Synthesis of a new bifunctional NODA for bioconjugation with PSMA ligand and one-step Al18F labeling.

The Al18F labeling method is a relatively new approach that allows radiofluorination of biomolecules such as peptides and proteins in a one-step procedure and in an aqueous solution. However, instability of the complex of [AlF]2+ with hexadentate chelator NOTA may attribute to the disassociation of free 18F- and [Al18F]2+ and accumulation in bone. In this study, we designed and synthesized a new bifunctional pentadentate AlF-chelator p-SCN-PhPr-NODA as well as its nitro form p-NO2-PhPr-NODA. Chelator p-NO2-PhPr-NODA exhibited increased Al (III) complexation kinetics determined by AA III complexation kinetic studies and stronger coordination ability towards [AlF]2+ according to DFT calculation studies in comparison with hexadentate chelator NOTA. As a proof of concept, bifunctional chelator p-SCN-PhPr-NODA was furthermore conjugated to a PSMA targeting moiety Glu-urea-Lys to form NODA-PrPh-GuL. The conjugated peptide showed acceptable radiochemical yield (12.5-16.4%) and efficiency with an excellent radiochemical purity (∼100% after SPE purification) in Al18F labeling. The labeled peptide exhibited good in vitro stability and significant specificity for PSMA. Biodistribution study and MicroPET scan in healthy Kun Ming mice with the labeled peptide were performed and demonstrated excellent in vivo stability of Al18F-labeled construct. In general, the successful application of the new bifunctional chelator in labeling dipeptide Glu-urea-Lys with Al18F could facilitate its possibility in conjugating with other peptides for PET imaging with enhanced in vivo stability, thus providing better in vivo performances.

Biomimetic calcium carbonate nanoparticles delivered IL-12 mRNA for targeted glioblastoma sono-immunotherapy by ultrasound-induced necroptosis.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive brain tumor, which owns the characteristics of high recurrence, low survival rate and poor prognosis because of the existence of blood brain barrier (BBB) and complicated brain tumor microenvironment. Currently, immunotherapy has attracted much attention on account of favorable therapeutic effect. In this study, we designed a cRGD-modified cancer cell membrane (CM) coated calcium carbonate nanoparticle to deliver interleukin-12 messenger RNA (IL-12 mRNA@cRGD-CM-CaCO3 NPs). The cRGD-modified CM as the shell can endow the nanoparticles with BBB crossing and tumor homing/homotypic targeting effect in the brain tumor microenvironment. IL-12 mRNA-loaded calcium carbonate nanoparticles as the core allow synergistic immunotherapy of necroptosis-induced immune response and IL-12 mRNA transfection under ultrasound irradiation. The as-prepared biomimetic nanoparticles showed superior target and immunotherapeutic outcomes, suggesting that this biomimetic nanoplatform provides a feasible strategy for promoting BBB-penetrating and antitumor immunity.

Design, synthesis, and molecular docking studies of novel pomalidomide-based PROTACs as potential anti-cancer agents targeting EGFRWT and EGFRT790M.

A new class of EGFR PROTACs based on pomalidomide was developed, synthesised, and tested for their cytotoxic activity against a panel of human cancer cells. Compounds 15-21 were showed to be more effective against the four tested cell lines than erlotinib. In particular, compound 16 was found to be the most potent counterpart as it was 5.55, 4.34, 5.04, and 7.18 times more active than erlotinib against MCF-7, HepG-2, HCT-116, and A549 cells, respectively. Compound 15 was revealed to be more active than doxorubicin against the four tested cell lines. Furthermore, the most potent cytotoxic compounds were studied further for their kinase inhibitory effects against EGFRWT and EGFRT790M using HTRF test. Compound 16 showed to be the most effective against both kinds of EGFR, with IC50 values of 0.10 and 4.02 µM, respectively. Compound 16 could effectively degrade EGFR protein through ubiquitination (Dmax = 96%) at 72 h in the tested cells.

Nitric oxide-releasing micelles with intelligent targeting for enhanced anti-tumor effect of cisplatin in hypoxia.

BACKGROUND: Hypoxic tumor microenvironment (TME) promotes tumor metastasis and drug resistance, leading to low efficiency of cancer chemotherapy. The development of targeted agents or multi-target therapies regulating hypoxic microenvironment is an important approach to overcome drug resistance and metastasis. METHODS: In this study, chitosan oligosaccharide (COS)-coated and sialic acid (SA) receptor-targeted nano-micelles were prepared using film dispersion method to co-deliver cisplatin (CDDP) and nitric oxide (NO) (denoted as CTP/CDDP). In addition, we explored the mechanisms by which NO reversed CDDP resistance as well as enhanced anti-metastatic efficacy in hypoxic cancer cells. RESULTS: Because of the different affinities of COS and SA to phenylboronic acid (PBA) under different pH regimes, CTP/CDDP micelles with intelligent targeting property increased cellular uptake of CDDP and enhanced cytotoxicity to tumors, but reduced systemic toxicity to normal organs or tissues. In addition, CTP/CDDP showed stimulus-responsive release in TME. In terms of anti-tumor mechanism, CTP/CDDP reduced CDDP efflux and inhibited epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process of tumor by down-regulating hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), glutathione (GSH), multidrug resistance-associated protein 2 (MRP2) and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) expression, thus reversing drug resistance and metastasis of hypoxic tumor cells. CONCLUSIONS: The designed micelles significantly enhanced anti-tumor effects both in vitro and in vivo. These results suggested that CTP/CDDP represented a promising strategy to treat resistance and metastatic tumors.

New polyazamacrocyclic 3-hydroxy-4-pyridinone based ligands for iron depletion antitumor activity.

Iron depletion is an efficient strategy for the development of anticancer agents. In an effort to develop efficient chelators, two new 3-hydroxy-4-pyridinone based polyazamacrocycles 1e and 2e were designed and synthesized. A preliminary study of the ligands was carried out to investigate their iron chelating capability and anti-tumor activity. Chelating kinetics revealed that the ligands exhibited excellent iron depletion capacity in neutral and acidic NH4OAc buffer solutions. Moreover, MTT assay showed that the new ligands displayed potent inhibitory activity in the proliferation of HepG2 cells. The attachment of hydroxypyridione units on the polyazamacrocycles promoted iron chelating capability and improved the anti-tumor activity by offering additional chelating sites and lipophilicity. These results indicate that two novel compounds may possess the therapeutic potential in the treatment of cancer through depleting cellular iron.

Synthesis and Evaluation of New Bifunctional Chelators with Phosphonic Acid Arms for Gallium-68 Based PET Imaging in Melanoma.

Due to the increasing use of generator-produced radiometal Gallium-68 (68Ga) in positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT), reliable bifunctional chelators that can efficiently incorporate 68Ga3+ into biomolecules are highly desirable. In this study, we synthesized two new bifunctional chelators bearing one or two phosphonic acid functional groups, named p-SCN-PhPr-NE2A1P and p-SCN-PhPr-NE2P1A, with the aim of enabling facile production of 68Ga-based radiopharmaceuticals. Both chelators were successfully conjugated to LLP2A-PEG4, a very late antigen-4 (VLA-4) targeting peptidomimetic ligand, to evaluate their application in 68Ga-based PET imaging. NE2P1A-PEG4-LLP2A exhibited the highest 68Ga3+ binding ability with molar activity of 37 MBq/nmol under mild temperature and neutral pH. Excellent serum stability of 68Ga-NE2P1A-PEG4-LLP2A was observed, which was consistent with the result obtained from density functional theory calculation. The in vitro cell study showed that 68Ga-NE2P1A-PEG4-LLP2A had significantly longer retention in B16F10 cells comparing to the reported retention of 64Cu-NE3TA-PEG4-LLP2A, although the uptake was relatively lower. In the biodistribution and micro-PET/CT imaging studies, high tumor uptake and low background were observed after 68Ga-NE2P1A-PEG4-LLP2A was injected into mice bearing B16F10 tumor xenografts, making it a highly promising radiotracer for noninvasive imaging of VLA-4 receptors overexpressed in melanoma.

Synthesis and evaluation of a class of 1,4,7-triazacyclononane derivatives as iron depletion antitumor agents.

Iron depletion has been confirmed as an efficient strategy for cancer treatment. In the current study, a series of 1,4,7-triazacyclononane derivatives HE-NO2A, HP-NO2A and NE2P2A, as well as the bifunctional chelators p-NO2-PhPr-NE3TA and p-NH2-PhPr-NE3TA were synthesized and evaluated as iron-depleting agents for the potential anti-cancer therapy against human hepatocellular carcinoma. The cytotoxicity of these chelators was measured using hepatocellular cancer cells and compared with the clinically available iron depletion agent DFO and the universal metal chelator DTPA. All these 1,4,7-triazacyclononane-based chelators exhibited much stronger antiproliferative activity than DFO and DTPA. Among them, chelators with phenylpropyl side chains, represented by p-NO2-PhPr-NE3TA and p-NH2-PhPr-NE3TA, displayed the highest antiproliferative activity against HepG2 cells. Hence, these compounds are attractive candidates for the advanced study as iron depletion agents for the potential anti-cancer therapy, and could be further in conjugation with a targeting moiety for the future development in targeted iron depletion therapy.

Enhancing the therapeutic effect via elimination of hepatocellular carcinoma stem cells using Bmi1 siRNA delivered by cationic cisplatin nanocapsules.

Resistance of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to systemic chemotherapy is partially due to presence of drug-resistant cancer stem cells. Bmi1 protein is essential for survival and proliferation of HCC cancer stem cells (CSCs). Here, we report that Bmi1 siRNA (Bmi1siR) loaded in cationic nanocapsules of cisplatin (NPC) eliminated stem cells in situ HCC in mice. NPC/Bmi1siR was fabricated via electrostatic complexation of Bmi1 siRNA to NPCs, which had cores composed of cisplatin and were coated with cationic lipids. In vivo, NPC/Bmi1siR showed higher anti-tumor activity in HCC bearing mice compared with cisplatin or NPC. Critically, both flow cytometry (FACS) analysis in vitro and histological examination in vivo revealed that side population or CD133+ HCC cells were dramatically decreased by NPC/Bmi1siR treatment, suggesting that HCC CSCs were eliminated. Altogether, our results suggest that drug resistance of HCC can be overcome by co-delivering Bmi1 siRNA with cisplatin in cationic nanocapsules.

Synthesis and antibacterial activity of 3-benzylamide derivatives as FtsZ inhibitors.

The emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant strains of the human pathological bacteria are generating a threat to public health worldwide. In the current study, a series of PC190723 derivatives was synthesized and investigated for their antimicrobial activity. The compounds exhibited good activity against several Gram-positive bacteria as determined by comparison of diameters of the zone of inhibition of test compounds and standard antibiotics. Compound 9 with a fluorine substitution on the phenyl ring showed the best antibacterial activity in the series against M. smegmatis with the zone ratio of 0.62, and against S. aureus with the zone ratio of 0.44. The results from this study indicate that based on the unique 3-methoxybenzamide pharmacophore, compound 9 may represent a promising lead candidate against Gram-positive bacteria that are worthy of further investigation.

Curcumin Micelles Remodel Tumor Microenvironment and Enhance Vaccine Activity in an Advanced Melanoma Model.

Previously, we have reported a lipid-based Trp2 peptide vaccine for immunotherapy against melanoma. The suppressive immune microenvironment in the tumor is a major hurdle for an effective vaccine therapy. We hypothesized that curcumin (CUR) would remodel the tumor microenvironment to improve the vaccine activity. Curcumin-polyethylene glycol conjugate (CUR-PEG), an amphiphilic CUR-based micelle, was delivered intravenously (i.v.) to the tumor. Indeed, in the B16F10 tumor-bearing mice, the combination of CUR-PEG and vaccine treatment resulted in a synergistic antitumor effect (P < 0.001) compared to individual treatments. In the immune organs, the combination therapy significantly boosted in vivo cytotoxic T-lymphocyte response (41.0 ± 5.0% specific killing) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) production (sevenfold increase). In the tumor microenvironment, the combination therapy led to significantly downregulated levels of immunosuppressive factors, such as decreased numbers of myeloid-derived suppressor cells and regulatory T cells (Treg) cells and declined levels of interleukin-6 and chemokine ligand 2-in correlation with increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-α and IFN-γ as well as an elevation in the CD8(+) T-cell population. The results indicated a distinct M2 to M1 phenotype switch in the treated tumors. Combining CUR-PEG and vaccine also dramatically downregulated the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 pathway (76% reduction). Thus, we conclude that CUR-PEG is an effective agent to improve immunotherapy for advanced melanoma.

MiR-375 delivered by lipid-coated doxorubicin-calcium carbonate nanoparticles overcomes chemoresistance in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a prevalent and lethal disease that is characterized by drug resistance. Doxorubicin (DOX) is a widely used chemotherapeutic drug and miR-375 has been shown to be a tumor suppressor in HCC. Here, we reported that miR-375 and DOX co-loaded into lipid-coated calcium carbonate nanoparticles (LCC-DOX/miR-375 NPs), enhanced the anti-tumor effects through combination therapy, and were highly effective in reversing drug resistance in HCC. LCC-DOX/miR-375 NPs were prepared by a reverse microemulsions method. In vitro, LCC-DOX/miR-375 NPs exhibited enhanced intracellular accumulation, pH-sensitive DOX release and potent cytotoxicity. In vivo, LCC-DOX/miR-375 NPs showed efficient antitumor effect both in xenograft and primary HCC murine models. Our results showed that the LCC-DOX/miR-375 nanoparticles provide a novel strategy to overcome the drug resistance and promote addictive effect between miR-375 and DOX in HCC.

Multi-shelled Dendritic Mesoporous Organosilica Hollow Spheres: Roles of Composition and Architecture in Cancer Immunotherapy.

Developing potent adjuvants for the stimulation of robust immune response is central for effective cancer immunotherapy. Double-shelled dendritic mesoporous organosilica hollow spheres are an excellent adjuvant and provide superior immunity in cancer immunotherapy, and better than their counterparts either with a pure silica composition or a single-walled architecture. This study provides new insights in the rational design of effective nanostructured adjuvants for vaccine developments.

Universal Molecular Scaffold for Facile Construction of Multivalent and Multimodal Imaging Probes.

Multivalent and multimodal imaging probes are rapidly emerging as powerful chemical tools for visualizing various biochemical processes. Herein, we described a bifunctional chelator (BFC)-based scaffold that can be used to construct such promising probes concisely. Compared to other reported similar scaffolds, this new BFC scaffold demonstrated two major advantages: (1) significantly simplified synthesis due to the use of this new BFC that can serve as chelator and linker simultaneously; (2) highly efficient synthesis rendered by using either click chemistry and/or total solid-phase synthesis. In addition, the versatile utility of this molecular scaffold has been demonstrated by constructing several multivalent/multimodal imaging probes labeled with various radioisotopes, and the resulting radiotracers demonstrated substantially improved in vivo performance compared to the two individual monomeric counterparts.

New Bifunctional Chelator p-SCN-PhPr-NE3TA for Copper-64: Synthesis, Peptidomimetic Conjugation, Radiolabeling, and Evaluation for PET Imaging.

Bifunctional chelators play an important role in developing metallic radionuclide-based radiopharmaceuticals. In this study, a new bifunctional ligand, p-SCN-PhPr-NE3TA, was synthesized and conjugated to a very late antigen-4 targeting peptidomimetic, LLP2A, for evaluating its application in (64)Cu-based positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. The new ligand exhibited strong selective coordination of Cu(II), leading to a robust Cu complex, even in the presence of 10-fold Fe(III). The LLP2A conjugate of p-SCN-PhPr-NE3TA was prepared and successfully labeled with (64)Cu under mild conditions. The conjugate (64)Cu-NE3TA-PEG4-LLP2A showed significantly higher specific activity, compared with (64)Cu-NOTA-PEG4-LLP2A, while maintaining comparable serum stability. Subsequent biodistribution studies and PET imaging in mice bearing B16F10 xenografts confirmed its favorable in vivo performance and high tumor uptake with low background, rendering p-SCN-PhPr-NE3TA a promising bifunctional chelator for (64)Cu-based radiopharmaceuticals.

A Practical Route for the Preparation of 1,4,7-Triazacyclononanyl Diacetates with a Hydroxypyridinonate Pendant Arm.

The preparation of triazamacrocyclic hydroxypyridinonate (HOPO-TACN) derivatives as potential chelators for metals in biomedical applications was reported. The synthesis is based on a convergent synthetic approach, in which the key intermediate di-tert-butyl-2,2'-(1,4,7-triazonane-1,4-diyl) diacetate was coupled with a hydroxypyridinonate pendant arm. The method is suitable for rapid syntheses of metal chelator HOPO-TACNs of biomedical interest.

Synthesis and characterization of impurities of barnidipine hydrochloride, an antihypertensive drug substance.

Barnidipine hydrochloride is a long term dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker used for the treatment of hypertension. During the process development of barnidipine hydrochloride, four barnidipine impurities were detected by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with an ordinary column (Agilent ZORBAX Eclipse XDB-C18, 150 mm×4.6 mm, 5 µm). All these impurities were identified, synthesized, and subsequently characterized by their respective spectral data (MS, 1H-NMR, and 13C-NMR). The identification of these impurities should be useful for quality control in the manufacture of barnidipine.

A manganese-oxide nano-rambutan as the intrinsic modifier for hypericin delivery and triple-negative breast cancer treatment.

The anti-tumor efficacy of naturally derived photosensitizer-hypericin (Hy) is dampened by hypoxia and over-expressed glutathione in the tumor microenvironment (TME). For rewiring the TME, we encapsulated Hy to an intrinsic modifier-manganese oxide-formed nanorambutan (MnOx-Hy NR). In triple-negative breast cancer cells, MnOx-Hy NR not only consumed glutathione through Mn2+ and hypericin release but also facilitated O2 production to relieve hypoxia, through which the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was strengthened by endoplasmic reticulum targeting hypericin. In the meantime, glutathione consumption-induced glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) inactivation and the elevation of lipid hydroperoxide (LPO) level further triggered ferroptosis. Then, the combination of PDT and ferroptosis contributed to a synergic immunogenic cell death (ICD) effect in 4 T1 cells, facilitating the adaptive anti-tumor immune response activation. Thereby, MnOx-Hy NR exhibited excellent anti-tumor effects both in primary and distant tumors through the abscopal effect, as well as significant lung metastasis inhibition in the 4 T1 mouse metastatic tumor model.

Folate-PEG-PROTAC Micelles for Enhancing Tumor-Specific Targeting Proteolysis In Vivo.

Proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) technology is rapidly developed as a novel and selective medicinal strategy for the degradation of cellular proteins in cancer therapy. However, the applications of PROTACs as heterobifunctional molecules are largely limited by high molecular weight, low bioavailability, poor permeability, insufficient targeting, and low efficacy in vivo. Herein, self-assembling micelles of FA-PEG-PROTAC are designed for cancer cell selective targeting and reductive-response proteolysis in tumor-bearing mice. FA-PEG-PROTAC is prepared by conjugating folic acid (FA)-PEG with EGFR-targeting PROTAC via a disulfide bond. The FA-PEG-PROTAC micelles, formed by self-assembling, are demonstrated to significantly improve tumor targeting efficacy and exhibit excellent anti-tumor efficacy in the mouse xenograft model compared to the traditional PROTACs. The strategy of applying self-assembled FA-PEG-PROTAC micelles in tumor therapy can not only improve targeted proteolysis efficiency but also broaden applications in the development of PROTAC-based drugs.

Preparation and In Vitro Evaluation of a Gadolinium-Containing Vitamin E TPGS Micelle as a Potential Contrast Agent for MR Imaging.

The application of many currently evaluated macromolecular contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been limited because of their bio-incompatibility and toxicity. The aim of this study is to synthesize and characterize a new micelle-based TPGS gadolinium chelate as a biocompatible MRI contrast agent for prolonged blood circulation time and good tumor imaging contrast. The TPGS-gadolinium conjugate was prepared through the conjugation between TPGS-SA and bifunctional L-NETA-Gd chelate. The conjugate was characterized with regard to molecular weight, critical micellar concentration and particle sizes, cellular uptake, and in vitro cell MRI. Distributions of the MRI contrast agent in various organs were determined via intravenous injection of the agent into mice bearing xenograft tumors. The successfully prepared TPGS-L-NETA-Gd micelle exhibited improved cellular uptake in HepG2 cells and xenografts and high in vivo safety. Distributions of TPGS-L-NETA-Gd in mice showed enhanced cellular uptake up to 2 h after the contrast agent injection. Its in vitro and in vivo properties make it a favorable macromolecular MRI contrast agent for future in vivo imaging.

HIF-1 inhibitor-based one-stone-two-birds strategy for enhanced cancer chemodynamic-immunotherapy.

Based on its ability to induce strong immunogenic cell death (ICD), chemodynamic therapy (CDT) was elaborately designed to combine with immunotherapy for a synergistic anticancer effect. However, hypoxic cancer cells can adaptively regulate hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) pathways, leading to a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-homeostatic and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Consequently, both ROS-dependent CDT efficacy and immunotherapy are largely diminished, further lowering their synergy. Here, a liposomal nanoformulation co-delivering a Fenton catalyst copper oleate and a HIF-1 inhibitor acriflavine (ACF) was reported for breast cancer treatment. Through in vitro and in vivo experiments, copper oleate-initiated CDT was proven to be reinforced by ACF through HIF-1-glutathione pathway inhibition, thus amplifying ICD for better immunotherapeutic outcomes. Meanwhile, ACF as an immunoadjuvant significantly reduced the levels of lactate and adenosine, and downregulated the expression of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1), thereby promoting the antitumor immune response in a CDT-independent manner. Hence, the "one stone" ACF was fully taken advantage of to enhance CDT and immunotherapy (two birds), both of which contributed to a better therapeutic outcome.