3D printing is an emerging field that can be found in medicine, electronics, aviation and other fields. 3D printing, with its personalized and highly customized characteristics, has great potential in the pharmaceutical industry. We were interested in how 3D printing can be used in drug fields. To find out 3D printing's application in drug fields, we collected the literature by combining the keywords "3D printing"/"additive manufacturing" and "drug"/"tablet". We found that 3D printing technology has the following applications in medicine: firstly, it can print pills on demand according to the individual condition of the patient, making the dosage more suitable for each patient's own physical condition; secondly, it can print tablets with specific shape and structure to control the release rate; thirdly, it can precisely control the distribution of cells, extracellular matrix and biomaterials to build organs or organ-on-a-chip for drug testing; finally, it could print loose porous pills to reduce swallowing difficulties, or be used to make transdermal microneedle patches to reduce pain of patients.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) hold promising translational potential in cartilage regeneration. However, the efficacy of MSC-based tissue engineering is not satisfactory in the treatment of cartilage defect because of the inevitable cellular functional changes during ex vivo cell expansion. How to maintain the chondrogenic capacity of MSCs to improve their therapeutic outcomes remains an outstanding question. Bone marrow-derived MSCs were firstly primed in chondrogenic induction medium which was then replaced with normal growth medium to attain the manipulated cells (M-MSCs). Methacrylated hyaluronic acid (MeHA) was synthesized as a scaffold to encapsulate the cells. The MSC- or M-MSC-laden constructs were treated with dynamic compressive loading (DL) in a bioreactor or with free loading (FL) for 14 days. Afterwards, the constructs were implanted in nude mice or rat models of osteochondral defects to test their efficiency in cartilage regeneration or repair. Data showed that the resulting M-MSCs exhibited superior chondrogenic differentiation potential and survivability compared with untreated MSCs. More importantly, we found that DL significantly promoted neocartilage formation in the MeHA hydrogel encapsulated with M-MSCs after 30 days of implantation in nude mice. Furthermore, the constructs laden with M-MSCs after DL for 14 days significantly enhanced cartilage healing in a rat model of osteochondral defect. Findings from this study highlight the importance of maintaining chondrogenic potential of MSCs by in-vitro chondrogenic preconditioning and a synergistic effect of mechanical stimulation in cartilage engineering, which may shed light on the stem cell-based tissue engineering for cartilage repair.

There is now increasing evidence which suggests a pivotal role for oxidative stress in the development and progression of osteoporosis. We confirm herein the protective effects of natural antioxidant Tanshinol against oxidative stress in osteoblastic differentiation and the underlying mechanism. Our results show that hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) leads to accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), decrease in cell viability, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in a caspase-3-dependent manner, and inhibition of osteoblastic differentiation. Tanshinol reverses these deleterious consequence triggered by oxidative stress. Moreover, under the condition of oxidative stress, Tanshinol suppresses the activation of FoxO3a transcription factor and expressions of its target genesGadd45aandcatalase (CAT)and simultaneously counteracts the inhibition of Wnt signalling and expressions of target genesAxin2,alkaline phosphatase (ALP), andOsteoprotegerin (OPG). The findings are further consolidated using FoxO3a siRNA interference and overexpression of Tcf4. The results illustrate that Tanshinol attenuates oxidative stress via down-regulation of FoxO3a signaling, and rescues the decrease of osteoblastic differentiation through upregulation of Wnt signal under oxidative stress. The present findings suggest that the beneficial effects of Tanshinol may be adopted as a novel therapeutic approach in recently recognized conditions of niche targeting osteoporosis.

Tumor neoantigen has a high degree of immunogenicity. As one of the emerging methods of tumor immunotherapy, the vaccine developed against it has served to clinical trials of various solid tumors, especially in the treatment of melanoma. Currently, a variety of immunotherapy methods have been applied to the treatment of the tumor. However, other therapeutic methods have the disadvantages of low specificity and prominent side effects. Treatments require tumor antigen with higher immunogenicity as the target of immune attack. This review will recommend the identification of neoantigen, the influencing factors of neoantigen, and the application of personalized vaccines for neoantigen in metastatic tumors such as malignant melanoma.

Mannose is a monosaccharide widely distributed in body fluids and tissues, especially in the nerve, skin, testicles, retina, liver and intestines. It is used to synthesize glycoproteins and participate in immune regulation. In recent years, mannose has been applied more and more widely in the biomedical context as people have a deeper understanding of its biological effects. This review introduces the use of mannose in treating various diseases (including cancer, urinary tract infections, type 1 diabetes, and diabetic wounds), preventing pancreatic fistula, and improving magnetic resonance imaging for acute pancreatitis. We also demonstrate that mannose has the potential for clinical applications.