Colon Targeting pH-Responsive Coacervate Microdroplets for Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis.

Ulcerative colitis (UC), an immune-mediated chronic inflammatory disease, drastically impacts patients' quality of life and increases their risk of colorectal cancer worldwide. However, effective oral targeted delivery and retention of drugs in colonic lesions are still great challenges in the treatment of UC. Coacervate microdroplets, formed by liquid-liquid phase separation, are recently explored in drug delivery as the simplicity in fabrication, spontaneous enrichment on small molecules and biological macromolecules, and high drug loading capacity. Herein, in this study, a biocompatible diethylaminoethyl-dextran hydrochloride/sodium polyphenylene sulfonate coacervates, coated with eudragit S100 to improve the stability and colon targeting ability, named EU-Coac, is developed. Emodin, an active ingredient in traditional Chinese herbs proven to alleviate UC symptoms, is loaded in EU-Coac (EMO@EU-Coac) showing good stability in gastric acid and pepsin and pH-responsive release behavior. After oral administration, EMO@EU-Coac can effectively target and retain in the colon, displaying good therapeutic effects on UC treatment through attenuating inflammation and oxidative stress response, repairing colonic epithelia, as well as regulating intestinal flora balance. In short, this study provides a novel and facile coacervate microdroplet delivery system for UC treatment.

Cell-Derived Biogenetic Gold Nanoparticles for Sensitizing Radiotherapy and Boosting Immune Response against Cancer.

The biosynthesis of nanomedicine has gained enormous attention and exhibited promising prospects, while the underlying mechanism and advantage remain not fully understood. Here, a cell-reactor based on tumor cells is developed to obtain biogenetic gold nanoparticles (Au@MC38) for sensitizing radiotherapy and boosting immune responses. It demonstrates that the intracellular biomineralization and exocytosis process of Au@MC38 can be regulated by the cellular metabolites level and other factors, such as glutathione and reactive oxygen species (ROS), autophagy, and UV irradiation. The elucidation of mechanisms may promote the understanding of interaction principles between nanoparticles and biosystems in the process of biosynthesis. Combined with radiotherapy, Au@MC38 strengthens the radiation-induced DNA damage and ROS generation, thus aggravating cell apoptosis and necrosis. Benefiting from homologous targeting and transcytosis effect, Au@MC38 demonstrates good tumor distribution. Local radiation-induced immunogenic cell death initiates an effective immune response. Especially, CD8a+ dendritic cells are significantly increased in mice that received combinatorial treatment. This radio-sensitization strategy has demonstrated the effective inhibition on primary and metastatic tumors, and achieved satisfactory survival benefit in combinatorial with immune checkpoint blockade. Thus, this bio-inspired synthetic strategy may impulse the development of biosynthesis and its therapeutic applications, contributing to a non-invasive and efficient modality for nanomedicine exploitation.

CCL9/CCR1 axis-driven chemotactic nanovesicles for attenuating metastasis of SMAD4-deficient colorectal cancer by trapping TGF-ß.

SMAD4 deficiency in colorectal cancer (CRC) is highly correlated with liver metastasis and high mortality, yet there are few effective precision therapies available. Here, we show that CCR1+-granulocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells (G-MDSCs) are highly infiltrated in SMAD4-deficient CRC via CCL15/CCR1 and CCL9/CCR1 axis in clinical specimens and mouse models, respectively. The excessive TGF-ß, secreted by tumor-infiltrated CCR1+-G-MDSCs, suppresses the immune response of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), thus facilitating metastasis. Hereby, we develop engineered nanovesicles displaying CCR1 and TGFBR2 molecules (C/T-NVs) to chemotactically target the tumor driven by CCL9/CCR1 axis and trap TGF-ß through TGF-ß-TGFBR2 specific binding. Chemotactic C/T-NVs counteract CCR1+-G-MDSC infiltration through competitive responding CCL9/CCR1 axis. C/T-NVs-induced intratumoral TGF-ß exhaustion alleviates the TGF-ß-suppressed immune response of CTLs. Collectively, C/T-NVs attenuate liver metastasis of SMAD4-deficient CRC. In further exploration, high expression of programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) is observed in clinical specimens of SMAD4-deficient CRC. Combining C/T-NVs with anti-PD-L1 antibody (aPD-L1) induces tertiary lymphoid structure formation with sustained activation of CTLs, CXCL13+-CD4+ T, CXCR5+-CD20+ B cells, and enhanced secretion of cytotoxic cytokine interleukin-21 and IFN-γ around tumors, thus eradicating metastatic foci. Our strategy elicits pleiotropic antimetastatic immunity, paving the way for nanovesicle-mediated precision immunotherapy in SMAD4-deficient CRC.

Mitoxantrone Combined with Engineered TRAIL-Nanovesicles for Enhanced Cancer Immunotherapy Via Converting Apoptosis into Pyroptosis.

Pyroptosis, a highly inflammatory form of programmed cell death, has emerged as a promising target for cancer immunotherapy. However, in the context of pyroptosis execution, while both caspase-3 and GSDME are essential, it is noteworthy that GSDME is frequently under-expressed in cold tumors. To overcome this limitation, engineered cellular nanovesicles (NVs) presenting TRAIL on their membranes (NVTRAIL) are developed to trigger the upregulation of cleaved caspase-3. When strategically combined with the chemotherapeutic agent mitoxantrone (MTO), known for its ability to enhance GSDME expression, MTO@NVTRAIL can convert cancer cells from apoptosis into pyroptosis, inhibit the tumor growth and metastasis successfully in primary tumor. The microparticles released by pyroptotic tumor cells also exhibited certain cytotoxicity against other tumor cells. In addition, tumor cells exposed to the combination treatment of MTO@NVTRAIL in vitro have also demonstrated potential utility as a novel form of vaccine for cancer immunotherapy. Flow analysis of the tumor microenvironment and draining lymph nodes reveals an increased proportion of matured dendritic cells and activation of T cells. In summary, the research provided a reference and alternative approach to induce cancer pyroptosis for clinical antitumor therapy based on engineered cellular nanovesicles and chemotherapy.

Hybrid biomineralized nanovesicles to enhance inflamed lung biodistribution and reduce side effect of glucocorticoid for ARDS therapy.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a critical illness characterized by severe lung inflammation. Improving the delivery efficiency and achieving the controlled release of anti-inflammatory drugs at the lung inflammatory site are major challenges in ARDS therapy. Taking advantage of the increased pulmonary vascular permeability and a slightly acidic-inflammatory microenvironment, pH-responsive mineralized nanoparticles based on dexamethasone sodium phosphate (DSP) and Ca2+ were constructed. By further biomimetic modification with M2 macrophage membranes, hybrid mineralized nanovesicles (MM@LCaP) were designed to possess immunomodulatory ability from the membranes and preserve the pH-sensitivity from core nanoparticles for responsive drug release under acidic inflammatory conditions. Compared with healthy mice, the lung/liver accumulation of MM@LCaP in inflammatory mice was increased by around 5.5 times at 48 h after intravenous injection. MM@LCaP promoted the polarization of anti-inflammatory macrophages, calmed inflammatory cytokines, and exhibited a comprehensive therapeutic outcome. Moreover, MM@LCaP improved the safety profile of glucocorticoids. Taken together, the hybrid mineralized nanovesicles-based drug delivery strategy may offer promising ideas for enhancing the efficacy and reducing the toxicity of clinical drugs.

Engineered Biomimetic Nanovesicles Based on Neutrophils for Hierarchical Targeting Therapy of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is a clinically severe respiratory disease that causes severe medical and economic burden. To improve therapeutic efficacy, effectively targeting delivery to the inflamed lungs and inflamed cells remains an ongoing challenge. Herein, we designed engineered biomimetic nanovesicles (DHA@ANeu-DDAB) by fusion of lung-targeting functional lipid, neutrophil membrane containing activated ß2 integrins, and the therapeutic lipid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). By the advantage of lung targeting lipid and ß2 integrin targeting adhesion, DHA@ANeu-DDAB can first target lung tissue and further target inflammatory vascular endothelial cells, to achieve "tissue first, cell second" hierarchical delivery. In addition, the ß2 integrins in DHA@ANeu-DDAB could bind to the intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1/2 (ICAM-1/2) ligand on the endothelium in the inflamed blood vessels, thus inhibiting neutrophils' infiltration in the blood circulation. DHA administration to inflamed lungs could effectively regulate macrophage phenotype and promote its anti-inflammatory activity via enhanced biosynthesis of specialized pro-resolving mediators. In the lipopolysaccharide-induced ARDS mouse model, DHA@ANeu-DDAB afforded a comprehensive and efficient inhibition of lung inflammation and promoted acute lung damage repair. Through mimicking physiological processes, these engineered biomimetic vesicles as a delivery system possess good potential in targeting therapy for ARDS.

Precise delivery of celastrol by PEGylated aptamer dendrimer nanoconjugates for enormous therapeutic effect via superior intratumor penetration over antibody counterparts.

Antibody-coated nanoparticles have been reported to have the extremely low delivery efficiency in solid tumors in preclinical trials. Though aptamers were considered to be superior over antibodies in cancer theranostics, whether PEGylated aptamer nanoparticles are better than antibody nanoparticles in improving delivery specificity and penetration efficiency of chemotherapeutics is still unknown. Here, we conjugate celastrol, a natural product with anti-tumor effect, onto PEGylated EpCAM aptamer or antibody dendrimers to obtain two nanoconjugates, and for the first time, conduct a comprehensive study to compare their performance in delivery specificity, intratumoral penetration ability and therapeutic outcomes. Our results showed that compared to antibody counterparts, PEGylated aptamer nanoconjugates exhibited the enhanced accumulation and retention specificities at tumor sites and the stronger intratumoral penetration capabilities by reducing the macrophage reservoir effects in solid tumors. When delivered celastrol to a colorectal xenograft tumor mice model by PEGylated aptamer dendrimers, 20 % of enhanced therapeutic efficiency was achieved compared to that by antibody-modified ones. Moreover, celastrol at 2 mg/kg delivered by PEGylated aptamer dendrimers showed the prominent anticancer efficiency (nearly 92 %) but without obvious side effects. These data firstly provide the proof-of-concept implementation that PEGylated aptamer nanoconjugates will display the great potential in the effective and safe cancer treatment with regard to the superiority over antibody ones in penetration abilities.

Discovery of 5-(Pyrimidin-2-ylamino)-1H-indole-2-carboxamide Derivatives as Nur77 Modulators with Selective and Potent Activity Against Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

The orphan nuclear receptor Nur77 has been validated as a potential drug target for treating breast cancer. Therefore, focusing on the SAR study of the lead 8b (KDSPR(Nur77) = 354 nM), we found the active compound ja which exhibited improved Nur77-binding capability (KDSPR(Nur77) = 91 nM) and excellent antiproliferative activities against breast cancer cell lines. Interestingly, ja acted as a potent and selective Nur77 antagonist, displaying good potency against triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell lines but did not inhibit human normal breast cancer cell line MCF-10A (SI > 20). Exceptionally, ja Nur77-dependently caused mitochondria dysfunction and induced the caspase-dependent apoptosis by mediating the TP53 phosphorylation pathway. Moreover, ja significantly suppressed MDA-MB-231 xenograft tumor growth but had no apparent side effects in mice and zebrafish. Overall, ja demonstrated to be the first Nur77 modulator mediating the TP53 phosphorylation pathway that has the potential as a novel anticancer agent for TNBC.

CAR cell design strategies in solid tumors.

In addition to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-αß T-cell therapy, CAR-NK, CAR-NKT, CAR-M and CAR-γδ T-cell therapy have gradually been applied to the treatment of solid tumors. Compared to hematological tumors, solid tumors have the characteristics of strong tumor heterogeneity, limited target antigen selection, and low T-cell infiltration to build immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. These features would present great obstacles to CAR cell therapy. This paper comprehensively analyzed the application of different CAR cells to solid tumors and summarized the design principles of different CAR cells to provide the direction for the development of CAR cell therapy in solid tumors.

Hybrid Biomimetic Nanovesicles to Drive High Lung Biodistribution and Prevent Cytokine Storm for ARDS Treatment.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) has been a life threat for patients in ICUs. Vast efforts have been devoted, while no medication has proved viable, which may be ascribed to inadequate drug delivery to damaged tissues and insufficient control of lung inflammation. Given the anti-inflammatory role of M2-type macrophages, M2 macrophage-derived nanovesicles and lung-targeting liposomes are cofused to fabricate hybrid liposomes-nanovesicles (LNVs). Benefiting from the incorporated lung-homing moiety, LNVs demonstrate high pulmonary accumulation with a lung/liver ratio of 14.9, which is approximately 53.3-fold of free nanovesicles. Thus, M2 macrophage-derived nanovesicles can be delivered to lung tissues for executing immunoregulatory functions. LNVs display phagocytosis by the infiltrated neutrophils and macrophages, exhibiting sustained release of preloaded IKK-2 inhibitor (TPCA-1). The integrated nanosystems demonstrate multidimensional suppression of the overwhelming inflammation, such as decreasing infiltration of inflammatory cells, achieving restraint on cytokine storms and alleviating oxidative stress. Therefore, the improved therapeutic outcome in ARDS mice is obtained. Altogether, the hybrid nanoplatform provides a versatile drug delivery paradigm for integrating biological nanovesicles and therapeutic molecules by cofusion of nanovesicles with liposomes, improving lung biodistribution and accomplishing a boosted anti-inflammatory response for ARDS therapy.

Interplay between transforming growth factor-ß and Nur77 in dual regulations of inhibitor of differentiation 1 for colonic tumorigenesis.

The paradoxical roles of transforming growth factor-ß (TGFß) signaling and nuclear receptor Nur77 in colon cancer development are known but the underlying mechanisms remain obscure. Inhibitor of differentiation 1 (ID1) is a target gene of TGFß and a key promoter for colon cancer progression. Here, we show that Nur77 enhances TGFß/Smad3-induced ID1 mRNA expression through hindering Smurf2-mediated Smad3 mono-ubiquitylation, resulting in ID1 upregulation. In the absence of TGFß, however, Nur77 destabilizes ID1 protein by promoting Smurf2-mediated ID1 poly-ubiquitylation, resulting in ID1 downregulation. Interestingly, TGFß stabilizes ID1 protein by switching Nur77 interaction partners to inhibit ID1 ubiquitylation. This also endows TGFß with an active pro-tumorigenic action in Smad4-deficient colon cancers. Thus, TGFß converts Nur77's role from destabilizing ID1 protein and cancer inhibition to inducing ID1 mRNA expression and cancer promotion, which is highly relevant to colon cancer stemness, metastasis and oxaliplatin resistance. Our data therefore define the integrated duality of Nur77 and TGFß signaling in regulating ID1 expression and provide mechanistic insights into the paradoxical roles of TGFß and Nur77 in colon cancer progression.

Macroporous organosilicon nanocomposites co-deliver Bcl2-converting peptide and chemotherapeutic agent for synergistic treatment against multidrug resistant cancer.

Therapeutic biomacromolecules are confronted with in vivo challenges of low bio-stability and poor tumor tissue-penetration. Herein, we report for the first time, our development and characterization of a hybrid nanocomposite for delivering a Bcl-2-converting peptide (NuBCP9, N9 hereafter) and testing its efficacy alone or together with doxorubicin (DOX). The hybrid nanocomposite is composed of the internal large pore sized-mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) and the external highly-branched polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers, into which N9 peptide and DOX were encapsulated for the different sub-cellular delivery to treat drug-resistant cancer. The nanocomposite possessed the particle and pore sizes of ~37 nm and ~8 nm, which displayed the superior tumor penetration capacity over naked MSNs both in cultured-3D tumor sphere and in live animal models. Moreover, the dual drug nanocomposite exhibited a great synergistic anticancer effect on Bcl-2-positive cancer cells in vitro and animals with the negligible toxic side effects. The tumor inhibition rate of the nanocomposite (89%) was five times as much as the two drugs combination. This design provides a new effective, safe and versatile strategy to fabricate large pore-sized MSNs with the organic-inorganic hybrid framework to concurrently transport therapeutic peptides and chemotherapeutics to the specific sub-cellular locations for the synergistic cancer therapy and drug resistance reversal, which has significant impact on the development of improved cancer therapeutics.

Macroporous silica nanoparticles for delivering Bcl2-function converting peptide to treat multidrug resistant-cancer cells.

The abundance of B cell lymphoma gene 2 (Bcl-2) is closely correlated with the resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agents, and a peptide derived from orphan nuclear receptor Nur77 can convert Bcl-2 from a protector to a killer of cancer cells. However, successful application of the Bcl-2-converting peptide to treat drug-resistant cancer cells depends on an efficient delivery carrier. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have been extensively studied as promising candidates for small molecule drug delivery. However, the effective encapsulation and intracellular delivery of peptides using small pore-sized MSNs still remain a great technical challenge. In this paper, an effective delivery platform for Bcl-2-converting peptide was fabricated by us to treat multidrug resistant-cancer cells via tuning the surface functionality of macroporous silica nanoparticles. The resulting large-sized pore silica nanoparticles, especially those modified with thiol group, exhibited the high Bcl-2-converting peptide-loading efficiency of over 40%. Moreover, the peptide induced MCF7/DOX cells into apoptotic status by penetrating cytomembrane into mitochondria and being bound with Bcl-2 to expose the BH3 domain with the aid of various surface functionalities-decorated MSNs. In particular, amine-modified surface of MSNs caused the greater influence on the cell apoptosis-inducing effects of peptide in comparison with other functionalities-modified ones. Taken together, our study, for the first time, demonstrates a special approach towards pore size and surface functionality-collectively modulated silica-based nanostructural material for effective delivery of bio-macromolecules (e.g., Bcl-2-converting peptide) to treat the multidrug resistant-cancer cells with elevated Bcl-2 levels.

RGD-decorated redox-responsive d-α-tocopherol polyethylene glycol succinate-poly(lactide) nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery.

Developing multifunctional nanoparticles (NPs) to improve therapeutic efficacy is highly desirable in cancer therapy. In an attempt to respond to such a challenge, a novel copolymer, d-α-tocopherol polyethylene glycol succinate-SS-poly(lactide) (TPGS-SS-PLA) with a disulfide linkage between the TPGS and PLA units, was synthesized for paclitaxel (PTX) delivery. PTX-loaded NPs were fabricated using a nanoprecipitation method to form a particle size of ∼130 nm with good in vitro stability, which can be disassociated under intracellular reductive conditions to release PTX rapidly. The detached TPGS can further promote the drug retention and cytotoxicity through its P-glycoprotein inhibiting property. Integrin-specific targeting peptide, cyclic RGD (cRGD), was further conjugated to the surface of the NPs for targeting the drug delivery. The RGD-decorated NPs exhibited enhanced cellular uptake, PTX accumulation and cell cytotoxicity as compared to non-targeted NPs on murine melanoma B16F10 cells, PTX-sensitive human ovarian A2780 cells and PTX-resistant A2780/T cells. In vivo evaluation of the targeted NPs further showed an extended half-life, increased AUC (area under the concentration-time curve), and significant tumor growth inhibition in mouse sarcoma S180- and B16F10-tumor bearing mice, with reduced side effects as compared to Taxol® and non-targeted NPs. These results indicate that the RGD decorated redox-sensitive NPs could deliver chemotherapies specifically inside the cell via receptor-mediated endocytosis with enhanced efficacy, especially in integrin αvß3/αvß5-rich tumor cells. Such a targeted nanocarrier against receptor clustering prepared from a non-cytotoxic and biodegradable copolymer might have great potential in cancer treatment.