Breast cancer (BC) currently occupies the second rank in cancer-related global female deaths. Although consistent awareness and improved diagnosis have reduced mortality in recent years, late diagnosis and resistant response still limit the therapeutic efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs (CDs), leading to relapse with consequent invasion and metastasis. Treatment with CDs is indeed well-versed but it is badly curtailed with accompanying side effects and inadequacies of site-specific drug delivery. As a result, drug carriers ensuring stealth delivery and sustained drug release with improved pharmacokinetics and biodistribution are urgently needed. Core–shell mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNPs) have recently been a cornerstone in this context, attributed to their high surface area, low density, robust functionalization, high drug loading capacity, size–shape-controlled functioning, and homogeneous shell architecture, enabling stealth drug delivery. Recent interest in using MSNPs as drug delivery vehicles has been due to their functionalization and size–shape-driven versatilities. With such insights, this article focuses on the preparation methods and drug delivery mechanisms of MSNPs, before discussing their emerging utility in BC treatment. The information compiled herein could consolidate the database for using inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) as BC drug delivery vehicles in terms of design, application and resolving post-therapy complications.

Today is the era of nanoscience and nanotechnology, which find applications in the field of medicine, electronics, and environmental remediation. Even though nanotechnology is in its emerging phase, it continues to provide solutions to numerous challenges. Nanotechnology and nanoparticles are found to be very effective because of their unique chemical and physical properties and high surface area, but their high cost is one of the major hurdles to its wider application. So, the synthesis of nanomaterials, especially 2D nanomaterials from industrial, agricultural, and other biological activities, could provide a cost-effective technique. The nanomaterials synthesized from such waste not only minimize pollution, but also provide an eco-friendly approach towards the utilization of the waste. In the present review work, emphasis has been given to the types of nanomaterials, different methods for the synthesis of 2D nanomaterials from the waste generated from industries, agriculture, and their application in electronics, medicine, and catalysis.

Oil-in-water (o/w) nanoemulsions of peanut, linseed and mustard oils with sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB), tween 20 (Tw-20) and tween-40 (Tw-40), were prepared for catalysing the antioxidant activity of curcumin. The peanut oil–Tw-20, linseed oil–DTAB and mustard oil–SDS ranging in size from 488.41 to 1337.09 nm, 446.10 to 1124.00 nm and 27.37 to 62.05 nm, have expressed free radical scavenging activities (FRSA) of 72.38 to 93.13 %DPPH, 65.08 to 85.55 %DPPH and 62.15 to 89.44 %DPPH, respectively. Their surface tensions in the range of 41.68–58.77 mN m⁻¹ and viscosities of 0.8051–1.4059 mPa s infer enhanced curcumin dispersion. FTIR stretching frequencies (SF) of 1500–2000 cm⁻¹ (CO) and 3500 cm⁻¹ (–OH) infer curcumin encapsulation with the disappearance of the oil–curcumin SF (500–1300 cm⁻¹). Friccohesity, a distribution indicator exercised via cohesive forces (CFs) and intermolecular forces (IMFs), has depicted curcumin nanodispersion on weakened oil and curcumin CFs.

Non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) account for ~85% of lung cancer cases worldwide. Mammalian lungs are exposed to both endogenous and exogenous estrogens. The expression of estrogen receptors (ERs) in lung cancer cells has evoked the necessity to evaluate the role of estrogens in the disease progression. Estrogens, specifically 17β-estradiol, promote maturation of several tissue types including lungs. Recent epidemiologic data indicate that women have a higher risk of lung adenocarcinoma, a type of NSCLC, when compared to men, independent of smoking status. Besides ERs, pulmonary tissues both in healthy physiology and in NSCLCs also express G-protein-coupled ERs (GPERs), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFRs), estrogen-related receptors (ERRs) and orphan nuclear receptors. Premenopausal females between the ages of 15 and 50 years synthesize a large contingent of estrogens and are at a greater risk of developing NSCLCs. Estrogen—ER/GPER/EGFR/ERR—mediated activation of various cell signaling molecules regulates NSCLC cell proliferation, survival and apoptosis. This article sheds light on the most recent achievements in the elucidation of sequential biochemical events in estrogen-activated cell signaling pathways involved in NSCLC severity with insight into the mechanism of regulation by ERs/GPERs/EGFRs/ERRs. It further discusses the success of anti-estrogen therapies against NSCLCs.