Paclitaxel Restores Sensitivity to Chemotherapy in Preclinical Models of Multidrug-Resistant Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma

Biocompatible Snowman-like Dimer Nanoparticles for Improved Cellular Uptake in Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is one of the most aggressive types of human cancers. Although paclitaxel (PTX) was proven to exert potent anti-tumor effects against ICC, the delivery of PTX is still challenging due to its hydrophobic property. Nanoparticle (NP)-based carriers have been proven to be effective drug delivery vehicles. Among their physicochemical properties, the shape of NPs plays a crucial role in their performance of cellular internalization and thus anti-tumor efficacy of loaded drugs. In this study, dumbbell-like and snowman-like dimer NPs, composed of a polylactic acid (PLA) bulb and a shellac bulb, were designed and prepared as drug nanocarriers to enhance the efficiency of cellular uptake and anti-tumor performance. PLA/shellac dimer NPs prepared through rapid solvent exchange and controlled co-precipitation are biocompatible and their shape could flexibly be tuned by adjusting the concentration ratio of shellac to PLA. Drug-loaded snowman-like PLA/shellac dimer NPs with a sharp shape exhibit the highest cellular uptake and best cell-killing ability against cancer cells in an in vitro ICC model over traditional spherical NPs and dumbbell-like dimer NPs, as proven with the measurements of flow cytometry, fluorescent confocal microscopy, and the CCK8 assay. The underlying mechanism may be attributed to the lower surface energy required for the smaller bulbs of snowman-like PLA/shellac dimer NPs to make the initial contact with the cell membrane, which facilitates the subsequent penetration through the cellular membrane. Therefore, these dimer NPs provide a versatile platform to tune the shape of NPs and develop innovative drug nanocarriers that hold great promise to enhance cellular uptake and therapeutic efficacy.

Nanoparticle-mediated therapeutic management in cholangiocarcinoma drug targeting: Current progress and future prospects

Patients with cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) often have an unfavorable prognosis because of its insidious nature, low resectability rate, and poor response to anticancer drugs and radiotherapy, which makes early detection and treatment difficult. At present, CCA has a five-year overall survival rate (OS) of only 5%, despite advances in therapies. New an increasing number of evidence suggests that nanoplatforms may play a crucial role in enhancing the pharmacological effects and in reducing both short- and long-term side effects of cancer treatment. This document reviews the advantages and shortcomings of nanoparticles such as liposomes, polymeric nanoparticle，inorganic nanoparticle, nano-metals and nano-alloys, carbon dots, nano-micelles, dendrimer, nano-capsule, bio-Nanomaterials in the diagnosis and treatment of CCA and discuss the current challenges in of nanoplatforms for CCA.

Identification and validation of a novel ferroptosis-related gene signature for prognosis and potential therapeutic target prediction in cholangiocarcinoma

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a highly heterogeneous and aggressive malignancy of the bile ducts with a poor prognosis and high mortality rate. Effective targeted therapy and accurate prognostic biomarkers are still lacking. Ferroptosis is a form of regulated cell death implicated in cancer progression and has emerged as a potential therapeutic target in various cancers. However, a comprehensive analysis of ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) for predicting CCA prognosis and therapeutic targets and determining the role of ferroptosis in CCA remain to be performed. Here, we developed a prognostic FRG signature using a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator Cox regression analysis in a training cohort. We then validated it using four independent public datasets. The six-FRG signature was developed to predict CCA patient survival, stratifying them into low-risk and high-risk groups based on survival time. Significantly, the high-risk CCA patients had shorter overall survival. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis further confirmed the prognostic FRG signature's strong predictive ability, indicating that it was an independent prognostic indicator for CCA patients. Furthermore, the high-risk group was associated with fluke infection and high clinical stages. Cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) score and CAF markers were significantly higher in the high-risk group than the low-risk group. Moreover, our FRG signature could predict immune checkpoint markers for immunotherapy and drug sensitivity. The mRNA expression levels of the six-FRG signature was validated in 10 CCA cell lines and dividing them into low-risk and high-risk groups using the FRG signature. We further showed that high-risk CCA cell lines were more resistant to ferroptosis inducers, including erastin and RSL3, than the low-risk CCA cell lines. Our study constructed a novel FRG signature model to predict CCA prognoses which might provide prognostic biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for CCA patients. Ferroptosis sensitivity in high-risk and low-risk CCA cell lines suggests that ferroptosis resistance is associated with high-risk group CCA. Therefore, ferroptosis could be a promising therapeutic target for precision therapy in CCA patients.

pH and Redox-Dual Sensitive Chitosan Nanoparticles Having Methyl Ester and Disulfide Linkages for Drug Targeting against Cholangiocarcinoma Cells

The aim of this study is to prepare pH- and redox-sensitive nanoparticles for doxorubicin (DOX) delivery against DOX-resistant HuCC-T1 human cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) cells. For this purpose, L-histidine methyl ester (HIS) was attached to chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) via dithiodipropionic acid (abbreviated as ChitoHISss). DOX-incorporated nanoparticles of ChitoHISss conjugates were fabricated by a dialysis procedure. DOX-resistant HuCC-T1 cells were prepared by repetitive exposure of HuCC-T1 cells to DOX. ChitoHISss nanoparticles showed spherical morphology with a small diameter of less than 200 nm. The acid pH and glutathione (GSH) addition induced changes in the size distribution pattern of ChitoHISss nanoparticles from a narrow/monomodal distribution pattern to a wide/multimodal pattern and increased the fluorescence intensity of the nanoparticle solution. These results indicate that a physicochemical transition of nanoparticles can occur in an acidic pH or redox state. The more acidic the pH or the higher the GSH concentration the higher the drug release rate was, indicating that an acidic environment or higher redox states accelerated drug release from ChitoHISss nanoparticles. Whereas free DOX showed decreased anticancer activity at DOX-resistant HuCC-T1 cells, DOX-incorporated ChitoHISss nanoparticles showed dose-dependent anticancer activity. Intracellular delivery of DOX-incorporated ChitoHISss nanoparticles was relatively increased at an acidic pH and in the presence of GSH, indicating that DOX-incorporated ChitoHISss nanoparticles have superior acidic pH- and redox-sensitive behavior. In an in vivo tumor xenograft model, DOX-incorporated ChitoHISss nanoparticles were specifically delivered to tumor tissues and then efficiently inhibited tumor growth. We suggest that ChitoHISss nanoparticles are a promising candidate for treatment of CCA.