Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 26, Issue 6, 2020

Background: One of the major clinical challenges is to achieve a rapid and efficient treatment of complex chronic wounds. Nowadays, most wound dressings currently available are unable to find a solution to the challenges of resistance to bacterial infection, protein adsorption and increased levels of exudates. Natural inorganic ingredients (clay minerals, metal cations, zeolites, etc.) could be the key to solve the problem satisfactorily. Some of these materials have shown biocompatibility and ability to enhance cell adhesion, proliferation and cellular differentiation and uptake. Besides, some natural inorganic ingredients effectively retain drugs, allowing the design of drug delivery matrices. Objective: Possibilities of natural inorganic ingredients in wound healing treatments have been reviewed, the following sections have been included: 1. Introduction 2. Functions of Inorganic Ingredients in wound healing 2.1. Antimicrobial effects 2.2. Hemostatic effects 3. Clay minerals for wound healing 3.1. Clay minerals 3.2. Clay mineral semisolid formulations 3.3. Clay/polymer composites and nanocomposites 3.4. Clay minerals in wound dressings 4. Other inorganic materials for wound healing 4.1. Zeolites 4.2. Silica and other silicates 4.3. Other minerals 4.4. Transition metals 5. Conclusion Conclusion: Inorganic ingredients possess useful features for the development of chronic wounds advanced treatments. They improve physical (mechanical resistance and water vapor transmission), chemical (release of drugs, hemostasis and/or adsorption of exudates and moisture) and biological (antimicrobial effects and improvement of healing) properties of wound dressings. In summary, inorganic ingredients have proved to be a promising and easily accessible products in the treatment of wounds and, more importantly, chronic wounds.

Background: Bentonite is a natural clay composed mainly of montmorillonite with other associated minerals such as feldspar, calcite and quartz. Owing to its high cation exchange, large surface area and ability to form thixotropic gels with water and to absorb large quantities of gas, it presents a large medicinal application. Objective: This review focuses on the promising potential of bentonite clays for biomaterial design and for therapeutic purposes. Methods: PubMed, ACS publications and Elsevier were searched for relevant papers. We have also evaluated the references of some pertinent articles. Results: Healing properties of bentonite are derived from the crystalline structure of the smectite group, which is composed of two octahedral alumina sheets localized between two tetrahedral silica sheets. This structure is behind the ability to intercalate cationic bioactive agents and undergoes interaction with various toxic species and exchanging in return species such as Fe3+, Cu2+, Al3+ Ca2+ or Na+, presenting antibacterial activity and providing essential minerals to the body. Furthermore, due to to its layered structure, bentonite has wide application for the design of biomaterials providing, thus, the stability of bioactive agents and preventing them from aggregation. Conclusion: Numerous publications have cited bentonite extensive applications as an alternative and complementary treatment for numerous health conditions as a detoxifying agent and for the preparation of several bionanocomposites.

Carboxylic acids are an important natural component as a final product or intermediates for syntheses. They are produced in plants, animals and also as products from biotechnological processes. This review presents the use of single hydroxide particles and layered double hydroxides as alternative adsorbents to remove carboxylic acids from liquid media. The proposal to use hydroxide particles is based on its affinity to adsorb or intercalate carboxylic acids. Besides, the change in properties of the adsorbate-sorbate product evinces that this intermediate can be used as a vehicle to transport and release carboxylic acids. Additional examples will also be presented to prove that layered hydroxides are capable of removing non-ionic compounds from wine, milk and tomato. The use of layered compounds to remove active ingredients could reduce the number of separations steps, costs and reduce or eliminate solvents, thus encouraging the design of industrial processes of separation using hydroxides particles.

Background: 18β- glycyrrhetinic acid (Gly) is the major bioactive component of licorice roots and rhizomes of the Glycyrrhiza glabra species. It shows many activities such as antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antifungal, however, its use in the health field is very limited due to the low water solubility. Methods: This paper deals with the development of a new technological approach for Gly dissolution rate enhancement. It consists of Gly intercalation (guest) in the interlamellar spaces between the inorganic spaces (host) of the anionic clays “hydrotalcites” (HTlc) to obtain hybrids MgAl-HTlc-Gly and ZnAl-HTlc-Gly. Gly can find applications in both systemic and local therapies, thus advantages of the use of the hybrids in these two fields were investigated. Results: Gly dissolution rate from hybrids in the intestinal environment, site in which it is preferentially absorbed, resulted enhanced (ZnAl-HTlc-Gly > MgAl-HTlc-Gly) compared to the crystalline form, thereby, making them suitable for oral administration as dry powder in hard capsules. For a local therapy, bioadhesive, vaginal emulgels loaded with the hybrids were developed. These showed suitable mucoadhesive property to the vaginal mucosa, necessary to prolong the residence time in the application site. The emulgel containing ZnAl-HTlc-Gly showed a faster and higher release profile than that containing MgAl- HTlc-Gly. Conclusion: The obtained results suggest that Gly intercalation into HTlc, especially in ZnAl-HTlc, allows to enhance Gly dissolution when the hybrids are formulated both as oral or topical products.

Cancer immunotherapy (also known as immuno-oncology), a promising anti-cancer strategy by harnessing the body’s own immune system against cancer, has emerged as the “fifth therapeutic pilla” in the field of cancer treatment since surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and targeted therapy. Clinical efficacy of several immunotherapies has been demonstrated in clinical settings, however, only a small subset of patients exhibit dramatic or durable responses, with the highest reported frequency about 10-40% from single-agent PD-L1/PD-1 inhibitors, suggesting the urgent need of consistent objective response biomarkers for monitoring therapeutic response accurately, predicting therapeutic efficacy and selecting responders. Key elements of therapeutic responses to cancer immunotherapies contain the cancer cell response and the alternation of inherent immunological characteristics. Here, we document the literature regarding imaging the key elements of therapeutic responses to cancer immunotherapies using PET. We discussed PET imaging approaches according to different response mechanisms underlying diverse immune-therapeutic categories, and also highlight the ongoing efforts to identify novel immunotherapeutic PET imaging biomarkers. In this article, we show that PET imaging of the key elements of therapeutic responses to cancer immunotherapies using PET can allow for more precise prediction, earlier therapy response monitoring, and improved management. However, all of these strategies need more preclinical study and clinical validation before further development as imaging indicators of the immune response.

Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) with little or no coding capacity are associated with a plethora of cellular functions, participating in various biological processes. Cumulative study of lncRNA provides explanations to the physiological and pathological processes and new perspectives to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of some clinical diseases. Long non-coding RNA taurine-upregulated gene 1(TUG1) is one of the first identified lncRNAs associated with human disease, which actively involved in various physiological processes, including regulating genes at epigenetics, transcription, post-transcription, translation, and posttranslation. The aim of this review was to explore the molecular mechanism of TUG1 in various types of human diseases. Methods: In this review, we summarized and analyzed the latest findings related to the physiologic and pathophysiological processes of TUG1 in human diseases. The related studies were retrieved and selected the last six years of research articles in PubMed with lncRNA and TUG1 as keywords. Results: TUG1 is a valuable lncRNA that its dysregulated expression and regulating the biological processes were found in a variety of human diseases. TUG1 is found to exhibit aberrant expression in a variety of malignancies. Dysregulation of TUG1 has been shown to contribute to proliferation, migration, cell cycle changes, inhibited apoptosis, and drug resistance of cancer cells, which revealed an oncogenic role for this lncRNA, but some reports have shown downregulation of TUG1 in lung cancer samples compared with noncancerous samples. In addition, the molecular and biological functions of TUG1 in physiology and disease (relevant to endocrinology, metabolism, immunology, neurobiology) have also been highlighted. Finally, we discuss the limitations and tremendous diagnostic/therapeutic potential of TUG1 in cancer and other diseases. Conclusion: Long non-coding RNA-TUG1 likely served as useful disease biomarkers or therapy targets and effectively applied in different kinds of diseases, such as human cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

Improving drug bioavailability in the pharmaceutical field is a challenge that has attracted substantial interest worldwide. The controlled release of a drug can be achieved with a variety of strategies and novel materials in the field. In addition to the vast development of innovative materials for improving therapeutic effects and reducing side effects, the exploration of remarkable existing materials could encourage the discovery of diverse approaches for adapted drug delivery systems. Recently, superdisintegrants have been proposed for drug delivery systems as alternative approaches to maximize the efficiency of therapy. Although superdisintegrants are well known and used in solid dosage forms, studies on strategies for the development of drug delivery systems using superdisintegrants are lacking. Therefore, this study reviews the use of superdisintegrants in controlled drug release dosage formulations. This overview of superdisintegrants covers developed strategies, types (including synthetic and natural materials), dosage forms and techniques and will help to improve drug delivery systems.