Dai Liangliang, Li Xiang, Duan Xianglong, Li Menghuan, Niu Peiyun, Xu Huiyun, Cai Kaiyong, Yang Hui
Institute of Medical Research Northwestern Polytechnical University Xi'an 710072 P. R. China.
School of Life Sciences Northwestern Polytechnical University Xi'an 710072 P. R. China.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2018 Dec 18;6(4):1801807. doi: 10.1002/advs.201801807. eCollection 2019 Feb 20.
Poor cell uptake of drugs is one of the major challenges for anticancer therapy. Moreover, the inability to release adequate drug at tumor sites and inherent multidrug resistance (MDR) may further limit the therapeutic effect. Herein, a delivery nanosystem with a charge-reversal capability and self-amplifiable drug release pattern is constructed by encapsulating β-lapachone in pH/ROS cascade-responsive polymeric prodrug micelle. The surface charge of this micellar system would be converted from negative to positive for enhanced tumor cell uptake in response to the weakly acidic tumor microenvironment. Subsequently, the cascade-responsive micellar system could be dissociated in a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-rich intracellular environment, resulting in cytoplasmic release of β-lapachone and camptothecin (CPT). Furthermore, the released β-lapachone is capable of producing ROS under the catalysis of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase-1 (NQO1), which induces the self-amplifiable disassembly of the micelles and drug release to consume adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and downregulate P-glycoprotein (P-gp), eventually overcoming MDR. Moreover, the excessive ROS produced from β-lapachone could synergize with CPT and further propagate tumor cell apoptosis. The studies in vitro and in vivo consistently demonstrate that the combination of the pH-responsive charge-reversal, upregulation of tumoral ROS level, and self-amplifying ROS-responsive drug release achieves potent antitumor efficacy via the synergistic oxidation-chemotherapy.
药物的细胞摄取不佳是抗癌治疗的主要挑战之一。此外,无法在肿瘤部位释放足够的药物以及固有的多药耐药性(MDR)可能会进一步限制治疗效果。在此,通过将β-拉帕醌封装在pH/ROS级联响应聚合物前药胶束中,构建了一种具有电荷反转能力和自增强药物释放模式的递送纳米系统。响应于弱酸性肿瘤微环境,该胶束系统的表面电荷将从负变为正,以增强肿瘤细胞摄取。随后,级联响应胶束系统可在富含活性氧(ROS)的细胞内环境中解离,导致β-拉帕醌和喜树碱(CPT)在细胞质中释放。此外,释放的β-拉帕醌能够在烟酰胺腺嘌呤二核苷酸(NAD)(P)H:醌氧化还原酶-1(NQO1)的催化下产生活性氧,这诱导胶束的自增强解离和药物释放,以消耗三磷酸腺苷(ATP)并下调P-糖蛋白(P-gp),最终克服多药耐药性。此外,β-拉帕醌产生的过量活性氧可与CPT协同作用,进一步促进肿瘤细胞凋亡。体外和体内研究一致表明,pH响应性电荷反转、肿瘤ROS水平上调和自增强ROS响应性药物释放的组合通过协同氧化化疗实现了强大的抗肿瘤疗效。