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Xie Z, Cao B, Zhao J, Liu M, Lao Y, Luo H, Zhong Z, Xiong X, Wei W, Zou T. Ion Pairing Enables Targeted Prodrug Activation via Red Light Photocatalysis: A Proof-of-Concept Study with Anticancer Gold Complexes. J Am Chem Soc 2024; 146:8547-8556. [PMID: 38498689 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c00408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/20/2024]
Abstract
Photocatalysis has found increasing applications in biological systems, for example, in localized prodrug activation; however, high-energy light is usually required without giving sufficient efficiency and target selectivity. In this work, we report that ion pairing between photocatalysts and prodrugs can significantly improve the photoactivation efficiency and enable tumor-targeted activation by red light. This is exemplified by a gold-based prodrug (1d) functionalized with a morpholine moiety. Such a modification causes 1d to hydrolyze in aqueous solution, forming a cationic species that tightly interacts with anionic photosensitizers including Eosin Y (EY) and Rose Bengal (RB), along with a significant bathochromic shift of absorption tailing to the far-red region. As a result, a high photoactivation efficiency of 1d by EY or RB under low-energy light was found, leading to an effective release of active gold species in living cells, as monitored by a gold-specific biosensor (GolS-mCherry). Importantly, the morpholine moiety, with pKa ∼6.9, in 1d brings in a highly pH-sensitive and preferential ionic interaction under a slightly acidic condition over the normal physiological pH, enabling tumor-targeted prodrug activation by red light irradiation in vitro and in vivo. Since a similar absorption change was found in other morpholine/amine-containing clinic drugs, photocages, and precursors of reactive labeling intermediates, it is believed that the ion-pairing strategy could be extended for targeted activation of different prodrugs and for mapping of an acidic microenvironment by low-energy light.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhiying Xie
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chiral Molecule and Drug Discovery, State Key Laboratory of Anti-Infective Drug Discovery and Development, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Bei Cao
- Warshel Institute for Computational Biology, and General Education Division, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen 518172, China
- School of Education Sciences, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Guangzhou 511453, China
| | - Jing Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Moyi Liu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chiral Molecule and Drug Discovery, State Key Laboratory of Anti-Infective Drug Discovery and Development, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Yuhan Lao
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chiral Molecule and Drug Discovery, State Key Laboratory of Anti-Infective Drug Discovery and Development, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Hejiang Luo
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chiral Molecule and Drug Discovery, State Key Laboratory of Anti-Infective Drug Discovery and Development, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Zhi Zhong
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chiral Molecule and Drug Discovery, State Key Laboratory of Anti-Infective Drug Discovery and Development, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Xiaolin Xiong
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chiral Molecule and Drug Discovery, State Key Laboratory of Anti-Infective Drug Discovery and Development, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Wei Wei
- State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Taotao Zou
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chiral Molecule and Drug Discovery, State Key Laboratory of Anti-Infective Drug Discovery and Development, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Supramolecular Coordination Materials and Applications, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
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Chen J, Chen R, Chau CV, Sedgwick AC, Xue Q, Chen T, Zeng S, Chen N, Wong KKY, Song L, Ren Y, Yang J, Sessler JL, Liu C. Targeted Cyclo[8]pyrrole-Based NIR-II Photoacoustic Tomography Probe for Suppression of Orthotopic Pancreatic Tumor Growth and Intra-abdominal Metastases. J Am Chem Soc 2024; 146:4620-4631. [PMID: 38330912 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c11666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/10/2024]
Abstract
Pancreatic cancer is highly lethal. New diagnostic and treatment modalities are desperately needed. We report here that an expanded porphyrin, cyclo[8]pyrrole (CP), with a high extinction coefficient (89.16 L/g·cm) within the second near-infrared window (NIR-II), may be formulated with an αvβ3-specific targeting peptide, cyclic-Arg-Gly-Asp (cRGD), to form cRGD-CP nanoparticles (cRGD-CPNPs) with promising NIR-II photothermal (PT) therapeutic and photoacoustic (PA) imaging properties. Studies with a ring-array PA tomography system, coupled with analysis of control nanoparticles lacking a targeting element (CPNPs), revealed that cRGD conjugation promoted the delivery of the NPs through abnormal vessels around the tumor to the solid tumor core. This proved true in both subcutaneous and orthotopic pancreatic tumor mice models, as confirmed by immunofluorescent studies. In combination with NIR-II laser photoirradiation, the cRGD-CPNPs provided near-baseline tumor growth inhibition through PTT both in vitro and in vivo. Notably, the combination of the present cRGD-CPNPs and photoirradiation was found to inhibit intra-abdominal metastases in an orthotopic pancreatic tumor mouse model. The cRGD-CPNPs also displayed good biosafety profiles, as inferred from PA tomography, blood analyses, and H&E staining. They thus appear promising for use in combined PA imaging and PT therapeutic treatment of pancreatic cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingqin Chen
- Research Center for Biomedical Optics and Molecular Imaging, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging Science and Systems, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Rui Chen
- Research Center for Biomedical Optics and Molecular Imaging, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging Science and Systems, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery I, General Surgery Center, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510280, China
- Guangdong Provincial Clinical and Engineering Center of Digital Medicine, Guangzhou 510280, China
- Division of Biliary Surgery, Department of General Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China
| | - Calvin V Chau
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, 105 East 24th Street A5300, Austin, Texas 78712-1224, United States
| | - Adam C Sedgwick
- Department of Chemistry, Kings College London, 7 Trinity Street, London SE1 1DB, U.K
| | - Qiang Xue
- Research Center for Biomedical Optics and Molecular Imaging, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging Science and Systems, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Tao Chen
- Research Center for Biomedical Optics and Molecular Imaging, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging Science and Systems, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Silue Zeng
- Research Center for Biomedical Optics and Molecular Imaging, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging Science and Systems, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery I, General Surgery Center, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510280, China
| | - Ningbo Chen
- Research Center for Biomedical Optics and Molecular Imaging, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging Science and Systems, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China
| | - Kenneth K Y Wong
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China
| | - Liang Song
- Research Center for Biomedical Optics and Molecular Imaging, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging Science and Systems, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Yaguang Ren
- Research Center for Biomedical Optics and Molecular Imaging, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging Science and Systems, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Jian Yang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery I, General Surgery Center, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510280, China
- Guangdong Provincial Clinical and Engineering Center of Digital Medicine, Guangzhou 510280, China
| | - Jonathan L Sessler
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, 105 East 24th Street A5300, Austin, Texas 78712-1224, United States
| | - Chengbo Liu
- Research Center for Biomedical Optics and Molecular Imaging, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging Science and Systems, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
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