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Zhang D, Sun B, Wang J, Chen SPR, Bobrin VA, Gu Y, Ng CK, Gu W, Monteiro MJ. RGD Density on Tadpole Nanostructures Regulates Cancer Stem Cell Proliferation and Stemness. Biomacromolecules 2024. [PMID: 39056889 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.4c00645] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/28/2024]
Abstract
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) make up a small population of cancer cells, primarily responsible for tumor initiation, metastasis, and drug resistance. They overexpress Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) binding integrin receptors that play crucial roles in cell proliferation and stemness through interaction with the extracellular matrix. Here, we showed that monodisperse polymeric tadpole nanoparticles covalently coupled with different RGD densities regulated colon CSC proliferation and stemness in a RGD density-dependent manner. These tadpoles penetrated deeply and evenly into tumor spheroids and specifically entered cells with cancer stem markers CD24 and CD133. Low RGD density tadpoles triggered integrin α5 expression that further activated TGF-β3 and TGF-β2 signaling pathways, confirmed by the increase of pERK and Bcl-2 protein levels. This process is associated with the RGD cluster presentation controlled by the RGD density on the tadpole surface.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dayong Zhang
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Hangzhou City University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310015, China
| | - Bing Sun
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Jingyi Wang
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Sung-Po R Chen
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Valentin A Bobrin
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Yushu Gu
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Chun Ki Ng
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Wenyi Gu
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Michael J Monteiro
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
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Kotova S, Kostjuk S, Rochev Y, Efremov Y, Frolova A, Timashev P. Phase transition and potential biomedical applications of thermoresponsive compositions based on polysaccharides, proteins and DNA: A review. Int J Biol Macromol 2023; 249:126054. [PMID: 37532189 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2023] [Revised: 07/26/2023] [Accepted: 07/27/2023] [Indexed: 08/04/2023]
Abstract
Smart thermoresponsive polymers have long attracted attention as materials of a great potential for biomedical applications, mainly for drug delivery, tissue engineering and wound dressing, with a special interest to injectable hydrogels. Poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM) is the most important synthetic thermoresponsive polymer due to its physiologically relevant transition temperature. However, the use of unmodified PNIPAM encounters such problems as low biodegradability, low drug loading capacity, slow response to thermal stimuli, and insufficient mechanical robustness. The use of natural polysaccharides and proteins in combinations with PNIPAM, in the form of grafted copolymers, IPNs, microgels and physical mixtures, is aimed at overcoming these drawbacks and creating dual-functional materials with both synthetic and natural polymers' properties. When developing such compositions, special attention should be paid to preserving their key property, thermoresponsiveness. Addition of hydrophobic and hydrophilic fragments to PNIPAM is known to affect its transition temperature. This review covers various classes of natural polymers - polysaccharides, fibrous and non-fibrous proteins, DNA - used in combination with PNIPAM for the prospective biomedical purposes, with a focus on their phase transition temperatures and its relation to the natural polymer's structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Svetlana Kotova
- Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Moscow 119991, Russia.
| | - Sergei Kostjuk
- Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Moscow 119991, Russia; Department of Chemistry, Belarusian State University, Minsk 220006, Belarus; Research Institute for Physical Chemical Problems of the Belarusian State University, Minsk 220006, Belarus
| | - Yuri Rochev
- Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Moscow 119991, Russia; National University of Ireland Galway, Galway H91 CF50, Ireland
| | - Yuri Efremov
- Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Moscow 119991, Russia
| | - Anastasia Frolova
- World-Class Research Center "Digital Biodesign and Personalized Healthcare", Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Moscow 119991, Russia
| | - Peter Timashev
- Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Moscow 119991, Russia; World-Class Research Center "Digital Biodesign and Personalized Healthcare", Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Moscow 119991, Russia; N.N. Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 119991, Russia; Chemistry Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 119991, Russia
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Gu Y, Bobrin V, Zhang D, Sun B, Ng CK, Chen SPR, Gu W, Monteiro MJ. RGD-Coated Polymer Nanoworms for Enriching Cancer Stem Cells. Cancers (Basel) 2022; 15:cancers15010234. [PMID: 36612229 PMCID: PMC9818073 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15010234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Revised: 12/24/2022] [Accepted: 12/25/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are primarily responsible for tumour drug resistance and metastasis; thus, targeting CSCs can be a promising approach to stop cancer recurrence. However, CSCs are small in numbers and readily differentiate into matured cancer cells, making the study of their biological features, including therapeutic targets, difficult. The use of three-dimensional (3D) culture systems to enrich CSCs has some limitations, including low sphere forming efficiency, enzymatic digestion that may damage surface proteins, and more importantly no means to sustain the stem properties. A responsive 3D polymer extracellular matrix (ECM) system coated with RGD was used to enrich CSCs, sustain stemness and avoid enzymatic dissociation. RGD was used as a targeting motif and a ligand to bind integrin receptors. We found that the system was able to increase sphere forming efficiency, promote the growth of spheric cells, and maintain stemness-associated properties compared to the current 3D culture. We showed that continuous culture for three generations of colon tumour spheroid led to the stem marker CD24 gradually increasing. Furthermore, the new system could enhance the cancer cell sphere forming ability for the difficult triple negative breast cancer cells, MBA-MD-231. The key stem gene expression for colon cancer also increased with the new system. Further studies indicated that the concentration of RGD, especially at high doses, could inhibit stemness. Taken together, our data demonstrate that our RGD-based ECM system can facilitate the enrichment of CSCs and now allow for the investigation of new therapeutic approaches for colorectal cancer or other cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yushu Gu
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), University of Queensland (UQ), St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Valentin Bobrin
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), University of Queensland (UQ), St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Dayong Zhang
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), University of Queensland (UQ), St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou 310015, China
| | - Bing Sun
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), University of Queensland (UQ), St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Chun Ki Ng
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), University of Queensland (UQ), St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Sung-Po R. Chen
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), University of Queensland (UQ), St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Wenyi Gu
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), University of Queensland (UQ), St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
- Correspondence: (W.G.); (M.J.M.)
| | - Michael J. Monteiro
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), University of Queensland (UQ), St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
- Correspondence: (W.G.); (M.J.M.)
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Hossain MD, Grandes Reyes CF, Zhang C, Chen SPR, Monteiro MJ. Nonionic Polymer with Flat Upper Critical Solution Temperature Behavior in Water. Biomacromolecules 2021; 23:174-181. [PMID: 34898168 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.1c01198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
We rationally designed a monomer that when polymerized formed a well-defined nonionic polymer [poly(2-(methacryloyloxy) ethylureido glycinamide), PMEGA] by reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer with a flat and tunable upper critical solution temperature (UCST) in water. The monomer was made in one pot from commercially available compounds and with ease of purification. Strong hydrogen-bonding side groups on the polymer produced sharp coil-to-globule transitions upon cooling below its UCST. Ideal random copolymers produced with butyl methacrylate also showed flat UCST profiles, in which the UCST increased with a greater butyl methacrylate copolymer composition from 7 to 65 °C. In the presence of NaCl, the UCST decreased linearly with NaCl concentration due to the "salting-in" effect, and it was found that the slopes from the linear decrease of UCST were nearly identical for all copolymer compositions. This new polymer and its copolymers support the hypothesis that strong hydrogen bonding between the side groups allowed the flat UCST to be readily tuned with a high level of predictability. We postulate that this polymer system may provide wide biological applicability similar to that found for the well-used flat lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide).
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Affiliation(s)
- Md D Hossain
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | | | - Changhe Zhang
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Sung-Po R Chen
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Michael J Monteiro
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
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Grandes Reyes CF, Chen SPR, Bobrin VA, Jia Z, Monteiro MJ. Temperature-Induced Formation of Uniform Polymer Nanocubes Directly in Water. Biomacromolecules 2020; 21:1700-1708. [PMID: 31914312 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.9b01637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Conventional self-assembly methods of block copolymers in cosolvents (i.e., usually water and organic solvents) has yet to produce a pure and monodisperse population of nanocubes. The requirement to assemble a nanocube is for the second block to have a high molecular weight. However, such high molecular weight block copolymers usually result in the formation of kinetically trapped nanostructures even with the addition of organic cosolvents. Here, we demonstrate the rapid production of well-defined polymer nanocubes directly in water by utilizing the thermoresponsive nature of the second block (with 263 monomer units), in which the block copolymer was fully water-soluble below its lower critical solution temperature (LCST) and would produce a pure population of nanocubes when heated above this temperature. Incorporating a pH-responsive monomer in the second block allowed us to control the size of the nanocubes in water with pH and the LCST of the block copolymer. We then used the temperature and pH responsiveness to create an adaptive system that changes morphology when using a unique fuel. This fuel (H2O2 + MnO2) is highly exothermic, and the solution pH increases with the consumption of H2O2. Initially, a nonequilibrium spherical nanostructure formed, which transformed over time into nanocubes, and by controlling the exotherm of the reaction, we controlled the time for this transformation. This block copolymer and the water-only method of self-assembly have provided some insights into designing biomimetic systems that can readily adapt to the environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sung-Po R Chen
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Valentin A Bobrin
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Zhongfan Jia
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Michael J Monteiro
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
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Nicolas J, Magli S, Rabbachin L, Sampaolesi S, Nicotra F, Russo L. 3D Extracellular Matrix Mimics: Fundamental Concepts and Role of Materials Chemistry to Influence Stem Cell Fate. Biomacromolecules 2020; 21:1968-1994. [PMID: 32227919 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.0c00045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 268] [Impact Index Per Article: 67.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Synthetic 3D extracellular matrices (ECMs) find application in cell studies, regenerative medicine, and drug discovery. While cells cultured in a monolayer may exhibit unnatural behavior and develop very different phenotypes and genotypes than in vivo, great efforts in materials chemistry have been devoted to reproducing in vitro behavior in in vivo cell microenvironments. This requires fine-tuning the biochemical and structural actors in synthetic ECMs. This review will present the fundamentals of the ECM, cover the chemical and structural features of the scaffolds used to generate ECM mimics, discuss the nature of the signaling biomolecules required and exploited to generate bioresponsive cell microenvironments able to induce a specific cell fate, and highlight the synthetic strategies involved in creating functional 3D ECM mimics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julien Nicolas
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut Galien Paris-Saclay, , 92296 Châtenay-Malabry, France
| | - Sofia Magli
- University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126 Milan, Italy
| | - Linda Rabbachin
- University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126 Milan, Italy
| | - Susanna Sampaolesi
- University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126 Milan, Italy
| | - Francesco Nicotra
- University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126 Milan, Italy
| | - Laura Russo
- University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126 Milan, Italy
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