Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are key actors in regulating cancer progression. They promote tumor growth, metastasis formation, and induce drug resistance. For these reasons, they are emerging as potential therapeutic targets. Here, with the aim of developing CAF-targeted drug delivery agents, we functionalized H-ferritin (HFn) nanocages with fibroblast activation protein (FAP) antibody fragments. Functionalized nanocages (HFn-FAP) have significantly higher binding with FAP+ CAFs than with FAP cancer cells. We loaded HFn-FAP with navitoclax (Nav), an experimental Bcl-2 inhibitor pro-apoptotic drug, whose clinical development is limited by its strong hydrophobicity and toxicity. We showed that Nav is efficiently loaded into HFn (HNav), maintaining its mechanism of action. Incubating Nav-loaded functionalized nanocages (HNav-FAP) with FAP+ cells, we found significantly higher cytotoxicity as compared to non-functionalized HNav. This was correlated with a significantly higher drug release only in FAP+ cells, confirming the specific targeting ability of functionalized HFn. Finally, we showed that HFn-FAP is able to reach the tumor and to target CAFs in a mouse syngeneic model of triple negative breast cancer after intravenous administration. Our data show that HNav-FAP could be a promising tool to enhance specific drug delivery into CAFs, thus opening new therapeutic possibilities focused on tumor microenvironment.

Sitia, L., Bonizzi, A., Mazzucchelli, S., Negri, S., Sottani, C., Grignani, E., et al. (2021). Selective Targeting of Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts by Engineered H-Ferritin Nanocages Loaded with Navitoclax. CELLS, 10(2), 1-21 [10.3390/cells10020328].

Selective Targeting of Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts by Engineered H-Ferritin Nanocages Loaded with Navitoclax

Rizzuto, Maria Antonietta;Prosperi, Davide;
2021

Abstract

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are key actors in regulating cancer progression. They promote tumor growth, metastasis formation, and induce drug resistance. For these reasons, they are emerging as potential therapeutic targets. Here, with the aim of developing CAF-targeted drug delivery agents, we functionalized H-ferritin (HFn) nanocages with fibroblast activation protein (FAP) antibody fragments. Functionalized nanocages (HFn-FAP) have significantly higher binding with FAP+ CAFs than with FAP cancer cells. We loaded HFn-FAP with navitoclax (Nav), an experimental Bcl-2 inhibitor pro-apoptotic drug, whose clinical development is limited by its strong hydrophobicity and toxicity. We showed that Nav is efficiently loaded into HFn (HNav), maintaining its mechanism of action. Incubating Nav-loaded functionalized nanocages (HNav-FAP) with FAP+ cells, we found significantly higher cytotoxicity as compared to non-functionalized HNav. This was correlated with a significantly higher drug release only in FAP+ cells, confirming the specific targeting ability of functionalized HFn. Finally, we showed that HFn-FAP is able to reach the tumor and to target CAFs in a mouse syngeneic model of triple negative breast cancer after intravenous administration. Our data show that HNav-FAP could be a promising tool to enhance specific drug delivery into CAFs, thus opening new therapeutic possibilities focused on tumor microenvironment.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
Cancer-associated fibroblasts; Fibroblast activation protein; H-ferritin; Navitoclax; Targeted nanoparticles;
English
5-feb-2021
2021
10
2
1
21
328
open
Sitia, L., Bonizzi, A., Mazzucchelli, S., Negri, S., Sottani, C., Grignani, E., et al. (2021). Selective Targeting of Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts by Engineered H-Ferritin Nanocages Loaded with Navitoclax. CELLS, 10(2), 1-21 [10.3390/cells10020328].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/301634
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