SUMMARY While VEGF-targeted therapies are showing promise, new angiogenesis targets are needed to make additional gains. Here, we show that increased Zeste homologue 2 (EZH2) expression in either tumor cells or in tumor vasculature is predictive of poor clinical outcome. The increase in endothelial EZH2 is a direct result of VEGF stimulation by a paracrine circuit that promotes angiogenesis by methylating and silencing vasohibin1 (VASH1). EZH2 silencing in the tumor-associated endothelial cells inhibited angiogenesis mediated by reactivation of VASH1, and reduced ovarian cancer growth, which is further enhanced in combination with EZH2 silencing in tumor cells. Collectively, these data support the potential for targeting EZH2 as an important therapeutic approach. SIGNIFICANCE In this work, we identify EZH2 as a key regulator of tumor angiogenesis. The increase in endothelial EZH2 is a direct result of VEGF stimulation and indicates the presence of a paracrine circuit that promotes angiogenesis. EZH2 silencing in the tumor-associated endothelial cells using siRNA, packaged in the chitosan delivery system, resulted in significant growth inhibition in an orthotopic ovarian cancer model. EZH2 silencing in tumor endothelial cells resulted in decreased angiogenesis that was mediated by increased levels of the angiogenesis inhibitor, vasohibin1 (VASH1). Combined, these data provide a significant conceptual advance in our understanding of the regulation of angiogenesis in ovarian carcinoma and support the potential for targeting EZH2 as a therapeutic approach.
The future of tissue engineering requires development of intelligent biomaterials using nanoparticles. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have several applications in biology and medicine; one example is Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging. Recently, MNPs have been encapsulated within cell-encapsulating hydrogels to create novel nanobiomaterials (i.e., M-gels), which can be manipulated and assembled in magnetic fields. The M-gels can be used as building blocks for bottom-up tissue engineering to create 3D tissue constructs. For tissue engineering applications of M-gels, it is essential to study the release of encapsulated MNPs from the hydrogel polymer network and the effect of MNPs on hydrogel properties, including mechanical characteristics, porosity, swelling behavior, and cellular response (e.g., viability, growth). Therefore, we evaluated the release of MNPs from photocrosslinkable gelatin methacrylate hydrogels as the polymer network undergoes biodegradation using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy. MNP release correlated linearly with hydrogel biodegradation rate with correlation factors (Pearson product moment correlation coefficient) of 0.96 ± 0.03 and 0.99 ± 0.01 for MNP concentrations of 1% and 5%, respectively. We also evaluated the effect of MNPs on hydrogel mechanical properties, porosity, and swelling behavior, as well as cell viability and growth in MNP-encapsulating hydrogels. Fibroblasts encapsulated with MNPs in hydrogels remained viable (>80% at t = 144 h) and formed microtissue constructs in culture (t = 144 h). These results indicated that MNP-encapsulating hydrogels show promise as intelligent nanobiomaterials, with great potential to impact broad areas of bioengineering, including tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and pharmaceutical applications.
Chitosan is a natural polymer that has many physicochemical (polycationic, reactive OH and NH2 groups) and biological (bioactive, biocompatible, biodegradable) properties. These unique properties make chitosan an excellent material for the development of new biomedical applications. One of the most well known biomedical chitosan applications is in drug delivery systems. Chitosans have been used in the design of many different types of drug carriers for various administration routes such as oral, bucal, nasal, transdermal, parenteral, vaginal, cervical, intrauterine and rectal. Chitosan can be engineered into different shapes and geometries such as nanoparticles, microspheres, membranes, sponges and rods. This paper is a perspective on the preparation of the chitosan drug delivery systems based on different structural geometries. In this respect, special preparation techniques are used to prepare chitosan drug carriers by altering such parameters as crosslinker concentration, chitosan molecular weight, drug/polymer ratio and processing conditions all of which affect the morphology of chitosan drug carriers and release rate of the loaded drug.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.