Radionuclide molecular imaging could provide an accurate assessment of the expression of molecular targets in disseminated cancers enabling stratification of patients for specific therapies. B7-H3 ...(CD276) is a transmembrane protein belonging to the B7 superfamily. This protein is overexpressed in different types of human malignancies and such upregulation is generally associated with a poor clinical prognosis. In this study, targeting properties of an Affibody-based probe, AC12, containing a -GGGC amino acid sequence as a chelator (designated as AC12-GGGC) labelled with technetium-99m (99mTc) were evaluated for imaging of B7-H3-expressing tumours. AC12-GGGC was efficiently labelled with 99mTc. 99mTcTc-AC12-GGGC bound specifically to B7-H3 expressing cells in vitro with affinities in nanomolar range. In mice bearing B7-H3-expressing xenografts, 99mTcTc-AC12-GGGC showed tumour uptake of 2.1 ± 0.5 %ID/g at 2 h after injection. Its clearance from blood, normal organs and tissues was very rapid. This new targeting agent, 99mTcTc-AC12-GGGC, provided high tumour-to-blood ratio already at 2 h (8.2 ± 1.9), which increased to 11.0 ± 0.5 at 4 h after injection. Significantly (p < 0.05) higher tumour-to-liver and higher tumour-to-bone ratios at 2 h in comparison with 4 h after injection were observed. Thus, 99mTcTc-AC12-GGGC could be a promising candidate for further development.
B7-H3 (CD276), an immune checkpoint protein, is a promising molecular target for immune therapy of malignant tumours. Sufficient B7-H3 expression level is a precondition for successful therapy. ...Radionuclide molecular imaging is a powerful technique for visualization of expression levels of molecular targets in vivo. Use of small radiolabelled targeting proteins would enable high-contrast radionuclide imaging of molecular targets if adequate binding affinity and specificity of an imaging probe could be provided. Affibody molecules, small engineered affinity proteins based on a non-immunoglobulin scaffold, have demonstrated an appreciable potential in radionuclide imaging. Proof-of principle of radionuclide visualization of expression levels of B7-H3 in vivo was demonstrated using the 99mTcTc-AC12-GGGC Affibody molecule. We performed an affinity maturation of AC12, enabling selection of clones with higher affinity. Three most promising clones were expressed with a –GGGC (triglycine-cysteine) chelating sequence at the C-terminus and labelled with technetium-99m (99mTc). 99mTc-labelled conjugates bound to B7-H3-expressing cells specifically in vitro and in vivo. Biodistribution in mice bearing B7-H3-expressing SKOV-3 xenografts demonstrated improved imaging properties of the new conjugates compared with the parental variant 99mTcTc-AC12-GGGC. 99mTcTc-SYNT-179 provided the strongest improvement of tumour-to-organ ratios. Thus, affinity maturation of B7-H3 Affibody molecules could improve biodistribution and targeting properties for imaging of B7-H3-expressing tumours.
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For surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) sensing of small molecules in the presence of living cells, biofouling and blocking of plasmonic centers are key challenges. Here, we have developed a ...mesoporous Au (AuM) film coated with a Ag nanoparticles (NPs) as a plasmonic sensor (AuM@Ag) to analyze aromatic thiols, which is an example of a small molecule, in the presence of a living cell strain (e.g., MDA-MB-231) as a model living system. The resulting AuM@Ag provides 0.1 nM sensitivity and high reproducibility for thiols sensing. Simultaneously, the AuM@Ag film filters large biomolecules, preventing Raman signals from overlapping produced by large biomolecules. After analysis, the AuM@Ag film undergoes recycling by the full dissolution of the Ag-thiol layer and removal of thiols from AuM. Furthermore, fresh AgNPs are formed for further SERS analysis, which circumvents the Ag oxidation issue. The ease of the AgNPs deposition allows up to 12 cycles of on-demand recycling and sensing even after utilization as a sensor in multicomponent media without enhancement and sensitivity loss. The reported mesoporous film with surface filtering ability and prominent recycling procedure promises to offer a new strategy for the detection of various small molecules in the presence of living cells.
Two alkylated verdazyl radicals (AlkVZs) were investigated as active compounds for photoinitiated controlled MCF-7 cell death. Observed results unambiguously showed that AlkVZ could be a potential ...structural moiety for the design of a novel family of photodynamic therapy agents. The main advantage of the proposed substances is an oxygen-independent generation of active radicals, which play a pivotal role in the treatment of oxygen-deficient tumors.
A new simple electrochemical immunosensor approach for the determination of antibodies to tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) in immunological products was developed and tested. The assay is ...performed by detecting the silver reduction signal in the bioconjugates with antibodies (
). Here, signal is read by cathodic linear sweep voltammetry (CLSV) through the detection of silver chloride reduction on a gold-carbon composite electrode (GCCE). Covalent immobilization of the antigen on the electrode surface was performed after thiolation and glutarization of the GCCE. Specific attention has been paid to the selection of conditions for stabilizing both the silver nanoparticles and their
. A simple flocculation test with NaCl was used to select the concentration of antibodies, and the additional stabilizer bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used for
preparation. The antibodies to TBEV were quantified in the range from 50 IU·mL
to 1600 IU·mL
, with a detection limit of 50 IU·mL
. The coefficient of determination (
) is 0.989. The electrochemical immunosensor was successfully applied to check the quality of immunological products containing IgG antibodies to TBEV. The present work paves the path for a novel method for monitoring TBEV in biological fluids.
The c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs) regulate many physiological processes, including inflammatory responses, morphogenesis, cell proliferation, differentiation, survival, and cell death. Therefore, ...JNKs represent attractive targets for therapeutic intervention. In an effort to develop improved JNK inhibitors, we synthesized the lithium salt of 11H-indeno1,2-bquinoxaline-11-one oxime (IQ-1L) and evaluated its affinity for JNK and biological activity in vitro and in vivo. According to density functional theory (DFT) modeling, the Li+ ion stabilizes the six-membered ring with the 11H-indeno1,2-bquinoxaline-11-one (IQ-1) oximate better than Na+. Molecular docking showed that the Z isomer of the IQ-1 oximate should bind JNK1 and JNK3 better than (E)-IQ-1. Indeed, experimental analysis showed that IQ-1L exhibited higher JNK1-3 binding affinity in comparison with IQ-1S. IQ-1L also was a more effective inhibitor of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nuclear factor-κB/activating protein 1 (NF-κB/AP-1) transcriptional activity in THP-1Blue monocytes and was a potent inhibitor of proinflammatory cytokine production by MonoMac-6 monocytic cells. In addition, IQ-1L inhibited LPS-induced c-Jun phosphorylation in MonoMac-6 cells, directly confirming JNK inhibition. In a rat model of focal cerebral ischemia (FCI), intraperitoneal injections of 12 mg/kg IQ-1L led to significant neuroprotective effects, decreasing total neurological deficit scores by 28, 29, and 32% at 4, 24, and 48 h after FCI, respectively, and reducing infarct size by 52% at 48 h after FCI. The therapeutic efficacy of 12 mg/kg IQ-1L was comparable to that observed with 25 mg/kg of IQ-1S, indicating that complexation with Li+ improved efficacy of this compound. We conclude that IQ-1L is more effective than IQ-1S in treating cerebral ischemia injury and thus represents a promising anti-inflammatory compound.
The increase in bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a global problem for public health. In our previous works, it was shown that the application of AgNPs in cow mastitis treatment increased
and
.
...susceptibility to 31 antibiotics due to a decrease in the bacterial efflux effect. The aim of the present work was to shed light on whether the change in adhesive and anti-lysozyme activities caused by AgNPs also contribute to the restoration of bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics. In vivo sampling was performed before and after cow mastitis treatments with antibiotics or AgNPs. The isolates were identified, and the adhesive and anti-lysozyme activities were assessed. These data were compared with the results obtained for in vitro pre-treatment of reference bacteria with AgNPs or antibiotics. The present study revealed that bacterial treatments in vitro and in vivo with AgNPs: (1) decrease the bacterial ability to adhere to cells to start an infection and (2) decrease bacterial anti-lysozyme activity, thereby enhancing the activity of lysozyme, a natural "antibiotic" present in living organisms. The obtained data contribute to the perspective of the future application of AgNPs for recovering the activity of antibiotics rapidly disappearing from the market.
The growing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics is one of the main public health problems nowadays. The influence of silver nanoparticle (AgNP) pretreatment of 220 cows with mastitis on the ...susceptibility of
bacteria to 31 antibiotics was studied. The obtained results were compared with the previous results for
,
, and
. For all four bacteria, an increase in susceptibility (9.5-21.2%) to 31 antibiotics after cow treatment with AgNPs was revealed, while after first-line antibiotic drug treatment as expected, the susceptibility decreased (11.3-27.3%). These effects were explained by (1) the increase in the contribution of isolates with efflux effect after antibiotic treatments and its decrease after AgNP treatment and (2) the changes in bacteria adhesion and anti-lysozyme activity after these treatments. The effect of the increasing antibacterial activity of antibiotics after AgNP treatment was the most pronounced in the case of
and was minimal in the case of
. With AgNP treatment, the time of recovery decreased by 26.8-48.4% compared to the time of recovery after treatment with the first-line antibiotic drugs. The AgNP treatment allows for achieving the partial restoration of the activity of antibiotics.
The activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) plays an important role in stroke outcomes. Tryptanthrin-6-oxime (TRYP-Ox) is reported to have high affinity for JNK and anti-inflammatory activity and ...may be of interest as a promising neuroprotective agent. The aim of this study was to investigate the neuroprotective effects of TRYP-Ox in a rat model of transient focal cerebral ischemia (FCI), which involved intraluminal occlusion of the left middle cerebral artery (MCA) for 1 h. Animals in the experimental group were administered intraperitoneal injections of TRYP-Ox 30 min before reperfusion and 23 and 47 h after FCI. Neurological status was assessed 4, 24, and 48 h following FCI onset. Treatment with 5 and 10 mg/kg of TRYP-Ox decreased mean scores of neurological deficits by 35–49 and 46–67% at 24 and 48 h, respectively. At these doses, TRYP-Ox decreased the infarction size by 28–31% at 48 h after FCI. TRYP-Ox (10 mg/kg) reduced the content of interleukin (IL) 1β and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in the ischemic core area of the MCA region by 33% and 38%, respectively, and attenuated cerebral edema by 11% in the left hemisphere, which was affected by infarction, and by 6% in the right, contralateral hemisphere 24 h after FCI. TRYP-Ox reduced c-Jun phosphorylation in the MCA pool at 1 h after reperfusion. TRYP-Ox was predicted to have high blood–brain barrier permeability using various calculated descriptors and binary classification trees. Indeed, reactive oxidant production was significantly lower in the brain homogenates from rats treated with TRYP-Ox versus that in control animals. Our data suggest that the neuroprotective activity of TRYP-Ox may be due to the ability of this compound to inhibit JNK and exhibit anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity. Thus, TRYP-Ox may be considered a promising neuroprotective agent that potentially could be used for the development of new treatment strategies in cerebral ischemia.
Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have a wide range of bioactivity, which is highly dependent on particle size, shape, stabilizer, and production method. Here, we present the results of studies of AgNPs ...cytotoxic properties obtained by irradiation treatment of silver nitrate solution and various stabilizers by accelerating electron beam in a liquid medium.
The results of studies of morphological characteristics of silver nanoparticles were obtained by transmission electron microscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering measurements. MTT test, alamar blue test, flow cytometry, and fluorescence microscopy were used to study the anti-cancer properties. As biological objects for standard tests, adhesive and suspension cell cultures of normal and tumor origin, including prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, neuroblastoma, and leukemia, were studied.
The results showed that the silver nanoparticles obtained by irradiation with polyvinylpyrrolidone and collagen hydrolysate are stable in solutions. Samples with different stabilizers were characterized by a wide average size distribution from 2 to 50 nm and low zeta potential from -7.3 to +12.4 mV. All AgNPs formulations showed a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect on tumor cells. It has been established that the particles obtained with the combination of polyvinylpyrrolidone/collagen hydrolysate have a relatively more pronounced cytotoxic effect in comparison to samples stabilized with only collagen or only polyvinylpyrrolidone. The minimum inhibitory concentrations for nanoparticles were less than 1 μg/mL for various types of tumor cells. It was found that neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y) is the most susceptible, and ovarian cancer (SKOV-3) is the most resistant to the action of silver nanoparticles. The activity of the AgNPs formulation prepared with a mixture of PVP and PH studied in this work was higher that activity of other AgNPs formulations reported in the literature by about 50 times.
The results indicate that the AgNPs formulations synthesized with an electron beam and stabilized with polyvinylpyrrolidone and protein hydrolysate deserve deep study for their further use in selective cancer treatment without harming healthy cells in the patient organism.