Scorpiones,Scolopendra and Gekko Inhibit Lung Cancer Growth and Metastasis by Ameliorating Hypoxic Tumor Microenvironment via PI3K/AKT/mTOR/HIF-1αSignaling Pathway

Objective:To investigate whether Buthus martensii karsch(Scorpiones),Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans L.Koch(Scolopendra)and Gekko gecko Linnaeus(Gekko)could ameliorate the hypoxic tumor microenvironment and inhibit lung cancer growth and metastasis by regulating phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin/hypoxia-inducible factor-1α(PI3K/AKT/mTOR/HIF-1α)signaling pathway.Methods:Male C57BL/6J mice were inoculated with luciferase labeled LL/2-luc-M38 cell suspension to develop lung cancer models,with rapamycin and cyclophosphamide as positive controls.Carboxy methyl cellulose solutions of Scorpiones,Scolopendra and Gekko were administered intragastrically as 0.33,0.33,and 0.83 g/kg,respectively once daily for 21 days.Fluorescent expression were detected every 7 days after inoculation,and tumor growth curves were plotted.Immunohistochemistry was performed to determine CD31 and HIF-1αexpressions in tumor tissue and microvessel density(MVD)was analyzed.Western blot was performed to detect the expression of PI3K/AKT/mTOR/HIF-1αsignaling pathway-related proteins.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was performed to detect serum basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF),transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1)and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)in mice.Results:Scorpiones,Scolopendra and Gekko prolonged the survival time and inhibited lung cancer metastasis and expression of HIF-1α(all P<0.01).Moreover,Scorpiones,Scolopendra and Gekko inhibited the phosphorylation of AKT and ribosomal protein S6 kinase(p70S6K)(P<0.05 or P<0.01).In addition,they also decreased the expression of CD31,MVD,bFGF,TGF-β1 and VEGF compared with the model group(P<0.05 or P<0.01).Conclusion:Scorpiones,Scolopendra and Gekko all showed beneficial effects on lung cancer by ameliorating the hypoxic tumor microenvironment via PI3K/AKT/mTOR/HIF-1αsignaling pathway.

Construction of Type I Aggregation-Induced Emission Photosensitizers for Photodynamic Therapy via Photoinduced Electron Transfer Mechanism

Photodynamic therapy(PDT)as a non-invasive anticancer modality has received increasing attention due to its advantages of noninvasiveness,high temporospatial selectivity,simple and controllable operation,etc.PDT mainly relies on the generation of toxic reactive oxygen species(ROS)by photosensitizers(PSs)under the light irradiation to cause cancer cell apoptosis and death.However,solid tumors usually exhibit an inherent hypoxic microenvironment,which greatly limits the PDT efficacy of these high oxygen-dependent conventional type II PSs.Therefore,it is of great importance to design and develop efficient type I PSs that are less oxygen-dependent for the treatment of hypoxic tumors.Herein,a new strategy for the preparation of efficient type I PSs by introducing the photoinduced electron transfer(PET)mechanism is reported.DR-NO_(2) is obtained by introducing 4-nitrobenzyl to(Z)-2-(5-(4-(diethylamino)-2-hydroxybenzylidene)-4-oxo-3-phenylthiazolidin-2-ylidene)malononitrile(DR-OH)with aggregation-induced emission(AIE)feature.The AIE feature ensures their high ROS generation efficiency in aggregate,and the PET process leads to fluorescence quenching of DR-NO_(2) to promote triplet state formation,which also promotes intramolecular charge separation and electron transfer that is conducive for type I ROS particularly superoxide radicals generation.In addition,DR-NO_(2) nanoparticles are prepared by nanoprecipitation to possess nanoscaled sizes,high cancer cell uptake,and excellent type I ROS generation ability,which results in an excellent performance in PDT ablation of MCF-7 cancer cells.This PET strategy for the development of type I PSs possesses great potential for PDT applications against hypoxic tumors.