Fathy, M. M., O. A. Saad, W. M. Elshemey, and H. M. Fahmy, "Dose-enhancement of MCF 7 cell line radiotherapy using silica-iron oxide nanocomposite.", Biochemical and biophysical research communications, vol. 632, pp. 100-106, 2022. Abstractdose-enhancement_of_mcf_7_cell_line_radiotherapy_using_silica-iron.pdf

Cancer radiotherapy is one of the most effective regimens of cancer treatments, but cancer cell radioresistance remains a concern. Radiosensitizers can selectively improve the efficacy of radiotherapy and reduce inherent damage. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the effect of silica-coated iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (SIONPs) as a radiosensitizer and compare their therapeutic effect with that of Iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (IONPs). IONPs and SIONPs were characterized using several physical techniques such as a transmission electron microscope (TEM) and Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). MTT and DNA double-strand breaks (Comet) assays have been used to detect the cytotoxicity, cell viability, and DNA damage of MCF-7 cells, which were treated with different concentrations of prepared nanoparticles and exposed to an X-ray beam. In this study, an efficient radiosensitizer, SIONPs, was successfully prepared and characterized. With 0.5 Gy dose, dose enhancement factor (DEF) values of cells treated with 5 and 10 μg/ml of IONPs were 1 and 1.09, respectively, while those treated with SIONPs at these concentrations had DEF of 1.21 and 1.32, respectively. Results demonstrated that SIONPs provide a potential for improving the radiosensitivity of breast cancer.

Fathy, M. M., "Multifunctional Thymoquinone-Capped Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Combined Chemo-Photothermal Therapy of Cancer", Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism, vol. 33, pp. 2125–2131, 2020.
Fathy, M. M., L. Nasser, G. El-Sokkary, and M. S.Rasheedy, "Preparetion and characterization of curcumin loaded iron oxide nanoparticles for breast cancer cytotoxic effect", Assiut Univ. J. of Physics , vol. 48, issue 2, pp. 88-98 , 2019.
Fathy, M. M., F. S. Mohamed, N. S. Elbialy, and W. M. Elshemey, "Multifunctional Chitosan-Capped Gold Nanoparticles for enhanced cancer chemo-radiotherapy: An invitro study.", Physica medica : PM : an international journal devoted to the applications of physics to medicine and biology : official journal of the Italian Association of Biomedical Physics (AIFB), vol. 48, pp. 76-83, 2018. Abstract

Over the last decade, chemo-radiotherapy represented a well-established paradigm for cancer treatment. Developing new strategies to promote the therapeutic efficacy while reducing toxic side effects of chemo-radiotherapy is a main research objective in cancer therapy. A promising new oncological strategy for enhancing chemo-radiotherapy against cancer involves the utilization of multifunctional nanoparticles (nanocarriers and radiosensitizers). In this work, Chitosan-Capped Gold Nanoparticles (CS-GNPs) were synthesized and loaded with an anticancer agent, Doxorubicin (CS-GNPs-DOX). The prepared multifunctional nano-formulation acted as nano-radiosensitizer, in addition to being an intrinsic drug delivery system allowing efficient loading and targeting of chemotherapeutics. The therapeutic efficacy of CS-GNPs-DOX was studied by treating breast cancer cells (MCF-7) with CS-GNPs-DOX accompanied by different doses of X-rays (0.5, 1 and 3 Gy) and assessing the cytotoxic effect via neutral red cell viability assay. Further assessment of the therapeutic efficacy was conducted using flowcytometry to measure the induction of apoptosis, while neutral comet assay was carried out to check DNA double strand breaks. Results showed that CS-GNPs-DOX could enhance the chemo-radiotherapeutic effect by significantly decreasing cancer cells viability with increasing DNA double strand breaks and inducing cell necrosis even at a very low radiation dose (0.5 Gy). Interestingly, the developed multifunctional CS-GNPs-DOX provided a synergistic regimen for cancer treatment that effectively delivered DOX to tumor cells and enhanced the radiosensitization activity, thus minimizing conventional radio-therapeutic required doses. Accordingly, CS-GNPs-DOX represents a promising multifunctional nanoparticle for enhancing breast cancer chemo-radiotherapy.

Tawfeek, G. M., M. H. A. Baki, A. N. Ibrahim, M. A. H. Mostafa, M. M. Fathy, and M. S. E. D. M. Diab, "Enhancement of the therapeutic efficacy of praziquantel in murine Schistosomiasis mansoni using silica nanocarrier.", Parasitology research, vol. 118, issue 12, pp. 3519-3533, 2019. Abstract

The main objective of this work is preparation of mesoporous silica nanoparticles loaded with praziquantel (PZQ-Si) in order to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of praziquantel (PZQ). Mice were experimentally infected with Schistosoma mansoni and treated 6 weeks post-infection with PZQ in different doses via either oral or intraperitoneal (IP) routes. PZQ in the same doses orally administered to S. mansoni-infected mice was used as a drug control, and infected and non-infected non-treated mice served as positive and negative controls, respectively. PZQ-Si exhibited good physicochemical attributes in terms of small uniform size (105 nm), spherical shape, and PZQ entrapment efficiency (83%). A maximum antischistosomal effect was achieved using orally administered PZQ-Si as reflected by total worm burden, tissue egg count, oogram pattern, and hepatic granuloma count and diameter. The biomarkers related to liver oxidative stress status and immunomodulatory effect (serum TNF-α and IL-10) were significantly improved. Data obtained implied that IP route was less efficacious for the delivery of PZQ-Si. Encapsulation of PZQ permits the reduction of the used therapeutic dose of PZQ. Hepatic DNA fragmentation, measured by comet assay, was significantly improved in infected mice treated with maximum dose of PZQ-Si as compared to positive or PZQ control groups. The results indicate that mesoporous silica NP is a promising safe nanocarrier for PZQ potentiating its antischistosomal, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, and anti-inflammatory action in animal model infected with S. mansoni. From a practical standpoint, PZQ-Si using a lower dose of PZQ could be suggested for effective PZQ antischistosomal mass chemotherapy.

Fahmy, H. M., M. M. Fathy, R. A. Abd-Elbadia, and W. M. Elshemey, "Targeting of Thymoquinone-loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles to different brain areas: In vivo study.", Life sciences, vol. 222, pp. 94-102, 2019. Abstract

AIMS: Drug delivery to the brain is hindered by the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) that filters out most of drugs after systemic administration. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop more efficient drug delivery systems to deliver pharmaceuticals to brain. In this work, the distribution and the effect of Thymoquinone (TQ) on different oxidative stress biomarkers in different brain areas, either in the free form or encapsulated in mesoposrous silica nanocarriers (MSNs) were systematically studied.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: MSNs and Thymoquinone-loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN-TQ) were prepared and characterized using TEM, DLS, and zeta potential. The encapsulation efficiency and release profile of MSN-TQ were investigated as well. The chromatographic quantification of TQ was carried out to evaluate the effect of TQ loading in MSNs on the TQ distribution throughout different brain regions. Additionally, some oxidative stress biomarkers were evaluated like: glutathione reduced (GSH), glutathione-s-transferase (GST), nitric acid (NO) and malondialdehyde (MDA).

KEY FINDINGS: Results showed that the encapsulation of TQ in MSNs enhanced its delivery to some brain areas (cortex, thalamus, hypothalamus and midbrain), on the other hand it reduced its delivery to the cerebellum while its delivery to medulla and striatum was not changed compared to free TQ. Neither free TQ nor MSN-TQ were able to reach the hippocampus.

SIGNIFICANCE: It was found that the encapsulation of TQ in MSNs resulted in its redistribution in different brain areas, thus, MSNs could be potentially utilized as a drug delivery system for selectively targeting the drug to certain brain areas.

Fathy, M. M., H. M. Fahmy, A. M. M. Balah, F. F. Mohamed, and W. M. Elshemey, "Magnetic nanoparticles-loaded liposomes as a novel treatment agent for iron deficiency anemia: In vivo study.", Life sciences, vol. 234, pp. 116787, 2019. Abstract

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is a major worldwide public health problem. This is due to its prevalence among infants, children, adolescents, pregnant and reproductive age women. Ferrous sulfate (FeSO) is the first line therapy for iron IDA. Unfortunately, it is reported that FeSO suffers from low absorption rate in the body and itself exhibits severe side effects. Herein, iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles-loaded liposomes (LMNPs) are prepared, characterized and evaluated as a treatment regimen for IDA in Wistar rats (as an animal model). Iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are prepared and loaded into liposomes using the thin film hydration method. The size of the prepared formulations is in the range 10-100 nm, thus it can avoid the reticular endothelial system (RES), and increased their blood circulation time. For in vivo assessment, thirty-five Wistar rats are divided into 5 groups (n = 7): negative control group, positive control group, and three groups treated with different iron formulations (FeSO, MNPs and LMNPs). Anemia is induced in the anemic groups by the bleeding method and then treatment started with different iron compounds administrated orally for 13 days. Hematological parameters are followed up during the treatment period. Results indicate that, in the LMNPs group, the hematological parameters turn to normal values and the histopathological structures of the liver, spleen and kidney remain normal. This proves that liposome increases the bioavailability of MNPs. In conclusion, LMNPs demonstrate superiority as a therapeutic regimen for the treatment of IDA among the tested iron formulations.