MedComm – Biomaterials and Applications最新文献

As an important part of driving natural life systems, the function of protein networks is accurately controlled through many parameters, like distance, quantity, position, and orientation. Nevertheless, it would be very hard to control the physical arrangement of the multiple proteins to generate cellular signaling events or complex enzymatic cascades, for instance small molecule organic synthesis DNA nanotechnology provides matching nanoscale dimensions, the special programmability of DNA, and the capability and compatibility of many proteins and nucleic acids. DNA origami has precise addressing capabilities at the nanoscale, which ensures the accurate assembly of the protein networks. These characteristics indicate that the DNA origami is a highly addressable programmable nanomaterial, which can be applied for building artificial protein networks. Up to now, researchers have achieved significant progress in the establishment and application of the DNA origami-protein networks. In the current review, we introduce the superiorities of DNA origami-protein networks in detail, concluded their construction strategies, and their recent progression and applications in biomedicine and biophysics. In the end, we look into the future prospects of DNA origami-protein networks. Finally, we looked forward to the future perspective of DNA origami-protein networks.

Pu and coworkers developed a disease biomarker-activatable polyfluorophore nanosensor that comprises protease-reactive peptide brushes, self-immolative linkers, and renal clearance/tumor-targeting moiety-conjugated fluorophore units, for noninvasive near-infrared fluorescence imaging and urinalysis, enabling superior early disease diagnosis.

Large size bone defects have become a growing clinical challenge. Cancellous bone, which has the highest volume ratio, the fastest replacement rate, and interconnected porous structure, plays a major role in bone repairing. Considering the structure and composition of cancellous bone, building a bionic 3D scaffold via customized-3D printing technology is the key to solving the problem. As the earliest degradable medical polymer material approved by Food and Drug Administration, polylactic acid has been proved to have excellent biosafety and can be copolymerized or blended with other synthetic polymers, natural polymers, and inorganic materials to improve its performance to better meet clinical applications. A series of biodegradable bone repair scaffolds based on polylactic acid composites and 3D printing technology are developed to achieve large bone defects. Here, we review the composition and structure of cancellous bone, highlighting the relationship to the requirements of bone repair scaffolds. The different types of polylactic-acid-based materials applied in 3D printing technology are described, emphasizing the connection between materials, preparation methods, and applications.

Polymer hydrogel has been used as a drug delivery carrier for many decades. Recently, the emergence of three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has opened up a new area for applications of drug delivery based on polymer hydrogel. A series of drug delivery platforms based on 3D printing hydrogel are developed to achieve local delivery of small/large molecule drugs as well as therapeutic cells. Compared with other manufacturing technologies, 3D printing technology can achieve high-precision personalized manufacturing and complex spatial structure construction, which has a wide application prospect in the biomedical field. In this review, we summarized the recent advances in 3D printed polymer hydrogels as delivery platforms in drug and cell topical delivery. 3D printed drug delivery platform realizes drug delivery and controlled release locally. Meanwhile, precise control and manufacturing also provide conditions for customized drug delivery platforms. Besides this, a complex spatial structure constructed based on 3D printing technology is also conducive to cell proliferation and differentiation, providing a new carrier for tissue engineering and repair. Biomedical applications based on 3D printing technology promote the development of precision medicine and personalized medicine and provide a new direction for further research and application of 3D printing technology.

Tumor immunotherapy has made a breakthrough in clinical application, and the combination of vaccine and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) is a promising strategy in cancer management. However, the complete immune response is still unresolved. Liu et al.¹ report a genetically engineered cell membrane nanovesicle, which integrates antigen self-presentation and immunosuppression reversal (ASPIRE) for boosting cancer immunotherapy (Figure 1). It is the comprehensive demonstration of a personalized vaccine formula that has the power to directly activate both naive T cells and exhausted T cells. Besides, this artificial nanovaccine has a nanoscale size, better stability, and an excellent homing effect, which could rapidly enrich the lymphatic system. This specific antigen self-presentation strategy is superior to conventional vaccines. Importantly, B7 codelivery is first introduced to the anti-PD1 therapy, which not only activates T lymphocyte immune response but also breaks immunosuppression.

In 1971, the US government declared a “war on cancer” through its National Cancer Act, which marked the beginning of modern cancer research. Half a century later, despite significant progress in many areas of cancer treatment, cancer remains a leading cause of death globally. Therefore, the quest to search for new and creative ways to cure cancer continues. A new strategy that has attracted much attention is to train or augment our own immune system to destroy cancer cells. The feasibility of this idea has been recently demonstrated through the clinical successes of ICI, such as anti-PD-1 or anti-PDL1 antibodies, and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies.²

However, the clinical benefits of ICI and CAR T-cell therapies are still relatively limited compared to conventional chemotherapies or targeted therapies based on small-molecule drugs. Although our immune system has the capacity to target cancer cells, there are also various ways that cancer cells may evolve to escape such immune surveillance. After all, cancer cells originate from our own somatic cells, which have various ways to avoid being attacked by the immune system. There is a need for more efficient and more widely applicable methods to boost immune defenses against various types of cancers, and the idea of vaccination naturally comes to mind.

Even before we had any scientific understanding of the pathogens causing infectious diseases or the inner workings of immune systems, the first modern vaccine (against smallpox) was successfully developed by the end of the 18th century. A dozen vaccines were developed before the Second World War, before the breakthrough discoveries in molecular biology. Then, why not develop vaccines for certain types of cancer?

It turns out that we cannot vaccinate against tumors simply by the systematic administration of antigens found on cancer cells. Through recent research into the tumor mi

Immunogene therapy has become an effective and significant clinical strategy for cancer therapy. Many immunogene therapies are approved for cancer treatment, and more are undergoing clinical or preclinical trials. Even though most patients benefit greatly from immunogene therapy, the strategies may simply activate the systemic immune response against tumors while also pushing the immune system to supraphysiological levels along with a subsequently increased risk of immune-related adverse events. Enhancing the response rate to immunogene therapy is key to controlling side effects and improving efficacy. Improved delivery systems can efficiently deliver genes to the desired tumor cells while alleviating adverse reactions and immunogenicity. Thereinto, nonviral vectors improve the permeability, retention, and pharmacokinetic characteristics of drugs, thereby reducing side-effects and providing broad prospects for enhancing the efficiency of immunotherapy and becoming a leading anticancer candidate. Here, this review highlights the types of common functional nonviral vectors, discusses their advantages and disadvantages, as well as the latest applications in different cancers. Undoubtedly, this review proves that nonviral vectors combined with immunogene therapy are promising treatments for cancers. Nevertheless, further research is needed to solve safety concerns and improve the efficacy of nonviral vectors-based cancer immunogene therapy for future clinical application.

“MedComm - Biomaterials and Applications” is a sister journal of “MedComm”. “MedComm” as a successful pioneering work is a comprehensive online open-access journal. The journal highlights original findings that contribute to further understanding of pathogenesis, or to improve the diagnosis and treatment of human disease. Interdisciplinary research using methods from molecular biology, cell biology, chemistry, pharmacology, or materials science is particularly encouraged to address clinical, basic, and translational medical problems. For different subject areas, we have established the MedComm series of sister journals. As one of its sister journals, “MedComm - Biomaterials and Applications” is committed to publishing a series of cutting-edge research results related to biomaterials in the medical field.

Biomaterials are materials that interact with biological systems and are used in the field of biomedicine. Biomaterials have become increasingly important due to their significant impact on the biomedical field, playing important roles in drug delivery, tissue engineering, gene carriers, biosensors, and more. Throughout history, metal-based biomaterials have been used in stomatology and other fields more than 2000 years ago. Then with the development of materials science, synthetic biomaterials emerged, and the application of materials in the biological field was further expanded. For example, polyester was used in vascular stents, and polyether-urethanes were used in artificial hearts. However, biocompatibility, degradability, security, and so on remain some of its key concerns. The use of biodegradable organic polymers as drug delivery systems has made a breakthrough in the research of biomaterials and after about 50 years of development, biomaterials have been prepared into various hydrogel systems, micronanoparticles, spun fibers, and so forth to meet various conceivable biomedical applications.

“MedComm - Biomaterials and Applications” is also an online open-access journal that focuses on solving current medical problems with novel biomaterials. Biomaterials have been widely used in the medical field. “MedComm - Biomaterials and Applications” is committed to publishing original cutting-edge research, including the application of biomaterials in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, application in tissue engineering, biological response of biomaterials in vivo, development of biomaterials in clinic, basic and translational research of biomaterials, and so forth. Biomaterials include but are not limited to polymer nanoparticles, bioceramics, hydrogels, liposomes, three-dimensional printed materials, inorganic nanoparticles, spun fiber, and so forth. Our goal is to deepen the research on biomaterials in the medical field and create an authoritative interdisciplinary platform, involving materials science, chemistry, biology, pharmacy, medicine, and other multidisciplinary fields. In embracing these developments, we must also pr