温度响应性单分子聚合物胶束

单分子聚合物胶束和传统的胶束一样具有核-壳结构,因其结构固定并具有良好的热力学稳定性而越来越受到研究者的关注。当这类胶束的核层或者壳层含有温敏性高分子的时候就可以形成具有温度响应性的单分子聚合物胶束。近年来,人们在温敏性的单分子聚合物胶束的合成与性能研究方面做了大量的工作。本文概述了具有温度响应行为的单分子聚合物胶束的类型、制备方法以及应用等方面取得的新进展,同时结合本实验室的工作,总结了基于超支化大分子的温敏性单分子聚合物胶束的相转变行为研究,并对这类胶束体系的发展进行了展望。     

In vitro Evaluation of Hexagonal Polymeric Micelles in Macrophage Phagocytosis

This paper develops a non‐spherical polymeric micelle using an amphiphilic block copolymer and a porphyrin crystalline structure. The nanoscale polymer micelles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), revealing particle sizes of approximately 150 nm with a particular shape in the hexagonal lattice. The shape shows the selective uptake efficacy for the HeLa and macrophage cells, and inhibits phagocytosis against the macrophage.

     

RAFT聚合法制备聚合物胶束及其应用前景

聚合物胶束由于具有优良的组织渗透性、增容效果好、结构多样性和热稳定性等特点,成为国内外研究的热点之一。本文综述了近几年发展起来的一些具有特殊结构和特殊性能的双亲性嵌段聚合物胶束的研究进展,详细阐述了RAFT聚合法合成聚合物胶束的机理和优势,表明了RAFT聚合法可直接在水溶液中方便快捷地制备出温度和pH双响应性聚合物胶束。然而,当聚合物胶束的浓度低于其临界胶束浓度时,胶束的稀释效应大大影响了其实际应用,为提高聚合物胶束的稳定性,文章归纳总结了一系列有关壳交联聚合物胶束的制备方法及研究进展。最后,文章展望了聚合物胶束在药物可控释放、靶向、生物成像、催化剂负载及其他领域的应用前景。     

Nanoparticle‐Mediated Immunogenic Cell Death Enables and Potentiates Cancer Immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapies that train or stimulate the inherent immunological systems to recognize, attack, and eradicate tumor cells with minimal damage to healthy cells have demonstrated promising clinical responses in recent years. However, most of these immunotherapeutic strategies only benefit a small subset of patients and cause systemic autoimmune side effects in some patients. Immunogenic cell death (ICD)‐inducing modalities not only directly kill cancer cells but also induce antitumor immune responses against a broad spectrum of solid tumors. Such strategies for generating vaccine‐like functions could be used to stimulate a “cold” tumor microenvironment to become an immunogenic, “hot” tumor microenvironment, working in synergy with immunotherapies to increase patient response rates and lead to successful treatment outcomes. This Minireview will focus on nanoparticle‐based treatment modalities that can induce and enhance ICD to potentiate cancer immunotherapy.     

Contractive Polymeric Complex Micelles as Thermo‐Sensitive Nanopumps

Complex micelles were obtained from PS‐b‐PNIPAM‐b‐PAA micelles and PEG‐b‐P4VP block copolymers via the strong electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonding between PAA and P4VP blocks in water. The PS block formed the core and the PAA/P4VP complex shell functioned as a semi‐permeable membrane which could control the permeation of small molecules. Between the core and shell, the large fluid‐filled space that was formed with the thermoresponsive PNIPAM gel could retain the loaded drug for a long period of time. With increasing temperature, the shrinkage of the PNIPAM coils pumped the drug out of the complex micelles. The complex micelles functioned as a contractive “nanopump”, which could potentially be applied as a thermosensitive controlled release system.

     

Polymeric Nanoparticles Induce NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation and Promote Breast Cancer Metastasis

Polymeric nanoparticles gain enormous interests in cancer therapy. Polyethylenimine (PEI) 25 kD is well known for its high transfection efficiency and cytotoxicity. PEI‐CyD (PC) was previously synthesized by conjugating low molecular PEI (M _w 600) with β‐cyclodextrin (β‐CyD), which is shown to induce lower cytotoxicity than PEI 25 kD. In the current study, the in vivo immune response of branched PEI 25 kD and PC is investigated. Compared to PC/pDNA, exposure of PEI 25kD/pDNA induces higher level of immune‐stimulation evidenced by the increased spleen weight, phagocytic capacity of peritoneal macrophage, and proinflammatory cytokines in serum and liver. Importantly, administration of PEI 25 kD can greatly promote breast cancer metastasis in liver and lung tissues, which correlates with its ability to induce high oxidative stress and NLRP3‐inflammasome activation. These results suggest that polymeric nanocarriers have the potential to induce immune‐stimulation and cancer metastasis, which may affect their efficiency for cancer therapy.     

Tunable‐Sized Polymeric Micelles and Their Assembly for the Preparation of Large Mesoporous Platinum Nanoparticles

Platinum nanoparticles with continuously tunable mesoporous structures were prepared by a simple, one‐step polymeric approach. By virtue of their large pore size, these structures have a high surface area that is accessible to reagents. In the synthetic method, variation of the solvent composition plays an essential role in the systematic control of pore size and particle shape. The mesoporous Pt catalyst exhibited superior electrocatalytic activity for the methanol oxidation reaction compared to commercially available Pt catalysts. This polymeric‐micelle approach provides an additional design concept for the creation of next generation of metallic catalysts.     

Polymeric Micelles Induced by Interpolymer Complexation

The self‐assembly of amphiphilic diblock copolymers in block selective solvents is well documented in the scientific literature. It gives rise to micelles in which the insoluble blocks form a core, which is surrounded by a corona that contains the soluble blocks. Another method to trigger micellization consists in introducing additional non‐covalent interactions such as electrostatic interactions or hydrogen bonding in an initially soluble block copolymer. The non‐covalent complexes that result from these interactions should be insoluble in order to induce micellization. Such insoluble complexes can be generated by mixing, in a non‐selective solvent for all the individual blocks, two block copolymers or a block copolymer and a homopolymer, that contain mutually interacting blocks. This mixing process may, therefore, lead to insoluble non‐covalent complexes, which further aggregate into micellar cores stabilized by the uncomplexed blocks. Such a strategy has been successfully implemented in both aqueous and non‐aqueous solvents to create interesting stimuli‐responsive systems, mainly using ionic interactions and hydrogen bonding. This feature article will summarize these approaches.

     

Enhanced Oral Absorption of Icaritin by Using Mixed Polymeric Micelles Prepared with a Creative Acid-Base Shift Method

The purpose of this study was to develop mixed polymeric micelles with high drug loading capacity to improve the oral bioavailability of icaritin with Soluplus^® and Poloxamer 407 using a creative acid-base shift (ABS) method, which exhibits the advantages of exclusion of organic solvents, high drug loading and ease of scaling-up. The feasibility of the ABS method was successfully demonstrated by studies of icaritin-loaded polymeric micelles (IPMs). The prepared IPMs were characterized to have a spherical shape with a size of 72.74 ± 0.51 nm, and 13.18% drug loading content. In vitro release tests confirmed the faster release of icaritin from IPMs compared to an oil suspension. Furthermore, bioavailability of icaritin in IPMs in beagle dogs displayed a 14.9-fold increase when compared with the oil suspension. Transcellular transport studies of IPMs across Caco-2 cell monolayers confirmed that the IPMs were endocytosed in their intact forms through macropinocytosis, clathrin-, and caveolae-mediated pathways. In conclusion, the results suggested that the mixed micelles of Soluplus^® and Poloxamer 407 could be a feasible drug delivery system to enhance oral bioavailability of icaritin, and the ABS method might be a promising technology for the preparation of polymeric micelles to encapsulate poorly water-soluble weakly acidic and alkaline drugs.     

淀粉基聚合物胶束用作药物载体

两亲性聚合物能通过亲疏水作用自组装为核-壳结构,而这独特的优势已使其成为在肿瘤靶向药物缓释方面具有很好发展前景的药物载体.淀粉原材料来源丰富,价格低廉,同时具有良好的生物相容性和生物可降解性,故基于淀粉的两亲性聚合物胶束正引起越来越多研究者极大的关注.作为药物载体,淀粉基聚合物胶束不仅可以提高药物的水溶性、延长药物在体内的循环时间、降低副作用和通过增强渗透与滞留(EPR)效应提高药物在靶向部位的优先累积,还可以在淀粉骨架上引入一些刺激响应型的官能团实现胶束快速靶向释药的功能.因此,淀粉基聚合物胶束在用作药物载体方面有着广阔的发展潜力.本文结合本课题组目前的研究工作和近几年的相关报道对淀粉基聚合物胶束作为药物载体的最新研究进展做简要综述.     

聚合物胶束结合靶向在肿瘤化疗中的研究进展

肿瘤研究的一个主要方向是开发高效无毒副作用的药物载体系统。聚合物胶束由内部可装载难溶性药物的疏水内核,外部能提高体内运输作用的亲水外壳组成,粒径一般为10～100nm左右。这种粒径范围的载药体系既能逃脱肾脏的排泄清除,又能躲避内皮网状系统的吞噬,延长药物在血液中的循环时间。聚合物胶束结合肿瘤靶向在化疗方面的应用,能够有效改善化疗药物的水溶性,提高化疗药物的利用率和抗肿瘤活性,降低对机体正常细胞组织的毒副作用,克服多药耐药性问题,进而极大地提高了肿瘤化疗效果和促进了肿瘤化疗的发展进步。本文着重综述聚合物胶束在化疗药物载药与靶向策略方面的研究现状与进展。     

Hyperbranched Polymer-Based Vaccines for Cancer Immunotherapy

Recently, several immunotherapeutic strategies are extensively studied and entered clinical investigation, suggesting their potential to lead a new generation of cancer therapy. Particularly, a cancer vaccine that combines tumor-associated antigens and immune adjuvants with a nanocarrier holds huge promise for inducing specific antitumor immune responses. Hyperbranched polymers, such as dendrimers and branched polyethylenimine (PEI) possessing abundant positively charged amine groups and inherent proton sponge effect are ideal carriers of antigens. Much effort is devoted to design dendrimer/branched PEI-based cancer vaccines. Herein, the recent advances in the design of dendrimer/branched PEI-based cancer vaccines for immunotherapy are reviewed. The future perspectives with regard to the development of dendrimer/branched PEI-based cancer vaccines are also briefly discussed.     

Polymeric Micelles Loading Proteins through Concurrent Ion Complexation and pH‐Cleavable Covalent Bonding for In Vivo Delivery

Protein drugs have great potential as targeted therapies, yet their application suffers from several drawbacks, such as instability, short half‐life, and adverse immune responses. Thus, protein delivery approaches based on stimuli‐responsive nanocarriers can provide effective strategies for selectively enhancing the availability and activation of proteins in targeted tissues. Herein, polymeric micelles with the ability of encapsulating proteins are developed via concurrent ion complexation and pH‐cleavable covalent bonding between proteins and block copolymers directed to pH‐triggered release of the protein payload. Carboxydimethylmaleic anhydride (CDM) is selected as the pH‐sensitive moiety, since the CDM? amide bond is stable at physiological pH (pH 7.4), while it cleaves at pH 6.5, that is, the pathophysiological pH of tumors and inflammatory tissues. By using poly(ethylene glycol)‐poly(l ‐lysine) block copolymers having 45% CDM addition, different proteins with various sizes and isoelectric points are loaded successfully. By using myoglobin‐loaded micelles (myo/m) as a model, the stability of the micelles in physiological conditions and the dissociation and release of functional myoglobin at pH 6.5 are successfully confirmed. Moreover, myo/m shows extended half‐life in blood compared to free myoglobin and micelles assembled solely by polyion complex, indicating the potential of this system for in vivo delivery of proteins.     

Co-assembly of Patchy Polymeric Micelles and Protein Molecules

The development in the synthesis and self-assembly of patchy nanoparticles has resulted in the creation of complex hierarchical structures. Co-assembly of polymeric nanoparticles and protein molecules combines the advantages of polymeric materials and biomolecules, and will produce new functional materials. Co-assembly of positively charged patchy micelles and negatively charged bovine serum albumin (BSA) molecules is investigated. The patchy micelles, which were synthesized using block copolymer brushes as templates, leads to co-assembly with protein molecules into vesicular structures. The average size of the assembled structures can be controlled by the molar ratio of BSA to patchy micelles. The assembled structures are dissociated in the presence of trypsin. The protein–polymer hybrid vesicles could find potential applications in medicine.     

新型仿生聚合物胶束用于纳米药物载体的研究

对两亲性聚合物进行设计和优化, 从细胞膜仿生的设计出发, 利用原子转移自由基聚合, 制备了一种以胆固醇为疏水段、以仿细胞膜磷酸胆碱基聚合物为亲水段的两亲性分子CMPC. 在对其溶液胶束自组装行为进行探索的基础上, 以水包油(O/W)溶剂挥发法制备了包含抗癌药物阿霉素(ADR)的纳米抗癌药物载体, 通过体外细胞培养, 研究了仿细胞膜两亲分子的细胞相容性, 并对抗癌纳米药物载体抗肿瘤细胞的药效进行了初步研究.     

Revitalizing Cytokine-Based Cancer Immunotherapy through Advanced Delivery Systems

Cytokines can coordinate robust immune responses, holding great promise as therapeutics against infections, autoimmune diseases, and cancers. In cancer treatment, numerous pro-inflammatory cytokines have displayed promising efficacy in preclinical studies. However, their clinical application is hindered by poor pharmacokinetics, significant toxicity and unsatisfactory anticancer efficacy. Thus, while IFN-α and IL-2 are approved for specific cancer treatments, other cytokines still remain subject of intense investigation. To accelerate the application of cytokines as cancer immunotherapeutics, strategies need to be directed to improve their safety and anticancer performance. In this regard, delivery systems could be used to generate innovative therapies by targeting the cytokines or nucleic acids, such as DNA and mRNA, encoding the cytokines to tumor tissues. This review centers on these innovative delivery strategies for cytokines, summarizing key approaches, such as gene delivery and protein delivery, and critically examining their potential and challenges for clinical translation.     

Improving Cancer Immunotherapy Outcomes Using Biomaterials

Immunotherapy has made great strides in improving clinical outcomes in cancer treatment. However, few patients exhibit adequate response rates for key outcome measures and desired long‐term responses, and they often suffer systemic side effects due to the dynamic nature of the immune system. This has motivated a search for alternative strategies to improve unsatisfactory immunotherapeutic outcomes. In recent years, biomaterial‐assisted immunotherapy has shown promise in cancer treatment with improved therapeutic efficacy and reduced side effects. These biomaterials have illuminated fundamental mechanisms underlying the immunoediting process, while greatly improving the efficacy of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T‐cell therapy, cancer vaccine therapy, and immune checkpoint blockade therapy. This Minireview discusses recent advances in engineered biomaterials that address limitations associated with conventional cancer immunotherapies.     

Well-Defined pH-Sensitive Self-Assembled Triblock Copolymer-Based Crosslinked Micelles for Efficient Cancer Chemotherapy

Delivery of chemotherapeutics to cancer cells using polymeric micelles is a promising strategy for cancer treatment. However, limited stability of micelles, premature drug release and off-target effect are the major obstacles that restrict the utilization of polymeric micelles as effective drug delivery systems. In this work, we addressed these issues through the innovative design of targeted pH-sensitive crosslinked polymeric micelles for chemotherapeutic delivery. A well-defined triblock copolymer, poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)-b-poly(butyl acrylate) (PEG-b-PHEMA-b-PBA), was synthesized by living radical polymerization, and then modified by using 4-pentenoic anhydride to incorporate pendant crosslinkable alkene groups in the middle block. The resulting copolymer underwent self-assembly in aqueous solution to form non-crosslinked micelles (NCMs). Subsequently, intramicellar thiol–ene crosslinking was performed by using 1,4-butanediol bis(3-mercaptopropionate) to give crosslinked micelles (CMs) with pH-sensitive crosslinks. The targeted CM (cRGD-DOX₁₀-CM5) was readily prepared by using tumor-targeting ligand cyclo(Arg-Gly-Asp-D-Phe-Cys) (cRGD) together with the 1,4-butanediol bis(3-mercaptopropionate) during the crosslinking step. The study of cumulative DOX release revealed the pH-sensitive feature of drug release from these CMs. An in vitro MTT assay revealed that NCMs and CMs are biocompatible with MCF 10A cells, and the samples exhibited significant therapeutic efficiency as compared to free DOX. Cellular uptake studies confirmed higher uptake of cRGD-DOX₁₀-CM5 by MCF 10A cancer cells via cRGD-receptor-mediated endocytosis as compared to the corresponding analogues without cRGD. These results indicate that such pH-responsive crosslinked PEG-b-PHEMA-b-PBA-based micelles are therapeutically effective against cancer cells and hold remarkable promise to act as smart drug delivery systems for cancer therapy.