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Baig MMFA, Ma J, Gao X, Khan MA, Ali A, Farid A, Zia AW, Noreen S, Wu H. Exploring the robustness of DNA nanotubes framework for anticancer theranostics toward the 2D/3D clusters of hypopharyngeal respiratory tumor cells. Int J Biol Macromol 2023; 236:123988. [PMID: 36907299 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.123988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2022] [Revised: 02/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/26/2023] [Indexed: 03/14/2023]
Abstract
This study aimed to develop a robust approach for the early diagnosis and treatment of tumors. Short circular DNA nanotechnology synthesized a stiff and compact DNA nanotubes (DNA-NTs) framework. TW-37, a small molecular drug, was loaded into DNA-NTs for BH3-mimetic therapy to elevate the intracellular cytochrome-c levels in 2D/3D hypopharyngeal tumor (FaDu) cell clusters. After anti-EGFR functionalization, the DNA-NTs were tethered with a cytochrome-c binding aptamer, which can be applied to evaluate the elevated intracellular cytochrome-c levels via in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). The results showed that DNA-NTs were enriched within the tumor cells via anti-EGFR targeting with a pH-responsive controlled release of TW-37. In this way, it initiated the triple inhibition of "BH3, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, and Mcl-1". The triple inhibition of these proteins caused Bax/Bak oligomerization, leading to the perforation of the mitochondrial membrane. This led to the elevation of intracellular cytochrome-c levels, which reacted with the cytochrome-c binding aptamer to produce FRET signals. In this way, we successfully targeted 2D/3D clusters of FaDu tumor cells and achieved the tumor-specific and pH-triggered release of TW-37, causing tumor cell apoptosis. This pilot study suggests that anti-EGFR functionalized, TW-37 loaded, and cytochrome-c binding aptamer tethered DNA-NTs might be the hallmark for early tumor diagnosis and therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mirza Muhammad Faran Ashraf Baig
- Department of Chemistry and the Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Centre for Tissue Restoration, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China.
| | - Jinwei Ma
- Department of Chemistry and the Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Centre for Tissue Restoration, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China
| | - Xiuli Gao
- Microbiological and Biochemical Pharmaceutical Engineering Research Center of Guizhou Province, State Key Laboratory of Functions and Applications of Medicinal Plants, School of Pharmacy, Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang 550025, China
| | - Muhammad Ajmal Khan
- Division of Life Science, Center for Cancer Research, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China
| | - Atif Ali
- Department of Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Synthetic Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Awais Farid
- Division of Environment and Sustainability, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China
| | - Abdul Wasy Zia
- Institute of Mechanical, Process, and Energy Engineering, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, United Kingdom
| | - Sobia Noreen
- Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Institute of Pharmacy, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck 6020, Austria
| | - Hongkai Wu
- Department of Chemistry and the Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Centre for Tissue Restoration, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China; Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Division of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China.
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Li Z, Feng X, Hu W, Li L. An activatable DNA nanodevice for correlated imaging of apoptosis-related dual proteins. NANOSCALE 2022; 14:6465-6470. [PMID: 35416226 DOI: 10.1039/d2nr00537a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Apoptosis plays an important role in the life cycle of multicellular organisms. The development of techniques for sensitive monitoring of apoptosis-related key molecules can be used to assess not only disease progression but also its therapeutic interventions. However, there is still a lack of an imaging probe amenable for simultaneously detecting multiple biomarkers during drug-induced apoptosis. Herein, a novel activatable DNA nanodevice was designed to image apoptosis-related dual proteins in real time. The turn-on and specific recognition properties of our probe allow the spatially selective detection of apoptotic-related marker cytochrome c and apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 in living cells. We demonstrated that the DNA nanodevice has the ability to monitor apoptosis and evaluate the efficacy of apoptosis-related drugs, which potentially can be used as a tool to evaluate the molecular mechanism of apoptosis regulation or to screen apoptotic drugs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhixiang Li
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Sciences, Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tianjin 300072, China
- CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety and CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China.
| | - Xueyan Feng
- CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety and CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China.
| | - Wenping Hu
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Sciences, Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tianjin 300072, China
| | - Lele Li
- CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety and CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China.
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Zhu L, Luo F, Li Z, Dai G, He P, Wang Q, Chen Q. Selective detection of cytochrome C by microchip electrophoresis based on an aptamer strategy. Electrophoresis 2019; 40:1331-1336. [PMID: 30676663 DOI: 10.1002/elps.201800527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/25/2018] [Revised: 01/21/2019] [Accepted: 01/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
The release of cytochrome C (Cyt C) plays an important role in apoptosis. In this study, selective and sensitive detection of Cyt C based on an aptamer strategy coupled with MCE was developed. Following the binding of a specific aptamer to Cyt C, the aptamer exhibited an irregular state, reducing the binding affinity of a fluorescent probe, and thus preventing the aptamer-Cyt C complexes from detection within the MCE. The height of the detection peak of the residual aptamer linearly decreased, and therefore, the difference in peak height of residual aptamer compared to that of the initial aptamer was used to quantify the captured protein concentration. Experimental conditions such as incubation time, pH, temperature, and ionic strength were optimized. A measurement of Cyt C concentration by MCE was achieved within 135 s, with a limit of detection as low as 0.4 nM. The proposed method has high selectivity and good stability for the detection of Cyt C. The experimental results demonstrate that this method is quick, consumes only a small quantity of sample, is highly selectivity and exhibits high sensitivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luqi Zhu
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, P. R. China
| | - Feifei Luo
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, P. R. China
| | - Zhi Li
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, P. R. China
| | - Ge Dai
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, P. R. China
| | - Pingang He
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, P. R. China
| | - Qingjiang Wang
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, P. R. China
| | - Qiming Chen
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, P. R. China
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Ghayyem S, Faridbod F. A fluorescent aptamer/carbon dots based assay for Cytochrome c protein detection as a biomarker of cell apoptosis. Methods Appl Fluoresc 2018; 7:015005. [PMID: 30524015 DOI: 10.1088/2050-6120/aaf0ca] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Cytochrome c (Cyt c), a heme protein, can be a potential biomarker for cell-apoptosis or even cancer diagnosis. In this work, a simple, rapid, sensitive and selective label-free assay for Cytochrome c (Cyt c) detection is introduced based on an interaction between nucleic acid aptamer biomolecules and surfaces of Carbon Dots (CDs). CDs are used as a fluorescent probes and Cyt c-aptamers as a sensing materials. Interactions of aptamers with CDs quench the fluorescent intensity of CDs. By addition of Cyt c biomolecule as an analyte to the solution and binding to the aptamers, CDs fluorescence turns on. Stronger binding affinity of the aptamers toward Cyt c than CDs, causes they leave the CDs surfaces and the fluorescence is recovered. The amount of recoveries corresponds linearly to the concentration of Cyt c and be used as the basis of detection. The method exhibited high sensitivity to Cyt c with a detection limit of 25.90 nM and a linear range from 40 nM to 240 nM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sena Ghayyem
- Analytical Chemistry Department, School of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
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