Nanoparticle-enhanced PD-1/PD-L1 targeted combination therapy for triple negative breast cancer

Breast cancer with triple-negative subtype (TNBC) presents significant challenges with limited treatment options and a poorer prognosis than others. While PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors have shown promise, their efficacy in TNBC remains constrained. In recent years, nanoparticle (NP) technologies offer a novel approach to enhance cancer therapy by optimizing the tumor microenvironment and augmenting chemo- and immunotherapy effects in various preclinical and clinical settings. This review discusses recent investigations in NP strategies for improving PD-1/PD-L1 blockade-based combination therapy for TNBC. Those include single or multi-therapeutic NPs designed to enhance immunogenicity of the tumor, induce immunogenic cell death, and target immunosuppressive elements within the tumor microenvironment. The investigations also include NPs co-loaded with PD-L1 inhibitors and other therapeutic agents, leveraging targeted delivery and synergistic effects to maximize efficacy while minimizing systemic toxicity. Overall, NP approaches represent a promising avenue for enhancing PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint blockade-based combination therapy in TNBC and encourage further developmental studies

Chemical Basis of Interactions Between Engineered Nanoparticles and Biological Systems

A recently reported incident of severe pulmonary fibrosis caused by inhaled polymer nanoparticles in seven female workers obtained much attention. In addition to the release of ENM waste from industrial sites, a major release of ENMs to environmental water occurs due to home and personal use of appliances, cosmetics, and personal products, such as shampoo and sunscreen. Airborne and aqueous ENMs pose immediate danger to the human respiratory and gastrointestinal systems. ENMs may enter other human organs after they are absorbed into the bloodstream through the gastrointestinal and respiratory systems. Practically, a thorough understanding of the fundamental chemical interactions between nanoparticles and biological systems has two direct impacts. First, this knowledge will encourage and assist experimental approaches to chemically modify nanoparticle surfaces for various industrial or medicinal applications

Influence of photochemical loss of volatile organic compounds on understanding ozone formation mechanism

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) tend to be consumed by atmospheric oxidants, resulting in substantial photochemical loss during transport. An observation-based model was used to evaluate the influence of photochemical loss of VOCs on the sensitivity regime and mechanisms of ozone formation. Our results showed that a VOC-limited regime based on observed VOC concentrations shifted to a transition regime with a photochemical initial concentration of VOCs (PIC-VOCs) in the morning. The net ozone formation rate was underestimated by 3 ppbh(-1) (similar to 36 ppb d(-1)) based on the measured VOCs when compared with the PIC-VOCs. The relative contribution of the RO2 path to ozone production based on the PIC-VOCs accordingly increased by 13.4 %; in particular, the contribution of alkene-derived RO(2 )increased by approximately 10.2 %. In addition, the OH-HO2 radical cycle was obviously accelerated by highly reactive alkenes after accounting for photochemical loss of VOCs. The contribution of local photochemistry might be underestimated for both local and regional ozone pollution if consumed VOCs are not accounted for, and policymaking on ozone pollution prevention should focus on VOCs with a high reactivity.Peer reviewe

A New Type of Quartz Smog Chamber : Design and Characterization

Publisher Copyright: ©Since the 1960s, many indoor and outdoor smog chambers have been developed worldwide. However, most of them are made of Teflon films, which have relatively high background contaminations due to the wall effect. We developed the world's first medium-size quartz chamber (10 m(3)), which is jointed with 32 pieces of 5 mm thick polished quartz glasses and a stainless-steel frame. Characterizations show that this chamber exhibits excellent performance in terms of relative humidity (RH) (2-80%) and temperature (15-30 +/- 1 degrees C) control, mixing efficiency of the reactants (6-8 min), light transmittance (>90% above 290 nm), and wall loss of pollutants. The wall loss rates of the gas-phase pollutants are on the order of 10(-4) min(-1) at 298 K under dry conditions. It is 0.08 h(-1) for 100-500 nm particles, significantly lower than those of Teflon chambers. The photolysis rate of NO2 (J(NO2)) is automatically adjustable to simulate the diurnal variation of solar irradiation from 0 to 0.40 min(-1). The inner surface of the chamber can be repeatedly washed with deionized water, resulting in low background contaminations. Both experiments (toluene-NOx and alpha-pinene-ozone systems) and box model demonstrate that this new quartz chamber can provide high-quality data for investigating SOA and O-3 formation in the atmosphere.Peer reviewe

Difference of Sodium Currents between Pediatric and Adult Human Atrial Myocytes: Evidence for Developmental Changes of Sodium Channels

licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/). Reproduction is permitted for personal, noncommercial use, provided that the article is in whole, unmodified, and properly cited. Received: 2010.12.16; Accepted: 2011.05.25; Published: 2011.06.01 Voltage-gated calcium currents and potassium currents were shown to undergo developmental changes in postnatal human and animal cardiomocytes. However, so far, there is no evidence whether sodium currents also presented the developmental changes in postnatal human atrial cells. The aim of this study was to observe age-related changes of sodium currents between pediatric and adult atrial myocytes. Human atrial myocytes were acutely isolated and the whole-cell patch clamp technique was used to record sodium currents isolated from pediatric and adult atrial cardiomocytes. The peak amplitude of sodium currents recorded in adult atrial cells was significantly larger than that in pediatric atrial myocytes. However, there was no significant difference of the activation voltage for peak sodium currents between two kinds of atrial myocytes. The time constant

Exploring the Immunotoxicity of Carbon Nanotubes

Mass production of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and their applications in nanomedicine lead to the increased exposure risk of nanomaterials to human beings. Although reports on toxicity of nanomaterials are rapidly growing, there is still a lack of knowledge on the potential toxicity of such materials to immune systems. This article reviews some existing studies assessing carbon nanotubes’ toxicity to immune system and provides the potential mechanistic explanation