核酸适体偶联药物的生物偶联构建技术与应用

核酸适体被称为“化学抗体”, 具有与抗体类似或更加优异的特异性和亲和力, 可以精准地靶向靶蛋白, 与靶蛋白特异性结合. 此外, 核酸适体还具有获取简单、 合成简便、 易于进行化学修饰、 不易变性、 靶标范围广、 免疫原性低及细胞内化快等优点, 已被广泛应用于众多研究领域. 在癌症治疗领域, 核酸适体作为一种优异的靶向识别工具和药物递送载体, 可实现抗肿瘤药物的精准递送. 将核酸适体与药物分子偶联, 可通过核酸适体的靶向作用使药物分子随核酸适体共同进入靶细胞, 实现药物分子在靶细胞内的富集, 进而促进靶细胞的死亡. 近年来, 核酸适体偶联药物已成为癌症靶向治疗的前沿新兴领域, 希望通过该领域的深入研究为癌症靶向治疗领域提供新思路. 本文综合评述了以生物偶联技术构建的核酸适体偶联药物及其应用研究.     

Synergistic cytotoxic effect of different sized ZnO nanoparticles and daunorubicin against leukemia cancer cells under UV irradiation

Failure of chemotherapy to the malignant tumor is usually induced by multidrug resistance (MDR). The development of anti-MDR agents for efficient drug delivery is of great importance in cancer therapy. Recent reports have demonstrated that some anticancer drugs could be readily self-assembled on some biocompatible nanomaterials covalently or non-covalently, which could effectively afford the sustained drug delivery for the target cancer cells and reduce the relevant toxicity towards normal cells and tissues. Thus these biocompatible nanomaterials may play an important role in the relevant biological and biomedical system. In this paper, we have explored the cytotoxic effect of anticancer drug daunorubicin on leukemia cancer cells in the absence and presence of different sized ZnO nanoparticles via fluorescence microscopy, UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, electrochemical analysis as well as MTT assay. Meanwhile, the cytotoxicity suppression of daunorubicin together with different sized ZnO nanoparticles in the absence and presence of UV irradiation on leukemia cancer cells were also investigated using MTT assay. The results indicate that the combination of the different sized ZnO nanoparticles and daunorubicin under UV irradiation could have synergistic cytotoxic effect on leukemia cancer cells, indicating the great potential of ZnO nanoparticles in relevant clinical and biomedical applications.     

FINDER: A Fluidly Confined CRISPR-Based DNA Reporter on Living Cell Membranes for Rapid and Sensitive Cancer Cell Identification

The accurate, rapid, and sensitive identification of cancer cells in complex physiological environments is significant in biological studies, personalized medicine, and biomedical engineering. Inspired by the naturally confined enzymes on fluid cell membranes, a f luidly confin ed CRISPR-based D NA reporter (FINDER) was developed on living cell membranes, which was successfully applied for rapid and sensitive cancer cell identification in clinical blood samples. Benefiting from the spatial confinement effect for improved local concentration, and membrane fluidity for higher collision efficiency, the activity of CRISPR-Cas12a was, for the first time, found to be significantly enhanced on living cell membranes. This new phenomenon was then combined with multiple aptamer-based DNA logic gate for cell recognition, thus a FINDER system capable of accurate, rapid and sensitive cancer cell identification was constructed. The FINDER rapidly identified target cells in only 20 min, and achieved over 80 % recognition efficiency with only 0.1 % of target cells presented in clinical blood samples, indicating its potential application in biological studies, personalized medicine, and biomedical engineering.     

Dual Photo‐ and pH‐Responsive Supramolecular Nanocarriers Based on Water‐Soluble Pillar[6]arene and Different Azobenzene Derivatives for Intracellular Anticancer Drug Delivery

Two novel types of supramolecular nanocarriers fabricated by the amphiphilic host–guest inclusion complex formed from water‐soluble pillar[6]arene ( WP6 ) and azobenzene derivatives G1 or G2 have been developed, in which G1 is structurally similar to G2 but has an extra phenoxy group in its hydrophobic region. Supramolecular micelles can be initially formed by WP6 with G1 , which gradually transform into layered structures with liquid‐crystalline properties, whereas stable supramolecular vesicles are obtained from WP6 and G2 , which exhibit dual photo‐ and pH‐responsiveness. Notably, the resulting WP6 ? G2 vesicles can efficiently encapsulate anticancer drug mitoxantrone (MTZ) to achieve MTZ‐loaded vesicles, which maintain good stability in a simulated normal physiological environment, whereas in an acid environment similar to that of tumor cells or with external UV irradiation, the encapsulated drug is promptly released. More importantly, cytotoxicity assay indicates that such vesicles have good biocompatibility and the MTZ‐loaded vesicles exhibit comparable anticancer activity to free MTZ, especially with additional UV stimulus, whereas its cytotoxicity for normal cells was remarkably reduced. Flow cytometric analysis further confirms that the cancer cell death caused by MTZ‐loaded vesicles is associated with apoptosis. Therefore, the dual pH‐ and UV‐responsive supramolecular vesicles are a potential platform for controlled release and targeted anticancer drug delivery.     

An “In Vivo Self-assembly” Strategy for Constructing Superstructures for Biomedical Applications

The interfacing study of biopolymer and supramolecular chemistry enables a better understanding of fundamental biochemical processes and the creating of new high-performance biomaterials. In this review, we introduced an "in vivo self-assembly" strategy which means in situ construction of functional self-assembled superstructures in specific physiological or pathological conditions in cell, tissue or animal levels that exhibit diverse biomedical effects. By using this strategy, unexpected phenomena and insights, e.g,assembly/aggregation induced retention(AIR) effect have been demonstrated where the self-assembled nanostructures showed extraordinary enhanced accumulation and retention of therapeutics in targeted sites.     

In Situ Synthesis of an Aptamer-Based Polyvalent Antibody Mimic on the Cell Surface for Enhanced Interactions between Immune and Cancer Cells

An ability to promote therapeutic immune cells to recognize cancer cells is important for the success of cell-based cancer immunotherapy. We present a synthetic method for functionalizing the surface of natural killer (NK) cells with a supramolecular aptamer-based polyvalent antibody mimic (PAM). The PAM is synthesized on the cell surface through nucleic acid assembly and hybridization. The data show that PAM has superiority over its monovalent counterpart in powering NKs to bind to cancer cells, and that PAM-engineered NK cells exhibit the capability of killing cancer cells more effectively. Notably, aptamers can, in principle, be discovered against any cell receptors; moreover, the aptamers can be replaced by any other ligands when developing a PAM. Thus, this work has successfully demonstrated a technology platform for promoting interactions between immune and cancer cells.     

Cell microarray chip system for accurate,rapid diagnosis and target treatment of breast cancer cells SK-BR-3

Biometrics probe is a molecule that specifically interacts with a specific target molecule and can be detected by a specific method. Three-dimensional (3D) embedded cell scaffold in the cell array chip can affect culture cancer cells in a 3D environment with continuous medium supplementary and help controlling the diffusion of small molecules drugs. Based on modification of DNA segment, this type of cell micro-array chip is a new biochip technology with convenient focusing and high throughput screening.     

Biocompatible or biodegradable hyperbranched polymers: from self-assembly to cytomimetic applications

Self-assembly of amphiphilic hyperbranched polymers (HBPs) is a newly emerging research area and has attracted increasing attention due to the great advantages in biomedical applications. This tutorial review focuses on the self-assembly of biocompatible or biodegradable amphiphilic HBPs and their cytomimetic applications, and specialities or advantages therein owing to the hyperbranched structure have also been summarized. As shown here, various supramolecular structures including micelles, vesicles, tubes, fibers and films have been prepared through the primary self-assembly processes. The primary self-assemblies can be further assembled into more complex structures through hierachical self-assembly processes. Besides, the hyperbranched polymer vesicles have demonstrated great potential to be used as model membranes to mimic cellular behaviors, such as fusion, fission and cell aggregation. Other biomedical applications of HBPs as well as their self-assemblies are also briefly summarized.     

Bio-assembled smart nanocapsules for targeted delivery of KRAS shRNA and cancer cell bioimage

The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is less than 5%. However, the current clinical multimodal therapy combined with first-line chemotherapy drugs only increases the patient's median survival from 5.0 months to 7.2 months. Consequently, a new strategy of cancer treatments is urgently needed to overcome this high-fatality disease. Through a series of biometric analyses, we found that KRAS is highly expressed in the tumor of pancreatic cancer patients, and this high expression is closely related to the poor prognosis of patients. It shows that inhibiting the expression of KRAS has great potential in gene therapy for pancreatic cancer. Given those above, we have exploited the possibility of targeted delivery of KRAS shRNA with the intelligent and bio-responsive nanomedicine to detect the special oxidative stress microenvironment of cancer cells and realize efficient cancer theranostics. Our observations demonstrate that by designing the smart self-assembled nanocapsules of melanin with fluorescent nanoclusters we can readily achieve the bio-recognition and bioimaging of cancer cells in biological solution or serum. The self-assembled nanocapsules can make a significant bio-response to the oxidative stress microenvironment of cancer cells and generate fluorescent zinc oxide Nanoclusters in situ for targeted cell bioimaging. Moreover, it can also readily facilitate cancer cell suppression through the targeted delivery of KRAS shRNA and low-temperature hyperthermia. This raises the possibility to provide a promising theranostics platform and self-assembled nanomedicine for targeted cancer diagnostics and treatments through special oxidative stress-responsive effects of cancer cells.     

Self-Assembled Plasmonic Vesicles of SERS-Encoded Amphiphilic Gold Nanoparticles for Cancer Cell Targeting and Traceable Intracellular Drug Delivery

We report the development of bioconjugated plasmonic vesicles assembled from SERS-encoded amphiphilic gold nanoparticles for cancer-targeted drug delivery. This new type of plasmonic assemblies with a hollow cavity can play multifunctional roles as delivery carriers for anticancer drugs and SERS-active plasmonic imaging probes to specifically label targeted cancer cells and monitor intracellular drug delivery. We have shown that the pH-responsive disassembly of the plasmonic vesicle, stimulated by the hydrophobic-to-hydrophilic transition of the hydrophobic brushes in acidic intracellular compartments, allows for triggered intracellular drug release. Because self-assembled plasmonic vesicles exhibit significantly different plasmonic properties and greatly enhanced SERS intensity in comparison with single gold nanoparticles due to strong interparticle plasmonic coupling, disassembly of the vesicles in endocytic compartments leads to dramatic changes in scattering properties and SERS signals, which can serve as independent feedback mechanisms to signal cargo release from the vesicles. The unique structural and optical properties of the plasmonic vesicle have made it a promising platform for targeted combination therapy and theranostic applications by taking advantage of recent advances in gold nanostructure based in vivo bioimaging and photothermal therapy and their loading capacity for both hydrophilic (nucleic acids and proteins) and hydrophobic (small molecules) therapeutic agents.     

Enzymatic Insertion of Lipids Increases Membrane Tension for Inhibiting Drug Resistant Cancer Cells

Although lipids contribute to cancer drug resistance, it is challenging to target diverse range of lipids. Here, we show enzymatically inserting exceedingly simple synthetic lipids into membranes for increasing membrane tension and selectively inhibiting drug resistant cancer cells. The lipid, formed by conjugating dodecylamine to d -phosphotyrosine, self-assembles to form micelles. Enzymatic dephosphorylation of the micelles inserts the lipids into membranes and increases membrane tension. The micelles effectively inhibit a drug resistant glioblastoma cell (T98G) or a triple-negative breast cancer cell (HCC1937), without inducing acquired drug resistance. Moreover, the enzymatic reaction of the micelles promotes the accumulation of the lipids in the membranes of subcellular organelles (e.g., endoplasmic reticulum (ER), Golgi, and mitochondria), thus activating multiple regulated cell death pathways. This work, in which for the first time membrane tension is increased to inhibit cancer cells, illustrates a new and powerful supramolecular approach for antagonizing difficult drug targets.     

A linear-hyperbranched supramolecular amphiphile and its self-assembly into vesicles with great ductility

A linear-hyperbranched supramolecular amphiphile was synthesized through the noncovalent coupling of adamantane-functionalized long alkyl chain (AD-C(n), n = 12, 18, 30) and hyperbranched polyglycerol grafted from β-cyclodextrin (CD-g-HPG) by the specific AD/CD host-guest interactions. The obtained supramolecular C(n)-b-HPGs self-assembled into unilamellar vesicles with great ductility that could be disassembled readily under a competitive host of β-CD.     

An “<Emphasis Type="Italic">In Vivo</Emphasis> Self-assembly” Strategy for Constructing Superstructures for Biomedical Applications

The interfacing study of biopolymer and supramolecular chemistry enables a better understanding of fundamental biochemical processes and the creating of new high-performance biomaterials. In this review, we introduced an “in vivo self-assembly” strategy which means in situ construction of functional self-assembled superstructures in specific physiological or pathological conditions in cell, tissue or animal levels that exhibit diverse biomedical effects. By using this strategy, unexpected phenomena and insights, e.g, assembly/aggregation induced retention (AIR) effect have been demonstrated where the self-assembled nanostructures showed extraordinary enhanced accumulation and retention of therapeutics in targeted sites.     

Methotrexate-modified superparamagnetic nanoparticles and their intracellular uptake into human cancer cells

A magnetic nanoparticle conjugate was developed that can potentially serve both as a contrast enhancement agent in magnetic resonance imaging and as a drug carrier in controlled drug delivery, targeted at cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. The conjugate is made of iron oxide nanoparticles covalently bound with methotrexate (MTX), a chemotherapeutic drug that can target many cancer cells whose surfaces are overexpressed by folate receptors. The nanoparticles were first surface-modified with (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane to form a self-assembled monolayer and subsequently conjugated with MTX through amidation between the carboxylic acid end groups on MTX and the amine groups on the particle surface. Drug release experiments demonstrated that MTX was cleaved from the nanoparticles under low pH conditions mimicking the intracellular conditions in the lysosome. Cellular viability studies in human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) and human cervical cancer cells (HeLa) further demonstrated the effectiveness of such chemical cleavage of MTX inside the target cells through the action of intracellular enzymes. The intracellular trafficking model proposed was supported through nanoparticle uptake studies which demonstrated that cells expressing the human folate receptor internalized a higher level of nanoparticles than negative control cells.     

Switchable peptide-equipped protein/cucurbit[7]uril supramolecular assembly for targeted drug delivery

ABSTRACT

Herein, we develop a switchable peptide-equipped protein/cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) supramolecular assembly as novel targeted drug vector. Specifically, bovine serum albumin (BSA) is used to interact with CB[7], serving as the core of drug vector. Then, a peptide shield layer is formed on the surface of BSA/CB[7], yielding peptide-equipped supramolecular assembly (Pep@BSA@CB[7]). The equipped peptide shield layer is composed of switchable peptide probes consisting of a polycationic cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) motif, a polyanionic motif and a linking motif, and therefore provides a variety of desirable properties. First, the CPP motif displays excellent cell penetration ability and can facilitate internalisation of the drug vector. Secondly, the polyanionic motif performs intramolecular electrostatic interaction with CPP motif and thereby can reduce non-targeted delivery towards normal cells. Thirdly, the linking motif can be specifically cleaved by matrix metalloproteinases 2 that is up-regulated in tumour microenvironment, thus enabling precise cancer-targeting. As a consequent, Pep@BSA@CB[7] can serve as a promising drug vector that exhibits superior targeting ability and high uptake efficiency towards cancer cells, which may be of great potential in cancer-targeted treatment.     

Fluorescent Metallacycle-Cored Amphiphilic Nanoparticles Formed by β-Cyclodextrin-Based Host–Guest Interactions towards Cancer Theranostics

Theranostic agents, taking the advantages of both imaging and therapeutic functions, are anticipated to be key components in the development of personalized medicine in which the therapeutic response can be real-time monitored. Herein, three metallacycles with pendent adamantane groups are prepared by coordination-driven self-assembly of Pt^II ligands with anticancer activities and tetraphenylethylene derivatives with emission. β-Cyclodextrin, which shows good host–guest interactions with adamantane moieties, was added to form amphiphilic supramolecular nanoparticles with the aim to enhance the aqueous solubilities and bioactivities of these metallacycles. Moreover, when rhodamine-modified β-cyclodextrin was used as the carrier, the release of the metallacycles from the nanoparticles could be monitored in situ through the fluorescence changes owing to the efficient fluorescence resonance energy transfer from the metallacycles to rhodamine-modified β-cyclodextrin. In vitro and in vivo studies showed that these nanoparticles not only served as cell imaging contrast agents but also displayed improved anticancer activities, allowing them to serve as potential candidates for cancer theranostics. This study provides a simple and efficient method to prepare theranostic agents by hierarchical supramolecular self-assembly, which will pave the way for image-guided cancer therapy, targeted cancer therapy, and related biomedical fields.     

Fluorescent Supramolecular Polymersomes Based on Pillararene/Paraquat Molecular Recognition for pH-controlled Drug Release

Researchers have put significant efforts on developing versatile fluorescent polymeric systems due to their promising biological/biomedical labelling, tracking, monitoring, imaging, and diagnostic applications. However, complicated organic/polymeric synthesis or post-modification of these functionalized platforms is still a big obstacle for their further application and thereby provides clear motivation for exploring alternative strategies for the design and fabrication of easily available fluorescent systems. The marriage of supramolecular polymers and fluorescent imaging can provide a facile and dynamic manner instead of tedious and time-consuming synthesis due to the dynamic and reversible nature of noncovalent interactions. Herein, based on water-soluble pillararene/paraquat molecular recognition, we successfully prepare two amphiphilic polypseudorotaxanes which can self-assemble into supramolecular polymersomes in water. These polymersomes can be reversibly destroyed and reformed by tuning the solution p H. Attributed to the aggregation-induced emission of tetraphenylethylene groups,intense fluorescence can be introduced into the obtained supramolecular polymersomes. Furthermore, p H-triggered release of an encapsulated water-insoluble drug(doxorubicin) from the self-assembled fluorescent supramolecular polymersomes is also investigated.     

Self‐Assembly of Spherical Organic Molecules to Form Hollow Vesicular Structures in Water for Encapsulation of an Anticancer Drug and Its Release

Developing hierarchical supramolecular structures is important for better understanding of various biological functions and possibly generating new materials for biomedical applications. Herein, we report the first examples of functional vesicles derived from cationic spherical organic molecules ( C₁ ‐ C₃ ) which were readily synthesized by reacting a C₃‐symmetric tris‐benzimmidazole derivative (possessing a 1,3,5‐ethyl substituted aromatic core) with 1,3,5‐substituted tris‐bromomethyl benzene derivatives. Vesicle formation by C₁ ‐ C₃ was probed by high‐resolution microscopy (TEM and AFM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and fluorescence microscopic imaging of calcein‐loaded vesicles. One of the vesicles [ Vesicle(C₃) ] displayed the ability to load the anticancer drug doxorubicin ( DOX ). The drug was subsequently released from DOX@Vesicle(C₃) in a stimuli‐responsive manner in presence of the well‐known vesicle destroyer Triton X‐100 , as revealed by in vitro cell migration assay carried out on a highly aggressive human breast cancer cell line ( MDA‐MB‐231 ).     

PEGylated anti-MUC1 aptamer-doxorubicin complex for targeted drug delivery to MCF7 breast cancer cells

Targeted drug delivery is especially important in cancer treatment as many anti-cancer drugs are non-specific and highly toxic to both cancer and normal cells. The targeted drug delivery of DOX to the MUC1-expressing breast cancer cell line (MCF7) was obtained using APT as a carrier. Modification of the APT-DOX complex by PEG increases the survivability of the macrophage control (RAW 264.7) by about six-fold as compared to free DOX treatment without significantly affecting the cytotoxicity toward the target cell line. Thus, PEG-APT-DOX is potentially a new therapeutic agent for targeted drug delivery to MUC1-expressing cell lines.     

适体功能化的金纳米棒用于癌症靶向治疗的研究进展

金纳米棒(gold nanorods,GNRs)具有特殊的光学性质、较大的比表面积、出色的光热转换性能、表面易修饰等特点,在药物递送、光疗、生物成像和化学传感等领域应用十分广泛。适体是短的单链DNA或RNA片段,可特异性识别癌细胞或其表面的膜蛋白。近年来,适体功能化的GNRs在癌症靶向治疗领域显示出良好的应用前景。根据GNRs对癌症作用机制的差异,本文从光热疗法、光动力疗法、化疗和联合疗法4个方面总结了适体功能化的GNRs在癌症靶向治疗中的最新进展,并对该领域面临的主要挑战和发展趋势进行了探讨与展望。