Objective: Exosomes (Exos) are membrane-encased vesicles derived by nearly all cell types for intercellular communication and regulation. They also received attention for their use as natural therapeutic platforms and drug delivery system. Classically activated M1 macrophages suppress tumor growth by releasing pro-inflammatory factors. This study investigated the suitability of M1-exosomes (M1-Exos) as drug carrier and their effect on the NF-κB signal pathway and further detected whether macrophages repolarization can potentiate the antitumor activities of chemotherapeutics.

Chromium is a harmful contaminant showing mutagenicity and carcinogenicity. Therefore, detection of chromium requires the development of low-cost and high-sensitivity sensors. Herein, blue-fluorescent carbon quantum dots were synthesized by one-step hydrothermal method from alkali-soluble Poria cocos polysaccharide, which is green source, cheap and easy to obtain, and has no pharmacological activity due to low water solubility. These carbon quantum dots exhibit good fluorescence stability, water solubility, anti-interference and low cytotoxicity, and can be specifically combined with the detection of Cr(VI) to form a non-fluorescent complex that causes fluorescence quenching, so they can be used as a label-free nanosensor. High-sensitivity detection of Cr(VI) was achieved through internal filtering and static quenching effects. The fluorescence quenching degree of carbon dots fluorescent probe showed a good linear relationship with Cr(VI) concentration in the range of 1–100 μM. The linear equation was F₀/F = 0.9942 + 0.01472 [Cr(VI)] (R² = 0.9922), and the detection limit can be as low as 0.25 μM (S/N = 3), which has been successfully applied to Cr(VI) detection in actual water samples herein.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanosized particles released by numerous kinds of cells, which are now increasingly considered as essential vehicles of cell-to-cell communication and biomarkers in disease diagnosis and treatment. They contain a variety of biomolecular components, including lipids, proteins and nucleic acids. These functional molecules can be transmitted between tumor cells and other stromal cells such as endothelial cells, fibroblasts and immune cells utilizing EVs. As a result, tumor-derived EVs can deliver molecules to remodel the tumor microenvironment, thereby influencing cancer progression. On the one hand, tumor-derived EVs reprogram functions of endothelial cells, promote cancer-associated fibroblasts transformation, induce resistance to therapy and inhibit the immune response to form a pro-tumorigenic environment. On the other hand, tumor-derived EVs stimulate the immune response to create an anti-tumoral environment. This article focuses on presenting a comprehensive and critical overview of the potential role of tumor-derived EVs-mediated communication in the tumor microenvironment.

Immunotherapy is an important cancer treatment method that offers hope for curing cancer patients. While immunotherapy has achieved initial success, a major obstacle to its widespread adoption is the inability to benefit the majority of patients. The success or failure of immunotherapy is closely linked to the tumor's immune microenvironment. Recently, there has been significant attention on strategies to regulate the tumor immune microenvironment in order to stimulate anti-tumor immune responses in cancer immunotherapy. The distinctive physical properties and design flexibility of nanomedicines have been extensively utilized to target immune cells (including tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), T cells, myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), and tumor-associated fibroblasts (TAFs)), offering promising advancements in cancer immunotherapy. In this article, we have reviewed treatment strategies aimed at targeting various immune cells to regulate the tumor immune microenvironment. The focus is on cancer immunotherapy models that are based on nanomedicines, with the goal of inducing or enhancing anti-tumor immune responses to improve immunotherapy. It is worth noting that combining cancer immunotherapy with other treatments, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and photodynamic therapy, can maximize the therapeutic effects. Finally, we have identified the challenges that nanotechnology-mediated immunotherapy needs to overcome in order to design more effective nanosystems.

With the aim to develop a lipid nanoparticle for biochanin A (BCA) by emulsion-evaporation and low temperature-solidification technique. The results revealed that BCA–PEG–NLC not only have small mean particle (148.5 ± 2.88 nm) with narrow polydispersity index (PI) (0.153 ± 0.01), encapsulation capacity (99.62 ± 0.06%), payload (9.06 ± 0.01%), zeta potential (−19.83 ± 1.19 mV), but also slower release rate compared with BCA suspension over 48 h by the dialysis method (n=3). The crystallinity of lipid matrix within BCA–PEG–NLC was evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) which verified the BCA successfully into the nanoparticles. Particularly, in pharmacokinetic, the BCA–PEG–NLC of C_max values and AUC (area under curve) was higher than BCA suspension (approximately 15.8 and 2.9 times, respectively), meanwhile, the mean residence time (MRT) was significantly longer. Furthermore, in vitro cytotoxicity BCA–PEG–NLC showed higher cytotoxicity against MCF-7 cell line compared with BCA suspension. This study suggested that PEG–NLC is a novel anti-cancer nanoparticle, which could provide attractive treatment for a wide variety of tumors and improved the oral bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drug.