Eliana B. Souto – författare

Nanoformulation Strategies for Cancer Treatment provides an up-to-date review on current developments and regulatory and clinical challenges in the field of nanopharmaceuticals and the effective treatment of diverse varieties of cancer. This important reference source is ideal for biomaterials scientists and pharmaceutical scientists working in the area of cancer diagnosis and therapy. Due to the high cost of traditional cancer treatment types, researchers have increasingly looked for new ways to augment the therapeutic performance of existing drug candidates. The use of nanotechnology-based approaches have gained significant momentum, thus leading to the launch of a series of new drug products.

As nanopharmaceuticals improve the therapeutic performance of cancer therapy drugs, but also provide opportunities for site-specific drug targeting in tumors, this work is a welcomed resource on the topics discussed.

"Cell niches� are present in several human body tissues as a dynamic microenvironment essential to modulate stem cells' behavior in health, under injury, and in regenerative processes. The interplay between stem cells and their niche is necessary for sustaining tissues. The extracellular matrix (ECM) is the crucial component of the stem cell. It defines the architectural space, physical binding to the cell membrane, and interactions with the neighborhood cells and supports physical stress. Domains with nano or micrometric sizes define the surface and topology of the ECM, mediating cell interactions and macrophage recruitment to injured sites.

Over the last two decades, the integration of biomedicine with other engineering and biomaterial sciences promoted the development of nanotechnology and regenerative medicine toward mimicking the specialized stem cell niches to treat diseases with less invasive and efficient therapies. Innovative approaches in nanotechnology, such as targeting the immunological system, transporting drugs across blood-brain/BBB and blood-retinal barriers/BRB, directing active moiety to specific disease location/organs, encapsulation of multiple components, and promoting signalization and pathway-specific surfaces for cell interactions and growth, are indeed promising. On the other side, developments of biomaterial scaffolds to mimic the cell niches for interactions with stem cells in vitro or in vivo have tremendous potential.

The three-dimensional printing technology offers a base for a wide array of applications, for example, developing tissue constructs, mimetic organs, organoids, and organ-on-a-chip, thus avoiding the differences between animal model species and humans. Aiming closer to the natural environments, fresh autologous products from the blood, such as platelet-rich plasma (PRP), contain platelets and leukocytes, providing growth factors, cytokines, and proteins for the resident stem cells in the stages of regeneration. PRP also provides pain relief, reducing disabilities in elderly or diseased people. This book brings thought-provoking multidisciplinary topics on the diverse aspects of basic and applied sciences. The prime focus of the compilation is to understand the challenges researchers encounter in combining nanotechnology and regenerative medicine, ultimately integrating both disciplines for the benefit of the patient and offering them a ray of hope to be cured.

“Patenting Nanomedicines: Legal Aspects, Intellectual Property and Grant Opportunities” focusses on the fundamental aspects of Patenting Nanomedicines applied in different “Drug Delivery and Targeting Systems”. The promoters of new findings in this field of research are numerous and spread worldwide; therefore, managing intellectual property portfolios, and the acquisition and exploitation of new knowledge face several contingency factors. Today, the scientific community is discussing issues of economic outcomes in the field of Nanomedicines. Major concerns include questions as to whether the research groups, academics, industry and other stakeholders should work in unison or independently, if innovation or adaptation of new technology should be prioritized, public versus private research funding, and safeguarding versus sharing knowledge. However, despite its increasing importance for humankind, it is a matter of concern as to whether technological development can really be stimulated by patent protection. An intellectual property strategy should aim to develop a qualitative patent portfolio for continuous learning.

This book addresses questions of ethics, socio-political policies and regulatory aspects of novel Nanomedicine-based products which are currently under development for the diagnosis and treatment of different types of diseases. It is divided in two parts – Part I is composed of the first 3 chapters, which focus on the “fundamentals” of legal aspects, emerging threats, advantages and disadvantages of patenting Nanomedicines, whereas Part II collects 12 chapters discussing different types of Nanomedicine-based products, their potential marketing aspects and patent protection. Whenever applied, each chapter offers a list of patents, based on a specific application in drug delivery and targeting. An outstanding team of 53 authors have contributed to this book, which will be ofinterest to professionals from the field of patent examiners, academics, researchers and scientists, students and other practitioners.