Claudia Ferroni

• Researcher
• Italian National Research Council

Beatrice Costa was not included as a first co-author in the original publication [...]

The development of anticancer therapies has increasingly relied on advanced 3D in vitro models, which more accurately mimic the tumor microenvironment compared to traditional 2D cultures. This review describes the evolution of these 3D models, highlighting significant advancements and their impact on cancer research. We discuss the integration of m...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2024.1378233.].

Background: SMYD3 has been found implicated in cancer progression. Its overexpression correlates with cancer growth and invasion, especially in gastrointestinal tumors. SMYD3 transactivates multiple oncogenic mechanisms, favoring cancer development. Moreover, it was recently shown that SMYD3 is required for DNA restoration by promoting homologous...

Introduction: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer still lacking effective treatment options. Chemotherapy in combination with immunotherapy can restrict tumor progression and repolarize the tumor microenvironment towards an anti-tumor milieu, improving clinical outcome in TNBC patients. The chemotherapeuti...

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer still lacking effective treatment options. Chemotherapy in combination with immunotherapy can restrict tumor progression and repolarize the tumor microenvironment towards an anti-tumor milieu, improving clinical outcome in TNBC patients. The chemotherapeutic drug paclita...

A promising approach enhancing osteosarcoma (OS) prognosis involves the combination of various techniques, such as chemo‐ and photodynamic therapy, delivered through nanocarriers for synergistic cell death. Among the potential candidates for improving drug accumulation at the tumor site, mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) exhibit a significant advant...

Osteosarcoma treatment is moving towards more effective combination therapies. Nevertheless, these approaches present distinctive challenges that can complicate the clinical translation, such as increased toxicity and multi-drug resistance. Drug co-encapsulation within a nanoparticle formulation can overcome these challenges and improve the therape...

Exploiting the tumor environment features (EPR effect, elevated glutathione, reactive oxygen species levels) might allow attaining a selective and responsive carrier capable of improving the therapeutic outcome. To this purpose, the in situ covalent binding of drugs and nanoparticles to circulating human serum albumin (HSA) might represent a pionee...

Keratin is a structural protein of mammalian tissues and birds, representing the principal constituent of hair, nails, skin, wool, hooves, horns, beaks, and feathers, and playing an essential role in protecting the body from external harassment. Due to its intrinsic features such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, responsiveness to specific bio...

The potential anticancer effect of fluoroquinolone antibiotics has been recently unveiled and related to their ability to interfere with DNA topoisomerase II. We herein envisioned the design and synthesis of novel Ciprofloxacin and Norfloxacin nitric oxide (NO) photo-donor hybrids to explore the potential synergistic antitumor effect exerted by the...

Cancer therapy is still a challenging issue. To address this, the combination of anticancer drugs with other therapeutic modalities, such as light-triggered therapies, has emerged as a promising approach, primarily when both active ingredients are provided within a single nanosystem. Herein, we describe the unprecedented preparation of tumor microe...

The high rates of aggressiveness, drug resistance and relapse of breast cancer (BC) are mainly attributed to the inability of conventional therapies to equally eradicate bulk differentiated cells and cancer stem cells (CSCs). To improve the effectiveness of BC treatments, we report the in-water synthesis of novel keratin-based nanoformulations, loa...

Non-targeted NMR-based approach has received great attention as a rapid method for food product authenticity assessment. The availability of a database containing many comparable NMR spectra produced by different spectrometers is crucial to develop functional classifiers able to discriminate rapidly the commodity class of a given food product. Neve...

Prostate cancer (PC) is one of the most widespread tumors affecting the urinary system and the fifth-leading cause from cancer death in men worldwide. Despite PC mortality rates have been decreasing during the last years, most likely due to an intensification of early diagnosis, still more than 300,000 men die each year because of this disease. In...

The combination of chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy (PDT) is considered a valuable strategy for increasing therapeutic response in cancer treatment, and the re-formulation of pharmaceuticals in biocompatible nanoparticles (NPs) is particularly appealing for the possibility of co-loading drugs exerting cytotoxicity by different mechanisms, with...

We studied the chemical-physics and the nature of the interactions involved in the formation of adducts of two-dimensional black phosphorus (2D BP) with organoboron derivatives of a conjugated fluorescent molecule (pyrene). Time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy showed a stabilization effect of 2D BP on all the organoboron derivatives, in particul...

Lysine methyltransferases SMYD2 and SMYD3 are involved in the epigenetic regulation of cell differentiation and functioning. Overexpression and deregulation of these enzymes have been correlated to the insurgence and progression of different tumors, making them promising molecular targets in cancer therapy even if their role in tumors is not yet fu...

Histone deacetylases, HDACs, have been demonstrated to play a critical role in epigenetic signaling and were found to be overexpressed in several type of cancers, therefore they represent valuable targets for anticancer therapy. 9-Hydroxystearic acid has been shown to bind the catalytic site of HDAC1, inducing G0/G1 phase cell cycle arrest and acti...

Osteosarcoma therapy might be moving toward nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems to reduce the cytotoxicity of antineoplastic drugs and improve their pharmacokinetics. In this paper, we present, for the first time, an extensive chemical and in vitro characterization of dual-loaded photo- and chemo-active keratin nanoparticles as a novel drug...

Hydrotalcites-like compounds, also known as anionic clays or layered double hydroxides, represent the only example of lamellar solid with positively charged layers and exchangeable interlayer anions. In this study, a nanostructured HTlc with formula [Zn0.72Al0.28(OH)2] Br0.28·0.69 H2O was used as inorganic drug delivery system for anticancer therap...

The androgen receptor (AR) pathway plays a major role both pathogenesis and progression of prostate cancer. In particular, AR is chiefly involved in the development of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) as well as in the resistance to the second-generation AR antagonist enzalutamide, and to the selective inhibitor of cytochrome P450 17A1 (...

Purpose Taxanes are highly effective cytotoxic drugs for progressing breast cancer treatment. However, their poor solubility and high toxicity urge the development of innovative formulations of potential clinical relevance. Materials and methods By using a simple and straightforward aggregation method, we have generated paclitaxel (PTX) loaded in...

Profile of PTX release from HSA-NPs. Abbreviations: HSA-NPs, albumin nanoparticles; PTX, paclitaxel.

Transmission electron microscopy images of unfixed KER-NPs-PTX at two magnifications. Notes: Morphological analysis shows that the particles had smooth surface, spherical shape with a central core surrounded by a weak halo, and an average dry diameter of ~100 nm. (A) Particles with scale bar of 2 µm; (B) particles with a scale bar of 200 nm. Abbrev...

Paclitaxel labelled with a thiophene-based fluorescent dye (PTX-F35). Notes: (A) Molecular structure of PTX-F35. (B) Absorbance and emission spectra of PTX-F35. Abbreviation: PTX-F35, paclitaxel labeled with a thiophene-based fluorescent dye.

Stability of KER-NPs-PTX in PBS at 37°C measured by DLS analysis. Abbreviations: DLS, dynamic light scattering; KER-NPs-PTX, paclitaxel loaded in keratin nanoparticles; PDI, polydispersity index.

Evaluation of cytotoxic activity of HSA-NPs and KER-NPs on MCF-7 and MDA MB 231 cell proliferation in 2D model. Notes: Cell proliferation was evaluated 72 h after exposure to increasing concentrations of HSA-NPs (0.0002, 0.22, and 55 µg/mL equivalent to PTX concentration of 0.00002, 0.02, and 5 µg/mL, respectively) or of KER-NPs (0.00004, 0.04, and...

Cytofluorimetric analysis of the uptake of fluorescent PTX-F35 loaded in KER-NPs by MCF-7 and MDA MB 231 cells. Notes: MCF-7 and MDA MB 231 cells were incubated at the same concentration of PTX-F35 ([PTX] =5 µg/mL) and KER-NPs-PTX-F35 for 2, 4, 6, and 24 h. Fluorescent signal was detected by a flow cytometer using a 488 nm excitation to measure int...

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an anticancer modality that exploits singlet oxygen and other reactive oxygen species, that are formed by selective irradiation of photosensitive molecules, to kill cancer cells. Most photosensitizers (PS) are hydrophobic and poorly soluble in water and several nanoplatforms have been established to achieve a more effi...

Mussel‐inspired polydopamine (PD) coating represents a promising route for constructing functional materials and finely tuning or completely changing their surface properties. In this work, a mild and effective method to realize the deposition of PD on keratin‐based films is reported. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), generated by keratin films doped...

Doxorubicin is one of the most effective chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of several neoplastic conditions, such as leukemia, neuroblastoma, soft tissue and bone sarcomas, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and others. However, its clinical application is limited by cardiotoxicity, such as cardiomyopathy, that once developed carries a poor prog...

In this work novel hybrid materials for drug delivery purposes are obtained by combining keratin with hydrotalcite nanoparticles containing diclofenac. The hybrid films showed a less pronounced swelling, porosity and degradation and a greater thermal stability compared to pure keratin films containing free diclofenac. These results, together with t...

Prostate cancer (PC) is the fifth leading cause of cancer death in men and the androgen receptor (AR) represents the primary target for PC treatment, even though the disease frequently progresses toward androgen-independent forms. Most of the commercially available non-steroidal antiandrogens show a common scaffold consisting of two aromatic rings...

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has drawn considerable attention for its efficacy against certain types of cancers. It shows however limits in the case of deep cancers, favoring tumor recurrence under suboptimal conditions. More insight into the molecular mechanisms of PDT-induced cytotoxicity and cytoprotection is essential to extend and strengthen thi...

Nitric oxide (NO) is an endogenous molecule that performs key physiological signaling functions. The overall biological effect exerted by NO strongly depends on its concentration. Indeed, at a low concentration NO acts as a signal transducer affecting many physiological processes, such as blood flow regulation, iron homeostasis, and neurotransmissi...

This work investigates the preparation of wool keratin sponges by freeze-drying procedure starting form keratin aqueous solutions. The study highlights the correlations between process parameters (protein concentration and freezing rate) and the chemical-physical properties of the final sponges. In particular, as the keratin concentration increases...

Photo-activatable keratin sponges were prepared from protein aqueous solutions by freeze-drying method, followed by photo-functionalization with two different photosensitizers (PS): Azure A (AzA) and 5,10,15,20-tetrakis [4-(2-N,N,N-trimethylethylthio)-2,3,5,6-tetrafluorophenyl]porphyrin tetraiodide salt (TTFAP). The prepared sponges have a porosity...

This work describes the preparation of keratin and chlorin e6-conjugated keratin nanoparticles, KNPs and KNPs@Ce6 respectively, by comparing self-assembling and desolvation methodologies. Nanoparticles were characterized in terms of yield, size, morphology, Ce6 loading ratio and ability to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) upon irradiation with...

The NAD(+)-dependent sirtuin SIRT6 is highly expressed in human breast, prostate, and skin cancer where it mediates resistance to cytotoxic agents and prevents differentiation. Thus, SIRT6 is an attractive target for the development of new anticancer agents to be used alone or in combination with chemo- or radiotherapy. Here we report on the identi...

Prostate cancer (PC) represents the most common type of cancer among males and is the second leading cause of cancer death in men in Western society. Current options for PC therapy remain unsatisfactory, since they often produce uncomfortable long-term side effects, such as impotence (70%) and incontinence (5-20%) even in the first-stages of the di...

Herein, the successful utilization of core shell poly-methyl methacrylate nanoparticles (CS-PMMA NPs) as a valuable support for organocatalyst immobilization in aqueous medium is presented along with an unprecedented direct current-based electrochemical method for processing a water colloid of the resulting nano-supported catalyst. The NP coagulati...

The rapid population growth, associated with a rapid worldwide industrialization, is leading to an uncontrollable increase in environmental pollution of air and water. The World Water Council estimates that by 2030, 3.9 billion people will live in regions characterized as “water scarce,” and water scarcity is gradually becoming a big threat to food...

We report a new potent revisited version of a triazole-based inhibitor obtained by structure-based drug design on the human mPGES-1 crystal structure. Moreover, we disclosed the substitution with a halogen atom at position 5 as a new key factor influencing the biological activity on the mPGES-1 enzyme.

The androgen receptor (AR) represents the primary target for prostate cancer (PC) treatment even when it progresses towards the androgen-independent (AIPC) or the castration-resistant (CRPC) forms. Small chemical changes in the structure of non-steroidal AR ligands sensibly detrmine the pharmacological responses of AR, we developed a novel stereose...

BACKGROUND Pyrethroids are synthetic derivatives of naturally occurring pyrethrum. These molecules are widely used in agriculture for ant, fly and mosquito control and for lawn and garden care. Pyrethroids are the optically active esters of 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2-methylpropenyl)-cyclopropane carboxylic acid, also known as chrysanthemic acid. However, th...

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have the unique ability to home and engraft in tumor stroma. These features render them potentially a very useful tool as targeted delivery vehicles which can deliver therapeutic drugs to the tumor stroma. In the present study, we investigate whether fluorescent core-shell PMMA nanoparticles (FNPs) post-loaded with a ph...

Adverse effects have limited the clinical potential of 20-(S)-camptothecin (CPT) and led to a growing interest in the development of CPT analogues that exhibit less severe drawbacks, while maintaining their therapeutic activity. Recently, a thiopyridone isostere of CPT, 20-(S)-thiocamptothecin (TCPT), was developed that resulted more potent than th...