Paclitaxel (PTX) is one of the most potent cancer drugs; however, its low solubility and strong systemic side effects limit its clinical applications. To overcome these issues, new drug formulations and chemical modifications have been proposed. In this study, we present conjugation of PTX to hybrid collagen-cell penetrating peptide (COL-CPP) carriers. The peptide carrier is highly soluble and utilizes a unique stabilization strategy: folding into a triple helix. Here, we report the formation of PTX-COL-CPP prodrug that has similar drug potency as free PTX when tested in Jurkat (human T lymphocyte of acute T cell leukemia) cells but not in A549 (human epithelial of lung carcinoma) cells. Confocal images and flow cytometry show that this behavior originates from lower cellular uptake of COL-CPP and endosomal entrapment of the prodrug in A549, but not in Jurkat cells.
Glucose is a critical nutrient for cell proliferation. However, the molecular pathways that regulate glucose metabolism are still elusive. We discovered that co-activator-associated arginine methyltransferase 1 (CARM1) suppresses glucose metabolism toward serine biosynthesis. By tracing the C-labeled glucose, we found that knockout mouse embryonic fibroblasts exhibit significantly increased serine synthesis than WT cells. This is caused, at least in part, by the reduced pyruvate kinase (PK) activity in these cells. The M2 isoform of PK (PKM2) is arginine-methylated by CARM1, and methylation enhances its activity. Mechanistically, CARM1 methylates PKM2 at arginines 445 and 447, which enhances PKM2 tetramer formation. Consequently, knockout cells exhibit significant survival advantages over WT cells when extracellular serine is limited, likely due to their enhanced serine synthesis capacity. Altogether, we identified CARM1 as an important regulator of glucose metabolism and serine synthesis.
The effective delivery of therapeutics and imaging agents to a selected group of cells has been at the forefront of biomedical research. Unfortunately, the identification of the unique cell surface targets for cell selection remains a major challenge, particularly if cells within the selected group are not identical. Here we demonstrate a novel approach to cell section relying on a thermo-responsive peptide-based nanocarrier. The hybrid peptide containing cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) and collagen (COLL) domains is designed to undergo coil-to-helix transition (folding) below physiological temperature. Since only helical form undergoes effective internalization by the cells, this approach allows effective temperature-discriminate cellular uptake. The cells selected for uptake are locally cooled down thus enabling the carrier to fold and subsequently internalize. Our approach demonstrates a generic method as selected cells could differ from the adjacent cells or could belong to the same cell population. The method is fast (< 15 min) and selective; over 99.6% of cells in vitro internalized the peptide carrier at low temperatures (15°C), while less than 0.2% internalized at 37°C. In vivo results confirm the high selectivity of the method. The potential clinical applications in mixed cell differentiation carcinoma, most frequently encountered in breast and ovarian cancer, are envisioned.
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