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A recent approach in the treatment of diseased cells/tissues is the use of smart, stimuli-responsive nanomaterials. Well-known examples include photosensitizer agents that after light irradiation at a specific wavelength generate singlet oxygen species (strongly cytotoxic) or self-assembled supramolecular structures, which blow up cancer cells by releasing their payload upon an external stimulus, thus making cancer cells swell and burst (so-called "nanobombs"). In this work we synthesized and characterized a polymeric star-like pentaporphyrin system (5P) that, depending on the photoexcitation wavelength selected, can act either as a photosensitizer or as a nanobomb. The 5P compound was characterized by using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, UV-vis, and fluorescence spectroscopy techniques. The hydrodynamic size of the 5P compound in physiological buffer solution, as determined by dynamic light spectroscopy, pointed to the formation of aggregates. The toxicity and the blow-up capability of 5P were tested on human neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y cell line). Results demonstrated that the 5P system can work as a light-triggered nanobomb for targeted cell death. In fact, while the cell's treatment with the compound in the darkness did not induce cell toxicity, the 5P irradiation with laser light at wavelengths of 458 or 405 nm resulted in the generation of singlet oxygen species or a true explosion in a cellular environment, respectively.

In this study, graphene oxide (GO) and reduced-thiolated GO (rGOSH) were used as 2D substrate to fabricate nanocomposites with nanoparticles of gold nanospheres (AuNS) or nanorods (AuNR), via in situ reduction of the metal salt precursor and seed-mediated growth processes. The plasmonic sensing capability of the gold-decorated nanosheets were scrutinized by UV-visible (UV-VIS) spectroscopy. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), thermogravimetric analyses (TGA), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were performed in order to prove the actual reduction that occurred concomitantly with the thiolation of GO, the increase in the hydrophobic character as well as the size, and preferential gathering of the gold nanoparticles onto the nanosheet substrates, respectively. Moreover, the theoretical electronic and infrared absorption (UV-VIS and IR) spectra were calculated within a time-dependent approach of density functional theory (DFT). Eventually, in vitro cellular experiments on human neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y line) were carried out in order to evaluate the nanotoxicity of the nanocomposites by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide tetrazolium reduction (MTT) colorimetric assay. Results pointed out the promising potential of these hybrids as plasmonic theranostic platforms with different hydrophilic or hydrophobic features as well as cytotoxic effects against cancer cells.

In this study, a novel multifunctional nanoplatform based on core-shell nanoparticles of spherical gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) capped with low and high molecular weight (200 and 700 kDa) hyaluronic acid (HA), was assembled via a green, one-pot redox synthesis method at room temperature. A multitechnique characterization approach by UV-visible spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering and atomic force microscopy pointed to the effective &lsquo, surface decoration&rsquo, of the gold nanoparticles by HA, resulting in different grafting densities of the biopolymer chains at the surface of the metal nanoparticle, which in turn affected the physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles. Specifically, the spectral features of the gold plasmonic peak (and the related calculated optical size), the hydrodynamic diameter and the nanoparticle stability were found to depend on the molecular weight of the HA. The CD44-targeting capability of HA-functionalized gold nanoparticles was tested in terms of antibacterial activity and cytotoxicity. An enhanced inhibitory activity against both Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus was found, with a HA molecular weight (MW)-dependent trend for the HA-capped AuNPs compared to the bare, glucose-capped AuNPs. Cell viability assays performed on two CD44-positive cell models, namely normal human umbilical vein endothelial (HUVEC) and prostate tumor (PC-3) cells, in comparison with neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y), which do not express the CD44 receptor, demonstrated an increased cytotoxicity in neuroblastoma compared to prostate cancer cells upon the cellular treatments by HA&ndash, AuNP compared to the bare AuNP, but a receptor-dependent perturbation effect on cytoskeleton actin and lysosomal organelles, as detected by confocal microscopy. These results highlighted the promising potentialities of the HA-decorated gold nanoparticles for selective cytotoxicity in cancer therapy. Confocal microscopy imaging of the two human tumor cell models demonstrated a membrane-confined uptake of HA-capped AuNP in the cancer cells that express CD44 receptors and the different perturbation effects related to molecular weight of HA wrapping the metallic core of the plasmonic nanoparticles on cellular organelles and membrane mobility.

Graphene oxide (GO) is a bidimensional novel material that exhibits high biocompatibility and angiogenic properties, mostly related to the intracellular formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this work, we set up an experimental methodology for the fabrication of GO@peptide hybrids by the immobilization, via irreversible physical adsorption, of the Ac-(GHHPH)4-NH2 peptide sequence, known to mimic the anti-angiogenic domain of the histidine-proline-rich glycoprotein (HPRG). The anti-proliferative capability of the graphene-peptide hybrids were tested in vitro by viability assays on prostate cancer cells (PC-3 line), human neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y), and human retinal endothelial cells (primary HREC). The anti-angiogenic response of the two cellular models of angiogenesis, namely endothelial and prostate cancer cells, was scrutinized by prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) release and wound scratch assays, to correlate the activation of inflammatory response upon the cell treatments with the GO@peptide nanocomposites to the cell migration processes. Results showed that the GO@peptide nanoassemblies not only effectively induced toxicity in the prostate cancer cells, but also strongly blocked the cell migration and inhibited the prostaglandin-mediated inflammatory process both in PC-3 and in HRECs. Moreover, the cytotoxic mechanism and the internalization efficiency of the theranostic nanoplatforms, investigated by mitochondrial ROS production analyses and confocal microscopy imaging, unraveled a dose-dependent manifold mechanism of action performed by the hybrid nanoassemblies against the PC-3 cells, with the detection of the GO-characteristic cell wrapping and mitochondrial perturbation. The obtained results pointed out to the very promising potential of the synthetized graphene-based hybrids for cancer therapy.