Matrix Metalloproteinase Responsive Nanoparticles for Synergistic Treatment of Colorectal Cancer via Simultaneous Anti-Angiogenesis and Chemotherapy

Sorafenib-Based Drug Delivery Systems: Applications and Perspectives

As a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved molecular-targeted chemotherapeutic drug, sorafenib (SF) can inhibit angiogenesis and tumor cell proliferation, leading to improved patient overall survival of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In addition, SF is an oral multikinase inhibitor as a single-agent therapy in renal cell carcinoma. However, the poor aqueous solubility, low bioavailability, unfavorable pharmacokinetic properties and undesirable side effects (anorexia, gastrointestinal bleeding, and severe skin toxicity, etc.) seriously limit its clinical application. To overcome these drawbacks, the entrapment of SF into nanocarriers by nanoformulations is an effective strategy, which delivers SF in a target tumor with decreased adverse effects and improved treatment efficacy. In this review, significant advances and design strategies of SF nanodelivery systems from 2012 to 2023 are summarized. The review is organized by type of carriers including natural biomacromolecule (lipid, chitosan, cyclodextrin, etc.); synthetic polymer (poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), polyethyleneimine, brush copolymer, etc.); mesoporous silica; gold nanoparticles; and others. Co-delivery of SF and other active agents (glypican-3, hyaluronic acid, apolipoprotein peptide, folate, and superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles) for targeted SF nanosystems and synergistic drug combinations are also highlighted. All these studies showed promising results for targeted treatment of HCC and other cancers by SF-based nanomedicines. The outlook, challenges and future opportunities for the development of SF-based drug delivery are presented.

Advances in Engineered Biomaterials Targeting Angiogenesis and Cell Proliferation for Cancer Therapy

Antiangiogenic therapy in combination with chemotherapeutic agents is an effective strategy for cancer treatment. However, this combination therapy is associated with several challenges including non-specific biodistribution leading to systemic toxicity. Biomaterial-mediated codelivery of chemotherapeutic and anti-angiogenic agents can exploit their passive and active targeting abilities, leading to improved drug accumulation at the tumor site and therapeutic outcomes. In this review, we present the progress made in the field of engineered biomaterials for codelivery of chemotherapeutic and antiangiogenic agents. We present advances in engineering of liposome/hydrogel/micelle-based biomaterials for delivery of combination of anticancer and anti-angiogenesis drugs, or combination of anticancer and siRNA targeting angiogenesis, and targeted nanoparticles. We then present our perspective on developing strategies for targeting angiogenesis and cell proliferation for cancer therapy.

Tumor-targeted/reduction-triggered composite multifunctional nanoparticles for breast cancer chemo-photothermal combinational therapy

Breast cancer has become the most commonly diagnosed cancer type in the world. A combination of chemotherapy and photothermal therapy (PTT) has emerged as a promising strategy for breast cancer therapy. However, the intricacy of precise delivery and the ability to initiate drug release in specific tumor sites remains a challenging puzzle. Therefore, to ensure that the therapeutic agents are synchronously delivered to the tumor site for their synergistic effect, a multifunctional nanoparticle system (PCRHNs) is developed, which is grafted onto the prussian blue nanoparticles (PB NPs) by reduction-responsive camptothecin (CPT) prodrug copolymer, and then modified with tumor-targeting peptide cyclo(Asp-d-Phe-Lys-Arg-Gly) (cRGD) and hyaluronic acid (HA). PCRHNs exhibited nano-sized structure with good monodispersity, high load efficiency of CPT, triggered CPT release in response to reduction environment, and excellent photothermal conversion under laser irradiation. Furthermore, PCRHNs can act as a photoacoustic imaging contrast agent-guided PTT. In vivo studies indicate that PCRHNs exhibited excellent biocompatibility, prolonged blood circulation, enhanced tumor accumulation, allow tumor-specific chemo-photothermal therapy to achieve synergistic antitumor effects with reduced systemic toxicity. Moreover, hyperthermia-induced upregulation of heat shock protein 70 in the tumor cells could be inhibited by CPT. Collectively, PCRHNs may be a promising therapeutic way for breast cancer therapy.

Opportunities and Challenges of Nanoparticles in Digestive Tumours as Anti-Angiogenic Therapies

Digestive tumours, a common kind of malignancy worldwide, have recently led to the most tumour-related deaths. Angiogenesis, the process of forming novel blood vessels from pre-existing vessels, is involved in various physiological and pathological processes in the body. Many studies suggest that abnormal angiogenesis plays an important role in the growth, progression, and metastasis of digestive tumours. Therefore, anti-angiogenic therapy is considered a promising target for improving therapeutic efficacy. Traditional strategies such as bevacizumab and regorafenib can target and block the activity of proangiogenic factors to treat digestive tumours. However, due to resistance and some limitations, such as poor pharmacokinetics, their efficacy is not always satisfactory. In recent years, nanotechnology-based anti-angiogenic therapies have emerged as a new way to treat digestive tumours. Compared with commonly used drugs, nanoparticles show great potential in tumour targeted delivery, controlled drug release, prolonged cycle time, and increased drug bioavailability. Therefore, anti-angiogenic nanoparticles may be an effective complementary therapy to treat digestive tumours. In this review, we outline the different mechanisms of angiogenesis, the effects of nanoparticles on angiogenesis, and their biomedical applications in various kinds of digestive tumours. In addition, the opportunities and challenges are briefly discussed.

Advances on colorectal cancer 3D models: The needed translational technology for nanomedicine screening

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a heterogeneous and molecularly complex disease, associated with high mortality worldwide, exposing the urgent need for novel therapeutic approaches. Their development and translation to the clinic have been hampered, partially due to the absence of reliable cellular models that resemble key features of the human disease. While traditional 2D models are not able to provide consistent and predictive responses about the in vivo efficiency of the formulation, animal models frequently fail to recapitulate cancer progression and to reproduce adverse effects. On its turn, multicellular 3D systems, by mimicking key genetic, physical and mechanical cues of the tumor microenvironment, constitute a promising tool in cancer research. In addition, they constitute more physiological and relevant environment for anticancer drugs screening and for predicting patient's response towards personalized approaches, bridging the gap between simplified 2D models and unrepresentative animal models. In this review, we provide an overview of CRC 3D models for translational research, with focus on their potential for nanomedicines screening.

Emerging Biomaterials-Based Strategies for Inhibiting Vasculature Function in Cancer Therapy

The constant feeding of oxygen and nutrients through the blood vasculature has a vital role in maintaining tumor growth. Interestingly, recent endeavors have shown that nanotherapeutics with the strategy to block tumor blood vessels feeding nutrients and oxygen for starvation therapy can be helpful in cancer treatment. However, this field has not been detailed. Hence, this review will present an exhaustive summary of the existing biomaterial based strategies to disrupt tumor vascular function for effective cancer treatment, including hydrogel or nanogel-mediated local arterial embolism, thrombosis activator loaded nano-material-mediated vascular occlusion and anti-vascular drugs that block tumor vascular function, which may be beneficial to the design of anti-cancer nanomedicine by targeting the tumor vascular system.

Endogenous Enzyme-responsive Nanoplatforms for Anti-tumor Therapy

The emergency of responsive drug delivery systems has contributed to reduced cytotoxicity, improved permeability in tissues and extended circulation time of the active drug. In particular, enzyme-responsive nanoplatforms have attracted a lot of attention due to the specificity and efficiency of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction. In this review, enzyme-based mono responsive drug delivery systems designed in the past 5 years have been summarized. These drug delivery systems were introduced by different tumor-related enzymes such as matrix metalloproteinase, esterase, hyaluronidase, caspase and cathepsin. Moreover, the enzyme-sensitive nanoplatforms activated by dual-stimuli have been also described. Although great progress had been made in the past years, the translation into clinical practice is still difficult. Thus, three obstacles (enzyme heterogeneity, reaction environment, animal model) were also discussed. In short, enzyme-activated drug delivery systems offer great potential in treating cancers.

Rational Design of a High-Performance Quinoxalinone-Based AIE Photosensitizer for Image-Guided Photodynamic Therapy

Because light exhibits excellent spatiotemporal resolution, photodynamic therapy (PDT) is becoming a promising method for cancer treatment. However, in a single photosensitizer (PS), it remains a big challenge to achieve all key properties including effective singlet oxygen (¹O₂) production under long-wavelength laser and bright near-infrared (NIR) emission without toxicity in the dark. In addition, clinically used traditional PSs encounter quenched fluorescence and decreased ¹O₂ production because of molecular aggregation in aqueous solution. To solve the aforementioned issues, quinoxalinone CN (QCN) with effective ¹O₂ generation under long-wavelength (530 nm) laser irradiation and aggregation-induced NIR emission is rationally designed by precise optimization of the quinoxalinone scaffold. After being encapsulated by an amphiphilic polymer (DSPE-PEG), the yielded nanoparticles exhibit highly efficient ¹O₂ production and stable NIR fluorescence located at 800 nm without obvious toxicity under the dark. Both in vitro and in vivo evaluation identify that QCN would be a promising PS for image-guided PDT of tumors.

Recent advances of sorafenib nanoformulations for cancer therapy: Smart nanosystem and combination therapy

Sorafenib, a molecular targeted multi-kinase inhibitor, has received considerable interests in recent years due to its significant profiles of efficacy in cancer therapy. However, poor pharmacokinetic properties such as limited water solubility, rapid elimination and metabolism lead to low bioavailability, restricting its further clinical application. Over the past decade, with substantial progress achieved in the development of nanotechnology, various types of smart sorafenib nanoformulations have been developed to improve the targetability as well as the bioavailability of sorafenib. In this review, we summarize various aspects from the preparation and characterization to the evaluation of antitumor efficacy of numerous stimuli-responsive sorafenib nanodelivery systems, particularly with emphasis on their mechanism of drug release and tumor microenvironment response. In addition, this review makes great effort to summarize the nanosystem-based combination therapy of sorafenib with other antitumor agents, which can provide detailed information for further synergistic cancer therapy. In the final section of this review, we also provide a detailed discussion of future challenges and prospects of designing and developing ideal sorafenib nanoformulations for clinical cancer therapy.

Metal-derived nanoparticles in tumor theranostics: Potential and limitations

Initially, metal derived nanoparticles have been used exclusively as contrasting agents in magnetic resonance imaging. Today, green routes of chemical synthesis together with numerous modifications of the core and surface gave rise to a plethora of biomedical applications of metal derived nanoparticles including tumor imaging, diagnostics, and therapy. These materials are an emerging class of tools for tumor theranostics. Nevertheless, the spectrum of clinically approved metal nanoparticles remains narrow, as the safety, specificity and efficiency still have to be improved. In this review we summarize the major directions for development and biomedical applications of metal based nanoparticles and analyze their effects on tumor cells and microenvironment. We discuss the advantages and possible limitations of metal nanoparticle-based tumor theranostics, as well as the potential strategies to improve the in vivo performance of these unique materials.

Hybrid Nanospheres to Overcome Hypoxia and Intrinsic Oxidative Resistance for Enhanced Photodynamic Therapy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been a well-accepted clinical treatment for malignant tumors owing to its noninvasiveness and high spatiotemporal selectivity. However, the efficiency of PDT is still severely hindered by an inherent aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effect of traditional photosensitizers (PSs), the presence of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), an antiapoptosis protein in cells, and hypoxia in the tumor microenvironment. To address these issues, hybrid nanospheres containing Fe³⁺, aggregation-induced emission (AIE) PS, and Bcl-2 inhibitor of sabutoclax were constructed via coordination-driven self-assembly in aqueous media. Once the hybrid nanospheres are taken up by tumor cells, intracellular O₂ concentration is observed to increase via Fenton reaction driven by Fe³⁺, whereas intracellular PDT resistance of the AIE PS was mitigated by sabutoclax. The design of the multifunctional hybrid nanospheres demonstrates a prospective nanoplatform for image-guided enhanced PDT of tumors.

Decreasing acute toxicity and suppressing colorectal carcinoma using Sorafenib-loaded nanoparticles

Objective: A polymer-based nanoparticle was constructed to target sorafenib delivery to colorectal carcinoma cells and decrease the side effects of the drug.Methods: Sorafenib-loaded nanoparticles (S-NPs) based on PEG-PLGA were prepared using a double emulsion solvent evaporation method. The properties of S-NPs were evaluated and then their effects on the viability of colorectal cancer cells and normal human cells were assessed. The mechanism of S-NP internalization was explored using cellular uptake assays and in vitro fluorescence confocal imaging. Acute toxicity of sorafenib on its own or within S-NPs was assessed in mice.Results: S-NPs showed high drug loading and entrapment efficiencies, they did not cause extensive hemolysis, and they efficiently inhibited growth of colorectal cancer cell lines and human umbilical vein endothelial cells. S-NPs showed lower acute toxicity than the free drug.Conclusions: Loading sorafenib into nanoparticles can enhance its uptake by colorectal cancer cells and decrease its acute toxicity.

Coordinating bioorthogonal reactions with two tumor-microenvironment-responsive nanovehicles for spatiotemporally controlled prodrug activation

Precise activation of prodrugs in tumor tissues is critical to ensuring specific antitumor efficacy, meanwhile reducing the serious adverse effects. Here, a spatiotemporally controlled prodrug activation strategy was provided by integrating the inverse electron demand Diels-Alder (IEDDA) reaction with two tumor-microenvironment-responsive nanovehicles. The prodrug (Dox-TCO) and [4-(6-methyl-1,2,4,5-tetrazin-3-yl)phenyl]methanamine (Tz) were separately camouflaged into low pH and matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) sensitive micellar nanoparticles. After systemic administration, only in the tumor tissues could both the nanovehicles dissociate via responding to two special tumor microenvironments, with Dox-TCO and Tz released and then immediately triggering the prodrug activation through the IEDDA reaction. The hierarchically regulated and locally confined Dox liberation led to dramatically decreased side-effects that were much lower than those of the clinical Doxorubicin Hydrochloride Liposomal Injection (Doxil), while the antitumor therapeutic effect was potent.

Advances in nanomedicine for cancer starvation therapy

Abnormal cell metabolism with vigorous nutrition consumption is one of the major physiological characteristics of cancers. As such, the strategy of cancer starvation therapy through blocking the blood supply, depleting glucose/oxygen and other critical nutrients of tumors has been widely studied to be an attractive way for cancer treatment. However, several undesirable properties of these agents, such as low targeting efficacy, undesired systemic side effects, elevated tumor hypoxia, induced drug resistance, and increased tumor metastasis risk, limit their future applications. The recent development of starving-nanotherapeutics combined with other therapeutic methods displayed the promising potential for overcoming the above drawbacks. This review highlights the recent advances of nanotherapeutic-based cancer starvation therapy and discusses the challenges and future prospects of these anticancer strategies.

Nanovectors Design for Theranostic Applications in Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a diffused disease with limited therapeutic options, none of which are often curative. Based on the molecular markers and targets expressed by the affected tissues, numerous novel approaches have been developed to study and treat this disease. In particular, the field of nanotechnology offers an astonishingly wide array of innovative nanovectors with high versatility and adaptability for both diagnosis and therapy (the so called “theranostic platforms”). However, such complexity can make the selection of a specific nanocarrier model to study a perplexing endeavour for the biomedical scientist or clinician not familiar with this field of inquiry. This review offers a comprehensive overview of this wide body of knowledge, in order to outline the essential requirements for the clinical viability evaluation of a nanovector model in CRC. In particular, the differences among the foremost designs, their specific advantages, and technological caveats will be treated, never forgetting the ultimate endpoint for these systems development: the clinical practice.

Enzyme responsive drug delivery systems in cancer treatment

Recent technological approaches in drug delivery have attracted scientist interest for improving therapeutic index of medicines and drug compliance. One of the powerful strategies to control the transportation of drugs is implementation of intelligent stimuli-responsive drug delivery system (DDS). In this regard, tumor tissues with unique characteristics including leaky vasculature and diverse enzyme expression profiles facilitate the development of efficient enzyme-responsive nanoscale delivery systems. Based on the stimuli nature (physical, chemical and biological), these systems can be categorized into three groups according to the nature of trigger initiating the drug release. Enzymes are substantial constituents of the biotechnology toolbox offering promising capabilities and ideal characteristics to accelerate chemical reactions. Nanoparticles which have the ability to trigger their cargo release in the presence of specific enzymes are fabricated implementing fascinating physico-chemical properties of different materials in a nanoscale dimension. In order to reduce the adverse effects of the therapeutic agents, nanocarriers can be utilized and modified with enzyme-labile linkages to provide on-demand enzyme-responsive drug release. In the current review, we give an overview of drug delivery systems which can deliver drugs to the tumor microenvironment and initiate the drug release in response to specific enzymes highly expressed in particular tumor tissues. This strategy offers a versatile platform for intelligent drug release at the site of action.

Application of nanotechnology to target and exploit tumour associated proteases

Proteases are hydrolytic enzymes fundamental for a variety of physiological processes, but the loss of their regulation leads to aberrant functions that promote onset and progression of many diseases including cancer. Proteases have been implicated in almost every hallmark of cancer and whilst widely investigated for tumour therapy, clinical adoption of protease inhibitors as drugs remains a challenge due to issues such as off-target toxicity and inability to achieve therapeutic doses at the disease site. Now, nanotechnology-based solutions and strategies are emerging to circumvent these issues. In this review, preclinical advances in approaches to enhance the delivery of protease drugs and the exploitation of tumour-derived protease activities to promote targeting of nanomedicine formulations is examined. Whilst this field is still in its infancy, innovations to date suggest that nanomedicine approaches to protease targeting or inhibition may hold much therapeutic and diagnostic potential.

Synergistic therapy of chemotherapeutic drugs and MTH1 inhibitors using a pH-sensitive polymeric delivery system for oral squamous cell carcinoma

MutT homolog 1 (MTH1) is an essential sanitizer of the free nucleotide pool that prevents lethal DNA damage in cancer cells, which has been validated as an anticancer target in recent years. Small molecule TH287 potently and selectively inhibits the MTH1 protein in cells. Here, we developed an effective chemotherapeutic system for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) based on polymeric nanoparticles that achieve co-delivery of anticancer drug sodium arsenite (NaAsO₂) and MTH1 inhibitor TH287. Cationic hyperbranched poly(amine-ester) (HPAE), an amphiphilic and pH-sensitive polymer with a highly branched structure, self-assembled into nanoparticles in aqueous solution. Both NaAsO₂ and TH287 could be loaded into HPAE nanoparticles with the help of electrostatic attraction and hydrophobic interaction. The release of NaAsO₂ and TH287 from HPAE(NaAsO₂ + TH287) nanoparticles was pH-dependent. In vitro evaluation demonstrated that the HPAE(NaAsO₂ + TH287) nanoparticles rapidly entered cancer cells and released NaAsO₂ and TH287 in response to acidic intracellular environments. In comparison with NaAsO₂, TH287, HPAE(NaAsO₂) nanoparticles, HPAE(TH287) nanoparticles, and the physical mixture of HPAE(NaAsO₂) nanoparticles and TH287, the HPAE(NaAsO₂ + TH287) nanoparticles exhibited more effective inhibition of tumor cell proliferation, illustrating the synergistic effect of NaAsO₂ and TH287. The experimental results show that TH287 is likely to inhibit MTH1 in tumor cells, rendering them more sensitive to NaAsO₂.

Celecoxib-Induced Self-Assembly of Smart Albumin-Doxorubicin Conjugate for Enhanced Cancer Therapy

Recent years have witnessed the great contributions that drug combination therapy has made for enhanced cancer therapy. However, because of the complicated pharmacokinetics of combined drug formulations, the majority of combination strategies show severe adverse effects at high dosage and poor biodistribution in vivo. To overcome these deficiencies and achieve enhanced cancer therapy, we put forward a method to construct a smart albumin-based nanoplatform, denoted as K237-HSA-DC, for codelivery of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor (celecoxib) and chemotherapeutic agent (doxorubicin, DOX). Both in vitro and in vivo studies indicate that K237-HSA-DC exhibits the best therapeutic efficacy on tumor cells compared with all the other formulations. Moreover, K237-HSA-DC shows fewer side effects on normal organs in contrast to other formulations. To understand the reasons behind the improved drug efficacy in depth, we performed a cell metabonomics-based mechanism study and found that celecoxib could enhance the inhibitory effect of DOX on the transport of glucose into cells and then lead to subsequent significant energy metabolism inhibition. Considering the above-mentioned advantages of K237-HSA-DC, we believe the smart albumin-based nanoplatform can serve as a promising drug delivery system for enhanced cancer therapy.

Protective effects on myocardial infarction model: delivery of schisandrin B using matrix metalloproteinase-sensitive peptide-modified, PEGylated lipid nanoparticles

Purpose

Schisandrin B (Sch B) is clinically applied for the treatment of hepatitis and ischemic disease. However, its clinical efficacy is limited due to the poor solubility and low bioavailability. This study aimed to develop matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-sensitive peptide-modified, polyethylene glycol (PEG)-modified (PEGylated) solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) for loading Sch B (MMP-Sch B SLNs), and to evaluate the therapeutic effect in the myocardial infarction model.

Methods

PEG lipid and MMP-targeting peptide conjugate were synthesized. MMP-Sch B SLNs were prepared by solvent displacement technique. The physicochemical properties and pharmacokinetics of SLNs were investigated. In vivo effects on infarct size was evaluated in rats.

Results

The successful synthesis of lipid-peptide conjugate was confirmed. MMP-Sch B SLNs had a particle size of 130 nm, a zeta potential of 18.3 mV, and a sustained-release behavior. Higher heart drug concentration and longer blood circulation times were achieved by Sch B loaded SLNs than the drug solution according to the pharmacokinetic and biodistribution results. The best therapeutic efficacy was exhibited by MMP-Sch B SLNs by reducing the infarction size to the greatest extent.

Conclusion

The modified SLNs may be a good choice for delivery of Sch B for the treatment of myocardial infarction.

Matrix Metalloproteinase-Responsive Multifunctional Peptide-Linked Amphiphilic Block Copolymers for Intelligent Systemic Anticancer Drug Delivery

The amphiphilic block copolymer anticancer drug nanocarriers clinically used or in the progress of clinical trials frequently suffer from modest final therapeutic efficacy due to a lack of intelligent features. For example, the biodegradable amphiphilic block copolymer, poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(d,l-lactide) (PEG-PDLLA) has been approved for clinical applications as a paclitaxel (PTX) nanocarrier (Genexol-PM) due to the optimized pharmacokinetics and biodistribution; however, a lack of intelligent features limits the intracellular delivery in tumor tissue. To endow the mediocre polymer with smart properties via a safe and facile method, we introduced a matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-responsive peptide GPLGVRGDG into the block copolymer via efficient click chemistry and ring-opening polymerization to prepare PEG-GPLGVRGDG-PDLLA (P1). P1 was further self-assembled into micellar nanoparticles (NPs) to load PTX, which show MMP-2-triggered dePEGylation due to cleavage of the peptide linkage. Moreover, the residual VRGDG sequences are retained on the surface of the NPs after dePEGylation, which can serve as ligands to facilitate the cellular uptake. The cytotoxicity of PTX loaded in P1 NPs against 4T1 cells is significantly enhanced as compared with free PTX or PTX-loaded PEG-GPLGVRG-PDLLA (P2) and PEG-PDLLA (P3) NPs. In vivo studies confirmed that PTX-loaded P1 NPs show prolonged blood circulation, which are similar to P2 and P3 NPs but exhibit more-efficient accumulation in the tumor site. Ultimately, PTX-loaded P1 NPs display statistically significant improvement of antitumor activity against tumor-bearing mice via systemic administration. Therefore, the strategy by facile incorporation of a responsive peptide linkage between PEG and PDLLA is a promising approach to improving the therapeutic efficacy of anticancer-drug-loaded amphiphilic block copolymer micelles.

A fluorescent light-up aggregation-induced emission probe for screening gefitinib-sensitive non-small cell lung carcinoma

Rapid screening of EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung carcinoma cells was achieved using a novel chemical probe based on aggregation-induced emission.