Schiavon E, Rezzola S, Filippi E, Turati M, Parrasia S, Bernardotto S, Stocco M, Szabò I, Mattarei A, Ronca R, Morpurgo M. A novel mertansine conjugate for acid-reversible targeted drug delivery validated through the Avidin-Nucleic-Acid-NanoASsembly platform.
NANOMEDICINE : NANOTECHNOLOGY, BIOLOGY, AND MEDICINE 2024;
62:102784. [PMID:
39236938 DOI:
10.1016/j.nano.2024.102784]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2024] [Revised: 06/27/2024] [Accepted: 08/25/2024] [Indexed: 09/07/2024]
Abstract
In targeted cancer therapy, antibody-drug-conjugates using mertansine (DM1)-based cytotoxic compounds rely on covalent bonds for drug conjugation. Consequently, the cytotoxic DM1 derivative released upon their proteolytic digestion is up to 1000-fold less potent than DM1 and lacks a bystander effect. To overcome these limitations, we developed a DM1 derivative (keto-DM1) suitable for bioconjugation through an acid-reversible hydrazone bond. Its acid-reversible hydrazone conjugate with biotin (B-Hz-DM1) was generated and tested for efficacy using the cetuximab-targeted Avidin-Nucleic-Acid-NanoASsembly (ANANAS) nanoparticle (NP) platform. NP-tethered B-Hz-DM1 is stable at neutral pH and releases its active moiety only in endosome/lysosome mimicking acidic pH. In vitro, the NP/Cetux/B-Hz-DM1 assembly showed high potency on MDA-MB231 breast cancer cells. In vivo both B-Hz-DM1 and NP/Cetux/B-Hz-DM1 reduced tumor growth. A significantly major effect was exerted by the nanoformulation, associated with an increased in situ tumor cell death. Keto-DM1 is a promising acid-reversible mertansine derivative for targeted delivery in cancer therapy.
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