Department and Institute of Biological Science and Technology, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 30068, Taiwan.
Institute of Molecular Medicine and Bioengineering, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 30068, Taiwan.
Acta Biomater. 2019 Mar 1;86:395-405. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2019.01.025. Epub 2019 Jan 16.
Breast cancer is the most common malignancy and a leading cause of cancer-related mortality among women worldwide. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is characterized by the lack of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2). However, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is highly expressed in most of the TNBCs, which may provide a potential target for EGFR targeting therapy. Nanodiamond (ND) is a carbon-based nanomaterial with several advantages, including fluorescence emission, biocompatibility, and drug delivery applications. In this study, we designed a nanocomposite by using ND conjugated with paclitaxel (PTX) and cetuximab (Cet) for targeting therapy on the EGFR-positive TNBC cells. ND-PTX inhibited cell viability and induced mitotic catastrophe in various human breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, and BT474); in contrast, ND alone did not induce cell death. ND-PTX inhibited the xenografted human breast tumors in nude mice. We further investigated ND-PTX-Cet drug efficacy on the TNBC of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. ND-PTX-Cet could specifically bind to EGFR and enhanced the anticancer effects including drug uptake levels, mitotic catastrophe, and apoptosis in the EGFR-expressed MDA-MB-231 cells but not in the EGFR-negative MCF-7 cells. In addition, ND-PTX-Cet increased the protein levels of active caspase-3 and phospho-histone H3 (Ser10). Furthermore, ND-PTX-Cet showed more effective on the reduction of TNBC tumor volume by comparison with ND-PTX. Taken together, these results demonstrated that ND-PTX-Cet nanocomposite enhanced mitotic catastrophe and apoptosis by targeting EGFR of TNBC cells, which can provide a feasible strategy for TNBC therapy. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Current TNBC treatment is ineffective against the survival rate of TNBC patients. Therefore, the development of new treatment strategies for TNBC patients is urgently needed. Here, we have designed a nanocomposite by targeting on the EGFR of TNBC to enhance therapeutic efficacy by ND-conjugated PTX and Cet (ND-PTX-Cet). Interestingly, we found that the co-delivery of Cet and PTX by ND enhanced the apoptosis, mitotic catastrophe and tumor inhibition in the EGFR-expressed TNBC in vitro and in vivo. Consequently, this nanocomposite ND-PTX-Cet can be applied for targeting EGFR of human TNBC therapy.
乳腺癌是全球女性中最常见的恶性肿瘤和癌症相关死亡的主要原因。三阴性乳腺癌 (TNBC) 的特征是缺乏雌激素受体 (ER)、孕激素受体 (PR) 和人表皮生长因子受体 2 (HER2)。然而,大多数 TNBC 中表皮生长因子受体 (EGFR) 高度表达,这可能为 EGFR 靶向治疗提供潜在目标。纳米金刚石 (ND) 是一种具有荧光发射、生物相容性和药物递送应用等多种优势的碳基纳米材料。在这项研究中,我们设计了一种纳米复合材料,通过将 ND 与紫杉醇 (PTX) 和西妥昔单抗 (Cet) 偶联用于 EGFR 阳性 TNBC 细胞的靶向治疗。ND-PTX 抑制了各种人乳腺癌细胞系 (MDA-MB-231、MCF-7 和 BT474) 的细胞活力并诱导有丝分裂灾难;相比之下,单独的 ND 不会诱导细胞死亡。ND-PTX 抑制了裸鼠异种移植的人乳腺癌肿瘤。我们进一步研究了 ND-PTX-Cet 对 MDA-MB-231 乳腺癌细胞 TNBC 的药物疗效。ND-PTX-Cet 可以特异性结合 EGFR,并增强抗癌效果,包括 EGFR 表达的 MDA-MB-231 细胞中的药物摄取水平、有丝分裂灾难和细胞凋亡,但在 EGFR 阴性的 MCF-7 细胞中则没有。此外,ND-PTX-Cet 增加了活性 caspase-3 和磷酸化组蛋白 H3 (Ser10) 的蛋白水平。此外,与 ND-PTX 相比,ND-PTX-Cet 显示出更有效地减少 TNBC 肿瘤体积的作用。总之,这些结果表明,ND-PTX-Cet 纳米复合材料通过靶向 TNBC 细胞的 EGFR 增强有丝分裂灾难和细胞凋亡,可为 TNBC 治疗提供可行的策略。
目前 TNBC 的治疗对 TNBC 患者的生存率无效。因此,迫切需要为 TNBC 患者开发新的治疗策略。在这里,我们通过针对 TNBC 的 EGFR 设计了一种纳米复合材料,通过 ND 偶联的 PTX 和 Cet(ND-PTX-Cet)增强治疗效果。有趣的是,我们发现 ND 共递送 Cet 和 PTX 增强了体外和体内 EGFR 表达的 TNBC 的细胞凋亡、有丝分裂灾难和肿瘤抑制。因此,这种纳米复合材料 ND-PTX-Cet 可用于针对人类 TNBC 治疗的 EGFR 靶向。