Metal nanoclusters, composed of several to a few hundred metal atoms, have received worldwide attention due to their extraordinary physical and chemical characteristics. Recently, great efforts have ...been devoted to the exploration of the potential diagnostic and therapeutic applications of metal nanoclusters. Here we focus on the recent advances and new horizons in this area, and introduce the rising progress on the use of metal nanoclusters for biological analysis, biological imaging, therapeutic applications, DNA assembly and logic gate construction, enzyme mimic catalysis, as well as thermometers and pH meters. Furthermore, the future challenges in the construction of biofunctional metal nanoclusters for diagnostic and therapeutic applications are also discussed. We expect that the rapidly growing interest in metal nanocluster-based theranostic applications will certainly not only fuel the excitement and stimulate research in this highly active field, but also inspire broader concerns across various disciplines.
We review recent advances and new horizons in the potential diagnostic and therapeutic applications of metal nanoclusters.
Selectively exposing active surfaces and judiciously tuning the near‐surface composition of electrode materials represent two prominent means of promoting electrocatalytic performance. Here, a new ...class of Pt3Fe zigzag‐like nanowires (Pt‐skin Pt3Fe z‐NWs) with stable high‐index facets (HIFs) and nanosegregated Pt‐skin structure is reported, which are capable of substantially boosting electrocatalysis in fuel cells. These unique structural features endow the Pt‐skin Pt3Fe z‐NWs with a mass activity of 2.11 A mg−1 and a specifc activity of 4.34 mA cm−2 for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at 0.9 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, which are the highest in all reported PtFe‐based ORR catalysts. Density function theory calculations reveal a combination of exposed HIFs and formation of Pt‐skin structure, leading to an optimal oxygen adsorption energy due to the ligand and strain effects, which is responsible for the much enhanced ORR activities. In contrast to previously reported HIFs‐based catalysts, the Pt‐skin Pt3Fe z‐NWs maintain ultrahigh durability with little activity decay and negligible structure transformation after 50 000 potential cycles. Overcoming a key technical barrier in electrocatalysis, this work successfully extends the nanosegregated Pt‐skin structure to nanocatalysts with HIFs, heralding the exciting prospects of high‐effcient Pt‐based catalysts in fuel cells.
A unique class of 1D zigzag‐like PtFe nanowires is synthesized and further applied as the electrocatalyst toward the oxygen reduction reaction. Extremely high catalytic activity and durability is achieved, highlighting the combination of high‐index facets and nanosegregated Pt‐skin structure in multimetallic nanocrystals for enhanced electrocatalysis.
Data deduplication is a technique for eliminating duplicate copies of data, and has been widely used in cloud storage to reduce storage space and upload bandwidth. Promising as it is, an arising ...challenge is to perform secure deduplication in cloud storage. Although convergent encryption has been extensively adopted for secure deduplication, a critical issue of making convergent encryption practical is to efficiently and reliably manage a huge number of convergent keys. This paper makes the first attempt to formally address the problem of achieving efficient and reliable key management in secure deduplication. We first introduce a baseline approach in which each user holds an independent master key for encrypting the convergent keys and outsourcing them to the cloud. However, such a baseline key management scheme generates an enormous number of keys with the increasing number of users and requires users to dedicatedly protect the master keys. To this end, we propose Dekey , a new construction in which users do not need to manage any keys on their own but instead securely distribute the convergent key shares across multiple servers. Security analysis demonstrates that Dekey is secure in terms of the definitions specified in the proposed security model. As a proof of concept, we implement Dekey using the Ramp secret sharing scheme and demonstrate that Dekey incurs limited overhead in realistic environments.
Viologens, functional organic materials composed of conjugated bi-/multi-pyridyl groups, have attracted much attention for decades owing to their properties such as unique electrochromic and ...radical-rich features under redox manipulation, biosensitive properties, and ionic and localized conjugation. Considerable efforts have been devoted to synthesizing novel viologen-based functional materials to study their properties and develop applications. So far, viologens and viologen-based materials have been widely applied in many fields, including electrochromism, molecular machines, memory devices, gas storage and separation, energy storage, and biochemistry. The rapid development of functional materials in the 21
st
century has inspired extensive integration of viologens into many types of novel and famous materials (
e.g.
, host-guest supramolecules, porous polymers, and metal-organic frameworks), and therefore, viologens seem to no longer be a key player. However, the features of viologens (or bi-/multi-pyridyl-based materials) have always dominated the properties of target functional materials and long been neglected by researchers. In order to provide an overview of this field, this perspective paper focuses on reasonable design and synthesis of viologen-based functional materials and their representative applications. The remaining challenges and future potential applications are also discussed.
Viologen-inspired aromatic molecules, polymers, and functional materials and their versatile applications will be introduced in this review.
Genome editing offers promising solutions to genetic disorders by editing DNA sequences or modulating gene expression. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats ...(CRISPR)/associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) technology can be used to edit single or multiple genes in a wide variety of cell types and organisms in vitro and in vivo. Herein, we review the rapidly developing CRISPR/Cas9-based technologies for disease modeling and gene correction and recent progress toward Cas9/guide RNA (gRNA) delivery based on viral and nonviral vectors. We discuss the relative merits of delivering the genome editing elements in the form of DNA, mRNA, or protein, and the opportunities of combining viral delivery of a transgene encoding Cas9 with nonviral delivery of gRNA. We highlight the lessons learned from nonviral gene delivery in the past three decades and consider their applicability for CRISPR/Cas9 delivery. We also include a discussion of bioinformatics tools for gRNA design and chemical modifications of gRNA. Finally, we consider the extracellular and intracellular barriers to nonviral CRISPR/Cas9 delivery and propose strategies that may overcome these barriers to realize the clinical potential of CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing.
Ferroelectric vortices formed through complex lattice-charge interactions have great potential in applications for future nanoelectronics such as memories. For practical applications, it is crucial ...to manipulate these topological states under external stimuli. Here, we apply mechanical loads to locally manipulate the vortices in a PbTiO
/SrTiO
superlattice via atomically resolved in-situ scanning transmission electron microscopy. The vortices undergo a transition to the a-domain with in-plane polarization under external compressive stress and spontaneously recover after removal of the stress. We reveal the detailed transition process at the atomic scale and reproduce this numerically using phase-field simulations. These findings provide new pathways to control the exotic topological ferroelectric structures for future nanoelectronics and also valuable insights into understanding of lattice-charge interactions at nanoscale.
Controlled delivery of protein therapeutics remains a challenge. Here, the inclusion of diselenide‐bond‐containing organosilica moieties into the framework of silica to fabricate biodegradable ...mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with oxidative and redox dual‐responsiveness is reported. These diselenide‐bridged MSNs can encapsulate cytotoxic RNase A into the 8–10 nm internal pores via electrostatic interaction and release the payload via a matrix‐degradation controlled mechanism upon exposure to oxidative or redox conditions. After surface cloaking with cancer‐cell‐derived membrane fragments, these bioinspired RNase A‐loaded MSNs exhibit homologous targeting and immune‐invasion characteristics inherited from the source cancer cells. The efficient in vitro and in vivo anti‐cancer performance, which includes increased blood circulation time and enhanced tumor accumulation along with low toxicity, suggests that these cell‐membrane‐coated, dual‐responsive degradable MSNs represent a promising platform for the delivery of bio‐macromolecules such as protein and nucleic acid therapeutics.
Diselenide‐bond‐containing organosilica moieties are introduced into the framework of mesoporous silica to fabricate biodegradable mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with an oxidative and redox dual‐responsive degradable feature. After surface cloaking with cancer‐cell‐derived membrane fragments, these bioinspired RNase‐A‐loaded MSNs exhibit homologous targeting and immune escape abilities, leading to efficient in vitro and in vivo anti‐cancer performance along with low toxicity.
Highlights
This review focuses on the therapeutic mechanisms, targeting strategies of various nanomaterials in acute liver failure, and recent advances of diverse nanomaterials for acute liver ...failure therapy, diagnosis, and imaging.
This review provides an outlook on the applications of nanomaterials, especially on the new horizons in acute liver failure therapy, and inspires broader interests across various disciplines.
Acute liver failure (ALF), a fatal clinical disease featured with overwhelming hepatocyte necrosis, is a grand challenge in global health. However, a satisfactory therapeutic option for curing ALF is still absent, other than liver transplantation. Nanobiomaterials are currently being developed for the diagnosis and treatment of ALF. The liver can sequester most of nanoparticles from blood circulation, which becomes an intrinsic superiority for nanobiomaterials targeting hepatic diseases. Nanobiomaterials can enhance the bioavailability of free drugs, thereby significantly improving the therapeutic effects in ALF. Nanobiomaterials can also increase the liver accumulation of therapeutic agents and enable more effective targeting of the liver or specific liver cells. In addition, stimuli-responsive, optical, or magnetic nanomaterials exhibit great potential in the therapeutical, diagnostic, and imaging applications in ALF. Therefore, therapeutic agents in combination with nanobiomaterials increase the specificity of ALF therapy, diminish adverse systemic effects, and offer a multifunctional theranostic platform. Nanobiomaterial holds excellent significance and prospects in ALF theranostics. In this review, we summarize the therapeutic mechanisms and targeting strategies of various nanobiomaterials in ALF. We highlight recent developments of diverse nanomedicines for ALF therapy, diagnosis, and imaging. Furthermore, the challenges and future perspectives in the theranostics of ALF are also discussed.
Abstract Despite progress, combination therapy of different functional drugs to increase the efficiency of anticancer treatment still remains challenges. An amphiphilic methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)- ...b -poly( l -glutamic acid)- b -poly( l -lysine) triblock copolymer decorated with deoxycholate (mPEsG- b -PLG- b -PLL/DOCA) was synthesized and developed as a nanovehicle for the co-delivery of anticancer drugs: doxorubicin (DOX) and paclitaxel (PTX). The amphiphilic copolymer spontaneously self-assembled into micellar-type nanoparticles in aqueous solutions and the blank nanoparticles possessed excellent stability. Three different domains of the copolymer performed distinct functions: PEG outer corona provided prolonged circulation, middle biodegradable and hydrophilic PLG shell was designed for DOX loading through electrostatic interactions, and hydrophobic deoxycholate modified PLL served as the container for PTX. In vitro cytotoxicity assays against A549 human lung adenocarcinoma cell line demonstrated that the DOX + PTX co-delivered nanoparticles (Co-NPs) exhibited synergistic effect in inducing cancer cell apoptosis. Ex vivo DOX fluorescence imaging revealed that Co-NPs had highly efficient targeting and accumulation at the implanted site of A549 xenograft tumor in vivo . Co-NPs exhibited significantly higher antitumor efficiency in reducing tumor size compared to free drug combination or single drug-loaded nanoparticles, while no obvious side effects were observed during the treatment, indicating this co-delivery system with different functional antitumor drugs provides the clinical potential in cancer therapy.
PDF
