Physics Department, University of Rhode Island, 2 Lippitt Road, Kingston, RI 02881, USA.
Biochemistry. 2013 Feb 19;52(7):1171-8. doi: 10.1021/bi301647y. Epub 2013 Feb 8.
Toxins could be effective anticancer drugs, if their selective delivery into cancer cells could be achieved. We have shown that the energy of membrane-associated folding of water-soluble membrane peptides of the pHLIP (pH low insertion peptide) family could be used to move cell-impermeable cargo across the lipid bilayer into the cytoplasm of cancer cells. Here we present the results of a study of pHLIP-mediated cellular delivery of a polar cell-impermeable toxin, α-amanitin, an inhibitor of RNA polymerase II. We show that pHLIP can deliver α-amanitin into cells in a pH-dependent fashion and induce cell death within 48 h. Translocation capability could be tuned by conjugating amanitin to the C-terminus of pHLIP via linkers of different hydrophobicities that could be cleaved in the cytoplasm. pHLIP-SPDP-amanitin, which exhibits 4-5 times higher antiproliferative ability at pH 6 than at pH 7.4, was selected as the best construct. The major mechanism of amanitin delivery is direct translocation (flip) across a membrane by pHLIP and cleavage of the S-S bond in the cytoplasm. The antiproliferative effect was monitored on four different human cancer cell lines. pHLIP-mediated cytoplasmic delivery of amanitin could create great opportunities to use the toxin as a potent pH-selective anticancer agent, which predominantly targets highly proliferative cancer cells at low extracellular pH values.
如果能够将毒素选择性递送至癌细胞内,那么这些毒素可能成为有效的抗癌药物。我们已经证实,水溶性膜肽 pHLIP(pH 低插入肽)家族的膜相关折叠能,可以用来将细胞不可渗透的货物穿过脂质双层转运到癌细胞的细胞质中。在此,我们研究了 pHLIP 介导的极性细胞不可渗透毒素α-鹅膏蕈碱(一种 RNA 聚合酶 II 的抑制剂)的细胞内递送。我们发现 pHLIP 可以以 pH 依赖性方式将α-鹅膏蕈碱递送至细胞内,并在 48 小时内诱导细胞死亡。通过将鹅膏蕈碱与 pHLIP 的 C 末端通过不同疏水性的接头连接,并在细胞质中进行切割,可以调节易位能力。pHLIP-SPDP-鹅膏蕈碱在 pH 6 时的增殖抑制能力比在 pH 7.4 时高 4-5 倍,被选为最佳构建体。鹅膏蕈碱递送至细胞内的主要机制是 pHLIP 直接跨膜翻转(flip),以及在细胞质中切割 S-S 键。在四种不同的人癌细胞系上监测了鹅膏蕈碱的增殖抑制作用。pHLIP 介导的细胞质内鹅膏蕈碱的递送为利用该毒素作为一种有效的 pH 选择性抗癌剂提供了巨大的机会,这种毒素主要针对细胞外 pH 值较低时高度增殖的癌细胞。
Biochemistry. 2013-2-8
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018-3-5
Biochemistry. 2011-11-4
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010-11-3
Mol Membr Biol. 2010-10
Biophys J. 2017-8-22
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2015-3-16
Front Urol. 2024-5-20
Front Oncol. 2022-5-19
Mol Imaging Biol. 2022-12
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012-12-24
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012-12-17
Biophys J. 2012-4-18
Mol Imaging Biol. 2012-12
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012-1-20
Biochemistry. 2011-11-4
Mol Imaging Biol. 2011-12