The use of electronic-neutral penetrating peptides cyclosporin A to deliver pro-apoptotic peptide: A possibly better choice than positively charged TAT.

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are increasingly important in transporting macromolecules across cell membranes, but their use remains confined to narrow clinical applications due to the systemic toxicity induced by their positive charges. Several newly discovered electronic neutral penetrating peptides are not attracting much attention because their penetrating capacity is normally far less powerful than cationic or amphiphilic CPPs. In this study, we found the electronic neutral cyclic peptide cyclosporin A (CsA) exhibited 5.6-fold and 19.1-fold stronger penetrating capacity, respectively, than two reported electronic neutral peptides PFVYLI (PFV) and pentapeptide VPTLQ (VPT) in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. To systematically evaluate the efficiency and toxicity of CsA, we utilized CsA to deliver a membrane-impenetrable pro-apoptotic peptide (PAD) and compared this to the well-established cationic penetrating peptide TAT (RKKRRQRRR). By conjugating CsA to PAD, the internalization of PAD increased 2.2- to 4.7-fold in four different tumor cell lines, and that of CsA-PAD conjugate was significantly higher than TAT-PAD conjugate in MCF-7 and HeLa human cervical cancer cells. Cytotoxicity studies demonstrated that CsA-PAD exhibited a large increase in cell cytotoxicity compared to PAD in four different tumor cell lines, with the effect being similar or greater than the effect of TAT-PAD, depending upon the cell type. The mechanistic studies demonstrated that modifying CsA or TAT did not change the cytotoxicity mechanism of PAD, which occurred via mitochondrial membrane damage related to apoptosis. In vivo studies showed that CsA-PAD could achieve similar anti-tumor efficacy to TAT-PAD but with much lower systemic toxicity, especially to the heart and liver. In conclusion, our study demonstrates for the first time that the electronic-neutral penetrating peptide CsA can be used as a powerful tool to deliver peptide drugs with similar efficiency and less toxicity than the positively charged TAT peptide.

The Use ofa Hydrophobic Binding Peptide Modified Lipid Nanocarrier Improving Tumor Distribution and Antitumor Efficacy.

In addition to showing the specific interaction between a generalized ligand and its receptor and the electrostatic effect between positive cell-penetrating peptides and negative cell membranes, our last study demonstrated the hydrophobic interactivity between a hydrophobic binding peptide (HBP) and biomembranes to be favorable in drug delivery. To yield more evidence for this new strategy and to find more effective HBPs, here we designed and established a novel nanomedicine associated with cyclosporin A (CsA) because this peptide is electrically neutral, highly hydrophobic, very stable in vivo and safe at the given dose. First, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) studies showed a strong hydrophobic interaction between the CsA molecules and the lipid membrane. The lactate dehydrogenase release assay proved that CsA exhibited low toxicity to cell membranes. These facts encouraged us to explore the potential application of CsA as an HBP to actualize intracellular delivery of nanomedicines for tumor therapy. When conjugated to lipid nanocarriers, CsA significantly enhanced their binding with cells and,. consequently, increased the internalization of recoded nanomedicines into cells. The in vivo experiments further showed that the CsA-associated nanocarriers could achieve better delivery to tumor tissues and improve the tumor therapy of doxorubicin (DOX) compared to the nonmodified control; these findings were identical to the observations-in cell studies. In conclusion, CsA, a readily obtainable molecule with favorable characteristics, is indeed a good candidate for an HBP, and this study provides solid, novel evidence for the use of HBP-based nanocarriers as effective antitumor drug delivery systems.

A nanomedicine based combination therapy based on QLPVM peptide functionalized liposomal tamoxifen and doxorubicin against Luminal A breast cancer.

Though combination chemotherapy or antitumor nanomedicine is extensively investigated, their combining remains in infancy. Additionally, enhanced delivery of estrogen or its analogs to tumor with highly-expressed estrogen-receptor (ER) is seldom considered, despite its necessity for ER-positive breast cancer treatment. Here, nanomedicine based combination therapy using QLPVM conjugated liposomal tamoxifen (TAM) and doxorubicin (DOX) was designed and testified, where the penta-peptide was derived from Ku70 Bax-binding domain. Quantitative, semi-quantitative and qualitative approaches demonstrated the enhanced endocytosis and cytotoxicity of QLPVM conjugated sterically stabilized liposomes (QLPVM-SSLs) in vitro and in vivo. Mechanism studies of QLPVM excluded the possible electrostatic, hydrophobic or receptor-ligand interactions. However, as a weak cell-penetrating peptide, QLPVM significantly induced drug release from QLPVM-SSLs during their interaction with cells, which was favorable for drug internalization. These findings suggested that the nanomedicine based combination therapy using QLPVM-SSL-TAM and QLPVM-SSL-DOX might provide a rational strategy for Luminal A breast cancer. FROM THE CLINICAL EDITOR: Breast cancer remains a leading cause of mortality in women worldwide. Although combined therapy using hormonal antagonist and chemotherapy is the norm nowadays, the use of these agents together in a single delivery system has not been tested. Here, the authors investigated this approach using QLPVM conjugated liposomes in in-vitro and in-vivo models. The positive findings may provide a novel direction for breast cancer treatment in the near future.

A folate modified pH sensitive targeted polymeric micelle alleviated systemic toxicity of doxorubicin (DOX) in multi-drug resistant tumor bearing mice.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to demonstrate the advantages of a folate modified pH sensitive micelle system (HPPF) on reducing the systemic toxicity of antitumor drug doxorubicin (DOX) as well as increasing the antitumor efficacy on multi-drug resistant tumor. METHODS: The micelle HPPF was fabricated by PHIS-PEG and Fol-PEG-PLA using dialysis method. Multi-drug resistant human breast-cancer cell (MCF-7Adr) was used to test the therapeutic effect of DOX loaded HPPF micelles (HPPF/DOX). Nude mice bearing MCF-7Adr tumor was used to evaluate the systemic toxicity of HPPF/DOX. RESULTS: The micelle HPPF was successfully prepared with good size uniformity and pH sensitivity. The in vitro experiments showed that HPPF significantly increased the intracellular level and cytotoxicity of DOX. The in vivo experiments demonstrated that HPPF had largely reduced the mortality and body weight loss, improved the animal status and decreased damages on heart and lung tissues comparing to free DOX. CONCLUSIONS: The HPPF/DOX could significantly increase the antitumor efficacy of DOX and largely alleviate the systemic side effects induced by high dose DOX in the treatment of multi-drug resistant tumor.

The co-delivery of a low-dose P-glycoprotein inhibitor with doxorubicin sterically stabilized liposomes against breast cancer with low P-glycoprotein expression.

INTRODUCTION: P-glycoprotein (P-gp) inhibitors are usually used to treat tumors that overexpress P-gps. However, most common types of breast cancers, such as Luminal A, are low-P-gp expressing, at least during the initial phases of treatment. Therefore, it would be interesting to know if P-gp inhibitors are still useful in treating low-P-gp-expressing tumors. METHODS: In the study reported here, the human breast-cancer cell line MCF-7, chosen as a model of Luminal A, was found to be low-P-gp expressing. We designed a novel doxorubicin (DOX) sterically stabilized liposome system co-loaded with the low-dose P-gp inhibitor cyclosporine A (CsA) (DOX/CsA/SSL). RESULTS: The co-delivery system showed good size uniformity, high encapsulation efficiency, and a desirable release profile. The cell-uptake and cytotoxicity studies demonstrated that CsA could significantly enhance the intracellular accumulation and toxicity of free DOX and the liposomal DOX in MCF-7 cells. The confocal microscopy and in vivo imaging study confirmed the intracellular and in vivo targeting effect of DOX/CsA/SSL, respectively. Finally, the in vivo study proved that DOX/CsA/SSL could achieve significantly better antitumor effect against MCF-7 tumor than controls, without inducing obvious systemic toxicity. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that the co-delivery of a low-dose P-gp inhibitor and liposomal DOX could improve the therapy of low-P-gp-expressing cancer, which is of significance in clinical tumor therapy.