In a cell population, each cell exhibits distinct variations at biomolecular level.1 In the analysis of a large heterogeneous population, major characteristics of cells may mask the minor characteristics of abnormalities.2 To overcome this limitation, single-cell analysis, where molecular information can be collected at the individual cell level, has emerged in many fields such as biomedical research and cancer biology. Several single-cell analysis approaches such as comet assay,3 DNA sequencing,4 single-cell PCR,5 flow cytometry,6 and mass spectrometry7 were developed. Other techniques including atomic force microscopy8 and fluorescence microscopy9 are still being evaluated for the goal. Read More

Dense brush conformation–bearing theranostic agents are emerging as drug delivery systems due to their higher ability to escape from reticuloendothelial system uptake which prolongs their in vivo circulation time. With the aim of developing dual therapy agent, 13-nm gold nanoparticles’ (AuNPs) surfaces were coated with different amounts of polyethylene glycol (PEG) (SH-PEG-NH2) to obtain dense brush conformation–bearing theranostic agents. Among the 14 different theranostic agent candidates prepared, the one hosting 1819 PEG per particle was selected as the most promising theranostic agent candidate based on structural conformation, stability, size, zeta potential, hemocompatibility, cell inhibition, and cell death pathway towards MCF-7 cell line. Read More

Background Cancer is one of the most common causes of human deaths worldwide. Nanotechnology has the potential to facilitate the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer cases. Successful delivery of nucleic acids into cancer cells with the use of nanoparticles would be a significant improvement for medical and cellular biology. The use of nanoparticle-based vehicles in clinical treatment is considerably important for treating genetic disorders. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been suggested as therapeutic delivery tools for cancer. Because microRNAs (miRNAs), which induce post-transcriptional gene silencing, are deregulated in cancer cells, they are also considered as strong candidates for cancer therapy applications. In prostate and breast cancer, miR-145, a well-known tumor suppressor miRNA, is strongly downregulated in tumor tissues compared to their corresponding normal tissues. Read More