N. Helge Meyer1*
Claudia Corbo2,3
Guillermo R. Castro4,5
Goran Stjepanovic6
Giada G. Genchi7
Valerio Marino8- 1Department of Human Medicine, University Hospital of General and Visceral Surgery, University of Oldenburg, Milan, Italy
- 2Center for Nanomedicine NANOMIB, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milan Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- 3IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy
- 4Max Planck Laboratory for Structural Biology, Chemistry and Molecular Biophysics of Rosario (MPLbioR,UNR-MPIbpC), Partner Laboratory of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (MPIbpC,MPG), Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CEI—CONICET), National University of Rosario, Rosario, Argentina
- 5Nanomedicine Nucleus, Center for Natural and Human Sciences, Federal University of ABC, Santo André, Brazil
- 6School of Medicine, Kobilka Institute of Innovative Drug Discovery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China
- 7Smart Bio-Interfaces, Center for Materials Interfaces, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Pontedera, Italy
- 8Section of Biological Chemistry, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
Editorial on the Research Topic
Interactions of nanoparticles with and within living organisms—What can we learn to improve efficacy of nanomedicine?
Nanoparticles (NPs) are on the verge of being established as a mainstay of modern medicine. Currently, numerous synthetic nanomaterials derived from various organic or inorganic materials such as lipids, proteins, synthetic/natural polymer, and metals are available for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. Due to their structural versatility, storage stability, and ease of functionalization, NPs have extensive fields of applications spanning from environmental science to medicine. In medicine, NPs are incessantly being improved for drug delivery, tissue engineering, and diseases diagnosis, just to name a few. However, in vitro and animal models of NP applications often fail to translate successfully to clinical settings, highlighting a lack of understanding in the interaction of NPs with living systems. In this Research Topic, the multiple aspects of this dilemma are examined from different angles by researchers across a range of disciplines.
The global outbreak of SARS-CoV2 has held us hostage for the past 2 years. A novel class of NP-based mRNA vaccines has emerged as a highly effective weapon in the fight against the virus. (Schoenmaker et al., 2021). However, the development of antiviral therapies against SARS-CoV2 remains critical. Stanisic et al. present a cost-effective, bio-based synthesis of antiviral silver NPs and 3D flexible nanostructure composite materials, which effectively suppressed infection of fibroblasts with a murine coronavirus as a proxy for SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, the authors present an innovative approach to tracing coronavirus infection in vitro utilizing high-resolution magic-angle spinning NMR spectroscopy.
It is believed that plants were used for therapeutic purposes for at least 60.000 years, based on fossil records (Solecki, 1975). In modern medicine plants still serve as valuable sources in drug development, e.g. for the isolation of novel active compounds or the production of therapeutic extracts (Fabricant and Farnsworth, 2001). Medical use of plant extracts, however, is challenging due to complex compositions, risk of toxicity, and instability issues. In this regard, NP formulations have the potential to reduce plant extract toxicity and facilitate targeted delivery. Emanet et al. encapsulated hazelnut extracts, known to have antioxidant properties, in nanostructured lipid carriers which demonstrated optimal cytocompatibility and excellent antioxidant activity in a human dermal fibroblast cell culture model. Ali et al. present a novel strategy to generate and comprehensively characterize nanosuspension from Nigella (N.) sativa, an annual blooming herb rich in thymoquinone (Hannan et al., 2021). Nanosuspension of N. sativa had increased bioavailability of bioactive compounds, consequently showing higher biochemical activity as compared to conventional ethanolic extracts. This study highlights the development of environmentally friendly synthesis of nanosuspensions for studying the enhanced bioactivities.
NPs can specifically be designed to overcome several limitations of free therapeutics. In terms of targeted delivery, they offer immense potential to bypass biological barriers (Mitchell et al., 2021). The oral mucosal barrier–beyond physically limiting molecular uptake–also has a transport and metabolic component, responsible for regulating influx, efflux, enzymatic modification and degradation of substances (Bierbaumer et al., 2018). Jeitler et al. aimed at optimizing the composition of lipid-structured NPs in order to enhance their efficiency safety and uptake by buccal epithelial cells. By careful evaluation of NP-to-cell interactions, they identified caveolin-mediated endocytosis as a major uptake route. These findings might guide prospective biopharmaceutical studies.
Nanomaterials have been used extensively for the development of novel cancer therapeutics (Aghebati-Maleki et al., 2020). Particularly, NPs display enhanced targeting capabilities and prolonged retention in the tumor microenvironment of many cancers in ways that can potentially overcome the limitations of immunotherapy. A review by Noubissi Nzeteu et al. recapitulates in depth NP-based immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer and provides an outlook on future treatment possibilities.
In conclusion, this collection of related articles highlights novel strategies to understand the physiological and pathological properties of NPs. A comprehensive understanding of NP behavior in clinical settings will eventually be obtained from cell-based and in vivo studies, accelerating the introduction of nanomedicine into clinical practice.
Author contributions
NM wrote the editorial, which was revised and approved by all authors.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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References
Aghebati-Maleki, A., Dolati, S., Ahmadi, M., Baghbanzhadeh, A., Asadi, M., Fotouhi, A., et al. (2020). Nanoparticles and cancer therapy: Perspectives for application of nanoparticles in the treatment of cancers. J. Cell. Physiol. 235, 1962–1972. doi:10.1002/jcp.29126
Bierbaumer, L., Schwarze, U. Y., Gruber, R., and Neuhaus, W. (2018). Cell culture models of oral mucosal barriers: A review with a focus on applications, culture conditions and barrier properties. Tissue Barriers 6, 1479568. doi:10.1080/21688370.2018.1479568
Fabricant, D. S., and Farnsworth, N. R. (2001). The value of plants used in traditional medicine for drug discovery. Environ. Health Perspect. 109 (1), 69–75. doi:10.1289/ehp.01109s169
Hannan, M. A., Rahman, M. A., Sohag, A. a. M., Uddin, M. J., Dash, R., Sikder, M. H., et al. (2021). Black cumin (Nigella sativa L.): A comprehensive review on phytochemistry, health benefits, molecular pharmacology, and safety. Nutrients 13, 1784. doi:10.3390/nu13061784
Mitchell, M. J., Billingsley, M. M., Haley, R. M., Wechsler, M. E., Peppas, N. A., and Langer, R. (2021). Engineering precision nanoparticles for drug delivery. Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 20, 101–124. doi:10.1038/s41573-020-0090-8
Schoenmaker, L., Witzigmann, D., Kulkarni, J. A., Verbeke, R., Kersten, G., Jiskoot, W., et al. (2021). mRNA-lipid nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccines: Structure and stability. Int. J. Pharm. 601, 120586. doi:10.1016/j.ijpharm.2021.120586
Keywords: nanoparticles, nanomedicine, green synthesis, NMR, nanosuspensions, pancreatic cancer, cancer immunotherapy, targeted delivery
Citation: Meyer NH, Corbo C, Castro GR, Stjepanovic G, Genchi GG and Marino V (2022) Editorial: Interactions of nanoparticles with and within living organisms—What can we learn to improve efficacy of nanomedicine?. Front. Mol. Biosci. 9:1044063. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.1044063
Received: 14 September 2022; Accepted: 21 September 2022;
Published: 18 October 2022.
Edited and reviewed by:
Gianni Ciofani, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), ItalyCopyright © 2022 Meyer, Corbo, Castro, Stjepanovic, Genchi and Marino. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: N. Helge Meyer, helge.meyer@uni-oldenburg.de