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ASIA-PACIFIC – A microRNA study might cast new light on ALS treatment.

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REST OF THE WORLD – Junk food could be responsible for the food allergy epidemic.

In this paper, the cisplatin composite micro/nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning. Average diameter of the typical products was about 700 nm, and cisplatins were incorporated in biodegradable poly (L-lactic acid) fibers. The controlled release of cisplatin can be gained for long time. The possible mechanisms of cisplatin release in the PBS and the PBS with proteinase K were discussed. 3-(4, 5)-dimethylthiahiazo-(-z-y1)-3, 5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide (MTT) method was used to test antitumor activities in vitro against human lung tumor spc-a-1 cells. When incubation time was 24 h, the same content of cisplatin from virgin cisplatin and the composite fibers has almost equal antitumor activity in vitro. However, when incubation time was 48 h, the composite fibers show much higher antitumor activity than the virgin cisplatin. The system may be useful in the postoperative local chemotherapy and have clinical applications as an implantable drug for tumor in the future.

The adsorption of cisplatin on pristine monolayer graphene (MLG), pristine bilayer graphene (BLG) and Al-doped BLG (Al-BLG) was investigated using density functional theory. The obtained results showed that pristine MLG and pristine BLG were not sensitive to cisplatin. Adsorption energy can be primarily influenced by the atomic species rather than the adsorption position. Moreover, it is strong chemisorption of hollow-site Al-BLG (H-Al-BLG) toward cisplatin. The most stable configurations are the Pt or Cl atom interaction with the Al atom of H-Al-BLG. In conclusion, H-Al-BLG is a kind of potential high quality delivery carrier for anticancer cisplatin.

Since the discovery of cisplatin, drugs based on platinum, have made a significant impact on the treatment of various cancers. The administration of platinum drugs is however accompanied by significant side effects. This chapter discusses the types of drug delivery systems that have been developed in order to enable the targeted delivery while maintaining controlled temporal supply of the drug. The sizes of carriers range from nanometer to micrometer sized particles. The most common types of drug carriers are micelles, liposomes, nanoparticles, and dendrimers, but also a few microspheres have been developed. Most striking aspect of the delivery of platinum drugs is the possibility of physical encapsulation but also the binding of the drug to the polymer carrier coordinate covalent bond. Since platinum drugs have typically two permanent and two leaving ligands, the polymer can be part of either ligand. As the leaving ligand, the platinum drug is released often as cisplatin. If the polymer provides the functionality for the permanent ligand, a new macromolecular drug has been formed. In addition to the attachment of pt(II) drugs, recent offorts are devoted to the conjugation via the Pt((IV) prodrug.

Platinum-based drugs continue being the support of therapy for many different kinds of cancer. Cancer patients often present irreversible resistance to platinum after repeated treatment in clinic. Despite of the great efforts, chemoresistance (intrinsic or acquired) already is a major limitation in the management of this disease. In this review, the last current research on cancer characteristic and cancer chemical resistance is summarized, the major and novel strategies to reverse resistance to platinum- based drugs are discussed and this article mainly emphasizes the contribution of nanotechnology and combination therapies to target sites and reduce the cancer chemoresistance.