A Nano Drug Delivery System Based on Angelica sinensis Polysaccharide for Combination of Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy

Abstract

<jats:p>Combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy has been a promising strategy in cancer treatment. Polysaccharides from Angelica sinensis (AP), a well-known Chinese herbal medicine, have been proved to have good immunomodulatory activity. In the present study, an enzyme-sensitive tumor-targeting nano drug delivery system (AP-PP-DOX (doxorubicin), PP stood for peptide) was constructed. In this system, Angelica polysaccharides act as not only carriers to targeted delivery of drugs to tumor tissue but also effectors to improve tumor microenvironment and enhance immune function, resulting in synergistic antitumor effect with chemotherapy drugs. The structure of this conjugate was confirmed by FI-IR and 1H-NMR. The particle size and zeta potential of the nanoparticles were 129.00 ± 3.32 nm and −28.45 ± 0.22 mV, respectively. Doxorubicin (DOX) and AP could be quickly released from the AP-PP-DOX under the presence of matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2). The released DOX showed good antitumor efficacy in vitro. The treatment of released AP moiety increased the expression of IL-2, while that of IL-10 was decreased, showing potential in restoring Th1/Th2 immune balance in tumor microenvironment. In a word, this drug delivery system, with specific tissue targeting and tumor microenvironment improvement, will open a new avenue for combination treatment of cancer.</jats:p>

Physicochemical Characteristics and Antidiabetic Properties of the Polysaccharides from Pseudostellaria heterophylla

“…PF40 was negatively charged, and the zeta potential of PF40 was −31.61 mV. These results confirm that PF40 is a non-ionic polysaccharide [29,30].…”

Nano-drug co-delivery system of natural active ingredients and chemotherapy drugs for cancer treatment: a review

“…The study has shown that natural polysaccharides can activate T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, macrophages and other immune cells to exert their immune activities (Chen & Huang, 2018 ). ASP could restore the balance of Th1/Th2 immune response, improve tumor microenvironment immunosuppression and enhance antitumor immune function, resulting in synergistic antitumor effect with DOX (Wang et al., 2020 ). Astragalus polysaccharides (APS) could exert anti-tumor effects by restoring immune organs, regulating cellular immune response and increasing the levels of cytokines IL-2, TNF-α and IFN-γ.…”

“…They can be used as natural drug carrier for nano-drug delivery, which can improve the bioavailability and efficacy of drugs. At present, ASP (Wang et al., 2020 ), bletilla polysaccharide (Wang et al., 2019a ), Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide (Zheng et al., 2021a ), ursodeoxycholic acid (MDCA) (Anwar et al., 2018 ), Semen Armeniacae Amarum protein (Lin et al., 2020 ) have been successfully used for the delivery of DOX, MTX, sulfasalazine and PTX. A summary of the studies of natural active components as drug carriers in NDCDS is shown in Table 3 .…”

Stimuli‐Responsive Nanoparticles for Controlled Drug Delivery in Synergistic Cancer Immunotherapy

“…Many well‐designed new tumor immunotherapy strategies, for example, angelica sinensis increased the expression of IL‐2 and decreased the expression of IL‐10, which have improved survival rates in cancer therapy. [ 122 ] The combination of immunotherapy and improvement of TME provides an effective and safe synergistic strategy for the intervention of tumors. The microenvironments of enzymes play crucial roles in evading immune surveillance and offer favorable conditions for the progression of malignant cancers.…”