Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Molecular Target & Clinical Pharmacology, the NMPA and State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 511436, China; Department of pancreatic hepatobiliary Surgery, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510650, China.
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Molecular Target & Clinical Pharmacology, the NMPA and State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 511436, China.
Acta Biomater. 2023 Mar 1;158:599-610. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2022.12.059. Epub 2023 Jan 2.
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated during photodynamic therapy (PDT) can induce autophagy to protect tumor cell from PDT-induced apoptosis. In this work, a self-delivery autophagy regulator (designated as CeCe) is developed for autophagy promotion sensitized PDT against tumor. Briefly, CeCe is prepared by the assembly of a photosensitizer of chlorin e6 (Ce6) and autophagy promoter of celastrol. By virtue of intermolecular interactions, Ce6 and celastrol are able to self-assemble into nanomedicine with great photodynamic performance and autophagy regulation capacity. Under light irradiation, CeCe would produce ROS in tumor cells to amplify the oxidative stress and promote cell autophagy. As a result, CeCe exhibits an enhanced photo toxicity by inducing autophagic cell death. In vivo experiments indicate that CeCe can predominantly accumulate in tumor tissue for a robust PDT. Moreover, CeCe has a superior therapeutic efficiency compared to monotherapy and combined treatment of Ce6 and celastrol, suggesting a synergistic antitumor effect of PDT and autophagy promotion. This self-delivery nanomedicine may advance the development of the co-delivery nanoplatform to improve the antitumor efficacy of PDT by promoting autophagy. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Autophagy is a "double-edged sword" in cellular homeostasis and metabolism, which can promote tumor progression but also induce an unknown impact on tumor inhibition. In this work, a self-delivery autophagy regulator (designated as CeCe) was developed for autophagy promotion sensitized photodynamic therapy (PDT). By virtue of intermolecular interactions, Ce6 and celastrol were found to self-assemble into stable CeCe without drug excipients, which exhibited great photodynamic performance and autophagy regulation capacity. In vitro and in vivo findings demonstrated a superior tumor suppression ability of CeCe over the monotherapy as well as the combined treatment of Ce6 and celastrol, suggesting a synergistic antitumor efficacy by PDT and autophagy promotion.
活性氧 (ROS) 在光动力疗法 (PDT) 过程中产生,可诱导自噬以保护肿瘤细胞免受 PDT 诱导的细胞凋亡。在这项工作中,开发了一种自递送自噬调节剂 (命名为 CeCe),用于促进自噬以增强 PDT 对肿瘤的治疗效果。简要地说,CeCe 通过组装光敏剂氯己酮 (Ce6) 和自噬促进剂雷公藤红素制备而成。由于分子间相互作用,Ce6 和雷公藤红素能够自组装成具有优异的光动力性能和自噬调控能力的纳米药物。在光照下,CeCe 会在肿瘤细胞中产生 ROS,以放大氧化应激并促进细胞自噬。结果,CeCe 通过诱导自噬性细胞死亡表现出增强的光毒性。体内实验表明,CeCe 主要积聚在肿瘤组织中,可实现强大的 PDT。此外,CeCe 与单药治疗以及 Ce6 和雷公藤红素联合治疗相比,具有更高的治疗效率,表明 PDT 和自噬促进的协同抗肿瘤作用。这种自递送纳米药物可能会推进共递送纳米平台的发展,通过促进自噬来提高 PDT 的抗肿瘤疗效。