Jinxin Liu

Dynamically PEGylated and Borate-Coordination-Polymer-Coated Polydopamine Nanoparticles for Synergetic Tumor-Targeted, Chemo-Photothermal Combination Therapy

Multifunctional nanomaterials with efficient tumor-targeting and high antitumor activity are highly anticipated in the field of cancer therapy. In this work, a synergetic tumor-targeted, chemo-photothermal combined therapeutic nanoplatform based on a dynamically PEGylated, borate-coordination-polymer-coated polydopamine nanoparticle (PDA@CP-PEG) is developed. PEGylation on the multifunctional nanoparticles is dynamically achieved via the reversible covalent interaction between the surface phenylboronic acid (PBA) group and a catechol-containing poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) molecule. Due to the acid-labile PBA/catechol complex and the weak-acid-stable PBA/sialic acid (SA) complex, the nanoparticles can exhibit a synergetic targeting property for the SA-overexpressed tumor cells, i.e., the PEG-caused passive targeting and PBA-triggered active targeting under the weakly acidic tumor microenvironment. In addition, the photothermal effect of the polydopamine core and the doxorubicin-loading capacity of the porous coordination polymer layer endow the nanoparticles with the potential for chemo-photothermal combination therapy. As expected, the in vitro and in vivo studies both verify that the multifunctional nanoparticles possess relatively lower systematic toxicity, efficient tumor targeting ability, and excellent chemo-photothermal activity for tumor inhibition. It is believed that these multifunctional nanoparticles with synergetic tumor targeting property and combined therapeutic strategies would provide an insight into the design of a high-efficiency antitumor nanoplatform for potential clinical applications.

Efficient capture, rapid killing and ultrasensitive detection of bacteria by a nano-decorated multi-functional electrode sensor

In this work, we demonstrated a nano-decorated porous impedance electrode sensor for efficient capture, rapid killing and ultrasensitive detection of bacteria. The multi-functional sensor was prepared by a facile sonochemical method via in situ deposition of antibacterial prickly Zn-CuO nanoparticles and graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets on a Ni porous electrode. Due to the surface burr-like nanostructures, the nano-decorated impedance sensor exhibited very good bacterial-capture efficiency (70 - 80% in 20min) even at a low concentration of 50 CFU mL-1, rapid antibacterial rate (100% killing in 30min) and high detection sensitivity (as low as 10 CFU mL-1). More importantly, the nano-decorated sensor has proven to be highly effective in quantitative detection of bacteria in a biological sample, for example, a rat blood sample spiked with E. coli. Despite the complexity of blood, the sensor still exhibited excellent detection precision within 30min at bacteria concentrations ranging from 10 - 105 CFU mL-1. The simplicity, rapidity, sensitivity, practicability and multifunctionality of this impedance sensor would greatly facilitate applications in portable medical devices for on-the-spot diagnosis and even the possibility for simultaneous therapy of diseases caused by bacterial infections.

Two Are Better than One: Halloysite Nanotubes-Supported Surface Imprinted Nanoparticles Using Synergy of Metal Chelating and Low pKa Boronic Acid Monomers for Highly Specific Luteolin Binding under Neutral Condition

Surface-imprinted nanoparticles with double recognition (DM-MIPs) are fabricated onto halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) for highly specific separation of natural flavone luteolin (LTL) under neutral condition. Specifically, a two-step strategy via consecutive surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) is employed to introduce inherent recognition of molecular imprinting and reversible covalent affinity of boronic acid ligands and immobilized Zn2+ into DM-MIPs. First, Zn2+-immobilized poly(vinyl imidazole) (PVLD) shell based on the HNTs via the first SI-ATRP is prepared to capture LTL by metal chelating. Then HNTs-supported surface imprinted nanoparticles are prepared using low pKa boronic acid monomer 4-(2-acrylamidoethylcarbamoyl)-3-fluorophenylboronic acid (AMC-FPBA) via the second SI-ATRP. Taking advantage of low apparent pKa of AMC-FPBA and large high-affinity binding site density, DM-MIPs possess a promising binding with cis-diol-containing LTL under neutral condition. In static adsorption, DM-MIPs show large LTL loading amount (83.42 mg g-1), fast capture kinetics, remarkable selectivity, and excellent recyclability at pH = 7.0. More importantly, by reducing the pH to 4.0, the loaded TLL can be simply released. As a proof of this concept, a commercially available LTL with 85% purity can be easily enriched and further purified, and the product exhibits the similar antibacterial performance with standard substance.