Hu Rui, Jiang Xin, Zhu Lijie, Meng Rui, Yang Rongbo, Sun Wenjie, Zhao Zhenzhou, Lyu Yuehua, Huang Ruoyuan, Xue Fei, Shi Mengke, Zhou Zaigang, Shen Jianliang, Xie Congying
Department of Radiation and Medical Oncology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang, China.
Department of Radiation Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang, China.
Biomaterials. 2025 Oct;321:123335. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2025.123335. Epub 2025 Apr 10.
Currently, certain lung cancer patients exhibit resistance to radiotherapy due to reduced DNA damage under hypoxic conditions and the cytoprotective and immune-resistance effect caused by increased programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) and Cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) expression after radiotherapy. At present, existing nanoparticles or drugs could hardly effectively, and easily address these obstacles faced by highly effective radiotherapy simultaneously, especially the simultaneous depression of PD-L1 and COX-2. In this study, it is newly proved that some typical nitric oxide (NO) gas donors could co-inhibit PD-L1 and COX-2 expression, revealing the possible not fully proven role of NO in reversing tumor immunotherapy resistance. Then, to realize selective NO generation in tumors, a simple tumor glutathione (GSH) responsive NO gas nanogenerator named SAB-NO nanoparticles was designed and prepared, which was composed of the NO donor Isoamyl Nitrite conjugated with serum albumin (SAB). By doing this, SAB-NO nanoparticles more effectively sensitized radiotherapy through breaking the cytoprotective effects faced by radiotherapy in vitro by generating more DNA damage through reversing tumor hypoxia and impairing the DNA damage repair process through decreasing PD-L1 expression. Then, the combination therapy of SAB-NO nanoparticles and radiotherapy effectively transformed cold tumors into hot ones through avoiding some potential immune-resistance effects induced by radiotherapy treatment alone through PD-L1 and COX-2 co-inhibition. In conclusion, the combined treatment of radiotherapy and SAB-NO nanoparticles finally almost completely suppressed the growth of lung tumors, revealing the novel role of NO donors in sensitizing tumor immunotherapy by avoiding the potential cytoprotective and immune-resistance effects.
目前,某些肺癌患者由于缺氧条件下DNA损伤减少以及放疗后程序性死亡配体-1(PD-L1)和环氧化酶2(COX-2)表达增加所导致的细胞保护和免疫抵抗作用,对放疗产生抗性。目前,现有的纳米颗粒或药物很难同时有效且轻松地解决高效放疗所面临的这些障碍,尤其是同时抑制PD-L1和COX-2。在本研究中,新证明了一些典型的一氧化氮(NO)气体供体可以共同抑制PD-L1和COX-2的表达,揭示了NO在逆转肿瘤免疫治疗抗性中可能尚未完全证实的作用。然后,为了在肿瘤中实现选择性NO生成,设计并制备了一种简单的肿瘤谷胱甘肽(GSH)响应性NO气体纳米发生器,名为SAB-NO纳米颗粒,它由与血清白蛋白(SAB)共轭的NO供体亚硝酸异戊酯组成。通过这样做,SAB-NO纳米颗粒通过逆转肿瘤缺氧产生更多DNA损伤并通过降低PD-L1表达损害DNA损伤修复过程,从而在体外打破放疗所面临的细胞保护作用,更有效地使放疗敏感化。然后,SAB-NO纳米颗粒与放疗的联合治疗通过PD-L1和COX-2共同抑制避免了单独放疗治疗诱导的一些潜在免疫抵抗作用,有效地将冷肿瘤转化为热肿瘤。总之,放疗与SAB-NO纳米颗粒的联合治疗最终几乎完全抑制了肺肿瘤的生长,揭示了NO供体通过避免潜在的细胞保护和免疫抵抗作用使肿瘤免疫治疗敏感化的新作用。
J Control Release. 2022-12