School of Pharmaceutical Science & Technology, Tianjin Key Laboratory for Modern Drug Delivery & High Efficiency, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
Instrument Analytical Center, School of Pharmaceutical Science & Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
ACS Nano. 2020 Nov 24;14(11):14715-14730. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.0c00764. Epub 2020 Nov 6.
Ferroptotic antitumor therapy has been compromised by various intracellular antioxidants, particularly glutathione and thioredoxin. Both are cofactors of glutathione peroxide 4 (GPX4) that act against oxidative stress catalyzing the reduction of lipid peroxides. It was postulated that tailored polymer micelles could enhance ferroptotic antitumor efficacy diminishing glutathione and thioredoxin under hypoxia. The aim was to engineer hypoxia-responsive micelles for selective enhancement of ferroptotic cell death in solid tumor. The polymer contains hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) that is linked by azobenzene linker with nitroimidazole-conjugated polypeptide. The tailored polymer could self-assemble into nanoscale micelles to encapsulate RAS-selective lethal small molecule 3, a covalent GPX4 inhibitor. Under hypoxia, the azobenzene moiety enabled PEG shedding and enhanced micelles uptake in 4T1 cells. Likewise, the nitroimidazole moiety was reduced by the overexpressed nitroreductase with reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) as the cofactor, resulting in transient depletion of NADPH. This impaired both the glutathione and thioredoxin redox cycle, leading to diminished intracellular glutathione and thioredoxin. The selective potency of ferroptotic micelles in depleting NADPH, glutathione and thioredoxin was further verified in the 4T1 tumor xenograft mice model. This work highlights the role of hypoxia-responsive polymers in enhancing the potency of ferroptotic inducers against solid tumors without additional side effects to healthy organs.
铁死亡抗肿瘤治疗受到各种细胞内抗氧化剂的影响,特别是谷胱甘肽和硫氧还蛋白。它们都是谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶 4(GPX4)的辅因子,该酶可对抗氧化应激,催化脂质过氧化物的还原。有人推测,定制的聚合物胶束可以增强铁死亡抗肿瘤疗效,在缺氧条件下减少谷胱甘肽和硫氧还蛋白。目的是设计缺氧响应型胶束,用于选择性增强实体瘤中的铁死亡细胞死亡。该聚合物含有亲水性聚乙二醇(PEG),通过偶氮苯连接子与硝基咪唑缀合多肽相连。定制的聚合物可以自组装成纳米级胶束,以包裹 RAS 选择性致死小分子 3,这是一种共价 GPX4 抑制剂。在缺氧条件下,偶氮苯部分使 PEG 脱落,并增强 4T1 细胞中胶束的摄取。同样,硝基咪唑部分被过表达的硝基还原酶还原,以烟酰胺腺嘌呤二核苷酸磷酸(NADPH)作为辅因子,导致 NADPH 短暂耗尽。这会损害谷胱甘肽和硫氧还蛋白的氧化还原循环,导致细胞内谷胱甘肽和硫氧还蛋白减少。在 4T1 肿瘤异种移植小鼠模型中进一步验证了铁死亡胶束在耗尽 NADPH、谷胱甘肽和硫氧还蛋白方面的选择性效力。这项工作强调了缺氧响应性聚合物在增强铁死亡诱导剂对实体瘤的效力方面的作用,而不会对健康器官产生额外的副作用。
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