Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of death, and the third most diagnosed type of cancer, worldwide. It is most common amongst men and women over 50 years old. Risk factors include smoking, alcohol, diet, physical inactivity, genetics, alterations in gut microbiota, and associated pathologies (diabetes, obesity, chronic inflammatory bowel diseases). This review will discuss, in detail, the chemopreventive properties of some dietary compounds (phenolic compounds, carotenoids, iridoids, nitrogen compounds, organosulfur compounds, phytosterols, essential oil compounds, polyunsaturated fatty acids and dietary fiber) against colorectal cancer. We present recent data, focusing on in vitro, laboratory animals and clinical trials with the previously mentioned compounds. The chemopreventive properties of the dietary compounds involve multiple molecular and biochemical mechanisms of action, such as inhibition of cell growth, inhibition of tumor initiation, inhibition of adhesion, migration and angiogenesis, apoptosis, interaction with gut microbiota, regulation of cellular signal transduction pathways and xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes, etc. Moreover, this review will also focus on the natural dietary compounds’ bioavailability, their synergistic protective effect, as well as the association with conventional therapy. Dietary natural compounds play a major role in colorectal chemoprevention and continuous research in this field is needed.

Background: Cellulose derivatives are gaining much attention in medical research due to their excellent properties such as biocompatibility, hydrophilicity, non-toxicity, sustainability, and low cost. Unfortunately, cellulose does not exhibit antimicrobial activity. However, derivatives like hydroxyethyl cellulose represent a proper matrix to incorporate antimicrobial agents with beneficial therapeutic effects. Methods: Combining more antimicrobial agents into a single composite material can induce stronger antibacterial activity by synergism. Results: Therefore, we have obtained a hydroxyethyl-cellulose-based material loaded with zinc oxide nanoparticles and cinnamon essential oil as the antimicrobial agents. The cinnamon essential oil was loaded in mesoporous silica particles to control its release. Conclusions: The composite films demonstrated high antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli strains, impairing the bacterial cells’ viability and biofilm development. Such antimicrobial films can be used in various biomedical applications such as topical dressings or as packaging for the food industry.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most frequently diagnosed type of cancer and a major worldwide public health concern. Despite the global efforts in the development of modern therapeutic strategies, CRC prognosis is strongly correlated with the stage of the disease at diagnosis. Early detection of CRC has a huge impact in decreasing mortality while pre-lesion detection significantly reduces the incidence of the pathology. Even though the management of CRC patients is based on robust diagnostic methods such as serum tumor markers analysis, colonoscopy, histopathological analysis of tumor tissue, and imaging methods (computer tomography or magnetic resonance), these strategies still have many limitations and do not fully satisfy clinical needs due to their lack of sensitivity and/or specificity. Therefore, improvements of the current practice would substantially impact the management of CRC patients. In this view, liquid biopsy is a promising approach that could help clinicians screen for disease, stratify patients to the best treatment, and monitor treatment response and resistance mechanisms in the tumor in a regular and minimally invasive manner. Liquid biopsies allow the detection and analysis of different tumor-derived circulating markers such as cell-free nucleic acids (cfNA), circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and extracellular vesicles (EVs) in the bloodstream. The major advantage of this approach is its ability to trace and monitor the molecular profile of the patient’s tumor and to predict personalized treatment in real-time. On the other hand, the prospective use of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine holds great promise in oncology, for the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis prediction of disease. AI has two main branches in the medical field: (i) a virtual branch that includes medical imaging, clinical assisted diagnosis, and treatment, as well as drug research, and (ii) a physical branch that includes surgical robots. This review summarizes findings relevant to liquid biopsy and AI in CRC for better management and stratification of CRC patients.

The incidence of colorectal cancer is higher in men than in women, amounting to 15% of cancer-related diseases as a whole. As such, undesirable effects, arising from the administration of current chemotherapeutic agents (the FOLFIRI/FOLFOX combinations), which are exerted on the remaining non-cancerous tissues and/or cells, have contributed to the occurrence of resistance to multiple drugs, thus markedly reducing their efficacy. However, the delivery of chemotherapeutic agents may be improved and their action may be more selectively targeted to diseased tissues/cells by means of developing biotechnologies and nano‑techniques. Thus, the current focus is on creating biological tissue and related tumor models, by means of three‑dimensional (3D) spheres, in an attempt to bridge the gap between results obtained in the pre‑clinical phase and promising outcomes obtained in clinical trials. For this purpose, the characterization and use of so‑called ‘multicellular tumor spheroids’, may prove to be invaluable. In this study, we focus on describing the efficacy of a model 3D system as compared to the traditional 2D tumor spheres in determining drug response, highlighting a potentially greater effect of the drugs following the encapsulation of respective liposomes. The results obtained demonstrate the successful preparation of a suspension of liposomes loaded with folinic acid, oxaliplatin and 5‑fluorouracil (5‑FU), and loaded with meso‑tetra (4‑sulfonatophenyl) porphyrin. Following its use on HT‑29 colorectal cancer cells, an important comparative reduction was noted in the viability of the HT‑29 cells, demonstrating the efficacy of multicellular tumor spheroids carrying liposomes loaded with therapeutic drugs. These findings indicate that the method of drug encapsulation in liposomes may improve the treatment efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents.

In this paper, Bombyx mori silk sericin nanocarriers with a very low size range were obtained by nanoprecipitation. Sericin nanoparticles were loaded with doxorubicin, and they were considered a promising tool for breast cancer therapy. The chemistry, structure, morphology, and size distribution of nanocarriers were investigated by Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR–ATR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Morphological investigation and DLS showed the formation of sericin nanoparticles in the 25–40 nm range. FTIR chemical characterization showed specific interactions of protein–doxorubicin–enzymes with a high influence on the drug delivery process and release behavior. The biological investigation via breast cancer cell line revealed a high activity of nanocarriers in cancer cells by inducing significant DNA damage.