Structural and componential design: new strategies regulating the behavior of lipid-based nanoparticles in vivo.

Lipid-based nanoparticles have made a breakthrough in clinical disease as delivery systems due to their biocompatibility, thermal and long-term stability, high loading ability, simplicity of preparation, inexpensive production costs, and scalable manufacturing production. In particular, during the COVID-19 pandemic, this delivery system served as a vital vaccine component for virus confrontation. To obtain effective drug delivery, lipid-based nanoparticles should reach the desired sites with high efficiency, enter target cells, and release drugs. The structures and compositions of lipid-based nanoparticles can be modified to regulate these behaviors in vivo to enhance the therapeutic effects. Herein, we briefly review the development of lipid-based nanoparticles, from simple self-assembled nanovesicle-structured liposomes to multifunctional lipid nanoparticles. Subsequently, we summarize the strategies that regulate their tissue distribution, cell internalization, and drug release, highlighting the importance of the structural and componential design. We conclude with insights for further research to advance lipid-based nanotechnology.

Treating patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant with a traditional Chinese medicine, Shufeng Jiedu capsule.

Patients infected with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 mainly develop mild COVID-19, manifesting as upper respiratory symptoms, fatigue, and fever. Shufeng Jiedu capsule (SFJDC), a traditional Chinese medicine indicated for treatment of upper respiratory infections in China, was tested for its efficacy and safety in treatment of an Omicron infection at a mobile cabin hospital in response to an outbreak of COVID-19 in Shanghai, China in April 2022. In this open-label, randomized controlled trial, patients in the control group received best supportive care, while those in the test group received additional SFJDC therapy for 7 days. SFJDC markedly alleviated patients' symptoms including a sore throat, coughing, fatigue, and a fever after 7 days of treatment. The virus negative time was significantly shorter in the SFJDC treatment group, but there were no obvious differences in the virus negative rate between the two groups at the end of the 7-day follow-up. These results suggest that patients with the Omicron infection may benefit from SFJDC treatment. Double-blind, randomized controlled trials are warranted to comprehensively evaluate the efficacy and safety of SFJDC in a large cohort study in the future.

Sensitive and rapid on-site detection of SARS-CoV-2 using a gold nanoparticle-based high-throughput platform coupled with CRISPR/Cas12-assisted RT-LAMP.

The outbreak of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to a global pandemic. The high infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 highlights the need for sensitive, rapid and on-site diagnostic assays of SARS-CoV-2 with high-throughput testing capability for large-scale population screening. The current detection methods in clinical application need to operate in centralized labs. Though some on-site detection methods have been developed, few tests could be performed for high-throughput analysis. We here developed a gold nanoparticle-based visual assay that combines with CRISPR/Cas12a-assisted RT-LAMP, which is called Cas12a-assisted RT-LAMP/AuNP (CLAP) assay for rapid and sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2. In optimal condition, we could detect down to 4 copies/µL of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in 40 min. by naked eye. The sequence-specific recognition character of CRISPR/Cas12a enables CLAP a superior specificity. More importantly, the CLAP is easy for operation that can be extended to high-throughput test by using a common microplate reader. The CLAP assay holds a great potential to be applied in airports, railway stations, or low-resource settings for screening of suspected people. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first AuNP-based colorimetric assay coupled with Cas12 and RT-LAMP for on-site diagnosis of COVID-19. We expect CLAP assay will improve the current COVID-19 screening efforts, and make contribution for control and mitigation of the pandemic.

Antiviral biomaterials

Summary Viral infections remain one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide, responsible for millions of deaths every year. The application of antiviral drugs, along with symptomatic treatment, is the primary modality of clinical antiviral therapy. Nevertheless, the severe side effects of antiviral drugs, such as gastrointestinal, hepatic, renal, and/or hematopoietic damages, can affect compliance and may even interrupt treatment. Moreover, drug resistance due to frequent viral mutations and single antiviral mechanisms often leads to therapeutic failure. The introduction of biomaterials into antiviral therapy provides distinct advantages and unique mechanisms. Antiviral biomaterials work in various ways, such as physical adsorption of viruses, binding to viruses as entry inhibitors, induction of irreversible viral deformation, interference with viral nucleic acid replication, and blockage of viral release from infected cells, among others. This review offers an overview of state-of-the-art advances in antiviral biomaterials featuring different mechanisms and discusses their challenges and opportunities in clinical translations.