0000000000583101
AUTHOR
Sven Kurch
Fluorescein- and EGFR-Antibody Conjugated Silica Nanoparticles for Enhancement of Real-time Tumor Border Definition Using Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck
Intraoperative definition of tumor free resection margins in head and neck cancer is challenging. In the current proof-of-principle study we evaluated a novel silica nanoparticle-based agent for its potential use as contrast enhancer. We synthesized silica nanoparticles with an average size of 45 nm and modified these particles with the fluorescence stain fluorescein isocyanate (FITC) for particle detection and with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeting antibodies for enhanced tumor specificity. The nanoparticles exhibited good biocompatibility and could be detected in vitro and in vivo by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Additionally, we show in an ex vivo setting that these…
Bio-nano: Theranostic at Cellular Level
Functionalized nanoparticles are important platforms for targeted drug delivery and multimodal imaging. Materials scientists provide tailor-made tools for medical research, diagnosis and treatment. These tools are rationally designed to have defined functions. Still, the value of these tools can only be determined by the users in medical sciences that develop assays for applying these tools. Until now, little is known about the impact of multifunctional particles that display intrinsic chemical and physical asymmetry which poses new challenges for cells associated with the amphiphilicity, dipole moments and chemical diversity/patchiness of the functionalized nanoparticles. Why is it importa…
Dendritic Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for pH-Stimuli-Responsive Drug Delivery of TNF-Alpha
Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) is a pleiotropic immune stimulatory cytokine and natural endotoxin that can induce necrosis and regression in solid tumors. However, systemic administration of TNF-α is not feasible due to its short half-life and acute toxicity, preventing its widespread use in cancer treatment. Dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (DMSN) are used coated with a pH-responsive block copolymer gate system combining charged hyperbranched polyethylenimine and nonionic hydrophilic polyethylenglycol to encapsulate TNF-α and deliver it into various cancer cell lines and dendritic cells. Half-maximal effective concentration (EC50 ) for loaded TNF-α is reduced by more than two…
Processing and adjusting the hydrophilicity of poly(oxymethylene) (co)polymers: nanoparticle preparation and film formation
Handling the insoluble POM: the preparation of nanoparticles based on hyperbranched-linear-hyperbranched ABA triblock copolymers with variable hydrophilicity and composed of short hyperbranched polyglycerol (hbPG) as the A-blocks and linear poly(oxymethylene) (POM) as a B-block is described. The POM-hbPG-nanoparticles with diameters in the range of 190 to 250 nm were generated in a convenient process, combining the solvent evaporation process with the miniemulsion technique, a water borne handling for POM-copolymers. Furthermore, the film formation properties of the nanoparticles were investigated by deposition on silicon and subsequent sintering, which leads to films with a thickness in th…