Polymer-lipid hybrid nanovesicle-enabled combination of immunogenic chemotherapy and RNAi-mediated PD-L1 knockdown elicits antitumor immunity against melanoma.

Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment; however, only a limited portion of patients show responses to currently available immunotherapy regimens. Here, we demonstrate that RNA interference (RNAi) combined with immunogenic chemotherapy can elicit potent antitumor immunity against melanoma. Specially, we developed cationic polymer-lipid hybrid nanovesicles (P/LNVs) as a new delivery system for doxorubicin and small interfering RNA (siRNA) with extensive cytotoxicity and gene silencing efficiency towards B16 cells. The deployment of doxorubicin-loaded P/LNVs augmented the expression and presentation of endogenous tumor antigens directly in situ by inducing the immunogenic cell death of B16 cells through poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1-dependent (PARP1) apoptosis pathway; thereby, eliciting remarkable antitumor immune responses in mice. Leveraging dying B16 cells as a vaccination strategy in combination with RNAi-based programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) knockdown showed efficacy in both prophylactic and metastasis melanoma settings. Strikingly, PD-L1 blockade synergized with a sub-therapeutic dose of doxorubicin triggered robust therapeutic antitumor T-cell responses and eradicated pre-established tumors in 30% of mice bearing B16 melanoma. Our findings indicated that this combination treatment provided a new powerful immunotherapy modality, characterized by markedly increased infiltration of effector CD8+ T cells and effective alleviation of the immunosuppressive microenvironment in tumors. P/LNVs is a versatile and highly scalable carrier that can enable a broad combination of nanomedicine and RNAi, providing new therapeutic strategies for advanced cancers.

"Off/on" fluorescence imaging-guided cancer diagnosis and multi-modal therapy.

An efficient theranostic nanoplatform responding to tumour microenvironments with characters of simple and flexible combinations owns great potential in cancer diagnosis and therapy. Herein, a series of triblock copolymers, mPEG-b-PDPA-b-P(nBMA-r-cystamine) (EPB), were synthesized and among them, the structure of EPB-3 was optimized for both fluorescence imaging-guided cancer diagnosis and multi-modal therapy with good biocompatibility. (1) The self-assembled nanoparticles of EPB-3-ICG1 obtained by conjugating one ICG on EPB-3 via S-S bonds effectively performed reduction-sensitive OFF/ON fluorescence signal transition, thus inducing tumour cell-specific amplified fluorescence imaging in vitro and in vivo. (2) By entrapping Au nanorods into the co-assembled NPs of EPB-3 and EPB-3-ICG1, EPB-3-ICG1@Au NPs could synchronously induce strong tumour fluorescence imaging and high local photothermal effect, indicating the potential of imagine-guided photothermal therapy. (3) EPB-3 NPs could efficiently co-load paclitaxel (PTX) and ICG to form stable EPB-3@PTX@ICG NPs, which provided long periods of intracellular pH-sensitive sustainable drug release and highly enhanced apoptosis of 4T1 cells in vitro by the chemo-photothermal effect. Excitingly, a single intravenous injection of EPB-3@PTX@ICG NPs followed by a one-time local near-infrared light (NIR, 808 nm) irradiation treatment for 10 min could lead to significant inhibition of tumour growth, avoiding tumor metastasis and extending the survival of mice. All the above-mentioned results suggest that EPB-3 provides a nanoplatform with the characters of simple structure, convenience of use and flexible combination, holding potential for multi-modal diagnosis and therapy.

An injectable and tumor-specific responsive hydrogel with tissue-adhesive and nanomedicine-releasing abilities for precise locoregional chemotherapy.

Locoregional chemotherapy, especially using implantable hydrogel depots to sustainably deliver chemotherapeutics at tumor site, has shown great potential for improving antitumor efficacy and reducing systemic toxicity. However, the hydrogel applications are limited by some intrinsic constraints, especially the contradiction between increasing drug penetration and accumulation in tumor and decreasing random drug diffusion into surrounding normal tissues. Herein, we report a unique "Jekyll and Hyde" nanoparticle-hydrogel (NP-gel) hybrid platform, which can keep dormant in adjacent normal tissues but be activated by mildly acidic and hyaluronidase-rich microenvironment in malignant tumor tissues to unidirectionally release tumor-targeting and penetrative doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded NPs. Apart from tumor-specific recognition, penetration, internalization and release, NP-gel features: shear-thinning behavior for injection, tissue-adhesiveness for continuous on-site activation, and full biodegradability for safe use. Precise delivery was clearly demonstrated in both tumor-grafted and tumor-resected mice. A single peritumoral injection of DOX-loaded NP-gel exhibited a significantly higher drug accumulation in tumor for 3 weeks than in nontarget organs and thus long-term tumor remission. More importantly, significant inhibition in tumor recurrence without detectable toxicity to healthy organs was demonstrated when applied after tumor resection. The designed system displayed long-acting and precise anticancer efficacy, paving the way toward effective tumor locoregional treatment. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Injectable hydrogels, allowing sustained drug delivery directly at tumor site, has shown great potential for locoregional chemotherapy. However, how to achieve tumor-specific drug accumulation but meanwhile impede the random drug diffusion into surrounding normal tissues remains an insurmountable challenge, especially considering high drug concentration gradient, higher interstitial fluid pressure and denser extracellular matrix in tumor than adjacent normal tissue. Herein, a 'Jekyll and Hyde' nanoparticle-hydrogel hybrid formulation was designed to keep dormant in adjacent normal tissues but be activated by mildly acidic and hyaluronidase-rich microenvironment in malignant tumor tissues to unidirectionally release tumor-targeting and penetrative DOX-loaded nanoparticles, leading to a significant tumor inhibition and antirecurrence efficiency without detectable toxicity to healthy organs, thus presenting great potential for precise locoregional chemotherapy.

Development of a transposon mutagenesis system in the oral spirochete Treponema denticola.

Here, we report successful transposon mutagenesis in the oral spirochete Treponema denticola. A modified Himar1 transposon, including a new antibiotic selection cassette for T. denticola, generated mutations affecting cell division, transport, and chemotaxis, among other processes. This random mutagenesis system should facilitate research on the biology and pathogenesis of this spirochete, which is associated with human periodontal diseases.

Preparative separation of vitexin and isovitexin from pigeonpea extracts with macroporous resins.

Vitexin and isovitexin are a pair of isomeric compounds known as the major constituents in pigeonpea leaves and possess various pharmacological activities. In the present study, the preparative separation of vitexin and isovitexin with macroporous resins (Nankai Hecheng S & T, Tianjin, China) was studied. The performance and adsorption characteristics of eight macroporous resins including ADS-5, ADS-7, ADS-8, ADS-11, ADS-17, ADS-21, ADS-31 and ADS-F8 have been evaluated. The research results indicate that ADS-5 resin is most appropriate for the separation of vitexin and isovitexin. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms were used to describe the interactions between solutes and resin at different temperatures, and the equilibrium experimental data were well fitted to the two isotherms. Column packed with ADS-5 resin was used to perform dynamic adsorption and desorption tests to optimize the separation process. The optimum parameters for adsorption were as follows: the concentration of vitexin and isovitexin in sample solution: 0.22 and 0.40mg/mL, respectively, processing volume: 3 BV, flow rate: 1mL/min, pH 4, temperature: 25 degrees C; for desorption: ethanol-water (40:60, v/v), 5 BV as an eluent, flow rate: 1mL/min. After one run treatment with ADS-5 resin, the contents of vitexin and isovitexin were increased 4.07-fold and 11.52-fold from 0.86%, 1.53% to 3.50% and 17.63%, the recovery yields were 65.03% and 73.99%, respectively. In conclusion, the preparative separation of vitexin and isovitexin can be easily and effectively achieved via adsorption and desorption on ADS-5 resin, and the method can be referenced for the separation of other flavone C-glucosides from herbal materials.

Fluoride promotes osteoblastic differentiation through canonical Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway.

Although fluoride is known to stimulate bone formation, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Recent studies have implicated the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway as a major signaling cascade in bone biology. Our earlier studies highlighted a probable role of canonical Wnt pathway in bone formation of chronic fluoride-exposed rats, but the mechanism remains unclear. The current study determined the involvement of Wnt/ß-catenin signaling in fluoride-induced osteoblastic differentiation. Using primary rat osteoblasts, we demonstrated that fluoride significantly promoted osteoblasts proliferation and alkaline phosphate (ALP) expression as well as the mRNA expression levels of bone differentiation markers, including type I collagen (COL1A1), ALP and osteonectin. We further found fluoride induced phosphorylations at serine 473 of Akt and serine 9 of glycogen synthase kinase-3ß (GSK3ß), which resulted in GSK-3ß inhibition and subsequently the nuclear accumulation of the ß-catenin, as shown by Western blot and immunofluorescence analysis. Moreover, fluoride also induced the expression of Wnt-targeted gene runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2). Importantly, the positive effect of fluoride on ALP activity and mRNA expressions of COL1A1, ALP, osteonection and Runx2 was abolished by DKK-1, a blocker of the Wnt/ß-catenin receptor. Taken together, these findings suggest that fluoride promotes osteoblastic differentiation through Akt- and GSK-3ß-dependent activation of Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway in primary rat osteoblasts. Our findings provide novel insights into the mechanisms of action of fluoride in osteoblastogenesis.