Gao Chen, Jian Chen, Wang Lulu, Liu Yajing, Xiong Yiquan, Wu Tingting, Shi Chen
Department of Pharmacy, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China; Hubei Province Clinical Research Center for Precision Medicine for Critical Illness, Wuhan, 430022, China.
Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
Int J Pharm. 2025 Feb 10;670:125190. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2025.125190. Epub 2025 Jan 7.
Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are one of the most important stromal cells in the tumor microenvironment, playing a pivotal role in the development, recurrence, metastasis, and immunosuppression of cancer and treatment resistance. Here, we developed a core-shell biomimetic nanosystem termed as FAP-C NPs. This system was comprised of 4T1 extracellular vesicles fused with a FAP single-chain antibody fragment to form the biomimetic shell, and PLGA nanoparticles loaded with calcipotriol as the core. The FAP-modified shell endowed this nanosystem with active targeting ability to CAFs. Calcipotriol, a vitamin D analog, can activate the vitamin D receptor expressed on CAFs, promoting their transition from an activated to quiescent state. This process would help to reduce the pro-tumorigenic signals generated by CAFs, inhibit the stemness of cancer cells, and attenuate the inhibitory effect of CAFs on immune cells. The hydrated particle size of FAP-C NPs was approximately 206 nm, with a narrow distribution (polydispersity index < 0.2). The zeta potential of FAP-C NPs was -12.63 ± 0.61 mV. FAP-C NPs can restore CAFs to a quiescent state to shield the function of activated CAFs, inhibit tumor cell stemness, facilitate the maturation of dendritic cell, and relieve the inhibition of CAFs on lymphocytes. Besides, when combined with radiotherapy, this biomimetic nanosystem could inhibit the activation of CAFs, improve the sensitivity to radiation, and stimulate potent anti-tumor immune response with a 2-fold increase in the infiltration of cytotoxic T cells in tumor microenvironment, thereby effectively suppressing tumor growth with the tumor inhibitory rate as 78.3 %. Therefore, FAP-C NPs hold great potential for targeted breast cancer therapy.
癌症相关成纤维细胞(CAFs)是肿瘤微环境中最重要的基质细胞之一,在癌症的发生、复发、转移、免疫抑制及治疗抵抗中发挥着关键作用。在此,我们开发了一种称为FAP-C NPs的核壳仿生纳米系统。该系统由与FAP单链抗体片段融合形成仿生外壳的4T1细胞外囊泡和负载骨化三醇作为核心的PLGA纳米颗粒组成。FAP修饰的外壳赋予该纳米系统对CAFs的主动靶向能力。骨化三醇是一种维生素D类似物,可激活CAFs上表达的维生素D受体,促进其从激活状态转变为静止状态。这一过程将有助于减少CAFs产生的促肿瘤信号,抑制癌细胞的干性,并减弱CAFs对免疫细胞的抑制作用。FAP-C NPs的水合粒径约为206 nm,分布狭窄(多分散指数<0.2)。FAP-C NPs的zeta电位为-12.63±0.61 mV。FAP-C NPs可使CAFs恢复到静止状态,以屏蔽激活的CAFs的功能,抑制肿瘤细胞干性,促进树突状细胞成熟,并减轻CAFs对淋巴细胞的抑制作用。此外,当与放疗联合使用时,这种仿生纳米系统可抑制CAFs的激活,提高对辐射的敏感性,并刺激强大的抗肿瘤免疫反应,使肿瘤微环境中细胞毒性T细胞的浸润增加2倍,从而有效地抑制肿瘤生长,肿瘤抑制率为78.3%。因此,FAP-C NPs在靶向乳腺癌治疗方面具有巨大潜力。
Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2024-6-24