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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is in urgent need of better diagnostic and therapeutic methods due to its late diagnosis, limited treatment options and poor prognosis. Finding the right animal models to recapitulate the tumor molecular pathogenesis and tumor microenvironment (TME) complexity is critical for preclinical immunotherapeutic and non-immunotherapeutic treatment developments. In this review, we summarize and evaluate popular preclinical animal models including patient-derived xenograft models, humanized mouse models, genetically engineered mouse models, and syngeneic mouse models. Through comparisons between these models in different research settings, we hope to provide guidance in finding the most relevant preclinical models to suit various research purposes.

Controlled drug release is a promising approach for cancer therapy due to its merits of reduced systemic toxicity and enhanced antitumor efficacy. Here, multifunctional Fe

Luminescent Mn3[Co(CN)6]2 nanocubes doped with Cd2+ can induce human lung adenocarcinoma cells A549 generating more metallothioneins (MTs) than squamous cells H520. The nanocubes can be bound to MTs and be excluded from cells for detoxification. Then A549 cells have a lower fluorescence imaging intensity than H520 cells, which can distinguish the two kinds of cells.

Iron oxides are extensively investigated as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) because of their large specific capacities. However, they undergo huge volume changes during cycling that result in anode pulverization and loss of electrical connectivity. As a result, the capacity retention of the iron oxide anodes is poor and should be improved for commercial applications. Herein, we report the preparation of ultrasmall Fe2O3 nanoparticles embedded in nitrogen-doped hollow carbon sphere shells (Fe2O3@N-C) by the direct pyrolysis of Fe-based zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (Fe-ZIF) at 620 °C in air. As an anode material for LIBs, the capacity retained was 1573 mA h g(-1) after 50 cycles at a current density of 0.1 C (1 C = 1000 mA g(-1)). Even undergoing the high-rate capability test twice, it can still deliver a remarkably reversible and stable capacity of 1142 mA h g(-1) after 100 cycles at a current density of 1 C. The excellent electrochemical performance is attributed to the unique structure of ultrasmall Fe2O3 nanoparticles uniformly distributed in the shell of nitrogen-doped carbon spheres, which simultaneously solve the major problems of pulverization, facilitate rapid electrochemical kinetics, and effectively avoid the aggregation of Fe2O3 nanoparticles during de/lithiation. The novel method developed in this work for the synthesis of functional hybrid materials can be extended to the preparation of various MOFs-derived functional nanocomposites owing to the versatility of links and metal centers in MOFs.

Controlled drug release is a promising approach for cancer therapy due to its merits of reduced systemic toxicity and enhanced antitumor efficacy. Here, multifunctional Fe3O4@carbon@zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (FCZ) hybrid nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully constructed. Owing to the porosity and acid-sensitivity of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8), FCZ NPs not only displayed an improved drug loading capacity compared to most of the polymeric nanocarriers, but also exhibited excellent pH-triggered release of doxorubicin (DOX) in vitro. Moreover, carbon dots (CDs) embedded in the porous carbon shell and superparamagnetic iron oxide nanocrystals could simultaneously function as intracellular fluorescence imaging and T2*-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents, respectively. The results obtained from the MTT assay demonstrated good biocompatibility of FCZ NPs. DOX release experiments showed pH regulation-dominated drug release kinetics: a weak acidic pH in tumor areas could trigger sustained drug release, suggesting that FCZ NPs are ideal drug delivery systems. Moreover, the remarkable inhibition of tumor growth without side effects was confirmed in vivo. These results provide convincing evidence establishing the multifunctional FCZ NPs as promising candidates for tumor therapy.

The versatile Mn3[Co(CN)6]2@SiO2@Ag core-shell NCs are prepared by a simple coprecipitation method. Ag nanoparticles with an average diameter of 12 nm deposited on the surface of Mn3[Co(CN)6]2@SiO2 through S-Ag bonding are fabricated in ethanol solution by reducing silver nitrate (AgNO3 ) with NaBH4 . The NCs possess T1 -T2 dual-modal magnetic resonance imaging ability. The inner Prussian blue analogs (PBAs) Mn3[Co(CN)6]2 exhibit bright two-photon fluorescence (TPF) imaging when excited at 730 nm. Moreover, the TPF imaging intensity displays 1.85-fold enhancement after loading of Ag nanoparticles. Besides, the sample also has multicolor fluorescence imaging ability under 403, 488, and 543 nm single photon excitation. The as-synthesized Mn3[Co(CN)6]2@SiO2@Ag NCs show a DOX loading capacity of 600 mg g(-1) and exhibit an excellent ability of near-infrared (NIR)-responsive drug release and photothermal therapy (PTT) which is induced from the relative high absorbance in NIR region. The combined chemotherapy and PTT against cancer cells in vitro test shows high therapeutic efficiency. The multimodal treatment and imaging could lead to this material a potential multifunctional system for biomedical diagnosis and therapy.