A glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was modified with cerium-doped ZnO nanoflowers (Ce-ZnO/GCE) to obtain a sensor for direct simultaneous detection of the cancer drugs epirubicin and methotrexate. XRD, SEM and EDX techniques were used to characterize their morphology and structure. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was applied to characterize the electrochemical features of the modified GCE. The experimental conditions were optimized. Diffusion coefficients and heterogeneous rate constants were determined for the oxidation of epirubicin. The differential pulse voltammetric response to epirubicin has a peak near 0.7 V (vs. Ag/AgCl at a scan rate of 50 mV s-1) and is linear in the 0.01 to 600 μM concentration range, and the detection limit is 2.3 nM (S/N = 5). The differential pulse voltammetric response to methotrexate has a peak near 0.75 V (vs. Ag/AgCl and the same scan rate) and is linear in the 0.01 to 500 μM concentration range, and the detection limit is 6.3 nM (S/N = 5). The method was applied to the simultaneous determination of epirubicin and methotrexate in pharmaceutical injections and in spiked diluted blood specimens. Graphical abstractSchematic of an electrochemical sensor based on Ce-doped ZnO nano-flowers modified glassy carbon electrode for detecting epirubicin.

We describe here an Nd3+-sensitized upconversion fluorescent sensor for epirubicin (EPI) detection in aqueous solutions under 808 nm laser excitation. The upconversion fluorescence of nanoparticles is effectively quenched in the presence of EPI via a fluorescence resonance energy transfer mechanism. The dynamic quenching constant was 2.10 × 104 M-1. Normalized fluorescence intensity increased linearly as the EPI concentration was raised from 0.09 μM to 189.66 μM and the fluorometric detection limit was 0.05 μM. The sensing method was simple, fast, and low-cost and was able to be applied to determine the levels of EPI in urine with spike recoveries from 97.5% to 102.6%. Another important feature of the proposed fluorescent sensor is that it holds a promising potential for in vivo imaging and detection due to its distinctive properties such as weak autofluorescence, low heating effect, and high light penetration depth.

Chemotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is far from satisfactory, mainly due to poor targeting of antitumor drugs and self-adaptations of the tumors. Angiogenesis, vasculogenic mimicry (VM) channels, migration, and invasion are the main ways for tumors to get nutrition. Herein, RPV-modified Epirubicin and dioscin co-delivery liposomes were successfully prepared. These liposomes exhibited ideal physicochemical properties, enhanced tumor targeting and accumulation in tumor sites, and inhibited VM channels formation, tumor angiogenesis, migration and invasion. The liposomes also down-regulated VM-related and angiogenesis-related proteins in vitro. Furthermore, when tested in vivo, the targeted co-delivery liposomes increased the selective accumulation of drugs in tumor sites and exhibited extended stability in blood circulation. In conclusion, the RPV-modified Epirubicin and dioscin co-delivery liposomes exhibited strong antitumor efficacy in vivo and could thus be considered a promising strategy for NSCLC treatment.

Breast cancer (BCa) is one of the most lethal malignancies of female reproductive organs. Increasing evidence has revealed that miRNAs participate in both tumorigenesis and multi-drug resistance. MiR-512-3p, a small non-coding RNA (miRNA), was previously found to be upregulated in breast cancer cells. In this study, we first verified that miR-512-3p expression forced a significant reorganization of the tumor architecture, affecting important cellular processes involved in cell-cell contact, cell adhesion and cell motility. Accordingly, induction of miR-512-3p expression significantly enhanced chemosensitivity and decreased metastatic potential in BCa cells. Our study demonstrated that miR-512-3p directly targets the 3'UTR of Livin, thereby decreasing its expression in MCF-7 cells. MiR-512-3p overexpression significantly inhibited breast cancer cell growth and metastasis. Both miR-512-3p overexpression and Livin knockdown significantly increased the chemosensitivity of cancer cells. Epirubicin (EPB), gemcitabine (GCB) and docetaxel (TXT) had antitumor effects in vitro against human breast cancer cell lines, and miR-512-3p overexpression increased tumor sensitivity to these drugs. In addition, miR-512-3p overexpression significantly inhibited tumor growth in vivo. Collectively, our data suggest that miR-512-3p is a significant regulator of tumorigenesis and drug resistance in breast cancer and provides evidence that miR-512-3p may represent a promising target for breast cancer therapy.

Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumour in women around the world. The objective of this study was to quantify the number of non-haematological adverse reactions associated with chemotherapy, as well as to assess the effect of the sense of coherence, optimism-pessimism and the quality of the doctor-patient relationship on the quality of life of breast cancer patients. To this end, a cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted involving 110 breast cancer patients who were treated with docetaxel, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide during the period 2012-2014. The difference in the quality of life in patients who have five or fewer toxicities compared to those with more than six is highlighted. This difference is not as important when comparing patients with 6 to 10 toxicities and those with more than 10. The multivariate model used in this study corroborates the direct implication of the sense of coherence on the quality of life and adds the number of adverse reactions as a new construct. This has virtually the same impact on the quality of life of these patients, but in reverse. In conclusion, to improve the quality of life of breast cancer patients it would be necessary to have an impact on the number of adverse reactions involved in chemotherapeutic treatment, as well as on psychological interventions, with the sense of coherence as a possible starting point.

One major side effect of chemotherapy that young women with cancer suffer from is ovarian damage. Therefore, it is necessary to study the pathogenesis of chemotherapeutic drugs in order to develop pharmaceutical agents to preserve fertility. Epirubicin is one of the commonly used chemotherapy drugs for breast cancer patients. This research explored the side effects of epirubicin in mice. We found that epirubicin significantly reduced the body weight, the weight of the ovaries and uteri, and the pups' number, while melatonin, which is extremely resistant to oxidation, significantly reduced these damages. Moreover, co-treatment with melatonin prevented epirubicin-induced decrease in E2 and progesterone, and the loss of follicles. Mechanism study showed that melatonin significantly reduced the levels of proapoptotic genes p53, Caspase3, and Caspase9 while it upregulated antiapoptotic factors Bcl-2 and Bcl2l1, and antioxidant genes superoxide dismutase 1 and catalase compared with the epirubicin group. In addition, melatonin markedly reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the transcription of Caspase12 and Chop, which is vital in endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS)-mediated apoptosis. These results indicate melatonin protects against epirubicin-induced ovarian damage by reducing ROS-induced ERS. Therefore, melatonin has a therapeutic potential for the protection of ovarian function and preservation of fertility during chemotherapy.

A wipe sampling procedure followed by a simple ultra-performance liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for simultaneous quantification of six cytotoxic drugs: 5-fluorouracil (5FU), doxorubicin (DOXO), epirubicin (EPI), ifosfamide (IF), cyclophosphamide (CP) and gemcitabine (GEM), as surrogate markers for occupational exposure. After a solid-phase extraction of wiping filter on 10 × 10 cm surface, the separation was performed within 6.5 min, using a gradient mobile phase and the analytes were detected by mass spectrometry in the multiple reaction ion monitoring mode. The method was validated according to the recommendations of the US Food and Drug Administration. The method was linear (r2 > 0.9912) between 2.5 and 200 ng per wiping sample (25 to 2000 pg/cm2) for 5FU, doxorubicin and epirubicin and between 0.2 and 40 ng per wiping sample (2 to 400 pg/cm2) for cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide and gemcitabine. The lower limits of quantification were 2.5 ng (25 pg/ cm2) for 5FU, doxorubicin and epirubicin, and 0.2 ng (2 pg/cm2) for CP, IF and GEM. Within-day and between-day imprecisions were <14.0, 10.6, 11.1, 8.7, 11.2 and 10.9% for 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin, epirubicin, ifosfamide cyclophosphamide and gemcitabine, respectively. The inaccuracies did not exceed 2.7, 10.9, 1.1, 4.5, 1.6 and 2.9% for the studied molecules, respectively. This new sensitive validated method for surface contamination studies of cytotoxics was successfully applied on different localizations in hospital. This approach is particularly suitable to assess occupational exposure risk to cytotoxic drugs.