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Zhou X, Zhang P, Liu N, Zhang X, Lv H, Xu W, Huo M. Enhancing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer through efficient and sustained tumor microenvironment remodeling with a fibroblast-targeted nanosystem. J Control Release 2023; 361:161-177. [PMID: 37536546 DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2023.07.061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2023] [Revised: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 08/05/2023]
Abstract
Pancreatic cancer (PC) carries a poor prognosis among all malignancies and poses great challenges to clinical drug accessibility due to the severely fibrotic and hypoxic tumor microenvironment (TME). Therein, cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which are extremely abundant in PC, play a key role in forming the complex PC microenvironment. Therefore, a highly efficient TME reprogramming therapeutic paradigm that can specifically inhibit CAF function is urgently needed. Herein, we successfully developed a novel CAF-tailored nanosystem (Dex-GP-DOCA, DPD) loaded with a potent anti-fibrosis flavonoid compound (Quercetin, QUE), which possesses biological responsiveness to fibroblast activation protein alpha (FAP-α), prolonged TME remodeling and enhancement of clinical chemotherapeutics. Specifically, DPD/QUE allowed for extracellular matrix (ECM) reduction, vessel normalization, hypoxia-induced drug resistance reversal, and blockade of Wnt16 paracrine in CAFs. More importantly, this chemotherapy conducive microenvironment persisted for at least 8 days following treatment with DPD/QUE. It should also be noted that the effective and prolonged microenvironment modulation induced by DPD/QUE significantly improved the chemotherapy sensitivity of Abraxane and gemcitabine, the first-line chemotherapeutic drugs for PC, with inhibition rates increasing from 37.5% and 40.0% to 87.5% and 85.2%, respectively. Overall, our CAFs-targeted nanosystem showed promising prospects for remodeling the TME and facilitating chemotherapy for refractory pancreatic cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinyuan Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Department of Pharmaceutics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, People's Republic of China
| | - Pan Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Department of Pharmaceutics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, People's Republic of China
| | - Nan Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Department of Pharmaceutics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiao Zhang
- Department of clinical pharmacy, Qianfoshan Hospital, The First Hospital Affiliation with Shandong First Medical University, Jinan 250012, People's Republic of China
| | - Hui Lv
- Department of clinical pharmacy, Qianfoshan Hospital, The First Hospital Affiliation with Shandong First Medical University, Jinan 250012, People's Republic of China
| | - Wei Xu
- Department of clinical pharmacy, Qianfoshan Hospital, The First Hospital Affiliation with Shandong First Medical University, Jinan 250012, People's Republic of China.
| | - Meirong Huo
- State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Department of Pharmaceutics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, People's Republic of China.
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Zhou Y, Ma X, Hu S, Yang S, Guo J, Li J, Zhang YF, Liu J, Qing Z, Yang R. Rigidity-Dependent Emission: Inspired Selection of an ATP-Specific Polyvalent Hydrogen Binding-Lighted Fluorophore for Intracellular Amplified Imaging. Anal Chem 2023; 95:8318-8324. [PMID: 37192373 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c00759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
ATP, a small molecule with high intracellular concentration (mM level), provides a fuel to power signal amplification, which is meaningful for biosensing. However, traditional ATP-powered amplification is based on ATP/aptamer recognition, which is susceptible to the complex biological microenvironment (e.g., nuclease). In this work, we communicate a signaling manner termed as ATP-specific polyvalent hydrogen binding (APHB), which is mimetic to ATP/aptamer binding but can avoid interference from biomolecules. The key in APHB is a functional fluorophore that can selectively bind with ATP via polyvalent hydrogen, and the fluorescence was lighted with the changes of the molecular structure from flexibility to rigidity. By designing, synthesizing, and screening a series of compounds, we successfully obtained an ATP-specific binding-lighted fluorophore (ABF). Experimental verification and a complex analogue demonstrated that two melamine brackets in the ABF dominate the polyvalent hydrogen binding between the ABF and ATP. Then, to achieve amplification biosensing, fibroblast activation protein (FAP) in activated hepatic stellate cells was taken as a model target, and a nanobeacon consisting of an ABF, a quencher, and an FAP-activated polymer shell was constructed. Benefiting from the ATP-powered amplification, the FAP was sensitively detected and imaged, and the potential relationship between differentiation of hepatocytes and FAP concentration was first revealed, highlighting the great potential of APHB-mediated signaling for intracellular sensing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yibo Zhou
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Materials Protection for Electric Power and Transportation, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, P.R. China
| | - Xiaofei Ma
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Materials Protection for Electric Power and Transportation, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, P.R. China
| | - Shan Hu
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Materials Protection for Electric Power and Transportation, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, P.R. China
| | - Sheng Yang
- Laboratory of Chemical Biology & Traditional Chinese Medicine Research, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, P.R. China
| | - Jingru Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Key Laboratory of Drug Quality Control and Pharmacovigilance, Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, P.R. China
| | - Junbin Li
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Materials Protection for Electric Power and Transportation, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, P.R. China
| | - Yue-Fei Zhang
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Materials Protection for Electric Power and Transportation, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, P.R. China
| | - Juewen Liu
- Department of Chemistry, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
| | - Zhihe Qing
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Materials Protection for Electric Power and Transportation, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, P.R. China
| | - Ronghua Yang
- Laboratory of Chemical Biology & Traditional Chinese Medicine Research, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, P.R. China
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Liu SY, Wang H, Nie G. Ultrasensitive Fibroblast Activation Protein-α-Activated Fluorogenic Probe Enables Selective Imaging and Killing of Melanoma In Vivo. ACS Sens 2022; 7:1837-1846. [PMID: 35713201 DOI: 10.1021/acssensors.2c00126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Melanoma is a malignant cancer with a high risk of metastasis and continued increase in death rates over the past decades, and its prognosis is highly related to the disease's stage, while early detection and treatment of melanoma are significant to the improvement of its therapy outcome. Different from the traditional methods for disease diagnosis, enzyme-activated fluorescent probes were developed rapidly due to their high sensitivity and temporal-spatial ratio and have been widely applied in tumor detection, surgical navigation, and cancer-related research. Fibroblast activation protein-α (FAPα), a serine-type cell surface protease that plays important roles in cell invasion and extracellular matrix degradation, is widely involved in tumor progression such as malignant melanoma, so developing a FAPα activity-based molecular tool would be of great potential for the early diagnosis and therapy of melanoma. However, few fluorescent probes targeting FAPα have been applied in melanoma-related studies, and thus, the construction of FAPα activity-based fluorescent probes for melanoma detection is in urgent need. By incorporating the selective recognition unit with a red-emission fluorophore, cresyl violet, we herein report an ultrasensitive (limit of detection = 5.3 ng/mL) fluorogenic probe for FAPα activity sensing, named CV-FAP; the acquired probe showed a significantly higher binding affinity (15.7-fold) and overall catalytic efficiency (2.6-fold) when compared with those of the best reported FAPα probes. The good performance of CV-FAP made it possible to discriminate malignant melanoma cells and tumor-bearing mice from normal cells and mice with high contrast. More importantly, CV-FAP showed significant antitumor activity toward melanoma in cultured cells and tumor-bearing nude mice (over 95% inhibited tumor growth) with good safety, which made it an ideal theranostic agent for melanoma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shi-Yu Liu
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434023, P. R. China
| | - Huiling Wang
- College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, 152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430079, P. R. China
| | - Gang Nie
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Nature Medicinal Chemistry and Resource Evaluation, Tongji Medical College of Pharmacy, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, P. R. China
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Tao Y, Chen L, Pan M, Zhu F, Zhu D. Tailored Biosensors for Drug Screening, Efficacy Assessment, and Toxicity Evaluation. ACS Sens 2021; 6:3146-3162. [PMID: 34516080 DOI: 10.1021/acssensors.1c01600] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Biosensors have been flourishing in the field of drug discovery with pronounced developments in the past few years. They facilitate the screening and discovery of innovative drugs. However, there is still a lack of critical reviews that compare the merits and shortcomings of these biosensors from a pharmaceutical point of view. This contribution presents a critical and up-to-date overview on the recent progress of tailored biosensors, including surface plasmon resonance, fluorescent, photoelectrochemical, and electrochemical systems with emphasis on their mechanisms and applications in drug screening, efficacy assessment, and toxicity evaluation. Multiple functional nanomaterials have also been incorporated into the biosensors. Representative examples of each type of biosensors are discussed in terms of design strategy, response mechanism, and potential applications. In the end, we also compare the results and summarize the major insights gained from the works, demonstrating the challenges and prospects of biosensors-assisted drug discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Tao
- College of Pharmaceutical Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China
| | - Lin Chen
- College of Pharmaceutical Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China
| | - Meiling Pan
- College of Pharmaceutical Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China
| | - Fei Zhu
- College of Pharmaceutical Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China
| | - Dong Zhu
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, China
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Ning X, Wiraja C, Chew WTS, Fan C, Xu C. Transdermal delivery of Chinese herbal medicine extract using dissolvable microneedles for hypertrophic scar treatment. Acta Pharm Sin B 2021; 11:2937-2944. [PMID: 34589406 PMCID: PMC8463281 DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2021.03.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2020] [Revised: 01/15/2021] [Accepted: 02/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Hypertrophic scars are unfavorable skin diseases characterized by excessive collagen deposition. Although systemic treatments exist in clinic to manage hypertrophic scars, they pose significant side effects and tend to lose efficacy over prolonged applications. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) offers as a promising candidate to treat pathological scars. A large number of TCMs have been studied to show anti-scarring effect, however, the natural barrier of the skin impedes their penetration, lowering its therapeutic efficacy. Herein, we reported the use of dissolvable hyaluronic acid (HA) microneedles (MNs) as a vehicle to aid the transdermal delivery of therapeutic agent, a model TCM called shikonin for the treatment of hypertrophic scars. Here, shikonin was mixed with HA to make MNs with adequate mechanical strength for skin penetration, making its dosage controllable during the fabrication process. The therapeutic effect of the shikonin HA MNs was studied in vitro using HSFs and then further verified with quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Our data suggest that the shikonin HA MNs significantly reduce the viability and proliferation of the HSFs and downregulate the fibrotic-related genes (i.e., TGFβ1, FAP-α and COL1A1). Furthermore, we observed a localized therapeutic effect of the shikonin HA MNs that is beneficial for site-specific treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyu Ning
- NTU Institute for Health Technologies, Interdisciplinary Graduate Group, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
- School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637459, Singapore
| | - Christian Wiraja
- School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637459, Singapore
| | - Wan Ting Sharon Chew
- NTU Institute for Health Technologies, Interdisciplinary Graduate Group, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
- School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637459, Singapore
| | - Chen Fan
- Skin Research Institute of Singapore, 8A Biomedical Grove, Singapore 138648, Singapore
| | - Chenjie Xu
- NTU Institute for Health Technologies, Interdisciplinary Graduate Group, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
- School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637459, Singapore
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR 999077, China
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Zeng Z, Liew SS, Wei X, Pu K. Hemicyanine‐Based Near‐Infrared Activatable Probes for Imaging and Diagnosis of Diseases. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.202107877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ziling Zeng
- School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Nanyang Technological University 70 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637457 Singapore
| | - Si Si Liew
- School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Nanyang Technological University 70 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637457 Singapore
| | - Xin Wei
- School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Nanyang Technological University 70 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637457 Singapore
| | - Kanyi Pu
- School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Nanyang Technological University 70 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637457 Singapore
- School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Nanyang Technological University 21 Nanyang Link Singapore 637371 Singapore
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7
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Zeng Z, Liew SS, Wei X, Pu K. Hemicyanine-Based Near-Infrared Activatable Probes for Imaging and Diagnosis of Diseases. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2021; 60:26454-26475. [PMID: 34263981 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202107877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 175] [Impact Index Per Article: 43.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Molecular activatable probes with near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence play a critical role in in vivo imaging of biomarkers for drug screening and disease diagnosis. With structural diversity and high fluorescence quantum yields, hemicyanine dyes have emerged as a versatile scaffold for the construction of activatable optical probes. This Review presents a survey of hemicyanine-based NIR activatable probes (HNAPs) for in vivo imaging and early diagnosis of diseases. The molecular design principles of HNAPs towards activatable optical signaling against various biomarkers are discussed with a focus on their broad applications in the detection of diseases including inflammation, acute organ failure, skin diseases, intestinal diseases, and cancer. This progress not only proves the unique value of HNAPs in preclinical research but also highlights their high translational potential in clinical diagnosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziling Zeng
- School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 70 Nanyang Drive, Singapore, 637457, Singapore
| | - Si Si Liew
- School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 70 Nanyang Drive, Singapore, 637457, Singapore
| | - Xin Wei
- School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 70 Nanyang Drive, Singapore, 637457, Singapore
| | - Kanyi Pu
- School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 70 Nanyang Drive, Singapore, 637457, Singapore.,School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 21 Nanyang Link, Singapore, 637371, Singapore
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Zhou Y, Yin K, Dong H, Yang S, Li J, Luo J, Li Y, Yang R. Long-Lasting Bioluminescence Imaging of the Fibroblast Activation Protein by an Amphiphilic Block Copolymer-Based Probe. Anal Chem 2021; 93:3726-3732. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.0c03638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yibo Zhou
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, School of Chemistry and Food Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, P. R. China
| | - Keyi Yin
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, School of Chemistry and Food Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, P. R. China
| | - Hao Dong
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, School of Chemistry and Food Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, P. R. China
| | - Sheng Yang
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, School of Chemistry and Food Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, P. R. China
| | - JunBin Li
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, School of Chemistry and Food Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, P. R. China
| | - Jinqiu Luo
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, School of Chemistry and Food Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, P. R. China
| | - Yi Li
- Key Laboratory of Theoretical Organic Chemistry and Function Molecule, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ministry of Education, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan 411201, P. R. China
| | - Ronghua Yang
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, School of Chemistry and Food Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, P. R. China
- Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology & Traditional Chinese Medicine Research, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ministry of Education, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, P. R. China
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