Breast-conserving surgery (BCS) is the predominant treatment approach for initial breast cancer. However, due to a lack of effective methods evaluating BCS margins, local recurrence caused by positive margins remains an issue. Accordingly, radiation therapy (RT) is a common modality in patients with advanced breast cancer. However, while RT also protects normal tissue and enhances tumor bed doses to improve therapeutic effects, current radiosensitizers cannot meet these urgent clinical needs. To address this, a novel self-assembled multifunctional nanoprobe (NP) gadolinium (Gd)–diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid–human serum albumin (HSA)@indocyanine green–Bevacizumab (NPs-Bev) is synthesized to improve the efficacy of fluorescence-image-guided BCS and RT. Fluorescence image guidance of the second near infrared NP improves complete resection in tumor-bearing mice and accurately discriminates between benign and malignant mammary tissue in transgenic mice. Moreover, targeting tumors with NPs induces more reactive oxygen species under X-ray radiation therapy, which not only increases RT sensitivity, but also reduces tumor progression in mice. Interestingly, self-assembled NPs-Bev using HSA, the magnetic resonance contrast agent and Bevacizumab-targeting vascular growth factor A, which are clinically safe reagents, are safe in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, the novel self-assembled NPs provide a solid precision therapy platform to treat breast cancer.
Bin Zhou,Guohua Li,Mingxi Wu,Zhangkai Zhou,Xin Cai,Jingxuan Cai,Jianhua Zhou
A platform for real-time monitoring and comprehensively studying the adhesion process of microorganisms onto material surfaces as well as their bioactivity on the surface is very helpful to reveal the microbial contamination mechanism on drainage catheters, intravascular stents, and implanted sensors. Herein, a multifunctional sensor based on localized surface plasmon resonance of gold nano-match head arrays (GNMAs) is developed for monitoring the adhesion behavior of microorganisms (such as Candida albicans , i.e., C. albicans ) as well as its inhibitory activity. The sensor is fabricated through soft lithography processes using nanopatterned polydimethylsiloxane stamps, and modified with polymers of different charges for investigating the adhesion of C. albicans onto different charged surfaces. The spectroscopic study shows that C. albicans are more favorable to positively charged surfaces than negatively charged ones, which is also proven by the fluorescence images under microscope. Moreover, the authors demonstrate that the GNMA modified with poly- l -lysine (PLL) can effectively kill the adhered C. albicans due to the membrane destruction and the reactive oxygen species induced by PLL. These unique advantages suggest that the sensor is capable as both an antifungal study system and a real-time monitoring platform for antifungal performance evaluation.