A tumor-activatable peptide supramolecular nanoplatform for the delivery of dual-gene targeted siRNAs for drug-resistant cancer treatment

Viral Mimicking Polyplexes as Hierarchical Unpacking Vectors for Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment

Nano-delivery systems hold great promise for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Current research efforts are primarily focused on enhancing their targeting capabilities and efficacy. Here, this study proposes a novel viral-mimicking ternary polyplexes system for the controlled delivery of the anti-inflammatory drug Cyclosporin A (CsA) to effectively treat RA. The ternary polyplexes consist of a nanogel core loaded with CsA and a hyaluronic acid shell, which facilitates CD44-mediated targeting. By mimicking the Trojan Horse strategy employed by viruses, these polyplexes undergo a stepwise process of deshielding and disintegration within the inflamed joints. This process leads to the release of CsA within the cells and the scavenging of pathogenic factors. This study demonstrates that these viral-mimicking ternary polyplexes exhibit rapid targeting, high accumulation, and prolonged persistence in the joints of RA mice. As a result, they effectively reduce inflammation and alleviate symptoms. These results highlight the potential of viral-mimicking ternary polyplexes as a promising therapeutic approach for the targeted and programmed delivery of drugs to treat not only RA but also other autoimmune diseases.

Dual-mRNA Delivery Using Tumor Cell Lysate-Based Multifunctional Nanoparticles as an Efficient Colon Cancer Immunogene Therapy

Background

Messenger RNA (mRNA)-based immunogene therapy holds significant promise as an emerging tumor therapy approach. However, the delivery efficiency of existing mRNA methods and their effectiveness in stimulating anti-tumor immune responses require further enhancement. Tumor cell lysates containing tumor-specific antigens and biomarkers can trigger a stronger immune response to tumors. In addition, strategies involving multiple gene therapies offer potential optimization paths for tumor gene treatments.

Methods

Based on the previously developed ideal mRNA delivery system called DOTAP-mPEG-PCL (DMP), which was formed through the self-assembly of 1.2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium-propane (DOTAP) and methoxypoly (ethylene glycol)-b-poly (ε-caprolactone) (mPEG-PCL), we introduced a fused cell-penetrating peptide (fCPP) into the framework and encapsulated tumor cell lysates to form a novel nanovector, termed CLSV system (CLS: CT26 tumor cell lysate, V: nanovector). This system served a dual purpose of facilitating the delivery of two mRNAs and enhancing tumor immunogene therapy through tumor cell lysates.

Results

The synthesized CLSV system had an average size of 241.17 nm and a potential of 39.53 mV. The CLSV system could not only encapsulate tumor cell lysates, but also deliver two mRNAs to tumor cells simultaneously, with a transfection efficiency of up to 60%. The CLSV system effectively activated the immune system such as dendritic cells to mature and activate, leading to an anti-tumor immune response. By loading Bim-encoded mRNA and IL-23A-encoded mRNA, CLSV/Bim and CLSV/IL-23A complexes were formed, respectively, to further induce apoptosis and anti-tumor immunity. The prepared CLSV/dual-mRNA complex showed significant anti-cancer effects in multiple CT26 mouse models.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that the prepared CLSV system is an ideal delivery system for dual-mRNA immunogene therapy.

Telomerase: a nexus between cancer nanotherapy and circadian rhythm

Cancer represents a complex disease category defined by the unregulated proliferation and dissemination of anomalous cells within the human body. According to the GLOBOCAN 2020 report, the year 2020 witnessed the diagnosis of approximately 19.3 million new cases of cancer and 10.0 million individuals succumbed to the disease. A typical cell eventually becomes cancerous because of a long-term buildup of genetic instability and replicative immortality. Telomerase is a crucial regulator of cancer progression as it induces replicative immortality. In cancer cells, telomerase inhibits apoptosis by elongating the length of the telomeric region, which usually protects the genome from shortening. Many nanoparticles are documented as being available for detecting the presence of telomerase, and many were used as delivery systems to transport drugs. Furthermore, telomere homeostasis is regulated by the circadian time-keeping machinery, leading to 24-hour rhythms in telomerase activity and TERT mRNA expression in mammals. This review provides a comprehensive discussion of various kinds of nanoparticles used in telomerase detection, inhibition, and multiple drug-related pathways, as well as enlightens an imperative association between circadian rhythm and telomerase activity from the perspective of nanoparticle-based anticancer therapeutics.

Recent advances in multifunctional dendrimer-based complexes for cancer treatment

The application of nanotechnology in biological and medical fields have resulted in the creation of new devices, supramolecular systems, structures, complexes, and composites. Dendrimers are relatively new nanotechnological polymers with unique features; they are globular in shape, with a topological structure formed by monomeric subunit branches diverging to the sides from the central nucleus. This review analyzes the main features of dendrimers and their applications in biology and medicine regarding cancer treatment. Dendrimers have applications that include drug and gene carriers, antioxidant agents, imaging agents, and adjuvants, but importantly, dendrimers can create complex nanosized constructions that combine features such as drug/gene carriers and imaging agents. Dendrimer-based nanosystems include different metals that enhance oxidative stress, polyethylene glycol to provide biosafety, an imaging agent (a fluorescent, radioactive, magnetic resonance imaging probe), a drug or/and nucleic acid that provides a single or dual action on cells or tissues. One of major benefit of dendrimers is their easy release from the body (in contrast to metal nanoparticles, fullerenes, and carbon nanotubes), allowing the creation of biosafe constructions. Some dendrimers are already clinically approved and are being used as drugs, but many nanocomplexes are currently being studied for clinical practice. In summary, dendrimers are very useful tool in the creation of complex nanoconstructions for personalized nanomedicine. This article is categorized under: Diagnostic Tools > Diagnostic Nanodevices Diagnostic Tools > In Vivo Nanodiagnostics and Imaging Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease.

Get out or die trying: Peptide- and protein-based endosomal escape of RNA therapeutics

RNA therapeutics offer great potential to transform the biomedical landscape, encompassing the treatment of hereditary conditions and the development of better vaccines. However, the delivery of RNAs into the cell is hampered, among others, by poor endosomal escape. This major hurdle is often tackled using special lipids, polymers, or protein-based delivery vectors. In this review, we will focus on the most prominent peptide- and protein-based endosomal escape strategies with focus on RNA drugs. We discuss cell penetrating peptides, which are still incorporated into novel transfection systems today to promote endosomal escape. However, direct evidence for enhanced endosomal escape by the action of such peptides is missing and their transfection efficiency, even in permissive cell culture conditions, is rather low. Endosomal escape by the help of pore forming proteins or phospholipases, on the other hand, allowed to generate more efficient transfection systems. These are, however, often hampered by considerable toxicity and immunogenicity. We conclude that the perfect enhancer of endosomal escape has yet to be devised. To increase the chances of success, any new transfection system should be tested under relevant conditions and guided by assays that allow direct quantification of endosomal escape.

Biomimetic hypoxia-triggered RNAi nanomedicine for synergistically mediating chemo/radiotherapy of glioblastoma

Although RNA interference (RNAi) therapy has emerged as a potential tool in cancer therapeutics, the application of RNAi to glioblastoma (GBM) remains a hurdle. Herein, to improve the therapeutic effect of RNAi on GBM, a cancer cell membrane (CCM)-disguised hypoxia-triggered RNAi nanomedicine was developed for short interfering RNA (siRNA) delivery to sensitize cells to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Our synthesized CCM-disguised RNAi nanomedicine showed prolonged blood circulation, high BBB transcytosis and specific accumulation in GBM sites via homotypic recognition. Disruption and effective anti-GBM agents were triggered in the hypoxic region, leading to efficient tumor suppression by using phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1) silencing to enhance paclitaxel-induced chemotherapy and sensitize hypoxic GBM cells to ionizing radiation. In summary, a biomimetic intelligent RNAi nanomedicine has been developed for siRNA delivery to synergistically mediate a combined chemo/radiotherapy that presents immune-free and hypoxia-triggered properties with high survival rates for orthotopic GBM treatment.

Advances and Challenges of Stimuli-Responsive Nucleic Acids Delivery System in Gene Therapy

Gene therapy has emerged as a powerful tool to treat various diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, neurological diseases, ocular diseases and cancer diseases. In 2018, the FDA approved Patisiran (the siRNA therapeutic) for treating amyloidosis. Compared with traditional drugs, gene therapy can directly correct the disease-related genes at the genetic level, which guarantees a sustained effect. However, nucleic acids are unstable in circulation and have short half-lives. They cannot pass through biological membranes due to their high molecular weight and massive negative charges. To facilitate the delivery of nucleic acids, it is crucial to develop a suitable delivery strategy. The rapid development of delivery systems has brought light to the gene delivery field, which can overcome multiple extracellular and intracellular barriers that prevent the efficient delivery of nucleic acids. Moreover, the emergence of stimuli-responsive delivery systems has made it possible to control the release of nucleic acids in an intelligent manner and to precisely guide the therapeutic nucleic acids to the target site. Considering the unique properties of stimuli-responsive delivery systems, various stimuli-responsive nanocarriers have been developed. For example, taking advantage of the physiological variations of a tumor (pH, redox and enzymes), various biostimuli- or endogenous stimuli-responsive delivery systems have been fabricated to control the gene delivery processes in an intelligent manner. In addition, other external stimuli, such as light, magnetic fields and ultrasound, have also been employed to construct stimuli-responsive nanocarriers. Nevertheless, most stimuli-responsive delivery systems are in the preclinical stage, and some critical issues remain to be solved for advancing the clinical translation of these nanocarriers, such as the unsatisfactory transfection efficiency, safety issues, complexity of manufacturing and off-target effects. The purpose of this review is to elaborate the principles of stimuli-responsive nanocarriers and to emphasize the most influential advances of stimuli-responsive gene delivery systems. Current challenges of their clinical translation and corresponding solutions will also be highlighted, which will accelerate the translation of stimuli-responsive nanocarriers and advance the development of gene therapy.

Nanoparticle drug delivery systems for synergistic delivery of tumor therapy

Nanoparticle drug delivery systems have proved anti-tumor effects; however, they are not widely used in tumor therapy due to insufficient ability to target specific sites, multidrug resistance to anti-tumor drugs, and the high toxicity of the drugs. With the development of RNAi technology, nucleic acids have been delivered to target sites to replace or correct defective genes or knock down specific genes. Also, synergistic therapeutic effects can be achieved for combined drug delivery, which is more effective for overcoming multidrug resistance of cancer cells. These combination therapies achieve better therapeutic effects than delivering nucleic acids or chemotherapeutic drugs alone, so the scope of combined drug delivery has also been expanded to three aspects: drug-drug, drug-gene, and gene-gene. This review summarizes the recent advances of nanocarriers to co-delivery agents, including i) the characterization and preparation of nanocarriers, such as lipid-based nanocarriers, polymer nanocarriers, and inorganic delivery carriers; ii) the advantages and disadvantages of synergistic delivery approaches; iii) the effectual delivery cases that are applied in the synergistic delivery systems; and iv) future perspectives in the design of nanoparticle drug delivery systems to co-deliver therapeutic agents.

Telomere therapy for chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is estimated to affect almost 10% of individuals worldwide and is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Renal fibrosis, a central pathway in CKD progression (irrespective of etiology), is associated with shortened or dysfunctional telomeres in animal studies. Telomeres are specialized nucleoprotein structures located at the chromosome end that maintain genomic integrity. The mechanisms of associations between telomere length and CKD have not yet been fully elucidated, however, CKD patients with shorter telomere length may have decreased renal function and a higher mortality rate. A plethora of ongoing research has focused on possible therapeutic applications of telomeres with the overall goal to preserve telomere length as a therapy to treat CKD.

Syntheses of Polypeptides and Their Biomedical Application for Anti-Tumor Drug Delivery

Polypeptides have attracted considerable attention in recent decades due to their inherent biodegradability and biocompatibility. This mini-review focuses on various ways to synthesize polypeptides, as well as on their biomedical applications as anti-tumor drug carriers over the past five years. Various approaches to preparing polypeptides are summarized, including solid phase peptide synthesis, recombinant DNA techniques, and the polymerization of activated amino acid monomers. More details on the polymerization of specifically activated amino acid monomers, such as amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides (NCAs), amino acid N-thiocarboxyanhydrides (NTAs), and N-phenoxycarbonyl amino acids (NPCs), are introduced. Some stimuli-responsive polypeptide-based drug delivery systems that can undergo different transitions, including stability, surface, and size transition, to realize a better anti-tumor effect, are elaborated upon. Finally, the challenges and opportunities in this field are briefly discussed.

Strategies for improving the safety and RNAi efficacy of noncovalent peptide/siRNA nanocomplexes

In the past decades, the striking development of cationic polypeptides and cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) tailored for small interfering RNA (siRNA) delivery has been fuelled by the conception of nuclear acid therapy and precision medicine. Owing to their amino acid compositions, inherent secondary structures as well as diverse geometrical shapes, peptides or peptide-containing polymers exhibit good biodegradability, high flexibility, and bio-functional diversity as nonviral siRNA vectors. Also, a variety of noncovalent nanocomplexes could be built via self-assembling and electrostatic interactions between cationic peptides and siRNAs. Although the peptide/siRNA nanocomplex-based RNAi therapies, STP705 and MIR-19, are under clinical trials, a guideline addressing the current bottlenecks of peptide/siRNA nanocomplex delivery is in high demand for future research and development. In this review, we present strategies for improving the safety and RNAi efficacy of noncovalent peptide/siRNA nanocomplexes in the treatment of genetic disorders. Through thorough analysis of those RNAi formulations using different delivery strategies, we seek to shed light on the rationale of peptide design and modification in constructing robust siRNA delivery systems, including targeted and co-delivery systems. Based on this, we provide a timely and comprehensive understanding of how to engineer biocompatible and efficient peptide-based siRNA vectors.

Anticancer nanomedicines harnessing tumor microenvironmental components

INTRODUCTION

Small-molecular drugs are extensively used in cancer therapy, while they have issues of nonspecific distribution and consequent side effects. Nanomedicines that incorporate chemotherapeutic drugs have been developed to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of these drugs and reduce their side effects. One of the promising strategies is to prepare nanomedicines by harnessing the unique tumor microenvironment (TME).

AREAS COVERED

The TME contains numerous cell types that specifically express specific antibodies on the surface including tumor vascular endothelial cells, tumor-associated adipocytes, tumor-associated fibroblasts, tumor-associated immune cells and cancer stem cells. The physicochemical environment is characterized with a low pH, hypoxia, and a high redox potential resulting from tumor-specific metabolism. The intelligent nanomedicines can be categorized into two groups: the first group which is rapidly responsive to extracellular chemical/biological factors in the TME and the second one which actively and/or specifically targets cellular components in the TME.

EXPERT OPINION

In this paper, we review recent progress of nanomedicines by harnessing the TME and illustrate the principles and advantages of different strategies for designing nanomedicines, which are of great significance for exploring novel nanomedicines or translating current nanomedicines into clinical practice. We will discuss the challenges and prospects of preparing nanomedicines to utilize or alter the TME for achieving effective, safe anticancer treatment.