Lateral Flow Assays (LFAs) have become the foundation of point-of-care (POC) diagnostics, valued for their user-friendly format, cost-effectiveness, and rapid turnaround time. However, despite their widespread success, most notably in pregnancy testing and infectious disease monitoring, conventional colorimetric LFAs often suffer from insufficient sensitivity, limiting their utility for the early-stage detection of low-abundance biomarkers. This review provides a critical analysis of recent strategies have been developed to improve the sensitivity of these assays. Enhancement strategies are systematically classified into six distinct domains: (i) flow modulation techniques that optimise reaction kinetics; (ii) sample preconcentration methods; (iii) advanced signal transduction reporters beyond traditional gold nanoparticles; (iv) chemical signal amplification including nanozyme and enzymatic catalysis; (v) structural strategies for maximising label accumulation; and (vi) the engineering of aptamers as programmable recognition elements. Special emphasis is placed on ”reagent-free” and ”equipment-free” innovations that boost performance without compromising the inherent simplicity of the device. Finally, the emerging transition from passive biological selection to active molecular engineering is discussed, outlining the future trajectory of ultra-sensitive next-generation LFAs.

Lymphomas represent a diverse array of B- and T-cell malignancies, where obstacles such as drug resistance, treatment-related toxicity, and disease heterogeneity continue to hinder cure rates, even with advancements in immunotherapy and targeted therapies. Nanomedicine offers potential solutions to these challenges by enhancing tumor-selective delivery, enabling real-time disease monitoring, and facilitating strategic combination therapy. Liposomes, gold nanoparticles, and polymeric nanocarriers improve lymphoma-specific accumulation of chemotherapeutics and biologics, counteract efflux-mediated chemoresistance, and minimize off-target exposure to these agents. Simultaneously, quantum dots, plasmonic gold nanostructures, and superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles have enhanced diagnostic capabilities for highly sensitive fluorescence, optical, and MRI-based detection and separation of malignant lymphocytes, paving the way for multifunctional theranostic platforms for leukemia. Innovative strategies include pretargeted two-step nanoparticle systems for precise tumor ablation, mRNA-loaded nanoparticles for in situ vaccination using immune-stimulatory cytokines, and non-viral lipid nanoparticle technologies for in vivo CAR T engineering and CRISPR-mediated genome editing of lymphoma or stromal cells to modify the tumor microenvironment. Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used to optimize nanoparticle composition and targeting, accelerating the development of personalized nanomedicines tailored to the molecular and microenvironmental characteristics of individual lymphomas. These advancements collectively contribute to integrated nanotheranostic techniques that enhance diagnostic precision, facilitate accurate image-guided interventions, and promote safer, more effective, and tailored therapeutic approaches for patients with lymphoma.

Ferritin has gained widespread acceptance in both clinical settings and biomedical engineering applications owing to its exceptional biological characteristics. Ferritin has excellent in vivo safety and dissociative self-assembly properties, and can be endowed with novel functions using chemical or biological modification methods to form function-specific ferritins. In addition, ferritin has a cage-like spatial structure, functional modifiability, and is mostly used in the study of drug delivery systems and imaging-agent encapsulation. This paper systematically describes the current research progress on ferritin in various diseases, mainly including hematological diseases, malignant tumors, metabolic diseases, infectious diseases, and autoimmune diseases, and evaluates and summarizes the strengths and limitations of ferritin in biochemical detection, bioimaging applications, and therapeutic delivery systems. Finally, the development of ferritin is summarized and prospected. Ferritin currently offers numerous benefits in disease diagnosis and drug development within the realms of biotherapy, immunotherapy, and vaccinations. It is hypothesized that subsequent investigation will elucidate and apply the broad potential of ferro-albumin extensively across various medical and biological domains.

Zirconia implants have emerged as a promising novel material in the field of dentistry due to their ability to overcome certain limitations associated with titanium implants. However, the appropriate sterilization protocols for zirconia implants have not yet been thoroughly investigated. To address this gap, this study conducted an assessment of the surface characteristics of fully sintered 3Y-TZP zirconia slices after being subjected to various sterilization methods, including ethylene oxide (EO), hydrogen peroxide plasma (HPP), electron beam (EB), and a combination of hydrogen peroxide plasma with either ethylene oxide (HPP+EO) or electron beam treatment (HPP+EB). Although the HPP treatment group did not demonstrate the highest level of hydrophilicity and contamination removal, it did exhibit notable hydrophilicity, effectively prevented hydrocarbon contamination, and maintained a substantial concentration of Zr. The surface of zirconia treated with HPP displayed significant enhancements in cell proliferation, cytoskeleton development, osteogenic differentiation, and adhesion capabilities for hBMSCs and HGFs, surpassing the performance of other groups. Based on these findings, the sterilization of zirconia implants using hydrogen peroxide plasma therapy appears to be a feasible technique.

Tumor-derived exosomes are crucial for early non-invasive and accurate tumor diagnosis in clinical. The development of highly sensitive, simple and intuitive exosome assays has sparked a research upsurge in clinical diagnostics. Here, we develop a bio-responsive the intelligent DNA hydrogel loaded with CRISPR/Cas12a for universal and ultrasensitive detection of the exosomes. The aptamer serves as the target response unit and switch of the intelligent DNA hydrogel network. The target competitively disintegrates the region of the DNA linkers then Cas12a/crRNA encapsulated in the intelligent DNA hydrogel can be released and activated by the collateral sequence, resulting in a high fluorescent intensity for exosome detection at the detection limit of 119 particles/μL. Moreover, a prefabricated colorimetric tube is made by loading a colorimetric filter membrane on the tube lid and intelligent DNA hydrogel on the tube bottom, which enables one-pot portable colorimetric detection. Without the need for laboratory instruments and professionals, this strategy allows for naked eye detection with LOD as low as 104 particles/μL, and shows great applicability in distinguishing between healthy individuals, pretreatment patients, and post treatment patients after obtaining a testable analyte. Collectively, this study constructs an ultra-sensitive detection platform for exosomes, which enables one-step sensing and dual signal output, making it a promising tool for the application of liquid biopsy based on exosomes in clinical diagnosis.

Rabies is a lethal infectious disease caused by rabies virus (RABV). The mortality rate is very high after the appearance of clinical symptoms, with a survival rate of almost 0%. There is presently no cure for rabies. In the present study, we investigated whether the extract of Shougong powder-a calcium powder prepared from gecko that has demonstrated immunomodulatory properties in mice-is an effective treatment for rabies. The antiviral effects of the extract were evaluated both in vitro and in vivo with the cytotoxicity and antiviral assays and by immunofluorescence analysis, quantitative real-time (qRT)-PCR, and western blotting. The results showed that Shougong powder and its extract increased survival rate in RABV-infected mice is up to 60% and 50% respectively, even in 20 times of LD50. Whereas the control groups treated with Isoprinosine (IPS) or saline are only 20% and 0% survival (P=0.011). qRT-PCR and western blot analyses showed that the extract strongly inhibited viral mRNA expression and protein synthesis in vitro: expression of the N, P, M, G, and L genes of RABV was decreased by 28.8%–45.0% in the IPS group (P<0.05) and by 50.1%–59.0% in the extract group (P<0.05) relative to the control group. These results demonstrate that Shougong powder has antiviral effects against RABV and can potentially be used for the treatment for rabies.