bims-mricoa 2022-07-31 papers

Issue of 2022–07–31
three papers selected by
Merve Yavuz, Bilkent University

Nat Protoc. 2022 Jul 29.

A rapid screening platform to coculture bacteria within tumor spheroids.

Tetsuhiro Harimoto, Dhruba Deb, Tal Danino.

The prevalence of tumor-colonizing bacteria along with advances in synthetic biology are leading to a new generation of living microbial cancer therapies. Because many bacterial systems can be engineered to recombinantly produce therapeutics within tumors, simple and high-throughput experimental platforms are needed to screen the large collections of bacteria candidates and characterize their interactions with cancer cells. Here, we describe a protocol to selectively grow bacteria within the core of tumor spheroids, allowing for their continuous and parallel profiling in physiologically relevant conditions. Specifically, tumor spheroids are incubated with bacteria in a 96-well low-adhesion plate followed by a series of washing steps and an antibiotic selection protocol to confine bacterial growth within the hypoxic and necrotic core of tumor spheroids. This bacteria spheroid coculture (BSCC) system is stable for over 2 weeks, does not require specialized equipment and is compatible with time-lapse microscopy, commercial staining assays and histology that uniquely enable analysis of growth kinetics, viability and spatial distribution of both cellular populations, respectively. We show that the procedure is applicable to multiple tumor cell types and bacterial species by varying protocol parameters and is validated by using animal models. The BSCC platform will allow the study of bacteria-tumor interactions in a continuous manner and facilitate the rapid development of engineered microbial therapies.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41596-022-00723-5

Chem Biol Interact. 2022 Jul 21. pii: S0009-2797(22)00258-7. [Epub ahead of print] 110053

Interaction between iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) and human neutrophils: Evidence that Fe3O4 NPs possess some pro-inflammatory activities.

Abdelaziz Saafane, Denis Girard.

Iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) are important for different medical applications. However, potential toxicity has been reported and several parameters must still be studied to reach highest therapeutic efficacy with minimal undesired effects. Inflammation is one of the most reported undesired effects of NP exposure in a variety of inflammatory models and conflicting data exist regarding whether Fe3O4 NPs possess pro- or anti-inflammatory activities. The aim of this study was to determine the direct effect of Fe3O4 NPs on the biology of neutrophil, a key player cell in inflammation. Freshly isolated human neutrophils were incubated in vitro with Fe3O4 NPs, and several functions have been studied. Using transmission electronic microscopy, Fe3O4 NPs were found to be ingested by neutrophils. These NPs do not induce a respiratory burst by themselves, but they increase the ability of neutrophils to adhere onto human endothelial cells as well as enhance phagocytosis. An antibody array approach revealed that Fe3O4 NPs induce the production of some cytokines, including the chemokine IL-8 (CXCL8), which was confirmed by ELISA. Fe3O4NPs were found to delay spontaneous neutrophil apoptosis regardless of sex of the donor. Using a pharmacological approach, we demonstrate that Fe3O4 NPs delay apoptosis by a de novo protein synthesis-dependent mechanism and via different cell signalling pathways. The data indicate that Fe3O4 NPs can alter the biology of human neutrophils and that they possess some pro-inflammatory effects, particularly based on their capacity to delay apoptosis and to induce the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Therefore, Fe3O4 NPs can regulate inflammation by targeting human neutrophil functions.

Keywords: Apoptosis; Inflammation; Iron oxide nanoparticles; Nanotoxicology; Neutrophils

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbi.2022.110053

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2022 Jul 26. pii: 2565. [Epub ahead of print]12(15):

Electrodeposited Magnetic Nanowires with Radial Modulation of Composition.

Claudia Fernández-González, Alejandra Guedeja-Marrón, Beatriz L Rodilla, Ana Arché-Nuñez, Rubén Corcuera, Irene Lucas, María Teresa González, Maria Varela, Patricia de la Presa, Lucía Aballe, Lucas Pérez, Sandra Ruiz-Gómez.

In the last few years, magnetic nanowires have gained attention due to their potential implementation as building blocks in spintronics applications and, in particular, in domain-wall- based devices. In these devices, the control of the magnetic properties is a must. Cylindrical magnetic nanowires can be synthesized rather easily by electrodeposition and the control of their magnetic properties can be achieved by modulating the composition of the nanowire along the axial direction. In this work, we report the possibility of introducing changes in the composition along the radial direction, increasing the degrees of freedom to harness the magnetization. In particular, we report the synthesis, using template-assisted deposition, of FeNi (or Co) magnetic nanowires, coated with a Au/Co (Au/FeNi) bilayer. The diameter of the nanowire as well as the thickness of both layers can be tuned at will. In addition to a detailed structural characterization, we report a preliminary study on the magnetic properties, establishing the role of each layer in the global collective behavior of the system.

Keywords: core–shell nanowires; electrodeposition; nanomagnetism

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12152565