Polysaccharide-Based Nanomedicines Targeting Lung Cancer

Abstract

A primary illness that accounts for a significant portion of fatalities worldwide is cancer. Among the main malignancies, lung cancer is recognised as the most chronic kind of cancer around the globe. Radiation treatment, surgery, and chemotherapy are some medical procedures used in the traditional care of lung cancer. However, these methods lack selectivity and damage nearby healthy cells. Several polysaccharide-based nanomaterials have been created to transport chemotherapeutics to reduce harmful and adverse side effects and improve response during anti-tumour reactions. To address these drawbacks, a class of naturally occurring polymers called polysaccharides have special physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. They can interact with the immune system to induce a better immunological response. Furthermore, because of the flexibility of their structures, it is possible to create multifunctional nanocomposites with excellent stability and bioavailability for the delivery of medicines to tumour tissues. This study seeks to present new views on the use of polysaccharide-based chemotherapeutics and to highlight current developments in polysaccharide-based nanomedicines for lung cancer.

Keywords: chemotherapy; immunity; lung cancer; nanomedicines; polysaccharide.

Figure 1

Pathophysiology of lung cancer.

Figure 2

Anti-proliferative activity of chitosan/copper oxide nanocomposites containing rutin in human lung cancer cells; a systematic depiction of bio-inspired synthesis: (A) synthesis of the CS-CuO-rutin nanocomposite, (B) FE-SEM study, (a) CS-CuO nanocomposite at 65.2 kx magnifications (b) CS-CuO nanocomposite at 113 kx magnifications (C) apoptosis study in A549 cells using the AO/EtBr dual staining method. A549 cells that are untreated and display a green hue are alive, while orange and red hues suggest early cell death for rutin and late cell death for the CS-CuO nanocomposite (a) control cells, (b) rutin treated and (c) CS-CuO nanocomposite treated [58].

Figure 3

Systematic demonstration of spray drying as a successful method for producing doxorubicin drug carriers made of silica nanoparticles and sodium alginate. (A) Flowchart of Dox-biohybrid drug carrier manufacture. (B) SEM micrographs of (a) 1% Dox-silica nanoparticles (Dox-silica NP), (b) 2% Dox-sodium alginate (Dox-sodium alginate), and (c) a biohybrid of the two (Dox-biohybrid). (C) Examination of the cellular uptake of free Dox and encapsulated Dox using fluorescence microscopy. (a) Fluorescence microscopy image of treated cells. (b) Quantitative assessment of treated cells by flow cytometry. (c) Percent positive cells with Dox expression analyzed through flow cytometry from three independent experiments. (* p < 0.05) [77].

Figure 4

A novel magnetic nanocomposite (Fe₃O₄/Pectin/Au) for catalytic reduction of nitroarenes and investigation into its anti-human lung cancer properties, with a systematic representation of the in situ decorated Au nanoparticles on pectin-modified Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles. (A) Fe₃O₄/Pectin/Au nanocomposite preparation and use in the reduction of nitroarenes (B) Homogenous dispersion of Fe, C, and Au atoms over the nanocomposite surface is shown by FESEM analysis. (a) Fe₃O₄/Pectin and (b) Fe₃O₄/Pectin/Au nanocomposite. (C) Fe₃O₄/Pectin/Au nanocomposite elemental mapping [83].