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Theranostics 2022; 12(6):2987-3006. doi:10.7150/thno.71693 This issue Cite

Research Paper

Combating multidrug resistance and metastasis of breast cancer by endoplasmic reticulum stress and cell-nucleus penetration enhanced immunochemotherapy

Weixi Jiang^1*, Li Chen^2*, Xun Guo¹, Chen Cheng¹, Yuanli Luo¹, Jingxue Wang¹, Junrui Wang³, Yang Liu⁴, Yang Cao¹, Pan Li¹, Zhigang Wang¹, Haitao Ran¹, Zhiyi Zhou⁵, Jianli Ren^1✉

1. Department of Ultrasound and Chongqing Key Laboratory of Ultrasound Molecular Imaging, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400010, P. R. China
2. Department of Intensive Care Unit, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400010, P. R. China
3. Department of Radiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400010, P. R. China
4. Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400010, P. R. China
5. Department of General practice of Chongqing General Hospital, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 401147, P. R. China
*These authors contributed equally to this work.

✉ Corresponding author: E-mail address: renjianliedu.cn (Jianli Ren)

Abstract

Rationale: Multidrug resistance (MDR) and metastasis of breast cancer remain major hurdles in clinical anticancer therapy. The unsatisfactory outcome is largely due to insufficient cytotoxicity of chemotherapeutic agents and limited immunogenic cell death (ICD). On the other hand, efflux proteins, especially P-glycoprotein (P-gp), can recognize and promote the efflux of drugs from tumor cells.

Methods: In this study, silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and peptide- functionalized doxorubicin (^PDOX) were used to prepare a theranostic nanocomposite (Ag-TF@^PDOX), which induced organelle-mediated immunochemotherapy and drug efflux protein inhibition in drug-resistant breast cancer cells (MCF-7/ADR) via a strategy based on endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and cell-nucleus penetration.

Results: The silver nanoparticle-triggered persistent activation of ER stress synergizes with chemotherapy to enhance cytotoxicity and stimulate the ICD effect. It has the potential to enhance chemosensitivity by downregulating of P-gp expression due to the increased production of ATP-consuming chaperones. In addition, the novel peptide (CB5005), which not only penetrates the cell membrane but also has a nuclear localization sequence, is conjugated to DOX to improve both cellular internalization and intranuclear accumulation. Moreover, surface TA-Fe³⁺ engineering endows the nanocomposite with ATP-responsive disassembly and ATP depletion properties to improve biocompatibility and decrease ATP-dependent drug efflux. Ag-TF@^PDOX has potential as a dual-mode (PAI/MRI) contrast-enhanced agent for realizing theranostic guidance.

Conclusion: This theranostic nanocomposite greatly restricts the growth of drug-resistant breast tumors and activates a strong immune response as well, providing an opportunity for the development of therapeutics that reverse tumor MDR and metastasis at the subcellular level.

Keywords: ER stress, cell-nucleus penetration, immunogenic cell death, ATP-responsive drug release, multidrug resistance

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