Introduction
Iron deficiency remains one of the prevalent nationwide health problems affecting a diverse range of people worldwide. Conventional iron supplement approaches often face undesirable and suboptimal bioavailability side effects despite all the efforts to curb this issue. This research proposal aims to help respond to these challenges by introducing a transformative strategy to investigate Indirubin nanoparticle evaluation n and synthesis. Exploring the efficacy and preparation of these nanoparticles will help us enhance the effectiveness of addressing iron deficiency in the body and redefine iron supplementation criteria.
Indirubin nanoparticles have given us hope that the efficacy of iron-based cancer treatment can be enhanced. Cancer is one of the world’s leading causes of death. This ailment has necessitated the need to develop a more effective treatment strategy that surpasses radiotherapy and conventional chemotherapy. On the other hand, nanoparticles contain an exclusive physicochemical property that provides us with possible solutions. The property is the ability to overcome barriers linked to standard treatments. Iron nanoparticles have provided us with the hope that there might be promising agents such as genetic materials, drugs, radionuclides, and optical absorbers for imaging and cancer therapy (Nekounam et al. 2021). These particles can target a specific cell in the body using peptides, moieties like antibodies, or small molecules through membrane receptor targeting as its key advantage. The nanoparticles are highly tunable in terms of morphology and size, making them suitable for targeting specific cancer cells in the body.
Indirubin is a compound that is obtained from indigo dye. When the Indirubin is articulated into nanoparticles, it can interact with cancer cells in several ways. Some of these ways include anti-aging effects, Apoptosis Induction, Iron Chelation, and Cell Cycle Arrest.
Research is ongoing regarding more ways of optimizing synthesis methodologies for indirubin nanoparticles. However, there are other ways that can be applied for the optimal synthesis of indirubin nanoparticles. They include indirubin extraction from natural sources such as indigo plans or synthesizing it chemically, nanoparticle formulation, which can be applied through the emulsion method, nanoprecipitation or micelle formation, and biocompatibility testing that involves evaluating the biocompatibility and toxicity in vivo and in vitro (Moradi, Abdolhosseini, & Zarrabi 2019).
Despite the positive advantages that come with the application of indirubin nanoparticles in the treatment of cancer and iron death, several side effects come with it. For instance, they may exhibit cytotoxicity on cancer cells due to cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induction. Other potential side effects include renal clearance, Immunogenicity, hepatic metabolism, and off-target effects.
Iron Death in Cancer Treatment
Induced iron death, also known as ferroptosis, is a fascinating form of cell death developed in cancer treatment. It is an intracellular iron-dependent mode of cell death that is different from autophagy, apoptosis, and necrosis. It is also characterized by elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and an imbalance in the redox state (Torti et al., 2018). Research shows that ferroptosis helps suppress the growth of a tumor, thus opening up the possibility of having cancer treatment. It is also linked to drug resistance in cancer treatment, and inducing it has proven that drug resistance in cancer therapy, such as in immunotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy, can be reversed. Challenges and prospects that ferroptosis faces in cancer treatment include regulations on its use in reversing cancer therapy. It is also delicate to balance and control induced iron deaths while at the same time sparing the health of a patient.
Role of Indirubin in Cancer Treatment
The Chinese have used Indirubin for centuries for medicinal and clinical purposes. Its application helps treat chronic gastrointestinal, cancer, and inflammation diseases. Indirubin-3-oxime has been seen to contain properties that inhibit the human body’s growth of laryngeal cancer cells by activating caspase-3, CDK inhibitor p12 (Pradhan et al., 2021). It induces cell cycle arrest in neuroblastoma cells in the body by interfering with the functionality of mitochondria. It is also responsible for alterations done on microtubules that inhibit microtubule assembly. Areas in which indirubin cancer treatment can be applied include Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) and Glioblastoma treatment.
Methodology
Evaluation of Efficacy
After we complete the treatment using indirubin nanoparticles, we must evaluate the effectiveness of the cell viability and iron death. This will be done by performing an MTT essay. An MTT is a yellow water-soluble tetrazolium dye. MTT assay is a dependable and functional indicator of metabolic activities in a cell. It depends on reducing MTT by mitochondrial dehydrogenases to a purple-colored formazan crystal. We will then proceed to incubation of the treated cells in approximately 24-48 hours. After assessing the viability of indirubin cells, we will then assess the viability of the iron deaths. This will be done by Employing ferroptosis-specific markers, which will be used for the evaluation of iron death induction, evaluating the degrees of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), and applying staining techniques to measure the initiation of ferroptosis in the treatment of cancer. We will also have to analyze several other factors, such as autophagy and Oxidative Stress.
Statistical Analysis
For statistical analysis, we will have to record the data we will get from each essay while ensuring multiple independent replicates for commutative purposes. Control groups will also be needed to help set the baseline and calculate the confidence interval, mean, and standard deviation. To compare the individual treatment groups with the control group, we must carry out either an ANOVA or A t-test.
Expected results
Our MTT essay is supposed to show us a notable decrease in feasible cancer cells after mixing them with indirubin nanoparticles and collecting the results in one to two days. In evaluating iron death, specifically on ROS levels and ferroptosis-specific markers, we should expect a significant decrease in the levels of iron-induced cell death. Insights into action modes for indirubin nanoparticles will also be expected to increase by evaluating factors such as oxidative stress and autophagy. Understanding how indirubin nanoparticles affect cell functioning can help delineate its heterogeneous impacts on cancer cells.
Several potential contributions are associated with learning about indirubin nanoparticles and their application in cancer treatment. One of them is integrated cancer treatment strategies. Combining iron-based cancer treatment with indirubin nanoparticles allows for more integrated cancer treatment strategies to be developed. The findings in our research proposal can be exploited to develop a novel therapeutic approach. This approach is significant since it helps exploit iron cells in the body, thus addressing the issue of conventional therapy. Other potential contributions related to the evaluation of Indirubin nanoparticles are increased knowledge of indirubin nanoparticles and suggestions for future advancement in clinical and medical applications.
Ethical considerations
In order to ensure that we comply with the standards for human and animal subjects, we need to consider several ethical factors. Some of these ethical considerations include seeking approval from the relevant institutional review board, ensuring that participation is fair and without bias, providing informed consent when involving human subjects, protecting human subjects such as ensuring their information is secure and confidential, transparency in providing truthful information such as the findings of the results and laying out the benefits of the research being done.
Conclusion
This research proposal lays a foundation for more inclusive extensive research on some of the benefits that come with the use of indirubin nanoparticles in integrated treatments meant to enhance the effect of iron death, modes of synthesizing it, and evaluation of possible therapeutic applications in the treatment of cancer. The increased number of deaths as a result of cancer has been on the rise. This has necessitated finding more transformative advances beyond conventional iron supplementation techniques. Indirubin nanoparticles hold a promising outcome in iron death and cancer treatment effectiveness. Concentrating on researching them can help develop a solution on how side effects can be dealt with to maximize their usage in developing cancer treatment. These nanoparticles can also be used as versatile cancer therapy and imaging agents. Even though indirubin nanoparticles play a significant role in iron death and integrated cancer treatments, we must also acknowledge that the likelihood of toxicity or biocompatibility is inevitable if the side effects are not acknowledged.
References
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