Anti-Fas Antibody Conjugated Nanoparticles Enhancing the Antitumor Effect of Camptothecin by Activating the Fas-FasL Apoptotic Pathway

Tumor-targeted/reduction-triggered composite multifunctional nanoparticles for breast cancer chemo-photothermal combinational therapy

Breast cancer has become the most commonly diagnosed cancer type in the world. A combination of chemotherapy and photothermal therapy (PTT) has emerged as a promising strategy for breast cancer therapy. However, the intricacy of precise delivery and the ability to initiate drug release in specific tumor sites remains a challenging puzzle. Therefore, to ensure that the therapeutic agents are synchronously delivered to the tumor site for their synergistic effect, a multifunctional nanoparticle system (PCRHNs) is developed, which is grafted onto the prussian blue nanoparticles (PB NPs) by reduction-responsive camptothecin (CPT) prodrug copolymer, and then modified with tumor-targeting peptide cyclo(Asp-d-Phe-Lys-Arg-Gly) (cRGD) and hyaluronic acid (HA). PCRHNs exhibited nano-sized structure with good monodispersity, high load efficiency of CPT, triggered CPT release in response to reduction environment, and excellent photothermal conversion under laser irradiation. Furthermore, PCRHNs can act as a photoacoustic imaging contrast agent-guided PTT. In vivo studies indicate that PCRHNs exhibited excellent biocompatibility, prolonged blood circulation, enhanced tumor accumulation, allow tumor-specific chemo-photothermal therapy to achieve synergistic antitumor effects with reduced systemic toxicity. Moreover, hyperthermia-induced upregulation of heat shock protein 70 in the tumor cells could be inhibited by CPT. Collectively, PCRHNs may be a promising therapeutic way for breast cancer therapy.

Antibody-Incorporated Nanomedicines for Cancer Therapy

Antibody-based cancer therapy, one of the most significant therapeutic strategies, has achieved considerable success and progress over the past decades. Nevertheless, obstacles including limited tumor penetration, short circulation half-lives, undesired immunogenicity, and off-target side effects remain to be overcome for the antibody-based cancer treatment. Owing to the rapid development of nanotechnology, antibody-containing nanomedicines that have been extensively explored to overcome these obstacles have already demonstrated enhanced anticancer efficacy and clinical translation potential. This review intends to offer an overview of the advancements of antibody-incorporated nanoparticulate systems in cancer treatment, together with the nontrivial challenges faced by these next-generation nanomedicines. Diverse strategies of antibody immobilization, formats of antibodies, types of cancer-associated antigens, and anticancer mechanisms of antibody-containing nanomedicines are provided and discussed in this review, with an emphasis on the latest applications. The current limitations and future research directions on antibody-containing nanomedicines are also discussed from different perspectives to provide new insights into the construction of anticancer nanomedicines.

Biomimetic and Materials-Potentiated Cell Engineering for Cancer Immunotherapy

In cancer immunotherapy, immune cells are the main force for tumor eradication. However, they appear to be dysfunctional due to the taming of the tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment. Recently, many materials-engineered strategies are proposed to enhance the anti-tumor effect of immune cells. These strategies either utilize biomimetic materials, as building blocks to construct inanimate entities whose functions are similar to natural living cells, or engineer immune cells with functional materials, to potentiate their anti-tumor effects. In this review, we will summarize these advanced strategies in different cell types, as well as discussing the prospects of this field.

Strategies and challenges to improve the performance of tumor-associated active targeting

Over the past decade, nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems have been extensively explored. However, the average tumour enrichment ratio of passive targeting systems corresponds to only 0.7% due to the nonspecific uptake by normal organs and poor selective retention in tumours. The therapeutic specificity and efficacy of nano-medicine can be enhanced by equipping it with active targeting ligands, although it is not possible to ignore the recognition and clearance of the reticuloendothelial system (RES) caused by targeting ligands. Given the complexity of the systemic circulation environment, it is necessary to carefully consider the hydrophobicity, immunogenicity, and electrical property of targeting ligands. Thus, for an active targeting system, the targeting ligands should be shielded in blood circulation and de-shielded in the tumour region for enhanced tumour accumulation. In this study, strategies for improving the performance of active targeting ligands are introduced. The strategies include irreversible shielding, reversible shielding, and methods of modulating the multivalent interactions between ligands and receptors. Furthermore, challenges and future developments in designing active ligand targeting systems are also discussed.

Co-assembly of curcumin and a cystine bridged peptide to construct tumor-responsive nano-micelles for efficient chemotherapy

The effective uptake and release of hydrophobic antitumor drugs in cancer cells is a practical challenge for tumor chemotherapy. Many methods were developed to conquer it through modifying drug molecules with hydrophilic groups, or fabricating nanodrugs based on hydrophilic materials. In recent years, peptides have attracted significant interest as part of a promising platform for fabricating nanodrugs due to their low cytotoxicity, favorable variability and self-assembly property. In this study, a cystine bridged peptide (CBP) was designed to co-assemble with a hydrophobic antitumor drug curcumin (CCM), to form a tumor-responsive nanodrug. The hydrophilicity of the peptide promotes the water-dispersity of nanodrugs, and the disulfide bond in cystine, which is cleavable by glutathione (GSH), was involved considering the overexpressed GSH in tumor microenvironments. In vitro and in vivo tests on cervical cancer cells revealed that the obtained nanodrug can rapidly dissociate at tumor sites and inhibit the tumor growth with limited side effects on healthy tissues.

A GSH-Responsive Nanoprodrug System Based on Self-Assembly of Lactose Modified Camptothecin for Targeted Drug Delivery and Combination Chemotherapy

Background

Conventional chemotherapy using small molecular antitumor drugs suffers from several limitations, for instance poor water solubility, high toxicity, and lack of specificity. However, prodrugs constructed by covalent modification of anticancer drugs can overcome these limitations, which are able to release its active form after entering the tumor tissues by specific stimulus response.

Methods

A GSH-responsive glyco-nanoprodrug system has been constructed by self-assembled of amphiphilic lactosemodified camptothecin prodrug molecular (Lac-SS-CPT) for targeting drug delivery and combination therapy.

Results

Using HL7702 cells as experimental models, the cytotoxic effects of Lac-SS-CPT were investigated to 10–30 µmol/L for 48 hours. Notably, the cell viability of Lac-SS-CPT to HL7702 cells was higher compared with free CPT which indicated that Lac-SS-CPT can reduce side-effects. Simultaneously, we have evaluated the anticancer efficiency of doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX)-loaded Lac-SS-CPT glyco-nanoprodrug system (Lac-SS-CPT@DOX), where Lac-SS-CPT@DOX and free DOX incubated with HpeG2 cells and HL7702 cells for 24, 48, and 72 hours, respectively. It turned out that Lac-SS-CPT@DOX encapsulated anticancer drug (DOX) could decrease DOX side-effect on HL7702 cells and increase DOX anticancer efficiency. More importantly, the CPT and DOX were released from Lac-SS-CPT@DOX in HepG2 cells where a higher GSH concentration exists. Moreover, combination therapy efficiency was evaluated, where free DOX and Lac-SS-CPT@DOX incubated with DOX-resistance HepG2 cells (HepG2-ADR cells), respectively.

Conclusion

The results revealed that the Lac-SS-CPT@DOX could enhance the cytotoxicity of DOX for HepG2-ADR cells and provided a new idea for designing an advanced nano-prodrug system toward combination therapy.

T-Cell-Mimicking Nanoparticles for Cancer Immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapies, including adoptive T cell transfer and immune checkpoint blockades, have recently shown considerable success in cancer treatment. Nevertheless, transferred T cells often become exhausted because of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Immune checkpoint blockades, in contrast, can reinvigorate the exhausted T cells; however, the therapeutic efficacy is modest in 70-80% of patients. To address some of the challenges faced by the current cancer treatments, here T-cell-membrane-coated nanoparticles (TCMNPs) are developed for cancer immunotherapy. Similar to cytotoxic T cells, TCMNPs can be targeted at tumors via T-cell-membrane-originated proteins and kill cancer cells by releasing anticancer molecules and inducing Fas-ligand-mediated apoptosis. Unlike cytotoxic T cells, TCMNPs are resistant to immunosuppressive molecules (e.g., transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)) and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) of cancer cells by scavenging TGF-β1 and PD-L1. Indeed, TCMNPs exhibit higher therapeutic efficacy than an immune checkpoint blockade in melanoma treatment. Furthermore, the anti-tumoral actions of TCMNPs are also demonstrated in the treatment of lung cancer in an antigen-nonspecific manner. Taken together, TCMNPs have a potential to improve the current cancer immunotherapy.

Methotrexate-based amphiphilic prodrug nanoaggregates for co-administration of multiple therapeutics and synergistic cancer therapy

The goal of nanomedicine is to seek strategies that are more efficient to address various limitations and challenges faced by conventional medicines, including lack of target specificity, poor bioavailability, premature degradability, and undesired side effects. Self-assembling drug amphiphiles represent a prospective nanomedicine for cancer therapy owing to their favorable route of administration and therapeutic efficiency compared with pristine drug counterparts. In this work, we report a class of self-deliverable prodrug amphiphiles consisting of the hydrophilic drug methotrexate (MTX) and the hydrophobic anticancer drugs camptothecin (CPT) and doxorubicin (DOX) for targeted and combinational chemotherapy. The disulfide bond and hydrazone bond, which are subject to stimuli-triggered bond cleavage, were introduced to link these therapeutic agents and form two prodrug amphiphiles, named as MTX-CPT and MTX-DOX, respectively, which could self-assemble into stable prodrug nanoaggregates (NAs) in aqueous media. MTX molecules in the prodrug NAs facilitated NA uptake into tumor cells with high expression of folic acid receptors (FRs). This systemic study provided clear evidence of the synergistic therapeutic effect by co-administrating dual prodrug NAs on various tumor cells in vitro and a xenograft tumor model in vivo. The obtained prodrug amphiphiles provide an efficient strategy for the design of multifunctional drug delivery systems and elaborate therapeutic nanoplatforms for cancer chemotherapy.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

This work presents two kinds of prodrug amphiphiles that are carrier free and integrate targeted drug delivery, stimuli-triggered drug release, synergistic therapy, and theranostic function into a single system. Reduction/acid active prodrug amphiphiles can self-assemble into micellar nanoaggregates (NAs) at a very low critical aggregation concentration. These NAs exhibit superior stability in physiological environment and disassemble in the presence of tumor cells expressing folic acid receptors or the high glutathione or in low pH tumoral endosomal environment. The induced disassembly of prodrug NAs can "switch on" the inherent fluorescence of the internalized camptothecin or doxorubicin for the detection of tumor cells. Compared to a single type of prodrug NA, co-administration of dual prodrug combination can produce an evident synergistic therapeutic effect against various tumor cells in vitro and inhibit xenograft tumor growth in vivo. The methotrexate-based prodrug amphiphiles may provide a potential strategy for developing multifunctional nanoplatforms and delivery of multiple therapeutics in chemotherapy.

The effect of different parameters under ultrasound irradiation for synthesis of new nanostructured Fe3O4@bio-MOF as an efficient anti-leishmanial in vitro and in vivo conditions

In this work, a magnetic bio-metal-organic framework (MBMOF) nanocomposite with porous-layer open morphology is synthesized through a simple sonochemical approach and its effects on Leishmania major (MRHO/IR/75/ER) under both in vitro and in vivo conditions are investigated. The effects of sonication time, initial concentration of reagents and sonication power on size and morphology of MBMOF nanocomposites have been investigated and optimized. A comparison was then made between the structural information of the nanostructures and that of the bio-metal-organic framework crystals. Using the powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy dispersive analysis of X-ray (EDAX), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) techniques, the prepared MBMOF nanocomposites were characterized. The mean numbers of promastigotes (cell/ml) in different MBMOF concentrations (3.12, 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, 100, 200 and 400 µg mL^-1) were determined by direct counting after 24, 48 and 72 h. Using MTT assays, the cytotoxic impacts of the MBMOF nanocomposites on promastigotes, intracellular amastigotes, and J774 macrophages were estimated. In order to investigate their therapeutic effects, the prepared MBMOF nanocomposites (25 and 12.5 µg mL^-1) were used as ointment three times a week to treat Leishmania major in BALB/c mice. The lesion size and weight of mice were assessed before and during the treatment. The parasitic loads were measured in spleen and liver through the culture. After 72 h, the INF-γ and IL-4 cytokines levels in the supernatant of the spleen culture were measured. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to attempt to synthesize the bio-MOFs through an in-situ sonosynthesis route under ultrasound irradiation and examine their cytotoxicity effects on Leishmania major under in vitro and in vivo conditions.

Tetrac-conjugated polymersomes for integrin-targeted delivery of camptothecin to colon adenocarcinoma in vitro and in vivo

In this study, we prepared tetraiodothyroacetic acid (tetrac) conjugated PEG-PLGA polymersomes for the targeted delivery of camptothecin to colon adenocarcinoma. Tetrac, which binds to integrin α_vβ₃ with high affinity and specificity, was covalently conjugated to the surface of the PEGylated polymersomal formulation of camptothecin (CPT). The hydrodynamic and morphological properties of the prepared system were evaluated using TEM (transmission electron microscopy), SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and DLS (dynamic light scattering) experiments. Camptothecin was encapsulated in the polymersomal system with encapsulation efficiency and loading content of 84±10.12 and 4.2±0.82, respectively. The in vitro release profile of camptothecin from the polymersomal formulation revealed the sustained release pattern. In vitro cytotoxicity experiments confirmed that the tetrac-conjugated camptothecin loaded-polymersomes had higher cellular toxicity towards integrin-overexpressed HT29 and C26 colorectal cancer cells than integrin-negative CHO cell line. The in vivo tumor inhibitory effect of tetrac-conjugated camptothecin loaded-polymersomes demonstrated an enhanced therapeutic index of integrin targeted polymersomal formulation over both non-targeted polymersomal formulation and free camptothecin in C26 tumor bearing mice. The obtained results demonstrated that the prepared tetrac-conjugated polymersomes were able to control the release of camptothecin, and significantly increase the therapeutic index of compthotecin. This study demonstrates the versatility of integrin-targeted tetrac-conjugated PEG-PLGA polymersomal formulation as an anti-cancer nano-pharmaceutical platform.

pH-Sensitive Reversible Programmed Targeting Strategy by the Self-Assembly/Disassembly of Gold Nanoparticles

A reversible programmed targeting strategy could achieve high tumor accumulation due to its long blood circulation time and high cellular internalization. Here, targeting ligand-modified poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG-ligand), dibutylamines (Bu), and pyrrolidinamines (Py) were introduced on the surface of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) for reversible shielding/deshielding of the targeting ligands by pH-responsive self-assembly. Hydrophobic interaction and steric repulsion are the main driving forces for the self-assembly/disassembly of Au NPs. The precise self-assembly (pH ≥ 7.2) and disassembly (pH ≤ 6.8) of Au NPs with different ligands could be achieved by fine-tuning the modifying molar ratio of Bu and Py (R_m), which followed the formula R_m = 1/(-0.0013X² + 0.0323X + 1), in which X is the logarithm of the partition coefficient of the targeting ligand. The assembled/disassembled behavior of Au NPs at pH 7.2 and 6.8 was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and cellular uptake studies showed that the ligands could be buried inside the assembly and exposed when disassembled. More importantly, this process was reversible, which provides the possibility of prolonging blood circulation by shielding ligands associated with the NPs that were effused from tumor tissue.