bims-drudre 2021-08-08 papers

bims-drudre

Biomed News

on Targeted drug delivery and programmed release mechanisms

Issue of 2021–08–08
eleven papers selected by
Ceren Kimna, Technical University of Munich

Modular Assembly of Tumor-Penetrating and Oligomeric Nanozyme Based on Intrinsically Self-Assembling Protein Nanocages.
In-Situ-Sprayed Dual-Functional Immunotherapeutic Gel for Colorectal Cancer Postsurgical Treatment.
Minimally instrumented SHERLOCK (miSHERLOCK) for CRISPR-based point-of-care diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 and emerging variants.
Responsive core-shell DNA particles trigger lipid-membrane disruption and bacteria entrapment.
Brain-Accumulating Nanoparticles for Assisting Astrocytes to Reduce Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Drug Abuse-Induced Neuroinflammation and Oxidative Stress.
A Wirelessly Controlled Smart Bandage with 3D-Printed Miniaturized Needle Arrays.
Surface engineered polymersomes for enhanced modulation of dendritic cells during cardiovascular immunotherapy.
A Deep Eutectic Solvent-Based Approach to Intravenous Formulation.
Microchannelled alkylated chitosan sponge to treat noncompressible hemorrhages and facilitate wound healing.
Precise Targeting Therapy of Orthotopic Gastric Carcinoma by siRNA and Chemotherapeutic Drug Codelivered in pH-Sensitive Nano Platform.
Tumor-Targeted Fluorescent Proteinoid Nanocapsules Encapsulating Synergistic Drugs for Personalized Cancer Therapy.

Adv Mater. 2021 Aug 05. e2103128

Modular Assembly of Tumor-Penetrating and Oligomeric Nanozyme Based on Intrinsically Self-Assembling Protein Nanocages.

Qiqi Liu, Jingwei Tian, Jinjian Liu, Mingsheng Zhu, Zhanxia Gao, Xueyan Hu, Adam C Midgley, Jin Wu, Xinyue Wang, Deling Kong, Jie Zhuang, Jianfeng Liu, Xiyun Yan, Xinglu Huang.

  Biomimetic design of nanomaterials with enzyme-like characteristics has emerged as a promising method for the generation of novel therapeutics. However, synthesis of nanomaterials while maintaining a high degree of control over both geometry and valency poses a prominent challenge. Herein, the authors introduce a nanomaterial-based synthetic biology strategy for accurate and quantitative tailoring of high-ordered nanostructures that uses a "bottom-up" hierarchical incorporation of protein building blocks. The assembled nano-oligomers possessed tunable protein motifs and multivalent binding domains, which facilitated prolonged blood circulation time, accumulation within tumor cells through direct targeting of cell receptors, and deep tumor tissue penetration via a transcytosis mechanism. Using these protein/protein nano-oligomers as scaffolds, the authors created a new series of artificial nano-scaled metalloenzymes (nanozymes) by the in situ incorporation of metal nanoclusters within the cavity of the protein nanocages. Nanozymes were capable of mimicking peroxidase-like activity and generated cytotoxic free radicals. Compared to nanozyme alone, the systemic delivery of oligomeric nanozymes demonstrated significantly enhanced therapeutic and anti-tumor benefits. This study shows a new insight into nanotechnology by taking advantage of synthetic biotechnology.

Keywords:  assembly; ferritin; nanozymes; oligomers; tumor

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202103128
Adv Healthc Mater. 2021 Aug 04. e2100862

In-Situ-Sprayed Dual-Functional Immunotherapeutic Gel for Colorectal Cancer Postsurgical Treatment.

Xinghui Si, Guofeng Ji, Sheng Ma, Yudi Xu, Jiayu Zhao, Yu Zhang, Zichao Huang, Zhaohui Tang, Wantong Song, Xuesi Chen.

  Surgery remains the most preferred treatment options for colorectal cancer (CRC). Paradoxically, local recurrence and distant metastasis are usually accelerated postsurgery as a consequence of local and systemic immunosuppression caused by surgery. Therefore, modulating tumor postoperative immune microenvironment and activating systemic antitumor immunity are necessary supplementaries for CRC therapy. Here, an in-situ-sprayed immunotherapeutic gel loaded with anti-OX40 antibody (iSGels@aOX40) is reported for CRC postsurgical treatment. The iSGel is formed instantly after spraying with strong adhesion ability via crosslinking between tannic acid (TA) and poly(l-glutamic acid)-g-methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)/phenyl boronic acid (PLG-g-mPEG/PBA). TA not only serves as one component of the iSGel but also relieves the postsurgical immunosuppressive microenvironment by inhibiting the activity of cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2). The aOX40 serves as an immune agonistic antibody and is released from the iSGel in a constant manner lasting for over 20 days. In a subcutaneous murine CRC model, the iSGels@aOX40 results in complete inhibition on tumor recurrence. In addition, the cured mice show resistance to tumor re-challenge, suggesting that immune memory effects are established after the iSGels@aOX40 treatment. In an orthotopic CRC peritoneal metastatic model, the iSGels@aOX40 also remarkably inhibits the growth of the abdominal metastatic tumors, suggesting great potential for clinical CRC therapy.

Keywords:  colorectal cancer; controlled release; immunotherapy; postsurgical treatment; tumor microenvironment

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202100862
Sci Adv. 2021 Aug;pii: eabh2944. [Epub ahead of print]7(32):

Minimally instrumented SHERLOCK (miSHERLOCK) for CRISPR-based point-of-care diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 and emerging variants.

Helena de Puig, Rose A Lee, Devora Najjar, Xiao Tan, Luis R Soekensen, Nicolaas M Angenent-Mari, Nina M Donghia, Nicole E Weckman, Audrey Ory, Carlos F Ng, Peter Q Nguyen, Angelo S Mao, Thomas C Ferrante, Geoffrey Lansberry, Hani Sallum, James Niemi, James J Collins.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for diagnostics that can be rapidly adapted and deployed in a variety of settings. Several SARS-CoV-2 variants have shown worrisome effects on vaccine and treatment efficacy, but no current point-of-care (POC) testing modality allows their specific identification. We have developed miSHERLOCK, a low-cost, CRISPR-based POC diagnostic platform that takes unprocessed patient saliva; extracts, purifies, and concentrates viral RNA; performs amplification and detection reactions; and provides fluorescent visual output with only three user actions and 1 hour from sample input to answer out. miSHERLOCK achieves highly sensitive multiplexed detection of SARS-CoV-2 and mutations associated with variants B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P.1. Our modular system enables easy exchange of assays to address diverse user needs and can be rapidly reconfigured to detect different viruses and variants of concern. An adjunctive smartphone application enables output quantification, automated interpretation, and the possibility of remote, distributed result reporting.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abh2944
Nat Commun. 2021 Aug 06. 12(1): 4743

Responsive core-shell DNA particles trigger lipid-membrane disruption and bacteria entrapment.

Michal Walczak, Ryan A Brady, Leonardo Mancini, Claudia Contini, Roger Rubio-Sánchez, William T Kaufhold, Pietro Cicuta, Lorenzo Di Michele.

Biology has evolved a variety of agents capable of permeabilizing and disrupting lipid membranes, from amyloid aggregates, to antimicrobial peptides, to venom compounds. While often associated with disease or toxicity, these agents are also central to many biosensing and therapeutic technologies. Here, we introduce a class of synthetic, DNA-based particles capable of disrupting lipid membranes. The particles have finely programmable size, and self-assemble from all-DNA and cholesterol-DNA nanostructures, the latter forming a membrane-adhesive core and the former a protective hydrophilic corona. We show that the corona can be selectively displaced with a molecular cue, exposing the 'sticky' core. Unprotected particles adhere to synthetic lipid vesicles, which in turn enhances membrane permeability and leads to vesicle collapse. Furthermore, particle-particle coalescence leads to the formation of gel-like DNA aggregates that envelop surviving vesicles. This response is reminiscent of pathogen immobilisation through immune cells secretion of DNA networks, as we demonstrate by trapping E. coli bacteria.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24989-7
ACS Nano. 2021 Aug 06.

Brain-Accumulating Nanoparticles for Assisting Astrocytes to Reduce Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Drug Abuse-Induced Neuroinflammation and Oxidative Stress.

Bapurao Surnar, Anuj S Shah, Minseon Park, Akil A Kalathil, Mohammad Z Kamran, Royden Ramirez Jaime, Michal Toborek, Madhavan Nair, Nagesh Kolishetti, Shanta Dhar.

  Human neurotropic immunodeficiency virus (HIV) ingress into the brain and its subsequent replication after infection results in viral reservoirs in the brain. The infected cells include microglia, perivascular macrophages, and astrocytes. HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) affect glial cells by activating microglia and macrophages through neuroinflammation, as well as astrocytes through mitochondrial dysfunctions and the onset of oxidative stress, impairing the ability of these cells to engage in neuroprotection. Furthermore, the risk of neuroinflammation associated with HAND is magnified by recreational drug use in HIV-positive individuals. Most of the therapeutic options for HIV cannot be used to tackle the virus in the brain and treat HAND due to the inability of currently available combination antiretroviral therapies (ARTs) and neuroprotectants to cross the blood-brain barrier, even if the barrier is partially compromised by infection. Here, we report a strategy to deliver an optimized antiretroviral therapy combined with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory neuroprotectants using biodegradable brain-targeted polymeric nanoparticles to reduce the burden caused by viral reservoirs in the brain and tackle the oxidative stress and inflammation in astrocytes and microglia. Through in vitro coculture studies in human microglia and astrocytes as well as an in vivo efficacy study in an EcoHIV-infected, methamphetamine-exposed animal model, we established a nanoparticle-based therapeutic strategy with the ability to treat HIV infection in the central nervous system in conditions simulating drug use while providing enhanced protection to astrocytes, microglia, and neurons.

Keywords:  aspirin; coenzyme Q10; darunavir; efavirenz; elvitegravir; mitochondrial dysfunction; reactive oxygen species

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c09553
Adv Funct Mater. 2020 Mar 24. pii: 1905544. [Epub ahead of print]30(13):

A Wirelessly Controlled Smart Bandage with 3D-Printed Miniaturized Needle Arrays.

Hossein Derakhshandeh, Fariba Aghabaglou, Alec McCarthy, Azadeh Mostafavi, Chris Wiseman, Zack Bonick, Ian Ghanavati, Seth Harris, Craig Kreikemeier-Bower, Seyed Masoud Moosavi Basri, Jordan Rosenbohm, Ruiguo Yang, Pooria Mostafalu, Dennis Orgill, Ali Tamayol.

  Chronic wounds are one of the most devastating complications of diabetes and are the leading cause of nontraumatic limb amputation. Despite the progress in identifying factors and promising in vitro results for the treatment of chronic wounds, their clinical translation is limited. Given the range of disruptive processes necessary for wound healing, different pharmacological agents are needed at different stages of tissue regeneration. This requires the development of wearable devices that can deliver agents to critical layers of the wound bed in a minimally invasive fashion. Here, for the first time, a programmable platform is engineered that is capable of actively delivering a variety of drugs with independent temporal profiles through miniaturized needles into deeper layers of the wound bed. The delivery of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) through the miniaturized needle arrays demonstrates that, in addition to the selection of suitable therapeutics, the delivery method and their spatial distribution within the wound bed is equally important. Administration of VEGF to chronic dermal wounds of diabetic mice using the programmable platform shows a significant increase in wound closure, re-epithelialization, angiogenesis, and hair growth when compared to standard topical delivery of therapeutics.

Keywords:  3D-printed needles; active drug delivery; chronic wounds; smart bandages

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201905544
Adv Funct Mater. 2019 Oct 17. pii: 1904399. [Epub ahead of print]29(42):

Surface engineered polymersomes for enhanced modulation of dendritic cells during cardiovascular immunotherapy.

Sijia Yi, Xiaohan Zhang, Hussain Sangji, Yugang Liu, Sean D Allen, Baixue Xiao, Sharan Bobbala, Cameron L Braverman, Lei Cai, Peter I Hecker, Mathew DeBerge, Edward B Thorp, Ryan E Temel, Samuel I Stupp, Evan A Scott.

  The principle cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is atherosclerosis, a chronic inflammatory condition characterized by immunologically complex fatty lesions within the intima of arterial vessel walls. Dendritic cells (DCs) are key regulators of atherosclerotic inflammation, with mature DCs generating pro-inflammatory signals within vascular lesions and tolerogenic DCs eliciting atheroprotective cytokine profiles and regulatory T cell (Treg) activation. Here, we engineered the surface chemistry and morphology of synthetic nanocarriers composed of poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(propylene sulfide) copolymers to selectively target and modulate DCs by transporting the anti-inflammatory agent 1, 25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 (aVD) and ApoB-100 derived antigenic peptide P210. Polymersomes decorated with an optimized surface display and density for a lipid construct of the P-D2 peptide, which binds CD11c on the DC surface, significantly enhanced the cytosolic delivery and resulting immunomodulatory capacity of aVD in vitro. Intravenous administration of the optimized polymersomes achieved selective targeting of DCs in atheroma and spleen compared to all other cell populations, including both immune and CD45- cells, and locally increased the presence of tolerogenic DCs and cytokines. aVD-loaded polymersomes significantly inhibited atherosclerotic lesion development in high fat diet-fed ApoE-/- mice following 8 weeks of administration. Incorporation of the P210 peptide generated the largest reductions in vascular lesion area (~33%, p<0.001), macrophage content (~55%, p<0.001), and vascular stiffness (4.8-fold). These results correlated with an ~6.5-fold increase in levels of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells within atherosclerotic lesions. Our results validate the key role of DC immunomodulation during aVD-dependent inhibition of atherosclerosis and demonstrate the therapeutic enhancement and dosage lowering capability of cell-targeted nanotherapy in the treatment of CVD.

Keywords:  atherosclerosis; dendritic cell; immunotherapy; polymersome; targeted delivery

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201904399
Adv Healthc Mater. 2021 Aug 05. e2100585

A Deep Eutectic Solvent-Based Approach to Intravenous Formulation.

Jayoung Kim, Yujie Shi, Christopher J Kwon, Yongsheng Gao, Samir Mitragotri.

  Clinically viable formulations of hydrophobic drugs, for example, chemotherapeutics, require strategies to promote sufficient drug solubilization. However, such strategies often involve the use of organic solvents that pose a significant risk in generating toxic, unstable products. Using verteporfin as a drug, a deep eutectic solvent (DES)-based approach to solvate drugs in a simple one-step process is reported. Lipoidal DES composed of choline and oleate is used to successfully solvate verteporfin, resulting in stable sub-100 nm nanocomplexes. The nanocomplexes successfully demonstrate efficient cellular uptake as well as retention, tumor spheroid penetration, and tumor accumulation in vivo. Systemic administration of the formulation significantly inhibits the primary tumor growth and its lung metastasis in the orthotopic 4T1 murine breast tumor model. Collectively, biocompatible DES shows great potential as a novel material for intravenous formulation of chemotherapeutics.

Keywords:  cellular uptake; chemotherapy; deep eutectic solvents; nanocomplexes; tumor penetration

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202100585
Nat Commun. 2021 Aug 05. 12(1): 4733

Microchannelled alkylated chitosan sponge to treat noncompressible hemorrhages and facilitate wound healing.

Xinchen Du, Le Wu, Hongyu Yan, Zhuyan Jiang, Shilin Li, Wen Li, Yanli Bai, Hongjun Wang, Zhaojun Cheng, Deling Kong, Lianyong Wang, Meifeng Zhu.

Developing an anti-infective shape-memory hemostatic sponge able to guide in situ tissue regeneration for noncompressible hemorrhages in civilian and battlefield settings remains a challenge. Here we engineer hemostatic chitosan sponges with highly interconnective microchannels by combining 3D printed microfiber leaching, freeze-drying, and superficial active modification. We demonstrate that the microchannelled alkylated chitosan sponge (MACS) exhibits the capacity for water and blood absorption, as well as rapid shape recovery. We show that compared to clinically used gauze, gelatin sponge, CELOX™, and CELOX™-gauze, the MACS provides higher pro-coagulant and hemostatic capacities in lethally normal and heparinized rat and pig liver perforation wound models. We demonstrate its anti-infective activity against S. aureus and E. coli and its promotion of liver parenchymal cell infiltration, vascularization, and tissue integration in a rat liver defect model. Overall, the MACS demonstrates promising clinical translational potential in treating lethal noncompressible hemorrhage and facilitating wound healing.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24972-2
Adv Healthc Mater. 2021 Aug 07. e2100966

Precise Targeting Therapy of Orthotopic Gastric Carcinoma by siRNA and Chemotherapeutic Drug Codelivered in pH-Sensitive Nano Platform.

Quan Wang, Yu Tian, Lei Liu, Chuanrong Chen, Wei Zhang, Liting Wang, Qianqian Guo, Li Ding, Hao Fu, Hongjiang Song, Junyu Shi, Yourong Duan.

  Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors, which remains as an obstacle to human health. Nowadays, targeted nanoparticles to gastric tumor tissues, provide new strategy for improved therapy but still remain challenging. The major hurdle of targeted therapeutic nanoparticles comes from the limited enrichment and poor selectivity of therapeutic agents in in situ tumor. Herein, a pH-sensitive targeted nano platform coloaded As2 O3 and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2)-siRNA (AH RNPs) is developed to achieve targeting therapy in orthotopic gastric carcinoma. AH RNPs can effectively prevent the degradation of siRNA and overcome the poor solubility of As2 O3 . In vitro studies show that AH RNPs could achieve synergistic inhibition of growth and metastasis on SGC7901 cells. Surprisingly, AH RNPs not only target gastric subcutaneous tumor, but also target in situ tumor, and express loaded genes in in situ tumor. Moreover, AH RNPs show excellent antitumor effect in orthotopic gastric tumor model and the anticancer mechanism is related about inhibiting the activation of ERK signal and downregulating the expression of cxc chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4), HER2, MMP2, and MMP9 protein. This study provides a multi-functional vector for precise targeting therapy of gastric cancer, which may serve as a potential clinical application for future gastric cancer.

Keywords:  drug delivery systems; orthotopic gastric carcinoma; synergistic treatment; targeting therapy

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202100966
Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2021 Jul 06. pii: 648. [Epub ahead of print]14(7):

Tumor-Targeted Fluorescent Proteinoid Nanocapsules Encapsulating Synergistic Drugs for Personalized Cancer Therapy.

Ella Itzhaki, Elad Hadad, Neta Moskovits, Salomon M Stemmer, Shlomo Margel.

  Personalized cancer treatment based on specific mutations offers targeted therapy and is preferred over "standard" chemotherapy. Proteinoid polymers produced by thermal step-growth polymerization of amino acids may form nanocapsules (NCs) that encapsulate drugs overcoming miscibility problems and allowing passive targeted delivery with reduced side effects. The arginine-glycine-glutamic acid (RGD) sequence is known for its preferential attraction to αvβ3 integrin, which is highly expressed on neovascular endothelial cells that support tumor growth. Here, tumor-targeted RGD-based proteinoid NCs entrapping a synergistic combination of Palbociclib (Pal) and Alpelisib (Alp) were synthesized by self-assembly to induce the reduction of tumor cell growth in different types of cancers. The diameters of the hollow and drug encapsulating poly(RGD) NCs were 34 ± 5 and 22 ± 3 nm, respectively; thereby, their drug targeted efficiency is due to both passive and active targeting. The encapsulation yield of Pal and Alp was 70 and 90%, respectively. In vitro experiments with A549, MCF7 and HCT116 human cancer cells demonstrate a synergistic effect of Pal and Alp, controlled release and dose dependence. Preliminary results in a 3D tumor spheroid model with cells derived from patient-derived xenografts of colon cancer illustrate disassembly of spheroids, indicating that the NCs have therapeutic potential.

Keywords:  RGD polymers; nanocapsules; personalized cancer therapy; proteinoids; synergistic drugs; targeted delivery

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/ph14070648