applying of portable biosensors for the detection of biological food contaminants including bacteria, fungi and the related toxins. Also, the review deals briefly the basic knowledge of various portable biosensors which…
Recent advances on thermosensitive and pH-sensitive liposomes employed in controlled release
Nanotechnology has recently gained lots of interest in drug delivery due to its potential to improve the therapeutic outcomes of various diseases. Particularly, a wide range of different nano-sized vesicles has been investigated for drug delivery. Among them, one of the most attractive and well-investigated nanocarriers are liposomes. Although liposomes have several advantages such as low toxicity, biodegradability and biocompatibility as well as accumulate in tumor site via enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect, inefficient drug delivery to the target cells could affect the therapeutic purpose of most of conventional liposomal formulations. Therefore, new systems of drug release…
Recent trends in rapid detection of influenza infections by bio and nanobiosensor
Abstract A literature update has been made about the progress and improvements in the use of biosensors for sensitive, rapid and specific detection of influenza virus. Background information about influenza virus and its structure together with a general discussion about the characteristics and significant aspects of different types of biosensors were used as a frame to put inside the main recent developments on the use of nanobiosensors for the detection of influenza virus. Working criteria of biosensors and their applications in different species of influenza virus diagnosis have been the primary concern of this review, which critically discusses the main advantages and limitations of stu…
Regulatory Functions of MicroRNAs in Cancer Pathogenesis
Abstract- MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a large family of evolutionary conserved small non-coding RNA molecules that firstly discovered in 1993. They regulate gene expression of about 50% of protein-coding genes at the post-transcriptional level. MiRNAs can target numerous messenger RNAs and subsequent misexpression of them can affect many different signaling pathways. They are playing a pivotal role in cancer development by regulation of the genes expression which involved in the proliferation, survival, differentiation, apoptosis or metastasis of the cancer cells. Several treatment approaches such as inhibition of oncomiRs and restoration of tumor suppressor miRNAs have been established in certa…
Sodium metabisulfite as a cytotoxic food additive induces apoptosis in HFFF2 cells
Sodium metabisulfite (SMB), an antioxidant agent, is extensively used as a preservative in food industry. The current study was aimed to clarify its potential toxic effects on human fetal foreskin fibroblasts (HFFF2) cells, in vitro. Subsequently, MTT results illustrated that exposure to SMB significantly (p 0.0001) decreased HFFF2 cell viability in a dose-dependent manner, and the concentration of 25 μM reduced cell survival rates to 50% as the half-maximal inhibitory concentration of SMB. It was further shown that SMB exerted this cytotoxic effect on HFFF2 cells through apoptosis induction. qRT-PCR and western blotting results showed that treatment of HFFF2 cells with this food additive …