Issue 13, 2021

Self-assembled nanomedicine combining a berberine derivative and doxorubicin for enhanced antitumor and antimetastatic efficacy via mitochondrial pathways

Abstract

Mitochondria play a central role in cancer progression and tumor metastasis, and nanomedicines targeting mitochondria have emerged as a promising strategy for tumor therapy. However, mitochondria targeting strategies have not been widely explored in the inhibition of tumor metastasis, and they have disadvantages of complicated preparation, low drug loading, systemic toxicity of the carriers and poor accumulation at tumor sites. Here we firstly developed self-assembled nanodrugs with a high drug loading (∼68%) comprised of a berberine derivative (Ber) and doxorubicin (Dox) by a simple nano-precipitation method, which successfully altered the target location of Dox from the nucleus to mitochondria and therefore inhibited the proliferation, invasion and migration of MDA-MB-231 cells by triggering cell apoptosis. The surface of nanodrugs was modified with DSPE-PEG-folic acid (DSPE-PEG-FA) and hyaluronic acid (HA) for precise tumor recognition and enhanced accumulation (HA-FA-BD NDs). Upon arrival at the tumor site with the help of the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect, the partial degradation of HA by hyaluronidase (HAase) at the tumor site allowed the partial exposure of the positively charged FA-BD NDs to the cells, then nanodrugs would accumulate and enter tumor cells by dual binding to both folic acid (FA) and CD-44 receptors. Once internalized into lysosomes, both the HA outer shell and DSPE-PEG-FA of nanodrugs were degraded or decomposed completely to expose positively charged BD NDs. Driven by delocalized lipophilic cations, nanodrugs could escape from lysosomes and reach mitochondria to induce a cascade reaction and finally cell apoptosis, as well as suppressing matrix metalloprotease (MMP)-2 and -9 activities and finally cell migration and invasion. In a xenograft mice model of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells, the nanodrugs repaired the defects in Mfn 1/Drp 1 mitochondrial proteins, suppressed the activity of MMP-2 and -9, and significantly inhibited tumor cell proliferation and pulmonary metastasis. Our study showed a promising strategy for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer by targeting mitochondria followed by enhanced apoptosis.

Graphical abstract: Self-assembled nanomedicine combining a berberine derivative and doxorubicin for enhanced antitumor and antimetastatic efficacy via mitochondrial pathways

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
04 Jan 2021
Accepted
17 Feb 2021
First published
01 Mar 2021

Nanoscale, 2021,13, 6605-6623

Self-assembled nanomedicine combining a berberine derivative and doxorubicin for enhanced antitumor and antimetastatic efficacy via mitochondrial pathways

C. Lin, X. Yang, H. Li, Y. Zou, I. S. Mohammad, H. Rong, Y. Rao, J. Song, S. S. Y. Leung and H. Hu, Nanoscale, 2021, 13, 6605 DOI: 10.1039/D1NR00032B

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