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Wu X, Guo H, Gao H, Li Y, Hu X, Kowalke MA, Li YX, Wei Y, Zhao J, Auger J, Binstadt BA, Pang HB. Peptide targeting improves the delivery and therapeutic index of glucocorticoids to treat rheumatoid arthritis. J Control Release 2024; 368:329-343. [PMID: 38431094 PMCID: PMC11001515 DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2024.02.040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2023] [Revised: 02/15/2024] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 03/05/2024]
Abstract
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a prevalent autoimmune disease characterized by excessive inflammation in the joints. Glucocorticoid drugs are used clinically to manage RA symptoms, while their dosage and duration need to be tightly controlled due to severe adverse effects. Using dexamethasone (DEX) as a model drug, we explored here whether peptide-guided delivery could increase the safety and therapeutic index of glucocorticoids for RA treatment. Using multiple murine RA models such as collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), we found that CRV, a macrophage-targeting peptide, can selectively home to the inflammatory synovium of RA joints upon intravenous injection. The expression of the CRV receptor, retinoid X receptor beta (RXRB), was also elevated in the inflammatory synovium, likely being the basis of CRV targeting. CRV-conjugated DEX increased the accumulation of DEX in the inflamed synovium but not in healthy organs of CIA mice. Therefore, CRV-DEX demonstrated a stronger efficacy to suppress synovial inflammation and alleviate cartilage/bone destruction. Meanwhile, CRV conjugation reduced immune-related adverse effects of DEX even after a long-term use. Last, we found that RXRB expression was significantly elevated in human patient samples, demonstrating the potential of clinical translation. Taken together, we provide a novel, peptide-targeted strategy to improve the therapeutic efficacy and safety of glucocorticoids for RA treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xian Wu
- Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States; Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Hong Guo
- Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States; Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Hui Gao
- Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Peking University International Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Yiqin Li
- Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States; Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Xiangxiang Hu
- Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States; Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Mitchell A Kowalke
- Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States; Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Yue-Xuan Li
- Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States; Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Yushuang Wei
- Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States; Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Jiaqi Zhao
- Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States; Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Jennifer Auger
- Center for Immunology and Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States
| | - Bryce A Binstadt
- Center for Immunology and Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States
| | - Hong-Bo Pang
- Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States; Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
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Kim B, Shin J, Wu J, Omstead DT, Kiziltepe T, Littlepage LE, Bilgicer B. Engineering peptide-targeted liposomal nanoparticles optimized for improved selectivity for HER2-positive breast cancer cells to achieve enhanced in vivo efficacy. J Control Release 2020; 322:530-541. [PMID: 32276005 DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2020.04.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2019] [Revised: 04/03/2020] [Accepted: 04/05/2020] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Here, we report rationally engineered peptide-targeted liposomal doxorubicin nanoparticles that have an enhanced selectivity for HER2-positive breast tumor cells with high purity, reproducibility, and precision in controlling stoichiometry of targeting peptides. To increase HER2-positive tumor cell selective drug delivery, we optimized the two most important design parameters, peptide density and linker length, via systematic evaluations of their effects on both in vitro cellular uptake and in vivo tumor accumulation and cellular uptake. The optimally designed nanoparticles were finally evaluated for their tumor inhibition efficacy using in vivo MMTV-neu transplantation mouse model. In vitro, we demonstrated that ~1% peptide density and EG8 linker were optimal parameters for targeted nanoparticle formulations to enhance HER2-positive cancer cellular uptake while preventing non-selectivity. In vivo results demonstrated that at 0.5% peptide density, enhancement of tumor cell uptake over non-targeted nanoparticles was ~2.7 fold and ~3.4 fold higher for targeted nanoparticles with EG8 and EG18 linker, respectively, while their accumulation levels at tumor tissue were similar to the non-targeted nanoparticles. These results were consistent with in vivo efficacy outcomes that ~90% tumor growth inhibition was achieved by Dox-loaded HER2 receptor targeted nanoparticles, TNPHER2pep, over control while all nanoparticle formulations minimized overall systemic toxicity relative to free Dox. This study highlights the significance of understanding and optimizing the effects of liposomal nanoparticle design parameters for enhancement of tumor selectivity to achieve improved in vivo therapeutic outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Baksun Kim
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States of America
| | - Jaeho Shin
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States of America
| | - Junmin Wu
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States of America; Harper Cancer Research Institute, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States of America
| | - David T Omstead
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States of America
| | - Tanyel Kiziltepe
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States of America; Harper Cancer Research Institute, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States of America; Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States of America
| | - Laurie E Littlepage
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States of America; Harper Cancer Research Institute, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States of America.
| | - Basar Bilgicer
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States of America; Harper Cancer Research Institute, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States of America; Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States of America.
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Dang X, Coimbra R, Mao L, Podvin S, Li X, Yu H, Costantini TW, Zeng X, Larocca D, Eliceiri BP, Baird A. Open reading frame mining identifies a TLR4 binding domain in the primary sequence of ECRG4. Cell Mol Life Sci 2019; 76:5027-39. [PMID: 31190084 DOI: 10.1007/s00018-019-03159-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2019] [Revised: 04/29/2019] [Accepted: 05/22/2019] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
The embedding of small peptide ligands within large inactive pre-pro-precursor proteins encoded by orphan open reading frames (ORFs) makes them difficult to identify and study. To address this problem, we generated oligonucleotide (< 100-400 base pair) combinatorial libraries from either the epidermal growth factor (EGF) ORF that encodes the > 1200 amino acid EGF precursor protein or the orphan ECRG4 ORF, that encodes a 148 amino acid Esophageal Cancer Related Gene 4 (ECRG4), a putative cytokine precursor protein of up to eight ligands. After phage display and 3-4 rounds of biopanning for phage internalization into prostate cancer epithelial cells, sequencing identified the 53-amino acid EGF ligand encoded by the 5' region of the EGF ORF and three distinct domains within the primary sequence of ECRG4: its membrane targeting hydrophobic signal peptide, an unanticipated amino terminus domain at ECRG437-63 and a C-terminus ECRG4133-148 domain. Using HEK-blue cells transfected with the innate immunity receptor complex, we show that both ECRG437-63 and ECRG4133-148 enter cells by interaction with the TLR4 immune complex but neither stimulate NFkB. Taken together, the results help establish that phage display can be used to identify cryptic domains within ORFs of the human secretome and identify a novel TLR4-targeted internalization domain in the amino terminus of ECRG4 that may contribute to its effects on cell migration, immune cell activation and tumor suppression.
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