Despite the great success of vaccines over two centuries, the conventional strategy is based on attenuated/altered microorganisms. However, this is not effective for all microbes and often fails to elicit a protective immune response, and sometimes poses unexpected safety risks. The expanding nano toolbox may overcome some of the roadblocks in vaccine development given the plethora of unique nanoparticle (NP)-based platforms that can successfully induce specific immune responses leading to exciting and novel solutions. Nanovaccines necessitate a thorough understanding of the immunostimulatory effect of these nanotools. We present a comprehensive description of strategies in which nanotools have been used to elicit an immune response and provide a perspective on how nanotechnology can lead to future personalized nanovaccines.

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Bulbus Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don (BFC) is a Chinese traditional herbal medicine that has long been used as an indispensable component in herbal prescriptions for bronchopulmonary diseases due to its well-established strong anti-inflammation and pulmonary harmonizing effects. Interestingly, there are few case reports in traditional Chinese medicine available where they found it to contribute in anti-tumor therapies. Imperialine is one of the most favored active substances extracted from BFC and has been widely recognized as an anti-inflammatory agent. Aim of the study: The aim of the current work is to provide first-hand evidences both in vitro and in vivo showing that imperialine exerts anti-cancer effects against non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and to explore the molecular mechanism of this anti-tumor activity. It is also necessary to examine its systemic toxicity, and to investigate how to develop strategies for feasible clinical translation of imperialine. Materials and methods: To investigate anti-NSCLC efficacy of imperialine using both in vitro and in vivo methods where A549 cell line were chosen as in vitro model NSCLC cells and A549 tumor-bearing mouse model was constructed for in vivo study. The detailed underlying anti-cancer mechanism has been systematically explored for the first time through a comprehensive set of molecular biology methods mainly including immunohistochemistry, western blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The toxicity profile of imperialine treatments were evaluated using healthy nude mice by examining hemogram and histopathology. An imperialine-loaded liposomal drug delivery system was developed using thin film hydration method to evaluate target specific delivery. Results: The results showed that imperialine could suppress both NSCLC tumor and associated inflammation through an inflammation-cancer feedback loop in which NF-kappa B activity was dramatically inhibited by imperialine. The NSCLC-targeting liposomal system was successfully developed for targeted drug delivery. The developed platform could favorably enhance imperialine cellular uptake and in vivo accumulation at tumor sites, thus improving overall anti-tumor effect. The toxicity assays revealed imperialine treatments did not significantly disturb blood cell counts in mice or exert any significant damage to the main organs. Conclusions: Imperialine exerts anti-cancer effects against NSCLC both in vitro and in vivo, and this previously unknown function is related to NF-kappa B centered inflammation-cancer feedback loop. Imperialine mediated anticancer activity is not through cytotoxicity and exhibit robust systemic safety. Furthermore, the liposome-based system we commenced would dramatically enhance therapeutic effects of imperialine while exhibiting extremely low side effects both on cellular and in NSCLC model. This work has identified imperialine as a promising novel anti-cancer compound and offered an efficient target-delivery solution that greatly facilitate practical use of imperialine.

Noble metals comprise any of several metallic chemical elements that are outstandingly resistant to corrosion and oxidation, even at elevated temperatures. This group is not strictly defined, but the tentative list includes ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver, osmium, iridium, platinum and gold, in order of atomic number. The emerging properties of noble metal nanoparticles are attracting huge interest from the translational scientific community and have led to an unprecedented expansion of research and exploration of applications in biotechnology and biomedicine. Noble metal nanomaterials can be synthesised both by top-down and bottom up approaches, as well as via organism-assisted routes, and subsequently modified appropriately for the field of use. Nanoscale analogues of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in particular, have gained primary importance owing to their excellent intrinsic properties and diversity of applications; they offer unique functional attributes, which are quite unlike the bulk material. Modulation of noble metal nanoparticles in terms of size, shape and surface functionalisation has endowed them with unusual capabilities and manipulation at the chemical level, which can lead to changes in their electrical, chemical, optical, spectral and other intrinsic properties. Such flexibility in multi-functionalisation delivers Ockhams razor to applied biomedical science. In this feature article, we highlight recent advances in the adaptation of noble metal nanomaterials and their biomedical applications in therapeutics, diagnostics and sensing.

Metastasis is a major cause of cancer-related mortality, accounting for 90% of cancer deaths. The explosive growth of cancer biology research has revealed new mechanistic network information and pathways that promote metastasis. Consequently, a large number of antitumor agents have been developed and tested for their antimetastatic efficacy. Despite their exciting cytotoxic effects on tumor cells in vitro and antitumor activities in preclinical studies in vivo, only a few have shown potent antimetastatic activities in clinical trials. In this review, we provide a brief overview of current antimetastatic strategies that show clinical efficacy and review nanotechnology-based approaches that are currently being incorporated into these therapies to mitigate challenges associated with treating cancer metastasis.

Cornea diseases are a leading cause of blindness and the disease burden is exacerbated by the increasing shortage around the world for cadaveric donor corneas. Despite the advances in the field of regenerative medicine, successful transplantation of laboratory‐made artificial corneas is not fully realized in clinical practice. The causes of failure of such artificial corneal implants are multifactorial and include latent infections from viruses and other microbes, enzyme overexpression, implant degradation, extrusion or delayed epithelial regeneration. Therefore, there is an urgent unmet need for developing customized corneal implants to suit the host environment and counter the effects of inflammation or infection, which are able to track early signs of implant failure in situ. This work reports a nanotoolbox comprising tools for protection from infection, promotion of regeneration, and noninvasive monitoring of the in situ corneal environment. These nanosystems can be incorporated within pro‐regenerative biosynthetic implants, transforming them into theranostic devices, which are able to respond to biological changes following implantation.

The extremely specialised anatomical function of citrate inside the prostate, make it one of the preferred biomarkers for early stage detection of prostate cancer. However, current detection methods are seriously limited due to the very low citrate concentrations that need to be measured in order to follow disease progression. In the present work, we report a novel citrate-selective-sensor based on iron (III) phthalocyanine chloride-C-monoamido-Poly-n-Butyl Acrylate (Fe(III)MAPcC1 P n BA) modified gold -electrodes for the electrochemical determination and estimation of the pathophysiological range of citrate. The newly synthesised ionophore has been structurally characterised using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and UV-vis spectroscopy. Contact angle measurements and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have been used to investigate the adhesion and morphological properties of the membrane. The developed citrate-selective-electrodes had a Nernstian sensitivity of-19.34 +/- 0.83 mV/decade with a detection limit of about 9 x 10-6M and a linear range from 4 x 10(-5)M to 10(-1) M, which covered the pathologically important clinical range. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) showed very high sensitivity with a lower Limit of detection 1.7 x 10(-9) M and linear detection range (10(-8)-10(-1) M), which is very important not only for the early-stage diagnosis and screening procedures, but also in mapping the stage of the cancer too. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This book covers the recent advances in the development of bioelectronics systems and their potential application in future biomedical applications starting from system design to signal processing for physiological monitoring, to in situ biosensing.

Advanced Bioelectronics Materialshas contributions from distinguished international scholars whose backgrounds mirror the multidisciplinary readership ranging from the biomedical sciences, biosensors and engineering communities with diverse backgrounds, interests and proficiency in academia and industry. The readers will benefit from the widespread coverage of the current literature, state-of-the-art overview of all facets of advanced bioelectronics materials ranging from real time monitoring, in situ diagnostics, in vivo imaging, image-guided therapeutics, biosensors, and translational biomedical devices and personalized monitoring.

Throughout the world, there are increasing demands for alternate approaches to advanced cancer therapeutics. Numerous potentially chemotherapeutic compounds are developed every year for clinical trial and some of them are considered as potential drug candidates. Nanotechnology-based approaches have accelerated the discovery process, but the key challenge still remains to develop therapeutically viable and physiologically safe materials suitable for cancer therapy. Here, we report a high turnover, on/off-switchable functionally popping reactive oxygen species (ROS) generator using a smart mesoporous titanium dioxide popcorn (TiO2 Pops) nanoarchitecture. The resulting TiO2 Pops, unlike TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs), are exceptionally biocompatible with normal cells. Under identical conditions, TiO2 Pops show very high photocatalytic activity compared to TiO2 NPs. Upon on/off-switchable photo activation, the TiO2 Pops can trigger the generation of high-turnover flash ROS and can deliver their potential anticancer effect by enhancing the intracellular ROS level until it crosses the threshold to open the death gate, thus reducing the survival of cancer cells by at least six times in comparison with TiO2 NPs without affecting the normal cells.

Despite decades of search for anticancer drugs targeting solid tumors, this group of diseases remains largely incurable, especially if in advanced, metastatic stage. In this review, we draw comparison between reprogramming and carcinogenesis, as well as between stem cells (SCs) and cancer stem cells (CSCs), focusing on changing garniture of adhesion molecules. Furthermore, we elaborate on the role of adhesion molecules in the regulation of (cancer) SCs division (symmetric or asymmetric), and in evolving interactions between CSCs and extracellular matrix. Among other aspects, we analyze the role and changes of expression of key adhesion molecules as cancer progresses and metastases develop. Here, the role of cadherins, integrins, as well as selected transcription factors like Twist and Snail is highlighted, not only in the regulation of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition but also in the avoidance of anoikis. Finally, we briefly discuss recent developments and new strategies targeting CSCs, which focus on adhesion molecules or targeting tumor vasculature.