Hyung‐Jun Im

Nanoparticles are primarily taken up by immune cells after systemic administration. Thus, they are considered an ideal drug delivery vehicle for immunomodulation. Because the spleen is the largest lymphatic organ and regulates the systemic immune system, there have been studies to develop spleen targeting nanoparticles for immunomodulation of cancer and immunological disorders. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) includes disorders involving chronic inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract and is

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a leading global health concern. Due to limited imaging and therapeutic options, PAD and other ischemia-related diseases may benefit from the use of long circulating nanoparticles as imaging probes and/or drug delivery vehicles. Polyethylene glycol (PEG)-conjugated nanoparticles have shown shortened circulation half-lives in vivo when injected multiple times into a single subject. This phenomenon has become known as the accelerated blood clearance (ABC) effec

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an effective anticancer strategy with a higher selectivity and fewer adverse effects than conventional therapies; however, shallow tissue penetration depth of light has hampered the clinical utility of PDT. Recently, reports have indicated that Cerenkov luminescence-induced PDT may overcome the tissue penetration limitation of conventional PDT. However, the effectiveness of this method is controversial because of its low luminescence intensity. Herein, we developed

Exosomes are attracting attention as new biomarkers for monitoring the diagnosis and prognosis of certain diseases. Colorimetric-based lateral-flow assays have been previously used to detect exosomes, but these have the disadvantage of a high limit of detection. Here, we introduce a new technique to improve exosome detection. In our approach, highly bright multi-quantum dots embedded in silica-encapsulated nanoparticles (M-QD-SNs), which have uniform size and are brighter than single quantum dot

Purpose To preliminarily assess the potential prognostic value of various fluorine 18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) parameters before, during, and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT). Materials and Methods Thirty-four patients with osteosarcoma were enrolled prospectively from 2008 to 2012 and underwent FDG PET/computed tomography (CT) imaging before (baseline scan), during (interim scan) and after NCT (posttherapy scan). The study was approved by the institutional

The purpose of this study was to test the effect of Yakson (i.e. a traditional Korean touching method) and non-nutritive sucking (NNS) on reducing the pain that neonates experience when undergoing the heel stick procedure for blood testing. Ninety-nine healthy neonates were recruited and assigned into three groups: Yakson (n = 33), NNS (n = 33), and control group (n = 33). Each intervention was provided to the Yakson and NNS groups from 1 min before heel stick until the completion of the heel st

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been found to be effective therapeutic drug delivery vehicles in a wide range of human diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Proinflammatory (M1) macrophages can modulate the suppressive immune environment of tumor tissues to be more inflammatory and have been considered as candidates for cancer immunotherapy. Furthermore, macrophage-derived exosome-mimetic nanovesicles (MNVs) could effectively induce antitumor response and enhance the effic

In this study, we aimed to evaluate prognostic value of metabolic and volumetric parameters measured from F fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) in patients with resectable pancreatic cancer.Fifty-one patients with resectable pancreatic cancer who underwent FDG-PET/CT and curative operation were retrospectively enrolled. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) were measured from FD

Quantitative indices of parathyroid SPECT/CT closely correlate with laboratory functional markers and disease severity of parathyroid adenoma. Thus, parathyroid SPECT/CT could be used for evaluation of the underlying functional state and disease severity of parathyroid adenoma, particularly for decision pertaining to surgical treatment.

Movement impairments in Parkinson's disease (PD) are caused by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons and the consequent disruption of connectivity in the cortico-striatal-thalamic loop. This study evaluated brain metabolic connectivity in a 6-Hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced mouse model of PD using (18)F-fluorodeoxy glucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET). Fourteen PD-model mice and ten control mice were used for the analysis. Voxel-wise t-tests on FDG PET results yielded no significan

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is a promising cancer therapeutic approach due to its spatial selectivity and high potency. Indocyanine green (ICG) has been considered a biocompatible PTT agent. However, ICG has several challenges to hinder its clinical use including rapid blood clearance and instability to heat, light, and solvent, leading to a loss of photoactivation property and PTT efficacy. Herein, we leveraged stabilizing components, methyl-β-cyclodextrin and liposomes, in one nanoplatform (ICD

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is a novel cancer treatment using a photoabsorber to cause hyperthermia to kill tumors by laser irradiation. Prussian blue nanoparticles (PB NPs) are considered as next-generation photothermal agents due to the facile synthesis and excellent absorption of near-infrared light. Although PB NPs demonstrate remarkable PTT capabilities, their clinical application is limited due to their systemic toxicity. Bacterial cellulose (BC) has been applied to various bio-applications