Paclitaxel Prodrug Enables Glutathione Depletion to Boost Cancer Treatment.
Biyou ZhangShiyu ZhouShaojin LuXiujuan XiangXiumin YaoWentao LeiQing PeiZhigang XieXuesi ChenPublished in: ACS nano (2024)
Herein, we constructed a paclitaxel (PTX) prodrug (PA) by conjugating PTX with acrylic acid as a cysteine-depleting agent. The as-synthesized PA can assemble with diacylphosphatidylethanolamine-PEG 2000 to form stable nanoparticles (PA NPs). After endocytosis into cells, PA NPs can specifically react with cysteine and trigger release of PTX for chemotherapy. On the other hand, the depletion of cysteine can greatly downregulate the intracellular content of glutathione and lead to oxidative stress outburst-provoking ferroptosis. The released PTX can elicit antitumor immune response by inducing immunogenic cell death, thus promoting dendritic cells maturation and cascaded cytotoxic T lymphocytes activation, which not only produces a robust immunotherapy effect but also synergizes the ferroptosis therapy by inhibiting cysteine transport via the release of interferon-γ in the activated immune system. As a result, PA NPs exhibit favorable in vitro and in vivo antitumor performance with reduced systemic toxicity. Our work highlights the potential of simple molecular design of prodrugs for enhancing the therapeutic efficacy toward malignant cancer.
Keyphrases
- cell death
- dendritic cells
- immune response
- cell cycle arrest
- oxidative stress
- fluorescent probe
- living cells
- oxide nanoparticles
- induced apoptosis
- cancer therapy
- drug delivery
- papillary thyroid
- drug release
- stem cells
- squamous cell carcinoma
- risk assessment
- young adults
- chemotherapy induced
- bone marrow
- toll like receptor
- climate change
- inflammatory response
- childhood cancer
- drug induced