Small changes in the length of diselenide bond-containing linkages exert great influences on the antitumor activity of docetaxel homodimeric prodrug nanoassemblies

Homodimeric prodrug-based self-assembled nanoparticles,with carrier-free structure and ultrahigh drug loading,is drawing more and more attentions.Homodimeric prodrugs are composed of two drug molecules and a pivotal linkage.The influence of the linkages on the self-assembly,in vivo fate and antitumor activity of homodimeric prodrugs is the focus of research.Herein,three docetaxel(DTX)homodimeric prodrugs are developed using different lengths of diselenide bond-containing linkages.Interestingly,compared with the other two linkages,the longest diselenide bond-containing linkage could facilitate the self-delivery of DTX prodrugs,thus improving the stability,circulation time and tumor targeting of prodrug nanoassemblies.Besides,the extension of linkages reduces the redox-triggered drug release and cytotoxicity of prodrug nanoassemblies in tumor cells.Although the longest diselenide bond-containing prodrug nanoassemblies possessed the lowest cytotoxicity to 4T1 cells,their stable nanostructure maintained intact during circulation and achieve the maximum accumulation of DTX in tumor cells,which finally“turned the table”.Our study illustrates the crucial role of linkages in homodimeric prodrugs,and gives valuable proposal for the development of advanced nano-DDS for cancer treatment.

Iron-doxorubicin prodrug loaded liposome nanogenerator programs multimodal ferroptosis for efficient cancer therapy

Ferroptosis is a new mode of cell death,which can be induced by Fenton reactionmediated lipid peroxidation.However,the insufficient H2O2 and high GSH in tumor cells restrict the efficiency of Fenton reaction-dependent ferroptosis.Herein,a self-supplying lipid peroxide nanoreactor was developed to co-delivery of doxorubicin(DOX),iron and unsaturated lipid for efficient ferroptosis.By leveraging the coordination effect between DOX and Fe3+,trisulfide bond-bridged DOX dimeric prodrug was actively loaded into the core of the unsaturated lipids-rich liposome via iron ion gradient method.First,Fe3+could react with the overexpressed GSH in tumor cells,inducing the GSH depletion and Fe2+generation.Second,the cleavage of trisulfide bond could also consume GSH,and the released DOX induces the generation of H2O2,which would react with the generated Fe2+in step one to induce efficient Fenton reaction-dependent ferroptosis.Third,the formed Fe3+/Fe2+couple could directly catalyze peroxidation of unsaturated lipids to boost Fenton reaction-independent ferroptosis.This iron-prodrug liposome nanoreactor precisely programs multimodal ferroptosis by integrating GSH depletion,ROS generation and lipid peroxidation,providing new sights for efficient cancer therapy.

Optimization, characterization and in vitro/vivo evaluation of azilsartan nanocrystals

Azilsartan(AZL), a poorly soluble drug, was considered to be fit for nanocrystals to improve its solubility. Our study intended to prepare AZL nanocrystals by means of bead milling method. Eight stabilizers or their binary combination and the milling time were set to be variable factors to optimize AZL nanosuspension formulation, and six types of freezedrying supports were investigated to reduce the aggregation of particles during the solidification. AZL nanocrystals with or without sodium deoxycholate(NaDC) as combined stabilizer with Poloxamer 188(F68) were prepared owning mean particle sizes of about 300 nm and 460 nm. During the screening processes, the formulation containing NaDC showed a smaller particle size and better stability during lyophilization. The irregular shape and crystal form changing in AZL nanocrystals were discovered by various characterizations. And with physical mixture as reference, nanocrystals showed its improvement about in-vitro dissolution and in-vivo bioavailability. In conclusion, the nanocrystals of AZL could be prepared well in our study. Additionally, our results suggested that NaDC was an appreciated excipient on the nanocrystals platform, which can exhibit the abilities of size-reduction and stabilitymaintaining on freeze-drying.