Intrauterine adhesion (IUA) is a common gynaecological disease that develops from infection or trauma. IUA disease may seriously affect the physical and mental health of women of childbearing age, which may lead to symptoms such as hypomenorrhea or infertility. Presently, hysteroscopic transcervical resection of adhesion (TCRA) is the principal therapy for IUAs, although its function in preventing the recurrence of adhesion and preserving fertility is limited. Pharmaceuticals such as hormones and vasoactive agents and the placement of nondegradable stents are the most common postoperative adjuvant therapy methods. However, the repair of injured endometrium is relatively restricted due to the different anatomical structures of the endometrium. Recently, the treatment outcome of IUAs has improved with the advancement of hysteroscopic techniques. In particular, the application of bioactive scaffolds combined with tissue engineering technology has proven to have high therapeutic potential or endometrial repair in IUA treatment. Herein, this review has summarized past therapeutic strategies, including postoperative adjuvant therapy, cell or therapeutic molecular delivery therapy methods and bioactive scaffold-based tissue engineering methods. Therefore, this review presented the recent therapeutic strategies for repairing endometrium treatment and pointed out the issues of clinical concern to provide alternative methods for the management of IUAs.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) poses a great burden to global public health as current therapies are generally ineffective. Early detection and effective therapy are crucial for the future prevention and progression of CKD. Nanoparticles (NPs) vary by particle size, charge, shape and the density of targeting ligands and are associated with enhancement of the pharmacokinetic properties, targetability, or the bioavailability of drugs. Thus, the emergence of NPs in medicine has provided novel solutions to the potential diagnosis and treatment of CKD. This review describes the current experimental research, clinical applications of NPs, the current challenges, and upcoming opportunities in the diagnosis and treatment of CKD.
28 May 2021 in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
Kidney diseases have gradually become a global health burden. Along with the development of nanotechnology, many hybrids or nanomaterials have been utilized to promote treatment efficiency with negligible side effects. These therapeutic agents have been successfully applied in many fields. In particular, some efforts have also been made to ameliorate the treatment of kidney diseases through targeted delivery nanomaterials. Though most of the delivery systems have not yet been transmitted into clinical use or even still at an early stage, they have shown great potential in carrying immunosuppressants like tacrolimus and triptolide, antioxidants, or siRNAs. Excitingly, some of them have achieved significant treatment effectiveness and reduced systemic side effect in kidney disease animal models. Here, we have reviewed the recent advances and presented nanotherapeutic devices designed for kidney targeted delivery.
Metal sulfide nanomaterials (MeSNs) are a novel class of metal-containing nanomaterials composed of metal ions and sulfur compounds. During the past decade, scientists found that the MeSNs engineered by specific approaches not only had high biocompatibility but also exhibited unique physicochemical properties for cancer therapy, such as Fenton catalysis, light conversion, radiation enhancement, and immune activation. To clarify the development and promote the clinical transformation of MeSNs, the first section of this paper describes the appropriate fabrication approaches of MeSNs for medical science and analyzes the features and limitations of each approach. Secondly, we sort out the mechanisms of functional MeSNs in cancer therapy, including drug delivery, phototherapy, radiotherapy, chemodynamic therapy, gas therapy, and immunotherapy. It is worth noting that the intact MeSNs and the degradation products of MeSNs can exert different types of anti-tumor activities. Thus, MeSNs usually exhibit synergistic antitumor properties. Finally, future expectations and challenges of MeSNs in the research of translational medicine are spotlighted.
Asherman's syndrome (AS), a leading cause of uterine infertility worldwide, is characterized by scarring of the uterine surfaces lacking endometrial epithelial cells, which prevents endometrial regeneration. Current research on cell therapy for AS focuses on mesenchymal and adult stem cells from the endometrium. However, insufficient number, lack of purity, and rapid senescence of endometrial epithelial progenitor cells (EEPCs) during experimental processes restrict their use in cell therapies. In this study, we induced human embryonic stem cells-9 (H9-ESC) into EEPCs by optimizing the induction factors from the definitive endoderm. EEPCs, which act as endometrial epithelial cells, accompanied by human endometrial stromal cells provide a niche environment for the development of endometrial membrane organoids (EMOs) in an in vitro 3D culture model. To investigate the function of EMOs, we transplanted tissue-engineered constructs with EMOs into an in vivo rat AS model. The implantation of EMOs into the damaged endometrium facilitates endometrial regeneration and angiogenesis. Implanting EMOs developed from human embryonic stem cells into the endometrium might prove useful for “endometrial re-engineering” in the treatment of Asherman's syndrome.
Blood purification is a commonly used method to remove excess metabolic waste in the blood in renal replacement therapy. The sufficient removal of these toxins from blood can reduce complications and improve survival lifetime in dialysis patients. However, the current biological blood purification materials in clinical practice are not ideal, where there is an unmet need for producing novel materials that have better biocompatibility, reduced toxicity, and, in particular, more efficient toxin clearance rates and a lower cost of production. Given this, this review has carefully summarized newly developed engineered different structural biomedical materials for blood purification in terms of types and structure characteristics of blood purification materials, the production process, as well as interfacial chemical adsorption properties or mechanisms. This study may provide a valuable reference for fabricating a user-friendly purification device that is more suitable for clinical blood purification applications in dialysis patients.