Mehdi Rajabi

Multifunctional Nanomaterials and Their Applications in Drug Delivery and Cancer Therapy

The field of nanotechnology has led to the development of many innovative strategies for effective detection and treatment of cancer, overcoming limitations associated with conventional cancer diagnosis and therapy. Multifunctional nanoparticle systems can integrate imaging, targeting and treatment moieties on the surface and in the core, resulting in targeted delivery of the imaging or treatment modalities, specifically to the tumor. Multifunctional nanoparticles also enable simultaneous delivery of multiple treatment agents, resulting in effective combinatorial therapeutic regimens against cancer. In this review, various multifunctional nanoparticle systems that feature a variety of targeting moieties for in vitro and/or in vivo cancer imaging and therapy are discussed.

The Role of Angiogenesis in Cancer Treatment

A number of anti-angiogenesis drugs have been FDA-approved and are being used in cancer treatment, and a number of other agents are in different stages of clinical development or in preclinical evaluation. However, pharmacologic anti-angiogenesis strategies that arrest tumor progression might not be enough to eradicate tumors. Decreased anti-angiogenesis activity in single mechanism-based anti-angiogenic strategies is due to the redundancy, multiplicity, and development of compensatory mechanism by which blood vessels are remodeled. Improving anti-angiogenesis drug efficacy will require identification of broad-spectrum anti-angiogenesis targets. These strategies may have novel features, such as increased porosity, and are the result of complex interactions among endothelial cells, extracellular matrix proteins, growth factors, pericyte, and smooth muscle cells. Thus, combinations of anti-angiogenic drugs and other anticancer strategies such as chemotherapy appear essential for optimal outcome in cancer patients. This review will focus on the role of anti-angiogenesis strategies in cancer treatment.

Synthesis of a new class of furo[3,2-c]coumarins and its anticancer activity

A series of furo[3,2-c]coumarin derivatives 1a-d were synthesized and evaluated for their antiproliferative activity against MCF-7 breast and HCT-15 colon cancer cell lines using Sulfo-rhodamine B (SRB) assay. Compounds 1b and 1d showed higher antiproliferative activity than 1a and 1c. UV-Vis spectroscopy was used for DNA and BSA-binding affinity of the compounds 1b and 1d and gave overall affinity constants of K1b-DNA=8.1×10(3) M(-1), K1d-DNA=1.1×10(4) M(-1), K1b-BSA=5.1×10(4) M(-1), and K1d-BSA=7.6×10(4) M(-1). Our findings could provide new evidence showing the relationship between the chemical structure and anticancer activity of these new coumarin analogs.

Lipid Nanoparticles and their Application in Nanomedicine

In recent years many different nanotechnology platforms have been developed for both diagnostics and cancer therapy. Researchers have been attracted to use lipid-based nanoparticles with particle size approximately 100 nm as a new pharmaceutical delivery system or pharmaceutical formulation that can be assembled from different types of lipid or other chemical components in order to overcome biological barriers. This mini-review highlights the recently published studies in the development of lipid-based nanoparticles as appropriate vehicles in cancer diagnosis and therapy with focus on their chemical structure, formulation recipes, stability, drug encapsulation, and other factors related to their formulation.

Nanobiomaterials in drug delivery

Abstract Blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a brain protective structure composed by endothelial cells, astrocytes and pericytes characterized by specific transport systems expressed on their surface. Moreover, the tight junctions, in the paracellular space, and the adherens junctions, in the basolateral space of the endothelial cells create a physical barrier hardly crossable from the most part of common drugs. Despite the BBB is vital for the central nervous system (CNS), it restricts drug delivery to this tissue. To overcome this obstacle many drug delivery systems (DDS) have been developed. Polymeric nanocarriers, solid lipid nanocarriers (SLN) and liposomes are developed to deliver drugs otherwise not able to pass the BBB, due to their physico-chemical characteristics. Besides their capacity to pass biological barriers, the potential advantages of nanocarriers are their capability to load a high quantity of drug with low cytotoxicity.In recent years many diverse scientific strategies have been developed for cancer therapy. One of the most unique research areas is nanotechnology that is related to synthesis, manipulation of nanomaterials, and their application in cancer diagnosis and therapy. Multifunctional nanoparticles can be prepared for different biomedical applications that can carry and deliver small molecules (dyes or chemotherapeutic drugs) to target, detect, and treat. A well-established nanomaterial can enhance the efficiency of drug delivery to reach pathological areas by decreasing their toxicity and side effects. Small molecules can be conjugated to nanomaterials using different chemical linkages that can be released by biodegradation and self-regulation of nanomaterials. In this chapter, we introduce the design and characterization of various nanomaterials for drug delivery to treat cancer in vitro and in vivo.

Nanobiomaterials in cancer therapy

Abstract The advent of nanotechnology has caused a profound impact on cancer therapeutics and diagnostics. Nanoparticle (NP) systems offer improved chemotherapeutic delivery by increased solubility, sustained retention time, and reduction of solvent-related toxicity. Additionally, active targeting of the drug/active agent-bearing NP by conjugation to tumor-specific targeting moieties enhances the efficacy of nanodrug delivery systems while reducing systemic toxicity. This chapter will focus on the current advances in synthesis of nanoformulations of existing chemotherapeutic drugs and the nanomaterials that are commonly used to engineer these systems. We then focus on multifunctional NPs that provide the platform for multimodal and combinatorial therapeutic options along with simultaneous and real-time cancer imaging. We also discuss the role of nanotechnology in the use of naturally occurring phytochemicals in cancer therapy and prevention. Lastly, we discuss the advances in nanoformulations that specifically target the cancer stem cell population to reduce cancer recurrence and relapse.

Chapter 1 – Nanobiomaterials in drug delivery

Abstract Blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a brain protective structure composed by endothelial cells, astrocytes and pericytes characterized by specific transport systems expressed on their surface. Moreover, the tight junctions, in the paracellular space, and the adherens junctions, in the basolateral space of the endothelial cells create a physical barrier hardly crossable from the most part of common drugs. Despite the BBB is vital for the central nervous system (CNS), it restricts drug delivery to this tissue. To overcome this obstacle many drug delivery systems (DDS) have been developed. Polymeric nanocarriers, solid lipid nanocarriers (SLN) and liposomes are developed to deliver drugs otherwise not able to pass the BBB, due to their physico-chemical characteristics. Besides their capacity to pass biological barriers, the potential advantages of nanocarriers are their capability to load a high quantity of drug with low cytotoxicity.In recent years many diverse scientific strategies have been developed for cancer therapy. One of the most unique research areas is nanotechnology that is related to synthesis, manipulation of nanomaterials, and their application in cancer diagnosis and therapy. Multifunctional nanoparticles can be prepared for different biomedical applications that can carry and deliver small molecules (dyes or chemotherapeutic drugs) to target, detect, and treat. A well-established nanomaterial can enhance the efficiency of drug delivery to reach pathological areas by decreasing their toxicity and side effects. Small molecules can be conjugated to nanomaterials using different chemical linkages that can be released by biodegradation and self-regulation of nanomaterials. In this chapter, we introduce the design and characterization of various nanomaterials for drug delivery to treat cancer in vitro and in vivo.