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Tian X, Ai J, Tian X, Wei X. cGAS-STING pathway agonists are promising vaccine adjuvants. Med Res Rev 2024; 44:1768-1799. [PMID: 38323921 DOI: 10.1002/med.22016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Revised: 12/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 02/08/2024]
Abstract
Adjuvants are of critical value in vaccine development as they act on enhancing immunogenicity of antigen and inducing long-lasting immunity. However, there are only a few adjuvants that have been approved for clinical use, which highlights the need for exploring and developing new adjuvants to meet the growing demand for vaccination. Recently, emerging evidence demonstrates that the cGAS-STING pathway orchestrates innate and adaptive immunity by generating type I interferon responses. Many cGAS-STING pathway agonists have been developed and tested in preclinical research for the treatment of cancer or infectious diseases with promising results. As adjuvants, cGAS-STING agonists have demonstrated their potential to activate robust defense immunity in various diseases, including COVID-19 infection. This review summarized the current developments in the field of cGAS-STING agonists with a special focus on the latest applications of cGAS-STING agonists as adjuvants in vaccination. Potential challenges were also discussed in the hope of sparking future research interests to further the development of cGAS-STING as vaccine adjuvants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinyu Tian
- Laboratory of Aging Research and Cancer Drug Target, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, National Clinical Research Centre for Geriatrics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, P.R. China
| | - Jiayuan Ai
- Laboratory of Aging Research and Cancer Drug Target, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, National Clinical Research Centre for Geriatrics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, P.R. China
| | - Xiaohe Tian
- Laboratory of Aging Research and Cancer Drug Target, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, National Clinical Research Centre for Geriatrics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, P.R. China
| | - Xiawei Wei
- Laboratory of Aging Research and Cancer Drug Target, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, National Clinical Research Centre for Geriatrics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, P.R. China
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Wang Z, Hao D, Wang Y, Zhao J, Zhang J, Rong X, Zhang J, Min J, Qi W, Su R, He M. Peptidyl Virus-Like Nanovesicles as Reconfigurable "Trojan Horse" for Targeted siRNA Delivery and Synergistic Inhibition of Cancer Cells. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2023; 19:e2204959. [PMID: 36372545 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202204959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Revised: 09/10/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The self-assembly of peptidyl virus-like nanovesicles (pVLNs) composed of highly ordered peptide bilayer membranes that encapsulate the small interfering RNA (siRNA) is reported. The targeting and enzyme-responsive sequences on the bilayer's surface allow the pVLNs to enter cancer cells with high efficiency and control the release of genetic drugs in response to the subcellular environment. By transforming its structure in response to the highly expressed enzyme matrix metalloproteinase 7 (MMP-7) in cancer cells, it helps the siRNA escape from the lysosomes, resulting in a final silencing efficiency of 92%. Moreover, the pVLNs can serve as reconfigurable "Trojan horse" by transforming into membranes triggered by the MMP-7 and disrupting the cytoplasmic structure, thereby achieving synergistic anticancer effects and 96% cancer cell mortality with little damage to normal cells. The pVLNs benefit from their biocompatibility, targeting, and enzyme responsiveness, making them a promising platform for gene therapy and anticancer therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zixuan Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China
| | - Dongzhao Hao
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China
| | - Yuefei Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Membrane Science and Desalination Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China
| | - Jinwu Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Measuring Technology and Instruments, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China
| | - Jiaxing Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China
| | - Xi Rong
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China
| | - Jiaojiao Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China
| | - Jiwei Min
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China
| | - Wei Qi
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Membrane Science and Desalination Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China
| | - Rongxin Su
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Membrane Science and Desalination Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China
| | - Mingxia He
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Measuring Technology and Instruments, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China
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Wang B, Tang M, Yuan Z, Li Z, Hu B, Bai X, Chu J, Xu X, Zhang XQ. Targeted delivery of a STING agonist to brain tumors using bioengineered protein nanoparticles for enhanced immunotherapy. Bioact Mater 2022; 16:232-248. [PMID: 35386310 PMCID: PMC8965725 DOI: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2022.02.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2021] [Revised: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 02/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Immunotherapy is emerging as a powerful tool for combating many human diseases. However, the application of this life-saving treatment in serious brain diseases, including glioma, is greatly restricted. The major obstacle is the lack of effective technologies for transporting therapeutic agents across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and achieving targeted delivery to specific cells once across the BBB. Ferritin, an iron storage protein, traverses the BBB via receptor-mediated transcytosis by binding to transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1) overexpressed on BBB endothelial cells. Here, we developed bioengineered ferritin nanoparticles as drug delivery carriers that enable the targeted delivery of a small-molecule immunomodulator to achieve enhanced immunotherapeutic efficacy in an orthotopic glioma-bearing mouse model. We fused different glioma-targeting moieties on self-assembled ferritin nanoparticles via genetic engineering, and RGE fusion protein nanoparticles (RGE-HFn NPs) were identified as the best candidate. Furthermore, RGE-HFn NPs encapsulating a stimulator of interferon genes (STING) agonist (SR717@RGE-HFn NPs) maintained stable self-assembled structure and targeting properties even after traversing the BBB. In the glioma-bearing mouse model, SR717@RGE-HFn NPs elicited a potent local innate immune response in the tumor microenvironment, resulting in significant tumor growth inhibition and prolonged survival. Overall, this biomimetic brain delivery platform offers new opportunities to overcome the BBB and provides a promising approach for brain drug delivery and immunotherapy in patients with glioma. RGE-HFn NPs showed excellent glioma-targeting ability. RGE-HFn NPs showed potent tumor tissue-penetration ability. SR717@RGE-HFn NPs effectively activated the STING pathway and exerted immunoregulatory effects within the intracranial glioma TME. SR717@RHE-HFn NPs significantly triggered a glioma-specific innate immune response and remarkably delayed the growth of orthotopic gliomas without exhibiting apparent systemic toxicity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Wang
- Engineering Research Center of Cell & Therapeutic Antibody, Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, PR China
| | - Maoping Tang
- Engineering Research Center of Cell & Therapeutic Antibody, Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, PR China
| | - Ziwei Yuan
- Engineering Research Center of Cell & Therapeutic Antibody, Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, PR China
| | - Zhongyu Li
- Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA
| | - Bin Hu
- Engineering Research Center of Cell & Therapeutic Antibody, Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, PR China
| | - Xin Bai
- Engineering Research Center of Cell & Therapeutic Antibody, Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, PR China
| | - Jinxian Chu
- Engineering Research Center of Cell & Therapeutic Antibody, Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, PR China
| | - Xiaoyang Xu
- Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA
- Corresponding author.
| | - Xue-Qing Zhang
- Engineering Research Center of Cell & Therapeutic Antibody, Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, PR China
- Corresponding author.
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The Impact of Redox, Hydrolysis and Dehydration Chemistry on the Structural and Magnetic Properties of Magnetoferritin Prepared in Variable Thermal Conditions. Molecules 2021; 26:molecules26226960. [PMID: 34834056 PMCID: PMC8619319 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26226960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2021] [Revised: 11/15/2021] [Accepted: 11/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Ferritin, a spherically shaped protein complex, is responsible for iron storage in bacteria, plants, animals, and humans. Various ferritin iron core compositions in organisms are associated with specific living requirements, health state, and different biochemical roles of ferritin isomers. Magnetoferritin, a synthetic ferritin derivative, serves as an artificial model system of unusual iron phase structures found in humans. We present the results of a complex structural study of magnetoferritins prepared by controlled in vitro synthesis. Using various complementary methods, it was observed that manipulation of the synthesis technology can improve the physicochemical parameters of the system, which is useful in applications. Thus, a higher synthesis temperature leads to an increase in magnetization due to the formation of the magnetite phase. An increase in the iron loading factor has a more pronounced impact on the protein shell structure in comparison with the pH of the aqueous medium. On the other hand, a higher loading factor at physiological temperature enhances the formation of an amorphous phase instead of magnetite crystallization. It was confirmed that the iron-overloading effect alone (observed during pathological events) cannot contribute to the formation of magnetite.
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Goel D, Sinha S. Naturally occurring protein nano compartments: basic structure, function, and genetic engineering. NANO EXPRESS 2021. [DOI: 10.1088/2632-959x/ac2c93] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
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Longitudinal and Transverse Relaxivity Analysis of Native Ferritin and Magnetoferritin at 7 T MRI. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22168487. [PMID: 34445190 PMCID: PMC8395175 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22168487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2021] [Revised: 07/19/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Magnetite mineralization in human tissue is associated with various pathological processes, especially neurodegenerative disorders. Ferritin’s mineral core is believed to be a precursor of magnetite mineralization. Magnetoferritin (MF) was prepared with different iron loading factors (LFs) as a model system for pathological ferritin to analyze its MRI relaxivity properties compared to those of native ferritin (NF). The results revealed that MF differs statistically significantly from NF, with the same LF, for all studied relaxation parameters at 7 T: r1, r2, r2*, r2/r1, r2*/r1. Distinguishability of MF from NF may be useful in non-invasive MRI diagnosis of pathological processes associated with iron accumulation and magnetite mineralization (e.g., neurodegenerative disorders, cancer, and diseases of the heart, lung and liver). In addition, it was found that MF samples possess very strong correlation and MF’s relaxivity is linearly dependent on the LF, and the transverse and longitudinal ratios r2/r1 and r2*/r1 possess complementary information. This is useful in eliminating false-positive hypointensive artefacts and diagnosis of the different stages of pathology. These findings could contribute to the exploitation of MRI techniques in the non-invasive diagnosis of iron-related pathological processes in human tissue.
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Counteraction of osmolytes on pH-induced unfolding of xylose reductase from Debaryomyces nepalensis NCYC 3413. EUROPEAN BIOPHYSICS JOURNAL: EBJ 2020; 49:267-277. [PMID: 32356119 DOI: 10.1007/s00249-020-01432-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2020] [Revised: 04/03/2020] [Accepted: 04/20/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
The stability of Debaryomyces nepalensis NCYC 3413 xylose reductase, a homodimeric enzyme recombinantly expressed and purified from E. coli Rosetta cells, was studied at different pH ranging from 5.0 to 10.0. Deactivation kinetics at different pH were studied by analyzing residual activity of the recombinant enzyme over time at 40 °C whereas conformational changes and stability dependence were investigated by using circular dichroism and differential scanning calorimetry. Four osmolytes viz. glycerol, sucrose, trehalose and sorbitol were explored for their effect on the deactivation and melting temperatures of the enzyme under neutral and extreme pH conditions. The enzyme was found to be catalytically and structurally stable at pH 7.0 with half-life of 250 min and a melting temperature of 50 °C. It was found that alteration in both secondary and tertiary structures caused enzyme deactivation in acidic pH while increased deactivation rates at alkaline pH was attributed to the variation of tertiary structure over time. Estimated thermodynamic parameters also showed that the enzyme stability was highest at neutral pH with ΔH of 348 kcal/mole and ΔG40 of 9.53 kcal/mole. All four osmolytes were effective in enhancing enzyme stability by several folds at extreme pH with sorbitol being the most efficient, which increased enzyme half-life by 11-fold at pH 10.0 and 8-fold at pH 5.0.
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Sato D, Ikeguchi M. Mechanisms of ferritin assembly studied by time-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering. Biophys Rev 2019; 11:449-455. [PMID: 31069627 DOI: 10.1007/s12551-019-00538-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2019] [Accepted: 04/26/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The assembly reaction of Escherichia coli ferritin A (EcFtnA) was studied using time-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). EcFtnA forms a cage-like structure that consists of 24 identical subunits and dissociates into dimers at acidic pH. The dimer maintains native-like secondary and tertiary structures and can reassemble into a 24-mer when the pH is increased. The time-dependent changes in the SAXS profiles of ferritin during its assembly were roughly explained by a simple model in which only tetramers, hexamers, and dodecamers were considered intermediates. The rate of assembly increased with increasing ionic strength and decreased with increasing pH (from pH 6 to pH 8). These tendencies might originate from repulsion between assembly units (dimers) with the same net charge sign. To test this hypothesis, ferritin mutants with different net charges (net-charge mutants) were prepared. In buffers with low ionic strength, the rate of assembly increased with decreasing net charge. Thus, repulsion between the assembly unit net charges was an important factor influencing the assembly rate. Although the differences in the assembly rate among net-charge mutants were not significant in buffers with an ionic strength higher than 0.1, the assembly rates increased with increasing ionic strength, suggesting that local electrostatic interactions are also responsible for the ionic-strength dependence of the assembly rate and are, on average, repulsive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daisuke Sato
- Department of Bioinformatics, Soka University, 1-236 Tangi-machi, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-8577, Japan
| | - Masamichi Ikeguchi
- Department of Bioinformatics, Soka University, 1-236 Tangi-machi, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-8577, Japan.
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Balejčíková L, Kováč J, Garamus VM, Avdeev MV, Petrenko VI, Almásy L, Kopčanský P. Influence of synthesis temperature on structural and magnetic properties of magnetoferritin. MENDELEEV COMMUNICATIONS 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.mencom.2019.05.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
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Chen W, Li S, Li X, Zhang C, Hu X, Zhu F, Shen G, Feng F. Iron sulfur clusters in protein nanocages for photocatalytic hydrogen generation in acidic aqueous solutions. Chem Sci 2019; 10:2179-2185. [PMID: 30881642 PMCID: PMC6385480 DOI: 10.1039/c8sc05293j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2018] [Accepted: 12/15/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
We took advantage of the iron binding affinity of apoferritin to immobilize iron-sulfur clusters into apoferritin up to 312 moieties per protein, with a loading rate as high as 25 wt%. The photocatalytic hydrogen generation activity in acidic aqueous solutions was achieved with TONs up to 31 (based on a single catalyst moiety) or 8.3 × 103 (based on a single protein) upon 3 h of visible light irradiation. The present study provides a versatile strategy to construct uniform protein/photocatalyst supramolecular systems with FeFe-H2ase activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weijian Chen
- Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Material and Technology of Ministry of Education , Department of Polymer Science & Engineering , School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering , Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023 , China .
| | - Shuyi Li
- Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Material and Technology of Ministry of Education , Department of Polymer Science & Engineering , School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering , Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023 , China .
| | - Xiao Li
- Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Material and Technology of Ministry of Education , Department of Polymer Science & Engineering , School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering , Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023 , China .
| | - Chi Zhang
- School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering , Shangqiu Normal University , Shangqiu 476000 , China
| | - Xiantao Hu
- Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Material and Technology of Ministry of Education , Department of Polymer Science & Engineering , School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering , Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023 , China .
| | - Fan Zhu
- Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Material and Technology of Ministry of Education , Department of Polymer Science & Engineering , School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering , Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023 , China .
| | - Guosong Shen
- Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Material and Technology of Ministry of Education , Department of Polymer Science & Engineering , School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering , Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023 , China .
| | - Fude Feng
- Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Material and Technology of Ministry of Education , Department of Polymer Science & Engineering , School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering , Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023 , China .
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