The use of cancer-derived exosomes has been studied in several cancer types, but the cancer-targeting efficacy of glioma-derived exosomes has not been investigated in depth for malignant glioblastoma (GBM) cells. In this study, exosomes were derived from U87MG human glioblastoma cells, and selumetinib, a new anticancer drug, was loaded into the exosomes. We observed the tropism of GBM-derived exosomes in vitro and in vivo. We found that the tropism of GBM-derived exosomes is in contrast to the behavior of non-exosome-enveloped drugs and non-GBM-specific exosomes in vitro and in vivo in an animal GBM model. We found that the tropism exhibited by GBM-derived exosomes can be utilized to shuttle selumetinib, with no specific targeting moiety, to GBM tumor sites. Therefore, our findings indicated that GBM-derived exosomes loaded with selumetinib had a specific antitumor effect on U87MG cells and were non-toxic to normal brain cells. These exosomes offer improved therapeutic prospects for glioblastoma therapy.

Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, prompting extensive research into novel theranostic (combined word of diagnostic and therapeutic) strategies. Nanomedicine has emerged as a potential breakthrough in cancer theranosis, overcoming limitations of conventional approaches. Among such approaches, carbon dots (CDs) with a size smaller than 10 nm have garnered significant attention for their potential use in cancer theranosis, owing to their low toxicity, good water solubility, easy synthesis, facile surface modification, and unique optical and photothermal and photodynamic properties. Researchers have demonstrated that surface functionalization of CDs with diverse hydrophilic groups can be easily achieved by choosing proper carbon precursors in synthesis, and further surface modification of CDs with cancer-targeting ligands, photosensitizers, anticancer drugs, and genes can also be easily achieved using various methods, thereby establishing a versatile approach for cancer theranosis. This review described the various surface modification methods of CDs, in vitro and in vivo toxicity of CDs, and various cancer theranostic methods such as drug delivery, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, gene therapy, sonodynamic therapy, and gas therapy. Therefore, CDs can serve as various mono and combined theranostic modalities, offering us new methods for cancer theranosis.

We describe the synthesis, characterization, molecular modeling, and in vitro anticancer activity of three benzothiazole aniline (BTA) ligands and their corresponding platinum (II) complexes. We designed the compounds based on the selective antitumor properties of BTA, along with three types of metallic centers, aiming to take advantage of the distinctive and synergistic activity of the complexes to develop anticancer agents. The compounds were characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, elemental analysis, and tested for antiproliferative activity against multiple normal and cancerous cell lines. L1, L2, and L1Pt had better cytotoxicity in the liver, breast, lung, prostate, kidney, and brain cells than clinically used cisplatin. Especially, L1 and L1Pt demonstrated selective inhibitory activities against liver cancer cells. Therefore, these compounds can be a promising alternative to the present chemotherapy drugs.

Although numerous studies have investigated gadolinium oxide (Gd₂O₃) nanoparticles (NPs) as positive (T₁) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents (CAs), comprehensive reviews on this topic remain scarce. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate their current status and outline prospects. Despite promising physicochemical properties such as considerably higher relaxivities compared to 3–5 s⁻¹mM⁻¹ of clinically approved Gd(III)-chelate contrast agents and encouraging results from in vivo animal studies such as highly improved contrast enhancements, drug loading, and tumor targeting, extensive in vivo toxicity assessments including long-term toxicity and formulation advancements suitable for renal excretion (d < ~3 nm) are still required for clinical translation. This review summarizes the synthesis, characterization, in vitro and in vivo toxicity, and in vivo MRI applications of surface-modified Gd₂O₃ NPs as T₁ MRI CAs. Finally, future perspectives on the development of surface-modified Gd₂O₃ NPs as potential next-generation T₁ MRI CAs are discussed.

In recent years, significant advances in enhancing the quantum yield (QY) of trivalent lanthanide (Ln³⁺) ion-based nanoparticles have been achieved through photosensitization, using host matrices or capping organic ligands as photosensitizers to absorb incoming photons and transfer energy to the Ln³⁺ ions. The Ln³⁺ ion-based nanoparticles possess several excellent fluorescent properties, such as nearly constant transition energies, atomic-like sharp transitions, long emission lifetimes, large Stokes shifts, high photostability, and resistance to photobleaching; these properties make them more promising candidates as next-generation fluorescence probes in the visible region, compared with other traditional materials such as organic dyes and quantum dots. However, their QYs are generally low and thus need to be improved to facilitate and extend their applications. Considerable efforts have been made to improve the QYs of Ln³⁺ ion-based nanoparticles through photosensitization. These efforts include the doping of Ln³⁺ ions into host matrices or capping the nanoparticles with organic ligands. Among the Ln³⁺ ion-based nanoparticles investigated in previous studies, this review focuses on those containing Eu³⁺, Tb³⁺, and Dy³⁺ ions with red, green, and yellow emission colors, respectively. The emission intensities of Eu³⁺ and Tb³⁺ ions are stronger than those of other Ln³⁺ ions; therefore, the majority of the reported studies focused on Eu³⁺ and Tb³⁺ ion-based nanoparticles. This review discusses the principles of photosensitization, several examples of photosensitized Ln³⁺ ion-based nanoparticles, and in vitro and in vivo biomedical fluorescent imaging (FI) applications. This information provides valuable insight into the development of Ln³⁺ ion-based nanoparticles with high QYs through photosensitization, with future potential applications in biomedical FI.

Here, we describe the synthesis, characterization, and in vitro biological evaluation of a series of transition metal complexes containing benzothiazole aniline (BTA). We employed BTA, which is known for its selective anticancer activity, and a salen-type Schiff-based ligand to coordinate several transition metals to achieve selective and synergistic cytotoxicity. The compounds obtained were characterized by NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. The compounds L, MnL, FeL, CoL, and ZnL showed promising in vitro cytotoxicity against cancer cells, and they had a lower IC₅₀ than that of the clinically used cisplatin. In particular, MnL had synergistic cytotoxicity against liver, breast, and colon cancer cells. Moreover, MnL, CoL, and CuL promoted the production of reactive oxygen species in HepG2 tumor cell lines. The lead compound of this series, MnL, remained stable in physiological settings, and docking results showed that it interacted rationally with the minor groove of DNA. Therefore, MnL may serve as a viable alternative to platinum-based chemotherapy.