Issue 48, 2020

Delivery of Cas13a/crRNA by self-degradable black phosphorus nanosheets to specifically inhibit Mcl-1 for breast cancer therapy

Abstract

Mcl-1 amplification has been observed in breast cancer and demonstrated as a key determinant of breast cancer cell survival. However, the clinical use of available effective Mcl-1-specific inhibitors for breast cancer treatment remains a challenge. An RNA-guided CRISPR/Cas13a system targeting RNAs can be used to specifically knock down mRNA expression in mammalian cells. The goal of this work is to develop a self-degradable nanoplatform based on polylysine (PLL)-functionalized black phosphorus (PBP) for the delivery of Cas13a/crRNA complexes to specifically inhibit Mcl-1 at transcriptional level for breast cancer therapy. The constructed Cas13a/crRNA complex is delivered into the cytoplasm by PBP via endocytosis, followed by endosomal escape based on the biodegradation of PBP, and this efficiently knocks down the specific gene at transcriptional level up to an efficiency of 58.64%. Through designing CRISPR RNA crMcl-1, Mcl-1 can be specifically knocked down at transcriptional level in breast cancer cells, resulting in the down-regulation of the expression of Mcl-1 protein and inhibition of the cell activity. Notably, PBP/Cas13a/crMcl-1 shows an excellent tumor suppression efficacy up to 65.16% after intratumoral injection. Therefore, biodegradable PBP is an ideal nanoplatform for the delivery of CRISPR/Cas13a, which could provide a potential strategy for gene therapy.

Graphical abstract: Delivery of Cas13a/crRNA by self-degradable black phosphorus nanosheets to specifically inhibit Mcl-1 for breast cancer therapy

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 Aug 2020
Accepted
05 Nov 2020
First published
07 Nov 2020

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2020,8, 11096-11106

Delivery of Cas13a/crRNA by self-degradable black phosphorus nanosheets to specifically inhibit Mcl-1 for breast cancer therapy

H. Yue, R. Huang, Y. Shan and D. Xing, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2020, 8, 11096 DOI: 10.1039/D0TB01914C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements