Papers

20 results
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Article Tier 2

Exploring Metal Nanoparticles Interaction with Cancer Cells

This paper is not relevant to microplastics research — it reviews the uses of metal nanoparticles in biomedical applications, particularly cancer treatment, and discusses their toxicity profiles.

2023 THE JOURNAL OF MICROBIOLOGY AND MOLECULAR GENETICS
Clinical Trial Tier 1

How to Treat Melanoma? The Current Status of Innovative Nanotechnological Strategies and the Role of Minimally Invasive Approaches like PTT and PDT

This review summarizes advances in nanotechnology-based treatments for melanoma, including photothermal and photodynamic therapies using engineered nanoparticles as drug carriers and light absorbents. While nanoparticle-based therapies show promise for improving treatment outcomes, the environmental fate of these engineered nanomaterials remains a concern, as nanoparticles can behave similarly to microplastics when released into ecosystems.

2022 Pharmaceutics 35 citations
Article Tier 2

Functionalized magnetic nanoparticles: Synthesis, characterization, catalytic application and assessment of toxicity

Researchers developed iron-based magnetic nanoparticles as catalysts that can rapidly break down bisphenol A (BPA) — a common plastic additive and endocrine disruptor — in water using a combination of low-dose hydrogen peroxide and UV light, achieving complete degradation in under 15 minutes. The treated water also showed reduced toxicity to human cancer cells, suggesting this approach could help remove persistent chemical pollutants from water supplies.

2018 Scientific Reports 131 citations
Article Tier 2

The influence of microplastic particles on the effectiveness of electrochemotherapy in breast cancer cells

Researchers examined whether microplastic particle exposure affects the effectiveness of electrochemotherapy in breast cancer cells, investigating whether MPs could alter cellular responses to the combined electroporation and chemotherapy treatment through inflammatory or oxidative stress mechanisms.

2025 Wroclaw Medical University
Article Tier 2

Cancer Metabolism: The Role of ROS in DNA Damage and Induction of Apoptosis in Cancer Cells

This review explores how reactive oxygen species (ROS) -- harmful molecules produced during abnormal cell metabolism -- can damage DNA and trigger cancer cell death, making ROS a potential target for cancer treatment. While not directly about microplastics, this is relevant because microplastic exposure is known to increase ROS production in human cells, which could contribute to DNA damage over time.

2023 Metabolites 229 citations
Article Tier 2

Bioeffects of Nanoplastics: DNA Damage and Mechanism

This review examines how nanoplastics, plastic particles smaller than one micrometer, can damage DNA in cells. The authors explain that nanoplastics may cause genetic damage through oxidative stress, inflammation, and direct interference with cellular processes, which raises concerns about potential long-term health effects including cancer risk.

2025 Nano Letters 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Iron-Reduced Graphene Oxide Core–Shell Micromotors Designed for Magnetic Guidance and Photothermal Therapy under Second Near-Infrared Light

Researchers developed a novel iron-reduced graphene oxide core-shell micromotor designed for targeted photothermal therapy using second near-infrared light. The micromotor combines magnetic guidance with efficient light-to-heat conversion and demonstrated strong tumor-killing ability in laboratory experiments. While not focused on microplastics, the study advances micro-scale robotic technologies that have potential future applications in environmental remediation.

2024 Pharmaceutics 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoparticle delivery of TFOs is a novel targeted therapy for HER2 amplified breast cancer

Researchers engineered a nanoparticle drug delivery system that carries triple-helix DNA molecules (TFOs) directly to cancer cells that overexpress the HER2 protein, showing effective tumor suppression without significant toxicity in animal models. This targeted approach could offer a new treatment strategy for HER2-amplified breast cancers, which tend to be aggressive and hard to treat.

2023 BMC Cancer 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Reversing the immunosuppressive microenvironment with reduced redox level by microwave-chemo-immunostimulant Ce–Mn MOF for improved immunotherapy

Researchers developed a nanoparticle-based treatment that combines microwave energy, chemotherapy, and immune activation to reverse the protective environment that tumors create to hide from the immune system. In animal experiments, this combined approach significantly increased immune cell infiltration into tumors and improved the body's ability to fight cancer beyond the treated area.

2022 Journal of Nanobiotechnology 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Double-edged Sword Role of Iron-loaded Ferritin in Extracellular Vesicles

This review explores the dual role of iron-loaded ferritin in extracellular vesicles, discussing how excess cellular iron promotes Fenton reaction-driven oxidative DNA damage and cellular ferroptosis resistance, contributing to carcinogenesis.

2021 Journal of Cancer Prevention 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Advances in Drug Targeting, Drug Delivery, and Nanotechnology Applications: Therapeutic Significance in Cancer Treatment

This review covers advances in targeted drug delivery using nanotechnology, including nanoparticles and liposomes designed to release medications precisely where needed in the body. While focused on cancer treatment, the drug delivery technologies discussed are relevant to understanding how nanoscale plastic particles may also travel through the body and accumulate in specific tissues.

2025 Pharmaceutics 36 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanotechnology in cancer treatment: revolutionizing strategies against drug resistance

This review explores how nanotechnology is being used to overcome drug resistance in cancer treatment, using materials like carbon nanotubes, dendrimers, and liposomes to deliver drugs more precisely to tumors. While not directly about microplastics, the nanomaterial strategies discussed share relevance with understanding how nano-sized plastic particles interact with human cells and tissues.

2025 Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology 31 citations
Article Tier 2

Ferroptosis inhibition via the ROS-GPX4 axis drives microplastic-induced malignant progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Researchers investigated how polystyrene microplastics promote malignant progression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells, finding that the plastics inhibit ferroptosis—an iron-dependent cell death pathway—via the ROS-GPX4 axis, thus allowing cancer cells to survive and proliferate. Blocking this anti-ferroptosis effect restored cancer cell death, suggesting that targeting the ferroptosis pathway could counteract microplastic-driven tumor progression.

2025 Journal of Translational Medicine
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Cancer Progression: Biology and Public Health

This review examines emerging evidence that microplastics and nanoplastics may contribute to cancer-related processes by crossing biological barriers and accumulating in tissues. The study highlights that these particles can cause oxidative stress, inflammation, DNA damage, and barrier dysfunction at the cellular level, and may promote tumor-supporting processes including angiogenesis and immune evasion.

2025 Biomedicines 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxicity of metal-based nanoparticles: Challenges in the nano era

This review covers the toxic effects of metal-based nanoparticles on human health, including how they cause oxidative stress, inflammation, DNA damage, and organ dysfunction. While focused on engineered nanoparticles rather than microplastics directly, the toxicity pathways described overlap significantly with those triggered by nanoplastic exposure. Understanding these shared mechanisms helps explain how nano-scale particles of any kind, including nanoplastics, may harm the body.

2022 Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology 286 citations
Article Tier 2

Cytotoxicity of Nanoparticles Used in Cosmetic Industries: An In-depth Insight

This review examined the cytotoxicity of nanoparticles used in cosmetic sunscreens, including titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, finding that while these particles provide effective UV protection, their nanoscale form raises concerns about skin penetration and potential cellular toxicity.

2022 Evergreen 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Polystyrene Microplastics Induce Radiotherapy Resistance in Lung Cancer by Suppressing Ferroptosis Through NF-κB Activation

Researchers found that polystyrene microplastics impaired radiotherapy efficacy in lung cancer cells by suppressing ferroptosis—a form of iron-dependent cell death—through NF-κB activation, providing the first evidence that microplastics may contribute to cancer therapy resistance.

2025 Antioxidants and Redox Signaling
Article Tier 2

Recent Advances of Magnetite (Fe3O4)-Based Magnetic Materials in Catalytic Applications

This review covers how magnetite (iron oxide) nanomaterials are being used in environmental cleanup, including removing pollutants from water, and in medical applications like cancer treatment. The magnetic properties of these materials make them easy to recover and reuse, which is relevant to microplastic pollution because magnetic separation is one promising method for filtering microplastics out of water.

2023 Magnetochemistry 179 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro and nanoplastics in human carcinogenesis: Insights from in vitro studies

This narrative review compiles in vitro evidence on the carcinogenic effects of micro- and nanoplastics across multiple cancer types, examining mechanisms including oxidative stress, DNA damage, immune dysregulation, and epigenetic changes identified in cell culture experiments.

2025 Toxicology
Article Tier 2

Insights into the potential carcinogenicity of micro- and nano-plastics.

This review examined existing evidence on the carcinogenic potential of micro- and nano-plastics, finding studies demonstrating genotoxicity, oxidative DNA damage, disruption of cell signaling, and tumor-promoting effects, while noting that direct human carcinogenicity data remain limited and mechanistic pathways require further investigation.

2023 Mutation research. Reviews in mutation research