Multidrug resistance (MDR) remains one of the major reasons for inefficiency of many chemotherapeutic agents in cancer therapy. In this study, a D-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS) and polylysine-deoxycholic acid copolymer (PLL-DA) co-modified cationic liposome coating with hyaluronic acid (HA) was constructed for co-delivery of paclitaxel (PTX) and chemosensitizing agent, sorafenib (SOR) to treat the MDR cancer. The multifunctional liposome (HA-TPD-CL-PTX/SOR) presented good stability against rat plasma and was capable of reversing surface zeta potential under acidic conditions in the presence of HAase. Additionally, experimental result confirmed that the PLL-DA copolymer would facilitate the endo-lysosomal escape of the liposome. In vitro study demonstrated that HA-TPD-CL-PTX/SOR could significantly enhance drug accumulation in resistant MCF-7/MDR cells by inhibiting the P-gp efflux, and effectively inhibited growth of tumor cells. Furthermore, the liposome showed an enhanced anticancer activity in vivo, with a tumor growth inhibition rate of 78.52%. In summary, HA-TPD-CL-PTX/SOR exhibited a great potential for effective therapy of resistant cancers by combining with chemotherapeutic agents and could be a promising nano-carrier for reversing MDR and improving the effectiveness of chemotherapy.

Background: The combination of novel starving therapy with chemotherapy is one of the most promising strategies to achieve an effective antitumor activity. Methods: Herein, we developed a multifunctional mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSNs-GOx/PLL/HA) coated with poly (L-lysine) (PLL) and hyaluronic acid (HA) for co-delivery of glucose oxidase (GOx) and anticancer drug paclitaxel (PTX) for cancer treatment for the first time. Compared to single chemotherapy, introduction of GOx would not only selectively trigger the consumption of intracellular glucose, leading to the interruption of energy supply, but also elevat the endogenous H 2 O 2 level, inducing stronger therapeutic effects. Results: The novel drug delivery system possessed desirable particle diameter of 40 nm and exhibited a pH-sensitive drug release behavior. An in vitro cellular uptake study indicated that MSNs-GOx/PLL/HA nanoparticles effectively enhanced the cellular uptake of drug in an apparently CD44 receptor-dependent manner, and delivered more cargo into cytoplasm via endolysosomal escape effect in presence of PLL. The nanoplatform has also demonstrated amplified synergistic therapeutic effects for remarkable tumor inhibition in a xenograft animal tumor model. Conclusion: Consequently, the developed synergistic starving-like/chemotherapy may provide a potential platform for next generation cancer therapy.

No abstract

Compared with traditional anti-tumor drugs, antimicrobial peptides as novel anti-tumor agents have prominent advantages of higher specificity and circumvention of multi-drug resistance. BP100 is a multifunctional membrane-active peptide with high antimicrobial activity. Taking BP100 as a lead peptide, we designed and synthesized a series of aliphatic chain-conjugated peptides through solid-phase synthesis. Biological evaluation revealed that these peptides exhibited better anti-cancer activity than BP100. Further investigations revealed that these peptides could disrupt the cell membrane and trigger the cytochrome C release into cytoplasm, which ultimately resulted in apoptosis. Meanwhile, these peptides also exhibited effective anti-tumor activity against multidrug resistant cells and had multidrug resistance-reversing effect. Additionally, conjugation of aliphatic acid to those peptides could enhance their stability in plasma. In conclusion, aliphatic acid-modified peptides might be promising anti-tumor agents for cancer therapy.